Being there, being here: What critical field methods can tell us about WWC 2019

While studies of rhetoric and discourse have recently (albeit slowly) embraced a turn to “field methods”, studies of sport discourse have remained reliant on textual or mediated artifacts. This is concerning to the authors given the ability of rhetorical field methods to capture “live” and “processual” rhetoric such as that occurring in and around live sporting events (Middleton, Senda-Cook & Endres, 2011). In this study we leverage the authors’ various experiences “being there” for the 2019 FIFA World Cup to ask what the women’s soccer World Cup meant on social, cultural, and rhetorical levels.