In this theoretically dense treatise, Fine (communication studies, Humboldt State Univ.) offers readers who are already quite well versed in poststructuralist thought an “epistemology of the board” (i.e., ways of learning—and then knowing—about the social world via performance, embedded in the course of riding both skateboards and surfboards). Through detailed, deeply reflective, first-person accounts of his skateboarding and surfing exploits, Fine ponders the socially constructed meanings of movement and performance in oftentimes fleeting and ever-changing spatial environs. His deep deconstruction of unconventional movement in time and space provides the sophisticated reader with ways of thinking about how our daily movement has historical, political, and cultural meanings encoded within, and how potentially transformative the performance of movement itself can be. . . a truly novel lens with which to view our social world.



Summing Up: Recommended. Researchers and faculty.

Choice Reviews

Eloquently written and theoretically rich, this book makes a splash in the scholarship of everyday performance, space, movement. It's a refreshing and thought-provoking read that combines refined academic due diligence with the excitement of outlaw skater culture. I anticipate it being enjoyed by both students and professors alike.

Jason Del Gandio, Temple University

Hunter Hawkins Fine provides has written a sophisticated assessment of movement in space as public performance. Surfing, Street Skateboarding, Performance, and Space: On Board Motility is a unique book that foregrounds everyday mobility and larger historical changes that can be re-considered through urban performance studies.

Daniel Makagon, DePaul University