Abstract
O’Connor emphasises the importance of space in skateboarding culture and shows how skateboarders see certain banal urban locations as sacred. Building on the importance of skateboard media, he articulates that locations reproduced in magazines and videos have become sites of pilgrimage for skateboarders. Participant testimonies attest to the emotional significance certain sites hold, and their draw as sites of homage. O’Connor further highlights that skateboarding is set aside from other sports in that these iconic sites are functional street architecture and appropriated space, not legitimate sports grounds and stadia. The argument is framed by the now mainstream popularity of skateboarding which sees some banal urban architecture deemed as important to skateboarders, achieving recognition in popular culture and also heritage status.
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O’Connor, P. (2020). Pilgrimage Spots. In: Skateboarding and Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24857-4_7
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