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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) What do we know about sport? What are common assumptions we make about sport and society?
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Sport only promotes social mobility to those who are valued based on their skills and able to afford to participate. Social mobility declines for those who are not particularly good at the sport, or even just not the best on their teams. When we look at youth sports, children who do not have the highest quality equipment are not going to be promoted socially. In fact many will report being excluded from their peers. They will be excluded from various levels of sports and maybe play none at all. Sports promote social mobility for those who can pay the cost of travel, quality coaches, rep team fees and the top brands in equipment. |
Exercise 3: Notebook prompt
What are some other metanarratives about sport that you are familiar with? Find an image or video clip or draw something yourself that captures this idea…
So what? Why does any of this matter? Does it matter? As something we grow up with – live with – play through – we don’t often interrogate the meanings of sport, and perhaps we don’t want to.
But being aware of these assumptions and metanarratives is especially important, I would argue, because of the centrality of sport to our everyday lives, the role that sport plays in shaping our childhood and worldviews and….. [finish that thought]
| how it impacts social or economical status. Right from t-ball the children who play best are picked first. Church league soft ball loved the team mate with the nicest, most expensive bat. Being aware of these mentanarratives allows us to teach those around us the importance of sharing, how to be a good team mate to the whole team, how community is important to everyone. When I bought the really nice bat (that happened to be on a really great sale) I made sure to teach my ten year old daughter the importance in sharing her bat with her team mates. Being a team player means everyone having the opportunity to use the nice bat and no one feeling left out because they did not bring their own. Awareness allows us to combat the narratives one small act at a time.
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B) What is social justice?
Exercise 4: Padlet Prompt
Think back to the last section and try to look at some of the ideas we discussed differently. How might sport and social justice actually co-exist?
Record any images, video clips, or gifs you added to the padlet and identify a point of intersection between sport and social justice (can be an issue or a barrier or a debate or something you would like to explore in more depth in this course) . Screenshot or paste in your response below.
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I am really excited to learn more about all of the intersections listed in the prompt headings. I personally do not know a lot about sports. I like to play them with my kids or kids at work. I am an active person and like to toss a ball with my partner, however I have no idea what the rules are in football. I am very interested in learning about advocacy and activism as I engage more in my learning about sports. I think my love for social justice and the love for my family, who love sports, has me excited to learn something new and how it intersects with something I am very passionate about, such a social justice, and particularly advocacy and activism.
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C) Social Justice Reading
(note: this activity is optional!)
D) KINESIOLOGY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Exercise 5:
Exercise 6:
What are the implications of bodies-at-risk discourse and the refusal to understand the health gap from a social justice perspective, according to the authors of this article?
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According to Harrison, Azzarito, and Hodge the refusal to understand the health gap comes from the need to commodify health. They talk about the responsibility of citizens to take care of their own bodies through consuming health and fitness products or activities. This is a part of the discourse of the bodies-at-risk narrative. It implies that a group of individuals are at risk for not obtaining the standards of care for an individual’s body. The discourse comes from the measurement of at risk and what is considered the responsibility of the individual in consuming for health and fitness. Society looks at essentially anyone who is not white and able bodied as the problem group that is “at risk” for not meeting the standards. There is no consideration for what brings the power imbalance into the equation or acknowledgement for how privilege contributes to a person’s ability to consume what is needed to meet the responsibility for caring for themselves in a way that contributes to fitness and health.Then instead of creating balance and equity we speak about those without the privilege of white and able bodies as a deficit with a lack of responsibility for themselves. Azzarito,L. Harrison, J,L. Hodge, S. Social Justice in Kinesiology, Health, and Disability, 12 Jul 2021, pg; 225-244
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Section Two: Sport Feminism
Exercise 7: Notebook Prompt
What is feminism? What does it mean to you? Choose one of the images below and explain how it captures your understanding of feminism (or find one that does speak to you and paste this into your pressbook with an explanation of why it matters to you.
To me, feminism is the study of the inequalities of all humans and the various ways they intersect with each other and the world of commodification and privilege. It means growth and advocacy in terms of reaching equality in the world. I choose this image because I really started to learn and engage with feminism and its importance in the world when I had my first child, a son, who was faced with a world full of toxic masculinity and gender norms that we could not seem to fit ourselves into. Now as I raise a daughter I begin to seek out justice for all genders and feel as though both men and women should be supported by feminist approaches.
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Exercise 8: Notes Prompt (optional)
NB: Cornell notes is a great resource that teaches effective notetaking. Unfortunately, our system can’t save notes taken in the H5P app, so this is fully optional.
Exercise 9: Crossword Activity
Exercise 10: Padlet Prompt
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Intersectionality I appreciate the appearance of intersectionality in feminism. The different types in the reading and various videos all have a strong focus on a main topic that is still excluding so many people. When I think about what feminism means to me, intersectionality is at the heart of social change. It guides us to look at more than just the patriarchy or class and gender. It guides us to look at race, ability, and toxic masculinity. It also provides a platform to dissect gender and sex and how these concepts intersect with feminism.
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