Treadmills and the Routinization of Affective and Physical Harm

• In Event: 262 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03.

Abstract

That the self-conscious use of technologies is central to the creation of embodied selves in the contemporary US is increasingly well-understood. Work by scholars such as Deborah Lupton, Luke Stark, and others have examined the ways that tracking and monitoring are undertaken using devices such as the FitBit, the Apple Watch, and other counters. This paper, however, considers a very different technology, that routinizes affective and embodied relations: the treadmill.

To do so, the paper examines the ways that science and embodiment scholars have understood the technogenesis of affect and embodiment, and then puts forth a set of claims about the treadmill and the routinization of injury in US culture. It traces the rise of mass exercise, the introduction of the treadmill, and the experiences of athletes who use the treadmill to prepare for potentially injurious activities and recover from them. I show that the treadmill is a critical tool of the technogenesis of contemporary affects and embodiment among often idealized ultra athletes.

Author

• Kelly Moore, Loyola University Chicago