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SPORT, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE
RESEARCH IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT Series Editor: Kevin Young Recent Volumes: Volume 1:
Theory, Sport and Society K. Young, 2001
Edited by J. Maguire and
Volume 2:
Sporting Bodies, Damaged Selves: Sociological Studies of Sports-Related Injury Edited by K. Young, 2004
Volume 3:
The Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games Edited by K. Young and K. B. Wamsley, 2005
Volume 4:
Tribal Play: Subcultural Journeys Through Sport Edited by M. Atkinson and K. Young, 2008
Volume 5:
Social and Cultural Diversity in a Sporting World Edited by C. Hallinan and S. J. Jackson, 2008
Volume 6:
Qualitative Research on Sport and Physical Culture Edited by Kevin Young and Michael Atkinson, 2012
Volume 7:
Native Games: Indigenous Peoples and Sports in the Post-Colonial World Edited by Chris Hallinan and Barry Judd, 2013
RESEARCH IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT VOLUME 8
SPORT, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE EDITED BY
KEVIN YOUNG Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Canada
CHIAKI OKADA Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Japan
United Kingdom North America India Malaysia China
Japan
Emerald Group Publishing Limited Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK First edition 2014 Copyright r 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited Reprints and permission service Contact: [email protected] No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-78350-885-3 ISSN: 1476-2854 (Series)
Cover Image: North American Indigenous Games - 2002 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Courtesy of Shutterstock Image Library • r Keith Levit
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CONTENTS LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
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INTRODUCTION: SPORT, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE: ACKNOWLEDGING POTENTIAL, RESPECTING BALANCE Kevin Young and Chiaki Okada
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CHAPTER 1 ETHICAL CHALLENGES AND PRINCIPAL HURDLES IN SPORT-FORDEVELOPMENT WORK Simon C. Darnell
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CHAPTER 2 MIDDLE-WALKERS: NEGOTIATING MIDDLE GROUND ON THE SHIFTING TERRAIN OF SPORT, PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT Brian Wilson
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CHAPTER 3 USING POSTCOLONIAL FEMINISM TO INVESTIGATE CULTURAL DIFFERENCE AND NEOLIBERALISM IN SPORT, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMING IN UGANDA Lyndsay M. C. Hayhurst
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CHAPTER 4 SERVICE-LEARNING: AN EDUCATIONAL MODEL FOR SPORT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Ashleigh M. Huffman and Sarah J. Hillyer
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CHAPTER 5 THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF SPORT TO HIV/AIDS AWARENESS Chiaki Okada
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CHAPTER 6 THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE PREVENTION OF YOUTH VIOLENCE: A LIFE SKILLS-BASED APPROACH IN EL SALVADOR James Mandigo, John Corlett, Pedro Ticas and Ruben Vasquez
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CHAPTER 7 THE FIFA WORLD CUP 2010 AND ITS LEGACY ON “SPORT AND DEVELOPMENT” PRACTICES IN SOUTH AFRICAN CITIES Naofumi Suzuki
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CHAPTER 8 AN EXAMINATION OF CROSSCULTURAL MENTORSHIP IN ALBERTA’S FUTURE LEADERS PROGRAM Miriam Galipeau and Audrey R. Giles
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CHAPTER 9 FROM GENOCIDE TO COMMUNITY SPORT: A CAMBODIAN LIFE HISTORY Chiaki Okada and Kevin Young
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CHAPTER 10 WHERE’S THE “EVIDENCE?” REFLECTING ON MONITORING AND EVALUATION WITHIN SPORT-FOR-DEVELOPMENT Ruth Jeanes and Iain Lindsey
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CHAPTER 11 MEGA-EVENTS, SPORT LEGACIES AND SOCIOLOGICALLY INFORMED IMPACT ASSESSMENT Michael Atkinson and Amanda De Lisio
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CHAPTER 12 INSIGHTS AND INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SOCIAL LEGACIES IN THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES: THE OLYMPIC GAMES IMPACT (OGI) STUDY Robert VanWynsberghe and Caitlin Pentifallo
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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Michael Atkinson
Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
John Corlett
MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Simon C. Darnell
School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, Durham, UK
Amanda De Lisio
Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Miriam Galipeau
School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Audrey R. Giles
School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Lyndsay M. C. Hayhurst
Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Sarah J. Hillyer
Center for Sport, Peace, and Society, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Ashleigh M. Huffman
Center for Sport, Peace, and Society, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Ruth Jeanes
Faculty of Education, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
Iain Lindsey
School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, Durham, UK
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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
James Mandigo
Faculty of Applied Health Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada
Chiaki Okada
Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
Caitlin Pentifallo
School of Kinesiology (Socio-Cultural Group), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Naofumi Suzuki
Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan
Pedro Ticas
Universidad Pedagogica de El Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador
Robert VanWynsberghe Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada Ruben Vasquez
Former Vice-Minister of Sport, El Salvador
Brian Wilson
School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Kevin Young
Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, AB, Canada
INTRODUCTION: SPORT, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE: ACKNOWLEDGING POTENTIAL, RESPECTING BALANCE Kevin Young and Chiaki Okada There is surely no area of sport study that has mushroomed so exponentially of late as that area commonly referred to as “sport, social development and peace” the reluctant main title of this volume.1 Indeed, it is entirely unlikely that there is any other new area of sport study that even comes close to the breadth and depth of this attention. In addition to huge amounts of government and private money, including sizable charitable donations, offered up across the globe to promote, facilitate and investigate the link between sport and forms of social “development,” and an already significant academic literature, this is a world replete with e-debates and blogs,2 dedicated journals,3 practitioner and scholarly conferences,4 how-to “toolkits,”5 and innumerable charitable events such as sponsored runs, soccer tournaments, and the like.6 And, perhaps most astonishing of all, when the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaims an “International Day of Sport for Development and Peace” (to be celebrated each year on April 6, the date of the opening of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896), the immensity of this corpus of energy based around the clearly wellintentioned but controversial and, in fact, possibly spurious, claim that sport can bring about positive social change, comes into focus. Put simply, this volume acknowledges the goodwill, cooperation, and human spirit that underpins much of this attention, rendering it de rigueur in so many circles, but also underscores the need for balance in understanding what learning lessons we can take away from the “sport, social development and peace” debate with veracity and level-headed confidence. The obvious question to ix
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ask is how did we reach such a point of truly staggering attention, support, and investment without the sort of hard evidence required in any other area of social life?
AN OVERVIEW OF “DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SPORT” INITIATIVES Expanding the concept of sport as a human right has served to introduce sport into the development sectors. Numerous declarations and charters such as the Olympic Charter (IOC, 1925), the European Sport for All Charter (European Sport Ministers, 1975), the International Charter of Physical Education and Sport (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 1978), the Declaration of Punta Del Este (MINEPS, 1999), and the Building a Peaceful and Better World through Sport initiative (UN General Assembly Resolution, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002) have emphasized sport-related rights for all people. Specific notions of sport as a right of children, vulnerable persons, and other marginalized groups have been recognized in such diverse forms as the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007). The status of sport as a right brings with it an obligation on the part of governments, multilateral institutions, and other agents in civil society to ensure that opportunities exist for everyone to participate in sport and physical activity (Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group [SDPIWG], 2006). UNESCO, which has been involved in these initiatives from an early stage, has commented: “we can ask ourselves whether it might not be appropriate to move towards a right to sport” (UNESCO, 2004, p. 12). The reasons for this directive included the fact that the multiple and diverse quasi-legal regulations that have emerged have not been formally binding on jurisdictions and may consequently be regarded as recommendations only. Recommendations can, of course, be ignored. Further, with regard to obligations, covenants often acknowledge sport as a right indirectly through the right to education, the right to participate in recreational activities, and the right to participate in cultural life (UNESCO, 2004). A UN inter-agency task force recognized that “the right to sport and play is often denied. In many cases this is because
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of discrimination, particularly by gender and ability. It is also frequently due to political neglect of the importance of sport in society” (UN Interagency Task Force, 2005, p. 4). In less resourced and powerful countries that do not have the necessary social infrastructure, including fully established laws and regulations, the effectiveness of sport must be measured concretely rather than by focusing on the right to sport as an ideal. In the 1990s a large paradigm shift took place in the development sectors and poverty reduction, which had often been seen as an individual and/or local issue, came to be regarded as a more critical macro, patterned and, indeed, global issue. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) proposed a new way forward human development placing individuals at the center of development work with the expansion of choice and opportunity in each person’s life to be the ultimate goal of international development. In this respect, sport was now expected to provide a concrete arena for individuals and communities to articulate and realize their potentials. The general view has been summarized by Meier: “Sport can add tremendous positive value to international development and cooperation work for the benefit of women, men, girls and boys, irrespective of the developing degree of a continent” (2005, p. 4). Coinciding with the shift toward conceiving of sport as a right that might be used to change the lives of marginalized persons, especially in poorer regions of the world, perhaps the most well-known of all philanthropic “sport for development and peace” initiatives Right to Play (formerly Olympic Aid) was established at the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Transitioning from an initial fund-raising operation to an official NGO, and spearheaded by successive waves of internationally recognized elite athletes, Right to Play quickly garnered the support of politicians, governments and the sport community. By 2002, it was serving as the Secretariat to the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace. By 2008, it launched special initiatives in South America (Peru, specifically), thus expanding, as its own website claims, “the organization’s geographical footprint into a fifth [world] region.” Since then, a number of similar off-shoot programs have started up in numerous countries, such as the Promoting Life Skills in Aboriginal Youth (PLAY) program, a Canadian Aboriginal pilot program introduced at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Briefly stated, despite criticism for, among other things, adopting what are considered in some quarters as neocolonial and neoimperialistic approaches and wanting to maintain hegemonic dominance among these sorts of initiatives, Right to Play and similar on-the-ground projects have also expanded massively
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to become, unquestionably, part of the everyday lexicon of sport for development and peace discourses. In 2001, the UN Secretary-General appointed the first special advisor on sport for development and peace. The necessity of creating a policy frame for actual development work through sport had increased. A UN task force was established in 2003 and international conferences on sport and development were held in 2003 and 2005 (and frequently in various locations since). The international working group (SDPIWG) was formed with representatives from 15 countries, and the International Year of Sport and Physical Education (IYSPE) was proclaimed by the United Nations in 2005. Ministers and high-ranking officials from 43 countries adopted the Accra Call for Action on sport for development and peace in 2007 and the second special advisor was appointed in 2008. All of these initiatives were based on the expectation that sport could serve as a concrete contributor to human development, and thus the cooperation of a multitude of sport-friendly groups in the development sectors was viewed as essential. The magnitude of practical “on-the-ground” programs, initiatives, and other sorts of forays into the field that has paralleled all of these regulatory shifts has, once again, been truly staggering. But they have not gone uncriticized.
