Identity, Belonging, and Community in Men's Roller Derby

Modern roller derby has been theorised as a gendered leisure context, offering women opportunities for empowerment and growth, and enabling them to carve a space for themselves in sport. No longer a women-only sport, roller derby is now played by all genders and has been heralded as a model of inclusivity within sport. Identity, Belonging, and Community in Men's Roller Derby offers an insight into how men's roller derby culture is created and maintained, how members forge an identity for themselves and their team, and how they create feelings of belonging and inclusivity. Through in-depth ethnographic study of a specific, localised roller derby community, this book examines how practices of skills capital intersect with different configurations of masculinity in a continual struggle between traditional and inclusive models of sport. An interrogation of the ways a DIY sport can be seen to be achieved, experienced, and understood in everyday practice, this book will appeal to scholars of men, masculinities, and sport. Additionally, the methodological discussions will be of value to ethnographers and researchers who have had to deal with a disruptive presence.

Dawn Fletcher is a qualitative researcher working in the fields of gender and sport. She has published articles on skills capital and trans inclusion in roller derby and is especially interested in the possibilities for diversity and inclusion in alternative sports.

1. Not just a girls' sport 2. Community and engagement 3. Image and identity 4. Belonging and inclusivity 5. Barriers to belonging 6. Skills capital and acceptable masculinities