University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 4-13-2005 Professional Wrestling, Embodied Morality, and Altered States of Consciousness Lawrence B. McBride University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons Scholar Commons Citation McBride, Lawrence B., "Professional Wrestling, Embodied Morality, and Altered States of Consciousness" (2005). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/764 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Professional Wrestling, Embodied Morality, and Altered States of Consciousness By Lawrence B. McBride A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: S. Elizabeth Bird, Ph.D. Michael V Angrosino, Ph.D. John A. Napora, Ph.D. Date of Approval: April 13, 2005 Keywords: embodiment, practice, trance, mythology, ethnography Copyright 2005, Lawrence B. McBride Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………..iii Chapter One: Setting the Scene…………….……………………..…………………… 1 The Lunatic Wrestling Federation……………………………………………... 1 The LWF Story…………………….…………………………………………... 5 The Wrestling