LEARNING LESSONS: WHAT THE RESEARCH TELLS US SO FAR The number and frequency of reports on sport in the development sectors increased rapidly at the turn of the millennium. SDPIWG published Literature Reviews of Sport for Development and Peace in 2007, identifying almost 300 studies in related areas of “sport for development.” The report looked into the use of sport in five sectors: education, health, gender, disability, and peace focusing on human development. Its extensive review contains case examples both in developing and developed countries in each sector, and concludes unambiguously: “while the literature review identified areas where further research is needed … sport has the potential [our emphasis] to contribute to development and social issues” (SDPIWG, 2007, p. 5). From SDPIWG’s challenge in several sectors, we recognize and appreciate the difficulty of convincingly summarizing the social benefits of sport even after such massive literature review efforts. The concluding statement itself seemed to appropriately offer a note of caution: “the evident benefits appear to be an indirect outcome of the context and social
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interaction that is possible in sport rather than a direct outcome of participating in sport” (SDPIWG, 2007, p. 4). In addition to government-based or interest group-based research which considers using sport in certain development sectors, ongoing attempts for evaluation of concrete field activities may also be found in social science literatures (cf. Black, 2010; Burnett, 2001, 2006; Chappell, 1999; Coalter, 2002, 2013; Donnelly, Atkinson, Boyle, & Szto, 2011; Kidd, 2008; Kidd & Donnelly, 2000; see especially Chapters 10 12 in this volume). For instance, Burnett (2006) recommended a methodological approach within the academic fields of social impact assessment, the anthropology of development and strategic management, which has become a useful contribution to knowledge by measuring the meaning of sport via cross-sectional perspectives. The final three chapters in this volume also tackle the complicated notions of evidence, evaluation, and dissemination head-on. Closely related to the field of sport and development research is sport and peace research. This area has recently also expanded and already there are some notable contributions. Ben-Porat (1998), Okada and Kimura (2001), Keim (2003), Gasser and Levinsen (2004), Sugden (2006, 2010), and Wilson (2012) have all proffered valuable studies concerning peace or conflict resolution, mainly employing qualitative approaches. Although the complexities of carrying out “naturalistic” and interpretive work in “foreign” settings has long been acknowledged in the methodological literature (e.g., Berg & Lune, 2012; Young & Atkinson, 2012), qualitative work and field-oriented approaches also contain real “learning lessons” for the development sectors which clearly need to consider and respond to “insider impressions” regarding how sport is peacefully adding to the community. Using the rarely implemented methodological approach of life history analysis, Okada and Young (see Chapter 9) make a case for expanding the methodological repertoire of work in this field. Overall, it seems reasonable to argue that the number of empirical case studies on sport in developing countries is still relatively modest relative to “need” (if by “need” we mean “sufficient empirical work to provide evidentiary proof”). While we acknowledge that amassing dizzying volumes of data for the simple sake of amassing more data is folly (see Jeanes and Lindsey, Chapter 10), further purposeful and replicated field research is essential in order to collect data directly, and to observe and reflexively consider the voices and accounts of participants, allowing them to speak in their own terms and categories. It seems especially important to do these things over the long term rather than the short term, which raises very serious questions about the relevance indeed responsibility of so many mini
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practical and academic forays that head “into the field” for extremely brief stays, sometimes only once, never to return again. Possible research endeavors have been, and are, undermined by the difficulty of establishing rapport and cooperative relationships in given settings. Familiar methodological quandaries such as access, entre´e, establishing reliable contacts with “gatekeepers,” permissions, trust, and practical organizational issues often represent real hurdles. And this is quite aside from the ethics of the research in question what motives underpin it and why, and whose best interests it is in, etc.? Almost every chapter in this volume directly addresses the constellation of hurdles researchers face (and the ethical problems they may themselves create), including the very real hurdle of how to avoid an imperialistic vision of “development” and “how things should be” as an uninvited but resourced outsider researching relatively unresourced settings. Fortunately, however, some valuable (usually empirical) work has been successfully undertaken, especially in African settings. Notable studies include Clignet and Stark (1974 Cameroon), Baker and Mangan (1987 numerous African countries), Guest (2009 Angola), Godia (1989 Kenya), Ojeme (1989 Nigeria), Lema (1989 Zaire), Bale and Sanb (1996 Kenya), Stuart (1996 Zimbabwe), Armstrong and Giulianotti (1997, 2004 numerous African countries), Amusa and Toriola (1999 numerous African countries), Armstrong (2002 Liberia), Keimbou (2005 Cameroon), Chappell (2005 Namibia), Straume and Steen-Johnsen (2012 Tanzania), Munro (2012 Kenya), Ravizza (2012 Uganda), and Weinberg and Rockenfeller (2012 Tanzania). Unsurprisingly, research on South African sport is rich and deep (cf. Burnett, 2001, 2006; Keim, 2003; Nauright, 1997; Nicholls, Giles, & Sethna, 2011; Pelak, 2005). Compared to such African research, the breadth and depth of empirical “development” research in the other regions remains sparse. For instance, sport-for-development studies in Caribbean and Latin American settings (Arbena, 1989, 1994, 1996, 2000; Carter, 2008; McCree, 2000; Trotz, 2006; Wagner, 1982), and South Asian and Islamic settings (Anderson, 1989; Beran, 1989; Douglas, 1989; Hay, 2003; Hirai, 2005; Okada & Young, 2011; Stevenson, 1989) are rare. Among other reasons, language, geographical, cultural, and access barriers constitute the usual array of prohibitive factors, but these are all relative notions and the fact of the matter is that the possible role of sport’s contribution to social development or peace in Asian countries, and especially southern Asian countries, has hardly been broached. As Wagner (1989, p. 3) notes regarding the historical trends of modern research: “we do not have enough comparative descriptive data
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about sport in non-Western contexts to develop good general theories of sport.” Tellingly, he went on to note regarding sport in Asia: “…it is interesting that the areas of the world that maintained strong historical traditions even during long occupation by European colonial powers as well as the countries that did not suffer long European colonialism still have strong traditional sport” (Wagner, 1989, pp. 5 6).
CAMBODIAN COMPLEXITIES: WHAT OUR OWN RESEARCH TELLS US For over a decade, we have been involved in sociological research on the changing role of sport in Cambodia, and its possible connections to community development (see Chapter 9). Among other projects, one recent venture (Okada & Young, 2011) has been a qualitative study of an incipient sport initiative in the northern region of the country in the form of the Siem Reap Hotel and Tourism Football League (SHTFL). It would be overly simplistic to report that our own informal “impact assessment” tells us that sport is helping post-conflict Cambodia “heal” and “advance.” Instead, our data offer up rather more contradictory results, and contain evidence both for hope and caution. For instance, we found clear evidence that establishing friendship, respect, and collegiality are certainly core intended values of the SHTFL. To many readers, these may appear as simple, predictable, and even naı¨ ve motives. However, of real relevance for a culturally sensitive sociology of sport, Cambodia as a whole and the SHTFL specifically are beset with their own unique (post-conflict) experiences and problems where the uses (and abuses) of sport are concerned. In our view, the SHTFL is an intriguing cultural phenomenon in modern Cambodia where there remain relatively few opportunities for people to experience social integration except for work-related activities in the daily pursuit of making a living in a still largely destitute country. Reminding us of a familiar theme in sport advocacy which is clearly not without its critics, the focal point of the discussions of the organizers of the SHTFL was consistently about striking a balance between competitiveness and respect in Cambodian society, on and off the field of play. This always seemed to be at the basis of their discussions. Importantly and as several of our respondents noted, creating friendship in the SHTFL community as well as in the community more broadly carries the possibility to enhance
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further values and interactions such as mutual understanding and interorganizational cooperation. The invitations of school students and local residents to SHTFL matches show the SHTFL’s commitment to encouraging comprehensive personal networks among hotel staff members, between hotels, and among local residents living within proximity of the hotels. As several SHTFL representatives argued, when rival hotels enjoy close connections and exchange information and experience in such an informal and collegial way, the effectiveness of the tourism sector more broadly is enhanced, even though that efficacy is expressed in terms other than, say, annual revenues and is admittedly difficult to quantify. In his research on tourism in the Mekong area, Polladach observed: “An issue … that needs to be confronted is how income created by the tourism industry can be shared fairly to reduce poverty and make a healthier community” (2010, p. 207). In many of the developing countries, tourism development is typically pursued (i.e., owned, controlled, and operated) via foreign investment, and it is often the case that benefits to local residents are intangible, or worse. Although we certainly found evidence of conflict and struggle between elements of the Cambodian tourism industry and the local residents of Siem Reap, the SHTFL, to this point at least, shows genuine commitment to loftier motives aimed not at profit but at forms of mutual cooperation and respect in the local region, as ably summed up by a former player and executive housekeeper of one of the SHFL hotels: “We want to explain people in Siem Reap that we (the hotels) don’t mean we want to earn by ourselves. We would like to contribute on the development of whole Siem Reap.” On the basis of our evidence to date, it seems reasonable to acknowledge that SHTFL activities, representing an alliance between the hotels and established civic organizations such as the provincial education office, underscore the potential of sport in strongly positive ways. There are obvious limitations to any successes so far the SHTFL, like much of Cambodian society more generally, opens up far more doors to males than females and remains patriarchal in this respect,7 like sport anywhere it is amenable to exploitation and abuse, and we are aware that in time its still rather innocent goals might be impacted by the vicissitudes of power, finance, and corruption. But for the time being at least this modest Asian initiative, embedded in both its own micro cultural setting and connected to the far broader principle of “social development through sport,” remains at an embryonic stage of its own life-course. When the committee members air their uncertainties about competitiveness and friendship, they genuinely feel that they are creating an arena for the healthy coexistence of these two
