Speaker
Description
Powerchair Hockey (PCH) is a sport for electric wheelchair users. The majority of players are living with degenerative diseases. Their life expectancy is usually around 30 years, and most players keep on playing until they die. Thus, death is inherent to PCH.
I conducted an ethnography of PCH in Switzerland. Participants co-contributed to defining the research questions. The legitimacy of their existence in our postmodern societies was defined as a research issue. In this presentation, I investigate the social organization of death in PCH. What does the players' deaths reveal about the value of their sports commitment, and the value of their life?
PCH is one of the few arenas where players can talk about death. PCH actors’ management of death has two main outcomes: the celebration of the accomplishments of the player who died, and the preparation of other players to their own death. For PCH players, playing until the very end of their lives shapes their “transition to death”. Being part of an institution that outlasts them and being memorialized, they become part of the history of a community. This contrasts with the fact that, in other areas, their lives may be considered to have little value. The mortuary rituals and the players’ legacy are performative of the value of their lives. This contributes to the recognition of the worthiness of their lives. Moreover, the process of researching this issue is also performative of the social value of the players' lives, establishing them as legitimate subjects of research.
