ABSTRACT
What a skater sees, hears, feels, and smells is a study in contrast: a feast of sweet adrenaline success and a bitter quinine of injury, surveillance, and hostility. This chapter theorizes the emplaced sensory density of skateboarding, zooming in on its sensorium, and zooming out to capture its history of in situ social change. Its “sideways” history is shared with its surfing predecessors, while oppositional attitudes find a home in anti-establishment movements. Building upon this history, using both a phenomenology and the anthropology of the senses, this chapter traces how skaters become enworlded through their shared skills and historical practices.