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factors. The conflicts and continuous struggles for these possibilities allow Cambodian people to interact and explore forms of cooperation, while coalescing around a cultural form undergoing its own kind of definition and shaping to best fit local circumstances (Donnelly & Young, 1985). Stated differently, and as Coalter has remarked, “developing sport in the community, it may also be possible to contribute to the development of communities through sport” (2005, p. 4). The sociology of sport literature contains an entire early generation of largely functionalist sport studies taking for granted the positive functions of sport, and more recently and more critically, several notable studies regarding the possibility of friendship and integration through sporting activities (Coalter, 2005; Coleman & Iso-Ahola, 1993; Iso-Ahola, 1996), and about cultivating fair and respectful value systems to allow communities to “work” more efficiently (Coalter, 2002; Ebbeck & Gibbons, 2003). As with others, our fieldwork leads us to acknowledge the potentially positive and integrative possibilities of sport as a tool of social development, but does not suggest that sport is so autonomous that it can make social problems magically disappear or new and better communities magically come to life (a similar critical position on sport acting as a magical panacea for social problems is taken up by Wilson in this volume see Chapter 2). This is not the case with the SHTFL, or indeed with Cambodian society more generally, where phenomena such as poverty, social conflict, and violence endure, despite the introduction of seemingly well-intended and pro-working people8 sport-related initiatives. Generally speaking, it is extremely difficult to evaluate the outcomes of sport in development sectors, especially when the targets are based on abstract characteristics and evaluated using “outsider” instruments. These outcomes are often intangible, culturally specific, and/or take a long time to become evident and measure with accuracy. Indeed, Jeanes and Lindsey (Chapter 10) argue that evaluation considered this way is implausible and untrustworthy. In their words: “‘absolute’ understanding or ‘robust’ evidence along Global North lines simply is not possible.” We certainly understand and respect this position but, like Sugden (2006, 2010) and others, have seen tangible evidence of integrity, purpose and impact in “sport for development” work. Through our research in Cambodia admittedly (and importantly, we would argue) designed by Cambodians for Cambodians, not by outsiders for Cambodians we found that such outcomes include personal and social friendship and cooperation, and the sprouting of spontaneous efforts for social development by members in the private sector. As the basic
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values of sports such as teamwork, effort, and achievement, positive self-worth reflect those of wider society (SDPIWG, 2007, 2008), SHTFL members regard “sport” as a powerful tool to enhance local living conditions and circumstances via one of its key industries tourism. Our Cambodian case study does not necessarily mean that sport can be used as a “development tool” successfully in all settings, such as other developing countries, or that it can simply be parachuted in from outside without the organizational input of locals. Indeed, our case study does not allow us to say with certainty that sport helps resolve social problems or, in fact, does anything more than “living along side” social problems as they continue to be struggled over by the locals involved. But, on the other hand, our research, now over 10 years in the making, does let us confirm that, as a concept and an organization, the SHTFL at the very least operates as a context in which social problems may be acknowledged, considered, and addressed, as well as bringing otherwise diverse and differentiated groups together in potentially respectful and healthy ways. For these reasons, we believe that exploring a fledgling sport initiative in a post-conflict and quickly developing setting such as Cambodia carries merit and value both in and of itself as well as for the wider implications it may have for the community around it. This, however, is not to deny the possibility of clashing value and power systems of one kind or another entering the picture so as to color that sport initiative as it evolves, as we discovered in the local struggles over forms of football-related cheating and violence, as well as in emerging dialogues of participants regarding what football in the local community could and should be, and for whom. Emphasizing the familiar point that sport is “contested terrain” (Donnelly & Young, 1985) even more strongly, very few local participants are even asking questions about whether the SHTFL should adhere to a noncompetitive model or pursue an elite model that prioritizes winning. In these ways, and notwithstanding the genuine human spirit of optimism and hope, it seems reasonable to conclude that making a case for an unfettered “sport-equates-to-social-development” argument is uncompelling, and that any promise sport offers communities in either a micro or macro sense should be viewed through the lens of caution and circumspection, especially in situations where sport initiatives are embryonic and experimental. Our point is not to completely dismiss the fact that sport might contribute to social development. However, our position is that it is both fair and accurate, and important, to constantly remind ourselves that the contribution of sport to social development designed and implemented by
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insiders or outsiders is far more a possibility than an inevitability, and that the actual advantages of sport as a tool in any community depends on, again, a multitude of often very complex factors that differ from context to context. In these ways we certainly supportively acknowledge the generous human spirit that underpins so much “sport for peace and development” work that is being carried out across the globe, but our Cambodian experiences also strongly underscore the need for balance both in candid assessments of why the work is being done in the first place (is it academically valuable, socially valuable, opportunistic, short term, long term, etc.?) as well as in unbiased, reflexive, and reliable impact assessments.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK: THE CHAPTERS The chapters that follow critically address the aforementioned themes with an admirable combination of accessibility and rigor. In terms of its general shape, the core of the book found in its middle section offers a series of “sport for development” case studies. These are “book-ended” by two context-setting chapters at the front and three chapters at the back directly addressing the prickly questions of evidence, impact assessment, sustainability, and dissemination. The book begins with commentaries from two of the leading “voices” in the “sport and development” literature. Picking up on the notion that development work in any field must be welcomed and actualized by local communities rather than imposed upon them by “top-down”-oriented outsiders, Simon C. Darnell (Chapter 1) understands the principle challenge in sport-for-development work as one of “ethics.” Couching this dilemma in the sociological language of “voice and agency,” “social reproduction,” and “privilege and dominance,” Darnell uses a combination of his own research and that of others to demonstrate how “SDP” platforms must involve clear and responsible “principles, practices and … pedagogies.” In particular, Darnell applauds Feminist Participatory Action Research and other progressive pedagogies for disavowing the colonialist leanings of some policies and programs, and advocating for principled efforts that do not simply serve to sustain forms of equality. The critical issue of “impact” and “outcome,” returned to in three systematic assessments at the end of the volume, is raised by Brian Wilson (Chapter 2). Wilson introduces the notion of what he calls middle-walking a strategy he adopts to negotiate the dangers of both “extremely critical” and “unwaveringly optimistic” positions on sport and social development. Two ostensibly unrelated case
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studies (the first on sport-related environmental issues, and the second on a celebrity attended Run-for-Peace in Kenya) are used by Wilson to demonstrate the usefulness of “middle-walking,” despite the approach being, as he puts it, “difficult and messy.” Anchored by these “context” chapters from Darnell and Wilson, what then follows is a sequence of empirical case studies, none of which identify themselves as “middle-walkers,” but all of which (in different ways and with different emphases) veer toward the recognition of the “sport potential” end of Wilson’s middle-walking continuum. In Chapter 3, Lyndsay M. C. Hayhurst critically examines the complexities of establishing viable aid and development programs without reproducing discriminatory practices and relations. Using data collected from staff members and young women in a martial arts/physical fitness program in Eastern rural Uganda, and interpreting them through the lens of postcolonial feminism, Hayhurst both acknowledges how young women’s confidence levels and leadership skills spiked following participation, but also that the program represented forms of global neo-liberal “training” that almost inevitably reproduce racial, class, and gender inequalities. Hayhurst’s chapter offers an intriguing critical examination of “girlhood” studies rarely undertaken in the sociology of sport (cf. Cooky, 2009, 2011; Kay, 2009). Accepting the challenge of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals which focus on the physical and psychological health needs of local communities, Ashleigh M. Huffman and Sarah J. Hillyer (Chapter 4) use a sport-based service-learning course at an American university to assess the integration of Iraqi refugees, many of whom had never previously participated in informal play or organized sport. The latter, the authors argue, quickly became a neutral and common ground for debate and mutual understanding between non-Iraqis and Iraqis, providing both groups with a common language to discuss things like racial stereotypes and cultural ideals. Shaping their analysis around a positive series of alliterative themes (connection, courage, compassion, capital, community), and arguing that the course showed tangible successes, Huffman and Hillyer nevertheless acknowledge realistic challenges faced by such programs, not the least of which is in not knowing what happens when such programs formally conclude. In Chapter 5, we return to Africa, this time to Zimbabwe. Here, and building on previous HIV/AIDS awareness programs in other African countries like Kenya and Tanzania, Chiaki Okada explores how in 2008 the Zimbabwean Baseball Association established a program aimed at raising HIV/AIDS understanding and prevention. She details the mechanics of
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the program who was involved, what baseball-related practices were organized, and how they were linked to HIV/AIDS group dialogue. Okada’s cautious conclusion is that it is hard to see unambiguous evidence of the successful role of sport regarding HIV/AIDS awareness or future prevention, but that at least in the short term the program provided a context for open and relaxed conversations about a topic still taboo and difficult to publicly discuss in Zimbabwean culture. The focus of the program examined by James Mandigo and colleagues in El Salvador is both skills- and awareness-based. Adopting the World Health Organization’s conception of life skills (coping/self-management, communication/interpersonal, decision making/problem solving), Chapter 6 showcases the role of schools, and of physical education (PE) in particular, in El Salvadoran communities with some of the highest rates of youth crime/violence on the planet. Arguing that “The real measure of success of a teacher education program is what happens when graduates begin teaching,” Mandigo et al. conclude that pedagogically sound PE programs carry real potential for the delivery of meaningful life skills, but again acknowledge that their apparently successful graduates need to be tracked over time to more thoroughly measure the veracity of any antiviolence learning that took place in the program. A “time will tell” sort of message can also be found in Chapter 7, where Naofumi Suzuki looks at six “sport for development” initiatives operating in and around Cape Town and two other South African cities several months after the FIFA World Cup of 2010, the first to ever take place in Africa. Signs of “development” in the form of community infrastructure improvements to housing and transport are juxtaposed against already familiar side effects of hosting large-scale events, such as further marginalization (displacement) of the urban poor and beneficiaries of such events being more corporate than human. In Chapter 8, the social vehicle for “development” is not found in sport per se but in cross-cultural membership in an arts-based “future leaders” program. Specifically, Miriam Galipeau and Audrey R. Giles study an initiative in which mainly non-Aboriginal youth workers mentor Albertan Aboriginal youth through the use of the arts, recreation, and sport. Adopting a Foucauldian perspective, the authors show that, however wellintentioned, such programs will not succeed in tempering deeply rooted social problems such as crime, substance abuse, and suicide unless they emphasize pursuits that are “culturally relevant” and not aimed in neocolonial fashion at an unabashed mimicry of behaviors and practices of little poignancy to mentees.
