‘We Are Burning Ourselves Up': Ethiopian Runners and Energetic Subjectivities

Crawley, Michael

doi:10.1080/00141844.2022.2120516

‘We Are Burning Ourselves Up': Ethiopian Runners and Energetic Subjectivities

Crawley, Michael

Authors

Dr Michael Crawley michael.p.crawley@durham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor

Abstract

This article describes how energy, and the ‘condition’ of the runner, achieved through the successful management of energy, is understood as trans-bodily and social by Ethiopian long-distance runners. The way energy flows between people and the environment means it is deeply implicated in how people understand relational ethics. By describing both morally appropriate training sociality as well as instances of rupture, I argue that rather than seeing competitive pressure as driving atomisation, the notion of shared energy deepens athletes’ reliance on others. By bringing together literature on energy with debates about ethics I argue that in conditions of scarcity energetic concerns become relational issues in ways that are particularly important to theorise in a moment characterised by the pressures of an economy constrained by ecological and energetic limits. The notion of ‘energetic subjectivities’ can help us make sense of these challenges from the perspectives of those caught up in them.

Citation

Crawley, M. (2022). ‘We Are Burning Ourselves Up': Ethiopian Runners and Energetic Subjectivities. Ethnos, https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2022.2120516

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Sep 8, 2022
Publication Date	Sep 8, 2022
Deposit Date	Oct 10, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Oct 10, 2022
Journal	Ethnos
Print ISSN	0014-1844
Electronic ISSN	1469-588X
Publisher	Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2022.2120516
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1190071