International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

E-ISSN: 2582-2160   •   Impact Factor: 9.24

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Volume 8 Issue 4
July-August 2026

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Punching Beyond the Ring: Intersectional Negotiations of Gender, Ethnicity, and Class in Mary Kom's Unbreakable

Author(s) Mr. Kashyap Narendra Parmar
Country India
Abstract Stories of perseverance and determination in sports autobiographies often celebrate athletic achievement. But such readings often do not consider structural inequalities that shape an athlete’s trajectory. This paper investigates the intersectionality of gender, ethnicity and class in the construction of Mary Kom’s athletic identity from the theoretical perspective of intersectionality. This paper draws on Kimberle Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality and extends it with Patricia Hill Collins’s idea of a linked system of power, Pierre Bourdieu’s conception of economic, social and cultural capital, and Nirmal Puwar’s work on marginalised bodies within dominant institutions. Using close textual analysis, the essay examines the different kinds of marginalisation that Mary Kom faces as a woman boxer from the socio-economically backward and culturally marginalised region of Northeast India. Unbreakable is said to do more than tell a conventional success story by demonstrating the role of the intersection of social identities in determining access to opportunities, recognition and participation in professional sport. Mary Kom’s achievements are not portrayed as the outcome of individual resilience alone but as the result of her constant negotiation with patriarchal norms, economic hardship and regional exclusion. By foregrounding these interlinked structures of inequality, this study adds to the growing body of work on sports autobiographies in contemporary India.
Keywords Sports Life Writing, Sports Autobiography, Mary Kom, Intersectionality, Athletic Identity, Gender, Class, Ethnicity
Field Arts
Published In Volume 8, Issue 4, July-August 2026
Published On 2026-08-05
DOI https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i04.85163
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CrossRef DOI prefix of IJFMR is 10.36948/ijfmr

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