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Following the mixed methods approach of the previous chapter, Okada and Young offer a methodological design rarely undertaken in this genre of research life history analysis. Through a close chronological examination of personal accounts in a country where many formal, written, or photographed accounts have been destroyed, Chapter 9 narrates the life contribution (to Cambodia and to Cambodian sport) of one of that country’s most intriguing sport’s figures. Arguing that life histories offer not only a penetrating window into the experiences of a particular individual, but also the broader political, economic and social circumstances in which that life takes place, this study represents one of the first life history methodologies in the “sport for development” literature. While, as noted, Chapters 3 9 all veer, though in different ways and to different extents, toward the recognition of the “sport potential” end of Wilson’s middle-walking continuum, the final three chapters take us in an entirely more critical direction. Chapter 10 stays more or less with the conventional “sport for development” literature focusing on the Global South, but Chapters 11 and 12 change course slightly to examine “development” strategies and legacy realities in the Global North. Where these final three chapters meet in the middle is in their concern not only with what sport brings to social contexts, but how it is assessed, reported, and disseminated. In a critical assessment of monitoring and evaluation practices, Jeanes and Lindsey use their own forays into Zambian and other African zones to explain why the efficacy of sport-for-development work is a more complicated matter than simply collecting empirical data (even to the point of saturation) that imply positive outcomes. Questioning whether such calls for enhanced “evidence” within this field are appropriate or realistic, Jeanes and Lindsey’s circumspect analysis shifts the question to whether Global North/South power imbalances can be overcome in either the collection or use of data to improve practice and enhance policy. Among other matters, Chapter 10 raises questions regarding data dissemination in this field which may actually serve to limit potentially relevant “evidence.” Preferring to see monitoring and evaluation as essential aspects of the research process rather separated from it, Jeanes and Lindsey thus problematize the general thrust toward a more “evidence-based” sport-for-development field by reflexively posing the question: “evidence for what and whom?” Drawing from a sweeping review of extant work as well as from their own direct experiences with a so-called “Sports Legacies Research Collaborative” in Toronto, Michael Atkinson and Amanda De Lisio offer a critical examination of the process through which the impact of sport mega-events is measured. Highlighting the significant and often stark
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discrepancies between so many sports mega-event bid legacy promises and their frequently botched outcomes, they provide evidence not only of failed socioeconomic legacies, sociocultural legacies, physical cultural legacies, and environmental legacies, but also of how so many sport mega-events misunderstand communities and measure impact using flawed indicators. Chapter 11 concludes that the organizations and corporations that are behind most global sports mega-events intentionally select indicators that will self-justify and thus represents forms of social engineering easily “outed” by even elemental sociological theory. Chapter 12 at turns overlaps with, and differs from, Chapter 11. In this concluding study, Robert VanWynsberghe and Caitlin Pentifallo use the case of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver to offer a careful assessment of what constitutes “impact.” While certainly aimed at the role of sport in social development, this chapter differs from other studies in the volume in two important ways. First, it is essentially a quantitative study that makes its case using an entirely different array of methodological tools than the preceding chapters. Second, it introduces a new term to the literature Development through Mega-Events to compensate for the fact there is no generally agreed understanding of the “properties” and potential of sports mega-events. Using Olympic Games Impact data from the 2010 Games, VanWynsberghe and Pentifallo conclude that even at the most elite level where one would expect to find compelling rigor, sport mega-events are vaguely delimited with respect to sustainability outcomes, which renders realistic measurement all but impossible By structuring the collection in these ways, our goal was to capture the breadth and depth of research being undertaken on sport, social development and peace. Contributing to an expanding literature on the provocative matter of the “developmental” and/or “peace-inducing” role sport might play in human communities and how that role is most responsibly assessed, this volume showcases the “thickness” of the work being undertaken, albeit, once again, in different ways and with different emphases. As can be seen from disagreements over what the field should best be called, to where exactly the work should best be done (and if at all), to how the work should best be approached, to how the data should best be disseminated, this is clearly no homogeneous field of study. Indeed, it is deeply internally differentiated and debates have at times been fractious, as you will no doubt observe as you make your way through the chapters. But, however the field is referred to and whatever approaches are taken, one thing is certain this research area simply cannot be ignored. It exists, is already significant both in volume and effect, and is unlikely to do anything but
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continue to expand. As it does so, and picking up on the subtitle to this volume, our position is that it is important to acknowledge potential, but also to respect balance. The chapters in this volume represent the full range of this conundrum, sometimes straddling both possibilities.
NOTES 1. Representing obviously contested terrain, this general field is variously, and often loosely, referred to using a number of appellations and terms, and even formats of appellations and terms. Among others, these include: “sport-for-development,” “sport for peace,” “sport, social development and peace,” “sport in development,” “SDP,” “development though sport,” “sport and international development,” “sport and reconciliation,” “sport and gender development,” etc. Complicating this scenario even further is what is meant by “sport” and whether the intention is to distinguish organized games from recreational play and/or human movement and exercise (see Wilson and Okada chapters in this volume). And perhaps most importantly, these often loosely applied labels do not immediately identify exactly what sort of development or reconciliation is being referred to. 2. As one example, see the “International Platform on Sport-for-Development e-Debate” at (http://www.sportanddev.org/en/newsnviews/sportanddev_e_debates/ post_2015_development__2013_/about_the_e_debate/). 3. For instance, see Journal of Sport for Development (http://jsfd.org/2013/04/11/ volume-1-issue-1/). As an indication of the perceived legitimacy of this field, on February 3, 2014, Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, took the unusual move of formally endorsing the aforementioned academic journal in the following way: “The United Nations considers sport as a powerful tool to promote education, health, development and peace. Sport unites people of all social classes, cultures and religions in a positive and educational way. As the Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, it is with great pleasure that, I would like to take this opportunity to provide my heartfelt support for the Journal of Sport for Development (JSFD). With the continued growth of the sport-for-development sector and the increased expectation to show project impact it is timely to establish an academic journal that is specifically dedicated to evidence-based research in and around sport-for-development. The commitment of the editors and academic board to publish JSFD as a peer-reviewed, open-access journal is important in many ways. First, a stringent review process guarantees academic rigour and high quality publications; second, the journal content and resources are tailored towards academics and practitioners from around the world; and finally, the decision to provide the opportunity to publish articles at no cost provides important opportunities and access for everyone irrespective of socio-economic status or background. In this sense, JSFD reflects many of the values that the ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ movement holds dear.
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I strongly encourage both academic researchers and practitioners to submit their articles and case studies to JSFD. The multi-disciplinary focus, practical relevance and inclusive nature of JSFD are key strengths of this ambitious and aspiring journal, and I am convinced that it will be a great success for our sport-for-development community and beyond.” (http://jsfd.org/2014/02/12/message-of-support-from-mr-wilfried-lemke/). 4. As three small examples, in May 2011, the Faculty of Physical Education and Health, University of Toronto, hosted a two-day “Sport Legacies Research Collaborative,” and has held follow-up meetings. In September 2014, the European Association of Sport Management will host a workshop entitled “Sport-forDevelopment: Exploring Global and Local Futures” in Coventry, UK. And finally, for the past decade or longer, almost every sizable Sociology of Sport conference has convened sessions on this general topic. 5. For instance, see “Toolkit: Sport for Development” produced by TheNeXtstep in 2005 (the so-called “International Year of Sport and Physical Education”). 6. Brian Wilson’s chapter (Chapter 2) discusses one concrete Kenyan case in detail. 7. The prospect of a version of the SHTFL for females has been under discussion for at least two years, though this is yet to be formally introduced. The discussion does, however, highlight both a potential female “market” as well as good spirit and openness to what would be a significant change in Cambodian sport for females. 8. The majority of the players in the SHFL occupy menial and poorly paid jobs in the hotel industry.
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Baker, W., & Mangan, J. (1987). Sport in Africa: Essays in social history. New York, NY: Holmes & Meier. Bale, J., & Sanb, J. (1996). Kenyan running. London: Frank Cass. Ben-Porat, A. (1998). The commodification of football in Israel. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 22(3), 267 277. Beran, A. (1989). Physical education and sport in the Philippines. In A. Wagner (Ed.), Sport in Asia and Africa (pp. 147 164). New York, NY: Greenwood Press. Berg, B. L., & Lune, H. (2012). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson. Black, D. R. (2010). The ambiguities of development: Implications for “development through sport”. Sport in Society, 13(1), 121 129. Burnett, C. (2001). Social impact assessment and sport development: Social spin-offs of the Australia South Africa junior sport programme. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 36, 41 57. Burnett, C. (2006). Building social capital through an “active community club”. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 41, 283 294. Carter, F. (2008). New rules to the old game: Cuban sport and state legitimacy in the postsoviet era. Identities, Global Studies in Culture and Power, 15(2), 1 22. Chappell, R. (1999). Sport in developing countries: Opportunities for girls and women. Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal, 8(2), 1 16. Chappell, R. (2005). Sport in Namibia: Conflicts, negotiations and struggles since independence. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 40, 241 254. Clignet, R., & Stark, M. (1974). Modernization and the game of soccer in Cameroon. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 9, 81 98. Coalter, F. (2002). Sport and community development: A manual. Edinburgh: Sport Scotland. Coalter, F. (2005). The social benefit of sport: An overview to inform the community planning process. Edinburgh: Sport Scotland. Coalter, F. (2013). Sport-for-development: What game are we playing? London: Routledge. Coleman, D., & Iso-Ahola, S. E. (1993). Leisure and health: The role of social support and self-determination. Journal of Leisure Research, 25, 111 128. Cooky, C. (2009). “Girls just aren’t interested”: The social construction of interest in girls’ sport. Sociological Perspectives, 52(2), 259 283. Cooky, C. (2011). Do girls rule? Understanding popular culture images of “girl power” and sport. In S. S. Prettyman & B. Lampman (Eds.), Learning culture through sports: Perspectives on society and organized sports (pp. 210 226). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. (1976). Appendix to Resolution of (76) 41. Principles for a Policy of Sport for All (Defined by the Conference of European Ministers responsible for Sport in Brussels (1975) under the title “European Sport for All Charter”). Retrieved from https://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command= com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=592789&SecMode=1&DocId=655300& Usage=2 Donnelly, P., Atkinson, M., Boyle, S., & Szto, C. (2011). Sport for development and peace: A public sociology perspective. Third World Quarterly, 32(3), 589 601. Donnelly, P. A., & Young, K. (1985). Reproduction and transformation of cultural forms in sport: A contextual analysis of rugby. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 20(1), 19 39. Douglas, S. A. (1989). Sport in Malaysia. In A. Wagner (Ed.), Sport in Asia and Africa (pp. 165 182). New York, NY: Greenwood Press.
