Dr. Michael Giardina is Professor of Qualitative Inquiry and Physical Culture in the Department of Sport Management, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology (#649). One of the leading qualitative researchers in the field, he is the author or editor of more than 30 books, including most notably Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation (with Joshua Newman; Palgrave, 2011), which received NASSS’s Outstanding Book Award and was named as a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, 6TH Edition (with Norman K. Denzin, Yvonna S. Lincoln, & Gaile S. Cannella; SAGE, 2023), and The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Sport & Physical Culture (with Michele K. Donnelly and Devra J. Waldman; SAGE, 2025).
Dr. Giardina’s research has also been published in a wide variety of leading international journals in the field including: Sociology of Sport Journal, Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise, & Health, and Communication & Sport—as well as in the fields of qualitative inquiry (e.g., International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education; Qualitative Inquiry), cultural studies (e.g., Cultural StudiesóCritical Methodologies; Review of Education, Pedagogy, & Cultural Studies; Harvard Educational Review), communications (e.g., Critical Studies in Media Communication), and behavioral science (e.g., American Behavioral Scientist).
In broad terms, his research is primarily focused on three interrelated lines of inquiry: physical culture and bio-politics (e.g., the celebrity body, the mediated body, etc.); global sporting cultures (e.g., issues related to hybridity, flexible citizenship, and transnational identity); and sport and the city (e.g., stadium entertainment districts, promotional culture). Each of these three lines of inquiry are further explored using qualitative and interpretive research methods (e.g., critical ethnography, cultural studies, etc.).
In addition to his scholarship, Dr. Giardina is Editor of three journals: Qualitative Inquiry, Cultural StudiesóCritical Methodologies and International Review for Qualitative Research, as well as past-Editor of the Sociology of Sport Journal, for which he served as Editor from 2015-2020. He is also co-editor of several book series for Routledge, including Foundations & Futures in Qualitative Inquiry and Qualitative Research in Sport & Physical Activity. He has been a NASSS Research Fellow since 2017, and was Director of the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry from 2020-2025.
Dr. Giardina teaches the graduate course in Sport Media, and the doctoral seminar in Qualitative Inquiry. He is currently accepting doctoral student inquiries from those interested in working on/in the above theoretical, methodological, and topical areas, broadly conceived.