Critical Considerations
Featured Sports for Development and Peace Programs in Preventing Violent Extremism among Young People in Pakistan View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Umair Asif, Simon Rosenbaum, Tegwen Gadais
This research is part of an ongoing PhD project. The historical and geographical vulnerability of Pakistan to violent extremism and the increasing number of Pakistani communities using Sports for Development and Peace (SDP) programs informed the need for this research. The government has often adopted a top-down approach to its Preventing Violent Extremism (VE) efforts. In cases where civil society organizations are consulted or engaged, the role of sports/SDP programs is largely overlooked despite their social significance in local communities and Pakistan in general. Due to this gap, the study explores two SDP programs in Pakistan’s Lahore and Islamabad cities. The study aims to learn from available global literature in the field of SDP and preventing violent extremism. Based on the findings, a qualitative questionnaire was developed and used to interview program participants and implementers in an effort to understand how SDP helps to prevent VE. Data was also gathered through focus group discussions. The United Nations sports-based theory of change model is used as a theoretical tool to analyze the collected data. The research will help to understand the mechanism of SDP programs employed in Pakistan to prevent violent extremism, and the literature review will contribute to the international body of literature in the field.
Featured Ma(r)king the Nonbinary Body: Endurance and Belonging in Ultra-distance Running
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Simone Pfleger
This talk focuses on Dr. Pfleger's project on nonbinary sporting bodies in ultra-distance trail running world in Alberta, Canada. In the paper, they seek to bridge theory and practice by engaging critically with questions of body politics, weaving together gender and queer theoretical academic discourses and personal lived experiences. Dr. Pfleger considers what it means for nonbinary people to participate in a highly gendered sport and what their experiences might reveal about equity, diversity, and inclusion of all bodies not only in specific sporting events but also for society at large.
The Meaning Lies Within: Aesthetic Sport Experience Are Why We Play
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Elaine Foster
Aesthetic Sport Experiences (ASE) are subjective, personal connections between the participant and the activity. They are the inside experience had by the person who is participating and include the smells, sights, sounds, and feel of moving. This inside view may be a key motivating factor for participating in sport/physical activity. Unfortunately, in kinesiology settings we rarely discuss the ASEs, focusing instead on objective outcomes. Further, subjective experiences are rarely studied in research. The current study used a qualitative methodology with a narrative approach to capture the ASEs of university students studying kinesiology. Participants provided rich descriptions of their ASEs, offering insight and highlighting the meaning encapsulated in this aspect of sport/physical activity. As kinesiology students are the future leaders within sport/physical activity, this aspect is critical to how they will value, teach, and lead sport/physical activity in the future. Therefore, creating space and giving time to understand ASE broadens the meaning of sport/physical activity, and directs attention to the underlying meaning of why play occurs.
Ethno-symbolism and Sporting Nationalism in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan: The Revival of the Nomadic Past for Modern Nation Building
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Josh Hughes
This paper explores the role of sport in national identity formation in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan through the theoretical lens of ethno-symbolism. The collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent independence of Kyrgyzstan in 1991 created the need for the state and other national elites to define a Kyrgyz national identity, which the paper argues relied heavily on the revival and promotion of ethnic symbols, myths, and shared cultural memory. Looking specifically at the creation of the World Nomad Games in 2012 following years of political and social instability, the focus on nomadic heritage through sport symbolically roots modern Kyrgyz identity within its nomadic past and helps draw symbolic boundaries that differentiate Kyrgyzstan from its Russian and Soviet histories in a post-colonial framework. Using ethnographic observations and media analysis, the paper shows how sport and the symbolic elements within games in the Kyrgyz context provide tangible connections to the foundation of an ethno-national identity. Building upon recent research in the sports nationalism literature, this paper advocates the ethno-symbolist framework of analysis for nation building in the post-Soviet Central Asian state, particularly in the context of the growing sporting culture in Kyrgyzstan.