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Ebbeck, V., & Gibbons, L. S. (2003). Explaining the self-conception of perceived conduct using indicators of moral functioning in physical education. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 74(3), 284 291. Gasser, P., & Levinsen, A. (2004). Breaking post-war ice: Open fun football schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sport in Society, 7(3), 457 472. Godia, G. (1989). Sport in Kenya. In A. Wagner (Ed.), Sport in Asia and Africa (pp. 267 281). New York, NY: Greenwood Press. Guest, A. M. (2009). The diffusion of development-through-sport: Analysing the history and practice of the Olympic movement’s grassroots outreach to Africa. Sport in Society, 12(10), 1336 1352. Hay, R. (2003). Soccer in South Asia: Empire, nation, diaspora. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 38(1), 117 123. Hirai, H. (2005). Globalizing sports: Culture and rugby imports from Oceania in Japan. In S. Alomes (Ed.), Islands in the stream (pp. 79 89). Melbourne: Maribyrnong Press. International Olympic Committee. (2013). Olympic Charter. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved from http://www.olympic.org/Documents/olympic_charter_en.pdf Iso-Ahola, S. E. (1996). Leisure-related social support and self-determination as buffers of stress-illness relationship. Journal of Leisure Research, 28(3), 167 187. Kay, T. (2009). Developing through sport: Evidencing sport impacts on young people. Sport in Society, 12(9), 1177 1191. Keim, M. (2003). Nation building at play (Vol. 4). Oxford: Meyer & Meyer. Keimbou, D. (2005). Physical education in Cameroon (1920 60): Games, body and culture. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 40, 447 466. Kidd, B. (2008). A new social movement: Sport for development and peace. Sport in Society, 11, 370 380. Kidd, B., & Donnelly, P. (2000) Human rights in sports. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 35, 131 148. Lema, B. (1989). Sport in Zaire. In A. Wagner (Ed.), Sport in Asia and Africa (pp. 229 247). New York, NY: Greenwood Press. McCree, R. (2000). Professional soccer in the Caribbean: The case of Trinidad and Tobago, 1969 1983. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 35, 199 218. Meier, M. (2005). Gender equality, sport and development. Bienne: Swiss Academy for Development. Munro, R. (2012). Sport for peace and reconciliation: Young peacemakers in the Kakuma refugee camp and Mathare slums in Kenya. In K. Gilbert & W. Bennett (Eds.), Sport, peace and development (pp. 71 86). New York, NY: Common Ground Publishing. Nauright, J. (1997). Sport, cultures and identities in South Africa. London: Manchester University Press. Nicholls, S., Giles, A. R., & Sethna, C. (2011). Perpetuating the “lack of evidence” discourse in sport for development: Privileged voices, unheard stories and subjugated knowledge. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 46(3), 249 264. Ojeme, E. O. (1989). Sport in Nigeria. In A. Wagner (Ed.), Sport in Asia and Africa (pp. 249 266). New York, NY: Greenwood Press. Okada, C., & Kimura, T. (2001). The international cooperation through sports for the developing countries by UN organizations. Journal of Physical Exercise and Sports Science, 7, 113 118.
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Okada, C., & Young, K. (2011). Sport and social development: Promise and caution from an incipient Cambodian football league. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 47(1), 5 26. Pelak, C. (2005). Negotiating gender/race/class constraints in the new South Africa. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 40, 53 70. Polladach, T. (2010). Pro-poor Ethnic tourism in the Mekong: A study of three approaches in Northern Thailand. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 14(2), 201 221. Ravizza, D. M. (2012). We don’t play war anymore: Sport and the reintegration of former child soldiers in Northern Uganda. In K. Gilbert & W. Bennett (Eds.), Sport, peace and development (pp. 61 70). New York, NY: Common Ground Publishing. Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group. (2006). From practice to policy. Toronto: Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group. Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group. (2007). Literature reviews on sport for development and peace. Toronto: University of Toronto. Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group. (2008). Harnessing the power of sport for development and peace: Recommendations to governments. Toronto: Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group. Stevenson, T. B. (1989). Sport in the Yemen Arab Republic. In A. Wagner (Ed.), Sport in Asia and Africa (pp. 27 49). New York, NY: Greenwood Press. Straume, S., & Steen-Johnsen, K. (2012). On the terms of the recipient? Norwegian sports development aid to Tanzania in the 1980s. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 47(1), 95 112. Stuart, O. (1996). Players, workers, protestors: Social change and soccer in colonial Zimbabwe. In J. MacClancy (Ed.), Sport, identity and ethnicity (pp. 167 181). Oxford: Berg. Sugden, J. (2006). Teaching and playing sport for conflict resolution and co-existence in Israel. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 41, 221 240. Sugden, J. (2010). Critical left-realism and sport interventions in divided societies. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45, 258 272. Trotz, D. A. (2006). Rethinking Caribbean transnational connections: Conceptual itineraries. Global Networks, 6(1), 41 59. UNESCO. (1978). International Charter of Physical Education and Sport. Retrieved from http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13150&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_ SECTION=201.html UNESCO. (1999). MINEPS III final report (pp. 1–3). UNESCO. ANNEX1. United Nations. (2013). Sport for peace and development: Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal. United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.un. org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/68/L.8&Lang=E UN Inter-agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace. (2005). Sport as a tool for development and peace. California: UN Inter-agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2004). 4th International Conference of Ministers and Senior Officials Responsible for Physical Education and Sport (MINEPS3). Working Document. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, Athens. Wagner, A. (1982). Sport participation in Latin America. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 17, 29 39.
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Wagner, A. (1989). Sport in Asia and Africa. New York, NY: Greenwood Press. Weinberg, B., & Rockenfeller, S. (2012). From theory to practice: Scientific support and the design of a “sport-in-development” program in Bukoba, Tanzania. In K. Gilbert & W. Bennett (Eds.), Sport, peace and development (pp. 409 422). New York, NY: Common Ground Publishing. Wilson, B. (2012). Sport & peace: A sociological perspective. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press. Young, K., & Atkinson, M. (2012). The practice of qualitative research and thinking qualitatively. In K. Young & M. Atkinson (Eds.), Qualitative research on sport and physical culture (pp. 9 19). Bingley, UK: Emerald.
CHAPTER 1 ETHICAL CHALLENGES AND PRINCIPAL HURDLES IN SPORT-FOR-DEVELOPMENT WORK Simon C. Darnell ABSTRACT Purpose The purpose of this chapter is to introduce critical issues of power, social reproduction, and agency in the practice and institutionalization of sport-for-development and the burgeoning “Sport for Development and Peace” (SDP) sector. To this end, the chapter draws on a host of recent academic contributions to the critical study of sportfor-development. Findings Key findings of several research projects are organized and presented in four thematic categories: terms of development, voice and agency, social reproduction, and privilege and dominance. In turn, the conclusion examines recent theoretical applications of participatory methods and critical pedagogy to the research and practice of sport-for-development. Originality/value The chapter provides a succinct introduction to critical issues in sport-for-development work and will be of value to
Sport, Social Development and Peace Research in the Sociology of Sport, Volume 8, 1 18 Copyright r 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1476-2854/doi:10.1108/S1476-285420140000008001
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researchers, students, and practitioners interested in progressive approaches to international development and the role of sport therein. Keywords: Agency; social reproduction; ethics; dominance; privilege
INTRODUCTION On August 3, 2013 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly approved a motion to recognize April 6 the date of the opening of the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 as the “International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.” Thanks in part to an increasingly strong institutional relationship between the UN and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which has seen the IOC hold UN observer status since 2009 the announcement further solidified the profile and significance of the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector, the loose amalgam of organizations and stakeholders that now work to mobilize sport and physical activity in pursuit of a variety of development goals and conflict resolution. Commensurate with this institutionalization of SDP has been growth in the opportunities available to work toward development and peace by serving within the sector, in positions such as fundraisers and advocates, employees of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), program officials, or volunteers or interns. That is, there are now more chances for individuals and groups particularly from relatively privileged backgrounds and communities to work within the SDP sector and to participate in the various efforts to advance sport-for-development toward improving the lives and futures of underserved populations. In this chapter, I discuss some of the ethical, social, and political challenges implicated within this work of sport-for-development. Drawing on my own research in the field of SDP, as well as key studies on the topic published in recent years, I identify a host of issues that are worthy of critical consideration for those interested in participating or serving within sport-for-development. These critical issues are not intended to be a denunciation of sport-for-development or various current SDP initiatives but more a theoretical and empirical intervention into current practices with the goal of moving sport-for-development toward more ethically informed, socially engaged, and politically transformative philosophy and practice. With this in mind, the remainder of the chapter proceeds in five parts. In the next section, I discuss various terms of development itself and how
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these are taken up, and in some cases contested, within the field of SDP. This is followed by a critical consideration of issues of agency, drawing on research that has examined how the voices of local populations can be supported and/or suppressed in sport-for-development practice. The next two sections discuss the issue of social change in sport-for-development versus the reproduction of social structures and the securing of privilege and dominance, respectively. The conclusion of the chapter considers some alternative theoretical and methodological models for approaching sport-for-development and the future of the SDP sector.
