Surfing and Modernity in the North of Scotland

Matthew L. McDowell (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

268 Seiten

2024 | Unabridged edition
Cambridge Scholars Publishing (Verlag)
9781036410674 (ISBN)

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For most people, surfing is associated with Hawaii, California, and Australia – with sun, sand, and scantily-clad bodies. However, after the Second World War, surfing also found a more unlikely home: the north coast of Scotland. In the 1960s and 1970s, the first people to surf the Pentland Firth's world-class waves braved brutal weather conditions, poor (or no) wetsuits, and baffled locals. Equally as unlikely as surfing's presence on the north coast was its first permanent community, founded amongst workers at a nuclear research facility with a notoriously poor safety record.This book discusses the existence and evolution of surfing in the region, from the 1960s to the present day. It does not, however, focus just on surfing: it also acts as a history of the region itself, and examines the possibilities and limits of surfing, sport, and activities like them being used as a means of reinventing communities. This book is therefore a valuable tool for historians, sport practitioners, and economic policymakers alike: what can surfing tell us about the modern Highlands and Islands, and indeed contemporary Scotland?

Matthew L. McDowell is a Lecturer in Sport Policy, Management, and International Development at the University of Edinburgh, Moray House School of Education and Sport. He is the author of A Cultural History of Association Football in Scotland, 1865-1902 (2013), and an editor of The International Journal of the History of Sport. Previously, McDowell was Chair of the British Society of Sports History (2017-19) and an editor of Northern Scotland (2020-23). He has a PhD in Scottish history from the University of Glasgow, and his other publications examine a variety of phenomena in the history of Scottish, British Empire/Commonwealth, and Atlantic Rim sport, including: football, sporting events, lifestyle sport, curling, and sport's relationship with politics. McDowell is originally from New Jersey; he has resided in Scotland for almost twenty years.

Erscheinungsdatum	01.10.2024
Verlagsort	Newcastle upon Tyne
Sprache	englisch
Maße	148 x 212 mm
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-13	9781036410674 / 9781036410674
Zustand	Neuware