Hard Knock Life: Negotiating concussion and dementia in sport (360G-Wellcome-212694_Z_18_Z)

This project examines ‘Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy’ (CTE), a form of dementia which arises from concussive and sub-concussive blows to the head. The majority of cases of CTE result from head impacts suffered during sporting activity. Given the large number of sports associated with a risk of CTE, there are increasing concerns about a ‘silent epidemic’ of dementias which may affect both amateur and professional athletes. These concerns have led to diverse calls for technological innovation, rule change, and legislation to ward against the disease. Drawing upon elite interviews and ethnography conducted with three sporting communities (American football; professional wrestling; age group rugby) this project will ask: How is CTE rendered intelligible within diverse sporting contexts? How do practitioners understand themselves, their brains, and their conduct in the context of the risk of CTE? Finally, how is knowledge of the brain and dementia entangled with classed, raced, and gendered sporting activities? This ambitious study will be amongst the first in Medical Sociology and Science and Technology Studies to consider CTE and will yield novel empirical and theoretical findings relating to the social shaping of this crucial, emerging diagnosis and its place within contemporary society.