THE TERMS OF DEVELOPMENT An issue central to the critical study of sport-for-development in recent years has been the actual definition of development itself. As Black (2010) argues, the very concept of international development is nearly always ambiguous and therefore proponents of sport-for-development have to account for (at least) three sets of development challenges: the tensions between “top-down” and “bottom-up” strategies, the specific political orientation of any development initiative, and the pluralistic definition of development itself. From this perspective, while the idea of sport as a universal language has been regularly proffered as an ideological and political underpinning and justification for mobilizing sport in the service of development,1 the notion of what constitutes progressive and sustainable development is far from universal in its conceptualization or practice. An excellent example of research that illustrates this contestability of development comes from an ethnographic study conducted by Andrew Guest that examined the implementation and interpretation of sport-fordevelopment programs in an Angolan community. Guest (2009) provides an analysis of the efforts of Olympic Aid, a northern NGO and the precursor to Right to Play, which drew on sport as a form of universal humanism in order to implement sport-for-development initiatives designed to promote life-skills, particularly those of self-esteem and teamwork. Guest’s analysis shows that such life-skills were socially and historically intelligible to Olympic Aid officials, in large part given the presumed benevolent history of the Olympic Movement, but these concepts largely misaligned with local understandings and priorities of development. For example, members of the community that encountered Olympic Aid
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programming deemed the pursuit of self-esteem to be impractical, foreign, and largely culturally insignificant, particularly for children and youth who were the main targets of the initiative. Instead, community members desired more tangible skills and opportunities that would support the future employment and economic stability of their community. Even the notion of teamwork, which was generally supported and lauded in this Angolan community, was understood in culturally specific terms as a means of social interaction rather than the more western-centric notion of a means to increased productivity and therefore was challenged and reinterpreted by community members. Thus, the contestability of what development is, and what forms of development should be pursued, meant that despite Olympic Aid programming “… community residents tended to participate in sports and play on their own terms and employ their own meanings” (Guest, 2009, p. 1347). This was understandable given that, according to Guest (2009, p. 1345), in this Angolan community “local meanings for community residents derived from a context that was very different than that which oriented Olympic Aid as a primarily Euro-American organization.” Guest’s research is an important example of the limits of universality in sport-for-development. It also generally aligns with the results of a study I conducted by interviewing volunteer interns (n = 27) who had served in Africa and the Caribbean as part of the “International Development through Sport” program organized by Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC). Based on the data produced through these interviews, I argued that the dominant political orientation of neoliberalism in which citizens are deemed to be individual agents with responsibilities to pursue and secure their own prosperity tended to influence the ways in which development was interpreted and defined by interns while they served in the program (see Darnell, 2010a). Drawing largely on their own productive and positive experiences within sport, interns described to me how they attempted to recreate similar sport-based opportunities for underserved populations that they believed would facilitate social mobility and achievement for these communities and individuals. Like Olympic Aid in Guest’s study, teamwork and responsibility were deemed to be core development goals and were pursued by CGC interns as they worked within their placement community (Darnell, 2010a). While I did not compare the terms of development proffered by CGC interns against the demands and interpretations of local people in the ways that Guest did in his research, by employing a theoretical model based on Gramscian notions of hegemony I did argue that such notions of
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development as a process of individual achievement and upward mobility served to align with, rather than challenge, the broader dominance of neoliberalism. In this way, sport-for-development may align with the logic of a competitive political economy that has tended to reproduce and exacerbate the local and global inequalities to which sport-for-development now attends, a point to which I return below. In addition, though, these research findings illustrate the need to interrogate the political and social specificity of the terms of development within SDP initiatives and question how, and by whom, the goals of development are identified and pursued. In turn, bringing a sustained and healthy skepticism to bear on any promotion of development as universal or benign is called for. To be fair, such contestability over the terms of development in SDP is increasingly recognized by those who are responsible for organizing and implementing sport-for-development programs. For example, Giulianotti’s (2011) recent research into the “reflexive discourses” of SDP officials underscores the extent to which those working in the field now recognize the critique of sport-for-development as a potential form of neocolonialism and therefore work to ensure that the terms of development are negotiated and implemented in ways that are democratic and culturally relevant. In his study, Giulianotti interviewed program officials from community-based organizations as well as both national and international NGOs working in sport-for-development in the Balkans and Sri Lanka. According to Giulianotti’s (2011, p. 59) findings, these officials were “… highly reflexive toward criticisms of their potential neocolonial or imperialistic development strategies,” criticisms that may be leveled by external stakeholders as well as participants within sport-for-development programs themselves. As a result, SDP program officials in Giulianotti’s research tended to focus on providing opportunities for local determination and actualization and strove to engage with user groups as partners in programming rather than as presumed beneficiaries of firmly structured and already determined development initiatives. Such approaches align with important recent theoretical understandings of development as the process of facilitating the opportunity or freedom to pursue successful and sustainable development (see Sen, 1999). It also draws attention to the importance of development based on participation and solidarity with, rather than stewardship of, marginalized people and communities (see Kapoor, 2009). At the same time, even if the terms of development are determined through collaboration and progressive means, other issues in sport-for-development work require critical attention. The next section discusses voice and agency.
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VOICES AND AGENCY The traditional model of international development, usually understood to have begun with U.S. President Harry Truman’s speech in 1949 calling for “First World” efforts to support the “Third World,” was based largely on top-down structures of aid and stewardship. In this model, rich countries and donors, particularly from North America and Europe, were deemed to have a responsibility to give money and provide expertise toward the goal of sustainable development in the marginalized nations and communities that make up the global South.2 To a degree, this traditional model of international development has been challenged and complicated by the forces of globalization and new theoretical and political approaches to development, particularly since the 1980s. For example, in his recent assessment of sport-for-development programs, Coalter (2013, p. 28) argues that the increased visibility and institutionalization of the SDP sector was made possible by broader changes in the international development aid paradigm that “shifted emphasis from economic capital to human and social capital, from government agencies to civil society.” Ostensibly, such trends have gone some way toward challenging the economistic approaches that helped to maintain divisions, both conceptual and material, between rich and poor, North and South, or First World and Third World within the policies and practices of development aid in the 20th century. As part of the “fourth pillar in development aid” (alongside traditional actors in government, multilateral institutions, and NGOs) (Develtere & De Bruyn, 2009), sport-based programs and the SDP sector ostensibly pursue development goals through means that are now more collaborative, locally determined, and self-sustaining. However, important research has argued that despite this move away from top-down development and toward collaboration, local voices can still be marginalized and the agency of participants and grassroots organizers restricted within the institutional structures of sport-for-development. For example, Nicholls, Giles, and Sethna (2011) have made a compelling case that the notion that sport-for-development programming lacks evidence as to its efficacy stems less from a lack of data and more from the absence of a genuine co-creation of knowledge between funders on the one hand and local practitioners and participants on the other. Based on interviews with local sport-for-development practitioners within the Kicking AIDS Out network in Namibia and South Africa, and interrogation through the Foucauldian theoretical lens of “subjugated knowledge,” Nicholls et al. show how the political and institutional structures of
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sport-for-development structures that still see funding and expertise predominately flow from rich countries and organizations to relatively poor partners tend to result in the development agenda and priorities being set by donors in ways that overlook local knowledge. In this way, while scholars like Black (2010) have called attention to the limits of top-down sport-for-development, in practice relatively rich, northern institutions still tend to enjoy a strong, and sometimes dominant, position within the processes by which sport-for-development policies are set and impacts analyzed (also see Hayhurst, 2009).3 As a result, voices that likely hold important insights into the strengths and weaknesses of sport-for-development practice are marginalized because they lack access or privilege within the institutions of SDP, a process of subjugation that is complicated, and likely reinforced, by the intersections of race, class, and gender within processes of knowledge production (also see Darnell, 2007, 2010b). In fact, Nicholls et al. do not argue against sport-for-development but rather argue for the recognition of marginalized voices that have much to offer to the improvement of policy and practice. As they (2011, p. 249) conclude: “Acknowledging and privileging the contributions that typically female, young, black African sportfor-development grassroots practitioners’ knowledge make to the field will concomitantly result in a more robust evidence base and challenge the lack of evidence discourse.” What this type of analysis shows are not only the limits of traditional top-down development but also the extent to which the SDP sector, despite claims to its novelty, still tends to recreate traditional development flows and structures. As noted, it was a move toward civil society leadership in international development and a more progressive cultural-based aid paradigm in the 1980s that fostered the momentum now enjoyed by sportfor-development (Coalter, 2013). Following this trend, traditional donor countries like Norway increasingly made funds available to private organizations or NGOs (Straume & Steen-Johnsen, 2012, p. 98). SDP has since become “… a significant component (or sub-field) of global civil society, which features a range of institutional actors with diverse political agendas” (Giulianotti, 2011, p. 54), mobilizing sport toward the goal of a more democratic agenda and practice of international development. However, the simple fact of civil society leadership has not been enough to counterbalance the subjugation of local voices in sport-based initiatives. For example, in their analysis of Norwegian involvement in sport for all programming in Tanzania in the 1980s, Straume and Steen-Johnsen (2012) illustrate how civil society organizations purposely targeted for Norwegian funding in order to facilitate grassroots programs on the terms
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set by Tanzanian people were nonetheless constrained by the priorities of the Norwegian government and a misalignment with local demands for development. In a finding similar to that of Guest’s, they show how the development aid made available by Norway was complicated, and even undermined, by the fact that many Tanzanian stakeholders did not consider sport a development priority at the time.4 These types of analyses that show diversity, locality, and agency within sport-for-development efforts being subsumed by broader structures of development aid, collapsed into universal proclamations, or even ignored by top-down development programs have been accompanied by calls to recognize and understand sport-for-development through a “decentered” approach to research. A notable example of this comes from Lindsey and Grattan (2012), who, drawing on research with sport-for-development stakeholders within two Zambian communities, suggested that many local efforts toward sport-for-development cannot be fully explained as the result of cultural and political imposition through hegemonic structures of global capitalism and/or neoliberalism. Rather, in their analysis, the instigation and implementation of sport-for-development at a local level in Zambia, while influenced by global forces of political economy, “… also represents decisions on the part of local community members to address problems that they themselves recognize” (Lindsey & Grattan, 2012, p. 107). This is an important insight as it illustrates, again in a manner similar to Guest, that local actors consistently assert their agency in relation to, and even through, development initiatives and struggles. While such efforts are not evidence of the absence of subjugation,5 particularly of the kind described by Nicholls et al., Lindsey and Grattan remind analysts that sport-fordevelopment is never simply imposed and that the complex processes of agency is a matter for ongoing empirical assessment in sport-fordevelopment research and practice. In turn, one of the main reasons for the necessity of considering agency is the criticism that sport-for-development practitioners and policies tend to deploy a limited vision for social change and/or political resistance; because of this, the possibility of social reproduction in and through sport-for-development remains.
