Responding to the Trend of Human Enhancement Drugs: the Case of Drug-Free Bodybuilding Culture in European Context

ended

The present project sets out to explore the hitherto uncharted culture of drug-free (‘natural’) bodybuilding that has been emerging in different parts of the world as a response to a dominant, pharmacologically-enhanced model that has thus far monopolised public attention and debate. My aim is to critically investigate the practices, discourses and structures that constitute ‘natural’ bodybuilding and make sense of it in light of a ubiquitous gym/fitness culture and the wider phenomenon of human enhancement. Focusing on Europe as a significant and intriguing site in this emerging global mosaic of body cultures, the research will employ a combination of qualitative methods to trace the development of ‘natural’ bodybuilding across diverse geo-cultural areas of the continent.