Penelope Rossiter

I am an academic at Western Sydney University in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts where I teach in the area of Cultural and Social Analysis. The main focus of my current research is swimming as a sport, leisure activity and bodily experience. I am also particularly interested in, and an ardent fan of, outdoor municipal pools. Unlike other research that I have completed, this is a topic that immediately connects me to people and communities outside academia. Almost everyone has a pool or swimming story, and these stories are a glorious mix of the funny, poignant, loving, painful, nostalgic, celebratory and hopeful ways that we live together in Australia.