DYING WITH YOUR BOOTS ON: A NIETZSCHEAN ANLAYSIS OF HIGH-RISK SKIING by Kirby Amiel Tarzwell A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (October, 2009) Copyright ©Kirby Amiel Tarzwell, 2009 Abstract The concept of ‘risk’ has become one of the main ontological, existential, and epistemo- logical categories in the modern Western world. People are continually confronted with considerable amounts of information concerning what constitutes risks and how they are to be mediated and avoided. Along side this growing concern with risk and risk avoid- ance, a large segment of the population continues to seek out risk itself. Although sub- stantial sociological research has been undertaken to try and understand why people en- gage with risk, these theories and subsequent research falls short in ontological, existen- tial, and epistemological breadth. As a response, this thesis presents a new avenue to un- derstanding risk-taking that is based upon Nietzschean aesthetic theory and its conceptua- lization of the ‘Apollonian’ and ‘Dionysian’ drives that structure human existence. The world of high-risk skiing is the focal point upon which Nietzsche’s theory is applied, with the hope of not only understanding this specific area of social life, but also to demonstrate the importance that risk can play as an ontological, existential, and epistemological emancipatory category. Chapter two provides an overview of the historical inception of the concept of risk and the popular theoretical perspectives used to understand its place within the social whole. Following this, chapter three reviews the dominant theories used within the sociology of sport to understand risk-taking within the world of sport. Finally, chapter four engages Nietzsche’s theory showing how the high-risk skiing community is analogous to pre-Socratic Greek tragedy, in that it enables adherents to properly balance both Apollonian and Dionysian drives allowing them to escape the ‘reactive nihilism’ that defines the modern Western world. It is concluded that such a perspective not only i provides researchers with new tools that are based around the social importance of art and aesthetics, but also that risk is an important ontological, existential, and epistemological category that allows risk-takers to experience a more complete level of existence based upon an understanding of life that celebrates both its positive and negative aspects. ii Acknowledgements I would first like to thank my Dionysian mother and Apollonian father. Mom, I will get you those five dollars as soon as you tell me what it’s for. Dad, thanks for sug- gesting that maybe I should go to university and study philosophy. Next I would like to thank all the laborers I have had the pleasure of working with over the years. John, Travis, Mark, Bruce, Ugo, Paul, Rob, and George, you are some of the best people on the earth. You helped make the worst times, some of the best times. I would also like to thank Matt, Todd, Graeme, Craig, Ryan, Oli, and Christophe who have been my best skiing buddies over the years. Without them life would have been much more difficult to deal with. To all the great professors I have had over the years. To George Williamson for getting me started down this road. To Daniel Beland for being the nicest person ever. To Bob Ware for opening up the social world. To Frank Pearce for being my supervisor. To Danielle for taking care of me over the last couple of months that I was writ- ing. Finally, to the love of my life Gabrielle. We can go start our life together now. iii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1. The Author. .................................................................................................................. 1 2. Ski Sauvage. ................................................................................................................ 4 3. Nietzsche. ..................................................................................................................... 6 4. The Question. .............................................................................................................. 7 5. So what? .................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Risk ................................................................................................................. 12 6. Thunder Meadows. .................................................................................................... 12 7. The Genealogy of Risk. .............................................................................................. 15 8. The Realists. .............................................................................................................. 22 9. The Social Constructionists. ...................................................................................... 28 10. Risk and Ontology. .................................................................................................. 34 11. Conclusion. .............................................................................................................. 42 Chapter 3: Sporting Risk ................................................................................................... 43 12. The Biggest Risk Wins. ............................................................................................ 43 13. Risk Seekers. ............................................................................................................ 48 14. Edgework. ................................................................................................................ 49 15. Gender. .................................................................................................................... 53 16. Sporting Networks. .................................................................................................. 58 17. Functional Sport. ..................................................................................................... 59 18. Sport Interactions. ................................................................................................... 61 19. Postmodern Sport. ................................................................................................... 63 20. Conclusion. .............................................................................................................. 65 Chapter 4: The Reevaluation ............................................................................................ 67 21. The Beginning. ........................................................................................................ 67 22. Nietzsche’s Anti-Socratic Project. ........................................................................... 69 iv 23. Nihilism. .................................................................................................................. 77 24. Apollo & Dionysus. ................................................................................................. 80 25. Tragedy.................................................................................................................... 84 26. The Death of Tragedy. ............................................................................................. 89 27. Apollonian/Dionysian Modernist Agenda. .............................................................. 95 28. Apollo, Reactive Nihilism, and the Modern World. .............................................. 100 29. Skiing as Art. ......................................................................................................... 105 30. Skiing as Tragedy. ................................................................................................. 112 31. Pulling It All Together. .......................................................................................... 124 32. Conclusion. ............................................................................................................ 127 Chapter 5: The Descent ................................................................................................... 128 33. Summary. ............................................................................................................... 128 34. Limitations & Future Research. ............................................................................ 131 35. Risk’s Modernist Agenda. ..................................................................................... 133 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 136 v Chapter 1 Introduction 1. The Author. I can’t really place the moment when I first became intrigued by going fast, flying through the air, and risking my own existence in the face of oblivion. My memory is full of childhood experiences where friends and I would push towards the edge searching again and again