Kitesurfing: Action, (Inter)Action and Mediation
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis examines the actions, (inter)action and practices exemplified in the lifestyle sport of kitesurfing. The phenomenon of ‘lifestyle sport’ (Wheaton 2004b) has received increasing empirical attention over the past fifteen years as it has become a prevalent component within contemporary life. Drastic increases in participation, the manifestation of sporting subcultures and the growing adventure tourism industry has given impetus to various academic approaches to investigating the nature of this phenomenon. This thesis approaches the relatively newly emergent lifestyle sports of kitesurfing from a multimodal mediated theoretical (Norris 2013a) perspective. On the grounds that key characteristics of lifestyle sport are the consumption and employment of emerging technologies and participation in unbounded and luminal spaces, this thesis examines the complex and dynamic ways in which social actors act, (inter)act and employ mediational means in the undertaking of mediated action. The thesis is based on a one-year video-ethnography, as well as empirical methods and methodological notions from Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis (Norris 2004, 2011). This thesis is theoretical in nature and through the employment of ethnographic methods and audio-video analysis, I have developed multiple theoretical notions which are useful in understanding the complexities of mediated action. First, by conceptualising kitesurfing as a system of mediated action, I have found four characteristics which exemplify the system itself: 1. Systems of mediated action develop to serve socio-cultural, economic, industrial, commercial, educational, or creative functions; 2. Systems of mediated action change in direct connection with mediational means/cultural tools; 3. Systems of mediated action manifest embedded systems; and, 4. Systems of mediated action manifest some of the same actions as belonging to and/or creating different practices. Second, through developing the concept of actionary p…
abstract: This thesis examines the actions, (inter)action and practices exemplified in the lifestyle sport of kitesurfing. The phenomenon of ‘lifestyle sport’ (Wheaton 2004b) has received increasing empirical attention over the past fifteen years as it has become a prevalent component within contemporary life. Drastic increases in participation, the manifestation of sporting subcultures and the growing adventure tourism industry has given impetus to various academic approaches to investigating the nature of this phenomenon. This thesis approaches the relatively newly emergent lifestyle sports of kitesurfing from a multimodal mediated theoretical (Norris 2013a) perspective. On the grounds that key characteristics of lifestyle sport are the consumption and employment of emerging technologies and participation in unbounded and luminal spaces, this thesis examines the complex and dynamic ways in which social actors act, (inter)act and employ mediational means in the undertaking of mediated action. The thesis is based on a one-year video-ethnography, as well as empirical methods and methodological notions from Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis (Norris 2004, 2011). This thesis is theoretical in nature and through the employment of ethnographic methods and audio-video analysis, I have developed multiple theoretical notions which are useful in understanding the complexities of mediated action. First, by conceptualising kitesurfing as a system of mediated action, I have found four characteristics which exemplify the system itself: 1. Systems of mediated action develop to serve socio-cultural, economic, industrial, commercial, educational, or creative functions; 2. Systems of mediated action change in direct connection with mediational means/cultural tools; 3. Systems of mediated action manifest embedded systems; and, 4. Systems of mediated action manifest some of the same actions as belonging to and/or creating different practices. Second, through developing the concept of actionary p…
author: Geenen, Jarret
keywords: Multimodal mediated theory, Social interaction, Lifestyle sport, Multimodality, Practice theory
date published: 2013
date modified: 2026-07-27T18:46:16Z
provider: AUT University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: AUT University