Running bodies and the affective spaces of health in and beyond marathon running in China

• Main Authors: CAI, Xiaomei, WOODS, Orlando, GAO, Quan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: running; bodies; affect; affective space of health; wearable technologies; Asian Studies; Sports Studies
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3321; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4577/viewcontent/Microsoft_Word___H_P_manuscript_final.docx.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This paper explores the affective formation of health and space/place through an examination of the affective, bodily and digital practices of marathon runners in China. By elaborating on the idea of “affective spaces of health”, we investigate not only the affective potential of running bodies that enables a therapeutic and individualised form of selfhood in response to the post-socialist transformation but also the affective atmospheres that condition and discipline runners’ affective capacities of health. The paper therefore questions the simplistic association of health with particular qualities of place and calls for studying the affective and fluid spaces of health.