Sometimes a bloody nose is just a bloody nose: play and contest in boxing, wrestling, and ethnography

This paper examines physical risk and epistemological authority in sport ethnography. Drawing on writing about boxing and pro wrestling, I draw parallels between sport ethnography and investigative journalism. This paper examines ethnography as a social relation similar to boxing and wrestling, containing elements of both play and contest. First, I attempt to deconstruct the bloody nose as a literary technique to establish authorial privilege in participatory sport journalism and ethnography. Next, I draw on experiences as a subject in ethnographic work on pro wrestling and as an 'observant participant' in pro wrestling to evoke the therapeutic potential of ethnographic play.

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