The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School School of Behavioral Sciences and Education THE RIDER-BIKE ASSEMBLAGE: A QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION OF THE EMBODIED ADULT LEARNING OF AMATEUR BICYCLE ROAD RACERS A Dissertation in Adult Education by Jonathan Andrew Crothers 2018 Jonathan A. Crothers Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education August 2018 ii The dissertation of Jonathan A. Crothers was reviewed and approved* by the following: Elizabeth J. Tisdell Professor of Lifelong Learning and Adult Education Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Professor-in-charge, Lifelong Learning and Adult Education Weston Kensinger Assistant Teaching Professor of Health Education Ann Swartz Associate Teaching Professor of Nursing Glen A. Mazis Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Philosophy, Humanities *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine how adults informally learn through engaging with their bicycles in the sport of amateur road racing, and to understand how this learning has shaped their individual and social identities. The study is grounded in two intersecting theoretical frameworks: embodied adult learning theory (especially those discourses drawing on Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of the body); and actor network theory (ANT), which focuses on how human beings and objects within a network act as one assemblage. The design of the study combines an autoethnographic approach with narrative inquiry, and thus examines both the writer’s personal experiences in amateur bicycle road racing and its unique subculture as embodied learning, and the narratives of six amateur road racers chosen according to purposeful criteria. Data collection for the narrative portion consisted primarily of two semi-structured interviews with each of the six participants. Additionally, participant-provided visual documents and artifacts were used as elicitation devices to revisit racers’ bodily movements in athletic action. An autoethographic analysis was employed to examine the writer’s personal racing stories, while narrative analysis was used to examine the participants’ racing stories. Data analysis revealed three themes of findings. The first focuses on the role of networks in changing identity, and how bicycle racing pushed the rider in a competitive setting in the natural world and resulted in a more positive identity. The second theme focuses on riders’ relationship with their always co-present bicycle, where they felt at one with it, except in times of stress when the bicycle became “other.” The third theme focused on the role of self-imposed pain and will as part of competition. The study concludes with a discussion of the findings in light of actor network theory, and embodied adult learning theory and offers suggestions for theory and practice. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... ix PART ONE .............................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER ONE: AUTOETHNOGRAPHY ........................................................................... 1 Prologue ........................................................................................................................... 1 Setting the Context........................................................................................................... 2 Shaping my Identity through the Object of the Bicycle .................................................. 5 An Opportunity to Explore my Relationship with the Bicycle Academically......... 6 My Red Spaceliner ................................................................................................... 8 The Bicycle as a Vehicle to Identity ........................................................................ 9 Knowing Self through the Bicycle ........................................................................... 10 Discovering Freedom through the Bicycle .............................................................. 11 Social Connectivity/ Dis-Connectivity to Others Fostered Through the Bicycle ............ 14 The River Ride ......................................................................................................... 14 Cycling Culture ........................................................................................................ 15 Race Face ................................................................................................................. 20 The Social Connections to Pain and Suffering ........................................................ 22 Balancing my Relationship with my Bicycle .................................................................. 24 Time and the Bicycle ............................................................................................... 25 The [In] Visibility of Addiction ............................................................................... 26 Definition of Terms ......................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER TWO: INTRODUCTION AND STUDY PURPOSE .......................................... 33 Background to the Problem ............................................................................................. 34 Embodied Learning and Amateur Bicycle Racers in Context ................................. 34 Embodied learning in adult education. .................................................................... 34 Amateur bicycle racers in social context and in leisure sports. ............................... 36 External Environmental Influences of Cyclists’ Embodied Learning ..................... 38 Polyvagal theory, the social engagement system and embodied philosophy. ......... 39 The cyclist-object relationship and actor network theory. ....................................... 42 Problem, Purpose and Research Questions .............................................................. 44 Overview of Theoretical Framework ............................................................................... 45 Embodied Learning Theory and the Philosophy of Merleau-Ponty ........................ 45 Actor Network Theory ............................................................................................. 46 Overview of the Research Methodology ................................................................. 47 A Qualitative Autoethnographic Narrative Study.................................................... 47 Study Design ............................................................................................................ 49 Significance of the Study ................................................................................................. 50 Assumptions, Limitations and Strengths ................................................................. 52 CHAPTER THREE: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................... 55 v The Need for a Consideration of Objects in Embodied Adult Learning ......................... 56 Expanding the Research on Embodied Learning ..................................................... 57 Tools and the Body Schema .................................................................................... 60 Theoretical Framework: Actor Network Theory ............................................................. 62 What is Actor-Network Theory? ............................................................................. 62 Objects and Key Concepts in ANT .......................................................................... 65 The Human-Object Assemblage and the Shaping of Social Interactions ................ 70 Promoting Sustainability through Rider-Bike Assemblages ................................... 81 The Influences of Merleau-Ponty and Gendlin on Embodied Learning .......................... 85 Maurice Merleau-Ponty ........................................................................................... 86 Eugene Gendlin’s Psychology of Felt Sense ........................................................... 89 Body Schema, Muscle Memory and Adult Education............................................. 91 The Research Literature in Embodied Learning through Leisure Sports ........................ 93 Fostering Embodied Learning in Outdoor Spaces ................................................... 98 Embodying Social Change through Immersive Sports ............................................ 104 Opportunities for Embodied Learning in Immersive Sports.................................... 108 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 112 CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 114 Qualitative Research Paradigm ........................................................................................ 115 Research Type – Narrative Inquiry and Autoethnography .............................................. 117 Autoethnography...................................................................................................... 117 Narrative Research ..................................................................................................