SOCIAL REPRODUCTION Among the several criticisms he has brought to bear on sport-fordevelopment, Coalter (2010) suggests that many such efforts suffer from a
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“limited focus” in the face of wide scale development challenges such as poverty that are both broad and deep on a global scale. As a result, he suggests that the positive outcomes of sport-for-development initiatives are often treated as somehow “pre-given” (Coalter, 2010, p. 308) rather than subjected to contextual, robust, and empirical enquiry. While on the one hand this kind of argument does point to the need for more empirical assessments of the effects of sport-for-development practice,6 it also begs the more sociological question of how and why sport-for-development remains politically palatable and attractive. That is, how and why is sportfor-development generally understood to be a nearly inherently positive enterprise despite the recurring discourse of a lack of evidence? One way of understanding this paradox is through the concept of social reproduction. In a recent appraisal of the concept of development within sport-based interventions, Doug Hartmann and Christina Kwauk suggest that the mobilization of sport-for-development in its current and dominant formation is explicitly not designed to bring about social changes to inequalities, but rather to “resocialize and recalibrate individual youth and young people” into the structures of privilege and dominance by which such inequalities are maintained. This view is compatible with the argument, discussed above, that advocates of sport-for-development tend to base their efforts on re-creating for others their own positive experiences in sport, even if these opportunities were produced through inequities of race, class, and/or gender (Darnell, 2010a, 2010b). Analyses of this kind should not be interpreted as suggesting a conspiracy; the point is not that advocates of sport-fordevelopment in positions of authority and relative privilege strive perniciously to maintain social dominance and oppression. Rather, the point is that the dominant logic of sport-for-development tends to serve to maintain broader social stratifications (stratifications in and through which champions of sport-for-development generally benefit) by providing opportunities for underserved populations to participate better, or at least to survive, within long-standing structures of oppression. As Ong (2006) has shown, policies and practices of neoliberalism can include subjects as much as exclude and processes of inclusion serve to maintain and even remake the broader social terrain. In this way, Hartmann and Kwauk (2011) draw important attention to the social and political power implicated in the process of constructing the very definition of development and mobilizing sport-based policies and programs in response. It is against this backdrop of social reproduction that critical sports scholars have proposed alternative frameworks for approaching sport-fordevelopment. Donnelly, Atkinson, Boyle, and Szto, (2011, p. 597), for
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example, advocate for a “public sociology” approach in response to social reproduction in sport-for-development because “public sociologists remain conscious of past injustices, and how current practices and initiatives may help to reproduce these injustices.” Donnelly et al. suggest that the social reproduction of the commonsense benefits of sport can and should be interrupted by social scientists who make known the results of their research, results that are just as (or even more) likely to show negative or no development effects of sport as they are to “prove” the benefits of sport that advocates tend to proclaim (see Coalter, 2013). This is an important insight. To it I would add, however, that there remains a need to question and interrogate the roots of development inequality itself and also an opportunity to question whether sport-based programming attends to or challenges these histories. As Lyndsay Hayhurst and I have argued (Darnell & Hayhurst, 2014, p. 34), the particular implementation of sport-for-development in post-colonial regions and communities “calls for an accompanying understanding of (a) the history of colonialism, (b) the connections of this history to contemporary practices and structures of imperialism and/or neocolonialism and, (c) theories and methodologies of decolonisation.” In this respect, the most significant challenge for the future of sport-fordevelopment may lie in attending to the historical amnesia that facilitates the reproduction of development inequality.
PRIVILEGE AND DOMINANCE The final critical issue to be addressed in this chapter relates to the ones discussed previously but centers them more firmly on the people who work in sport-for-development. As mentioned, the institutionalization of the SDP sector has increased the opportunities available for people to serve within programs of sport-for-development. And while it is certainly the case that advocates and workers in sport-for-development come from a variety of social and geographic backgrounds, it is still reasonable to suggest that the majority of SDP workers and volunteers tend to enjoy relatively privileged backgrounds. With this in mind, similar to the issue of social reproduction, it is important to bring a critical perspective to bear on the extent to, and ways in which the ethos and practices of sport-for-development secure social privileges and relations of dominance, particularly along lines of race, class, and gender. This line of inquiry is important not least because of critical research that argues that development service can secure the
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normativity of Whiteness, particularly for those who travel from the global North (Heron, 2007), especially since discussions of race, racism, and racial hierarchies tend to remain “taboo” within the practice and study of international development (White, 2002). With this in mind, the ways in which workers and volunteers in sportfor-development describe and make sense of their experiences can be illustrative of the politics of race and social hierarchies in SDP. In 2007, I conducted an analysis of the published testimonials of Right to Play volunteers and examined how the concept of race was articulated and the implications of this for the construction of subjectivity. Based on these testimonials, and in particular the ways in which Right to Play volunteers described their efforts to “develop skills and experience” (Darnell, 2007, p. 569) within the communities in which they served, I argued that without a vigilant critical analysis of race, sport-for-development practice can reinforce Whiteness as a dominant subject positions based on stewardship and benevolence. This conclusion dovetailed with my subsequent analysis of CGC interns who tended to interpret markers of race in sport-fordevelopment in ways that corroborated a neoliberal philosophy of development in which they strove to influence the conduct and individual behavior of the people they encountered (Darnell, 2010b). Since this work was published, other scholars have added important analyses to the critical analysis of privilege and dominance in sport-fordevelopment. A good example is Forde’s (2013) autoethnography of his time spent working in sport-for-development in Lesotho. Using critical race theory to (re)read his own experiences (and offer artistic renderings) of sport-for-development service, Forde draws attention to the ways in which volunteers and development workers often assume a central position in narratives of, and knowledge about, the practice of international development. As Forde shows, the socially intelligible, and even preferred, emotional experiences of development service (e.g., fear, sadness, confusion) tend to focus on, and therefore reveal more about, the development volunteer than about the presumed beneficiaries of development initiatives. In so doing, these experiences and their representations secure, rather than challenge, the privileges of Whiteness, privileges that are often required in order for subjects to find themselves in a position to serve in the first place. Forde’s analysis raises the disquieting, yet necessary question of who benefits and whose interests are most served in and through the activities and service of the SDP sector and the field of sport-for-development. Critical development scholar Rebecca Tiessen provides an important contribution toward this question through her analysis of the narratives of
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development proffered by eight different SDP NGOs. Deploying a framework of global citizenship a concept connected to civil society that suggests a “new normative architecture of world order values” (Tiessen, 2011, p. 573) she shows how conceptual recourse to the global allows some SDP organizations to promote their particular development goals and efforts as universal in scope and focus. Crucially, “the key players in the promotion of this universal language are increasingly Western-based youth who volunteer for SDP programmes in developing countries” (Tiessen, 2011, p. 584). The point here is not that sport-for-development fails to meet its objectives or even that the efforts of SDP volunteers are necessarily misguided, but rather that the deployment of universal notions of sport and development, particularly presumptions of benefits and munificence, can serve to obscure and therefore secure hierarchies and relations of dominance to the detriment of marginalized populations and the pursuit of sustainable and equitable development on a global scale. Analyses of this sort therefore suggest the need to reconceptualize some of the tenets of sport-for-development; in the conclusion of this chapter I offer some ideas to this end.
CONCLUSION The critical issues discussed in the preceding sections suggest the need for constant reflexivity and analysis of the basic principles, practices, and even pedagogies employed in sport-for-development work. This is likely to be an ongoing project as research and experience as well as contextual shifts in the field of international development and the global sporting sector pushes and/or pulls SDP in new directions. With that said, several ideas have been put forth recently for reconceptualizing SDP in the face of the kinds of ethical challenges raised here. In concluding this chapter, I discuss two of these. First, there has been a recurring suggestion for sport-for-development to employ, both in practice and research, the tenets and insights of Feminist Participatory Action Research, or F-PAR (see Darnell & Hayhurst, 2011; Hayhurst, MacNeill, & Frisby, 2011; Lyndsey & Grattan, 2012). Recognizing the history of colonialism and the broader politics of contemporary re- or neocolonialism through various military and economic policies, F-PAR advocates for a participant-led approach to sportfor-development that is based on solidarity with local efforts to resist and
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reshape structures of oppression that sustain inequality. An F-PAR approach to sport-for-development would therefore begin with the goals and terms of development purposefully undecided and the initial stages of program (or research) design would involve collaborative assessments of contexts, structures, and the actions necessary for the pursuit of sustainable and meaningful development. As Hayhurst and I have written elsewhere, the unique strength of the F-PAR approach to sport-for-development may be that it “aims to merge the theoretical, substantive and reflexive components of research with an eye to seeking ‘practical’ solutions to problems and issues that are identified by individuals and communities ‘themselves’” (Darnell & Hayhurst, 2011, p. 191).7 Participatory research is not the only critical framework, however, that holds purchase for responding productively and progressively to the issues of social reproduction and privilege identified in this chapter. Spaaij and Jeanes (2013) offer another informative perspective through their discussion of the potential for critical pedagogy, in the tradition of Paulo Freire, to support the renewal or even reinvention of a commitment to socially transformative development in and through sport. In an analysis compatible with the criticisms raised in this chapter, Spaaij and Jeanes suggest that the dominant pedagogical approach to sport-fordevelopment tends to fall into one of three categories: didactic, peer-led, or relationship-based. While none of these approaches are inherently flawed, they all stop short of challenging histories and structures of oppression and therefore run the risk of supporting processes of social reproduction. For example, while peer-to-peer education increases the opportunity for student-led learning, there is little evidence to suggest that it “can realistically support young people to develop sufficient agency to challenge broader social structures and power dynamics within communities” (Spaaij & Jeanes, 2013, p. 8). Instead, in the Freirean tradition, Spaaij and Jeanes suggest that SDP curricula be developed based on the particularities of people’s lives, that cultural alternatives to didactic practice be considered and that SDP practitioners the current and future SDP workers and volunteers who are the conceptual focus of this chapter assume a pedagogical position that is “actively and critically engaged” in the history, politics, and quotidian experiences of inequality (Spaaij & Jeanes, 2013, p. 13). This framework offers a theoretical, but also a pedagogically practical lens through which to respond to the ethical challenges of sport-for-development work. Of course, employing and implementing this kind of radical approach to sport-for-development is far from simple. First and foremost, funders
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of sport-for-development may view an F-PAR or Freirean approach as too radical or even as illegitimate (Spaaij & Jeanes, 2013). Similarly, implementing a decolonizing framework likely requires bringing a critical perspective to bear on organizations like the IOC itself, which, as discussed in the section “Introduction,” are increasingly significant stakeholders in global sport-for-development but who also have much to gain by maintaining the status quo of international sport, not to mention the dominant political economy. Transforming these relations is no doubt a daunting task (Darnell & Hayhurst, 2014). Finally, participatory research is not a theoretical or methodological panacea for the issues raised here and always runs the risk of romanticizing subaltern agency in ways that may confirm the logic and practice of social reproduction. Still, as I have discussed elsewhere, there is a significant opportunity to use the convening interest in sport as a means to foster critical dialogue and pedagogy about international development and development inequalities (Darnell, 2012). While scholars like Coalter have shown that an input output model has significant limits for solving development inequalities, the Freirean tradition encourages supporters of sport-for-development to leverage the popularity of SDP toward new and alternative development practices. In this sense, the main task and challenge for future advocates of SDP may be less the successful management of programs and more the maintenance of a progressive ethos within the field of sport-fordevelopment.
FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Black, D. R. (2010). The ambiguities of development: Implications for “development through sport”. Sport in Society, 13(1), 121 129. David Black brings the perspective of the “academic skeptic” to bear on sport-for-development. He argues that the very concept of international development is ambiguous and suggests that proponents of sportfor-development can and should learn from the mistakes of traditional development initiatives. Specifically, he identifies three areas that present development challenges to practitioners of sport: connecting “top-down” to “bottom-up” strategies, accounting for the specific political orientation of any development initiative, and the pluralistic definition of development itself.
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2. Guest, A. M. (2009). The diffusion of development-through-sport: Analysing the history and practice of the Olympic Movement’s grassroots outreach to Africa. Sport in Society, 12(10), 1336 1352. Andrew Guest’s critical ethnography shows that Olympic Aid, a northern NGO and the precursor to Right to Play, drew, in the early 2000s, on universal humanism in an effort to facilitate life-skills of self-esteem and teamwork. However, such an approach was at odds with local priorities of employment and tangible, economic competencies. Guest argues that such results illustrate both local agency and resistance, and act as reminders to the various meanings of sport in different cultural and sociopolitical contexts. The results also illustrate a dogged modernization philosophy within SDP where sport is “universal” and presumed to overcome the challenges of culture and inequality. 3. Hartmann, D., & Kwauk, C. (2011). Sport and development: An overview, critique and reconstruction. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 35(3), 284 305. Doug Hartmann and Christina Kwauk offer a radical appraisal and deconstruction by suggesting that in its current formation, sport-fordevelopment is explicitly not designed to bring about social changes to inequalities, but rather to “… resocialize and recalibrate individual youth and young people” into contemporary social and economic norms and structures in order that these relations be maintained and their associated privileges preserved (2011, p. 8). They draw attention to the social and political power implicated in the process of constructing the very definition of development and mobilizing sport-based policies and programmes in response. 4. Nicholls, S., Giles, A. R., & Sethna, C. (2011). Perpetuating the “lack of evidence” discourse in sport for development: Privileged voices, unheard stories and subjugated knowledge. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 46(3), 249 264. Based on interviews with local sport-for-development practitioners within the Kicking AIDS Out network in Namibia and South Africa, and using Foucauldian theory, Nicholls et al. show how the political and institutional structures of sport-for-development structures that still see funding and expertise predominately flow from rich countries and organizations to relatively poor partners tend to result in the development agenda and priorities being set by donors in ways that overlook local knowledge.
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5. Spaaij, R., & Jeanes, R. (2013). Education for social change? A Freirean critique of sport for development and peace. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 18(4), 442 457. Drawing on the teachings of Paulo Freire, Ramo´n Spaaij and Ruth Jeanes suggest that the dominant approach to sport-for-development tends to fall into one of three pedagogical categories: didactic, peer-led, or relationshipbased, all of which stop short of challenging histories and structures of oppression. As an alternative, they propose that SDP practitioners assume a pedagogical position that is “actively and critically engaged” in the history and politics of inequality.
NOTES 1. An oft-cited example of this is then UN Secretary General Annan’s (2004) statement that “Sport is a universal language. At its best, it can bring people together, not what their origin, background, religious beliefs or economic status.” 2. There are contestable political and epistemological implications of deploying the term “global South.” Recognizing that a full discussion of the term is beyond the scope of this chapter, global South, as used here, refers to the regions and communities of the world that suffer most within global inequalities. In this way, the global South is connected by, though not reducible to, geography and also necessarily invokes an historical perspective. As Mignolo (2011, p. 185) explains, “The Global South is not a geographic part of the planet, but the places on the planet that endured the experience of coloniality that suffered, and still suffer, the consequences of the colonial wound.” 3. It is worth noting that some scholars of sport-for-development are critical of this line of inquiry. For example, Coalter (2013) has largely rejected the feminist, post-colonial analysis of sport-for-development because, as he claims, it rejects empirical analysis and actually serves to reify binaries such as global North/South. Specifically, he is critical of Nicholls et al. for “ideological over-reach” in their postcolonial reading of Kicking AIDS Out since practitioners in the global South developed the program. While recognizing this criticism, I maintain that Nicholls et al. make an important contribution to the literature. 4. Arguably, Straume and Steen-Johnsen’s case study is more an example of international aid in support of traditional sport development as opposed to seeking change through sport-for-development. However, their analysis and discussion of power relations in donor/recipient relations is germane to this chapter. 5. In a commentary on Lindsey and Grattan’s article, Lyndsay Hayhurst and I argued that their descriptions of sport-for-development in Zambian communities were compatible with the theory and politics of Gramscian hegemony, a perspective that we had utilized previously. As we wrote “Lindsey and Grattan’s emphasis on the local agency of SDP actors in Zambia actually complements our work, since the authors’ actor-oriented framework speaks to the crucial importance of locating
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challenges to the inequalities and oppressions sustained by and through global neoliberalism” (Darnell & Hayhurst, 2012, p. 120). 6. In his recent text, Coalter (2013) reports findings of this kind from a comparative analysis of sport-for-development initiatives. He ultimately finds little evidence to support the idea that sport programming necessarily leads to personal development within marginalized or underserved communities. 7. The inverted commas in the original passage are intended to recognize that no approach to research can or should be considered wholly practical, nor is there any individual, group, or community that is completely homogeneous or isolated.
REFERENCES Annan, K. (2004). Universal language of sport brings people together, teaches teamwork, tolerance, Secretary-General says at launch of International Year. U.N. Press Release SG/ SM/9579. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sgsm9579.doc.htm. Accessed on September 23, 2013. Black, D. R. (2010). The ambiguities of development: Implications for “development through sport”. Sport in Society, 13(1), 121 129. Coalter, F. (2010). The politics of sport-for-development: Limited focus programmes and broad gauge problems? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45(3), 295 314. Coalter, F. (2013). Sport-for-development: What game are we playing? London: Routledge. Darnell, S. C. (2007). Playing with race: Right to play and the production of whiteness in “development through sport”. Sport in Society, 10(4), 560 579. Darnell, S. C. (2010a). Power, politics and “sport for development and peace”: Investigating the utility of sport for international development. Sociology of Sport Journal, 27(1), 54 75. Darnell, S. C. (2010b). Sport, race, and bio-politics: Encounters with difference in “sport for development and peace” internships. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 34(4), 396 417. Darnell, S. C. (2012). Sport for development and peace: A critical sociology. London: Bloomsbury Academic Press. Darnell, S. C., & Hayhurst, L. (2012). Hegemony, postcolonialism and sport-for-development: A response to Lindsey and Grattan. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 4(1), 111 124. Darnell, S. C., & Hayhurst, L. M. C. (2014). De-colonising the politics and practice of sportfor-development: Critical insights from post-colonial feminist theory and methods. In N. Schulenkorf & D. Adair (Eds.), Global sport-for-development: Critical perspectives. London: Palgrave MacMillan. Darnell, S. C., & Hayhurst, L. M. C. (2011). Sport for decolonization: Exploring a new praxis of sport for development. Progress in Development Studies, 11(3), 183 196. Develtere, P., & De Bruyn, T. (2009). The emergence of a fourth pillar in development aid. Development in Practice, 19(7), 912 922. Donnelly, P., Atkinson, M., Boyle, S., & Szto, C. (2011). Sport for development and peace: A public sociology perspective. Third World Quarterly, 32(3), 589 601. Forde, S. (2013). Fear and loathing in Lesotho: An ethnographic analysis of sport for development and peace. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Published online before print, doi:10.1177/1012690213501916
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Giulianotti, R. (2011). Sport, transnational peacemaking, and global civil society: Exploring the reflective discourses of “sport, development, and peace” project officials. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 35(1), 50 71. Guest, A. M. (2009). The diffusion of development-through-sport: Analysing the history and practice of the Olympic Movement’s grassroots outreach to Africa. Sport in Society, 12(10), 1336 1352. Hartmann, D., & Kwauk, C. (2011). Sport and development: An overview, critique and reconstruction. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 35(3), 284 305. Hayhurst, L. M. C. (2009). The power to shape policy: Charting sport for development and peace policy discourses. International Journal of Sport Policy, 1(2), 203 227. Hayhurst, L. M. C., MacNeill, M., & Frisby, W. (2011). A postcolonial feminist approach to sport, gender and development. Routledge Handbook for Sport Development (pp. 353 366). New York, NY: Routledge. Heron, B. (2007). Desire for development: Whiteness, gender, and the helping imperative. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Kapoor, D. (2009). Education, decolonization and development: Perspectives from Asia. Africa and the Americas. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Lindsey, I., & Grattan, A. (2012). An “international movement”? Decentring sport-fordevelopment within Zambian communities. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 4(1), 91 110. Mignolo, W. D. (2011). The global south and world dis/order. Journal of Anthropological Research, 67(2), 165 188. Nicholls, S., Giles, A. R., & Sethna, C. (2011). Perpetuating the “lack of evidence” discourse in sport for development: Privileged voices, unheard stories and subjugated knowledge. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 46(3), 249 264. Ong, A. (2006). Neoliberalism as exception: Mutations in citizenship and sovereignty. Durham: Duke University Press. Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Spaaij, R., & Jeanes, R. (2013). Education for social change? A Freirean critique of sport for development and peace. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 18(4), 442 457. Straume, S., & Steen-Johnsen, K. (2012). On the terms of the recipient? Norwegian sports development aid to Tanzania in the 1980s. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 47(1), 95 112. Tiessen, R. (2011). Global subjects or objects of globalisation? The promotion of global citizenship in organisations offering sport for development and/or peace programmes. Third World Quarterly, 32(3), 571 587. White, S. (2002). Thinking race, thinking development. Third World Quarterly, 23(3), 407 419.
CHAPTER 2 MIDDLE-WALKERS: NEGOTIATING MIDDLE GROUND ON THE SHIFTING TERRAIN OF SPORT, PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT Brian Wilson ABSTRACT Purpose To outline strategies for balancing a critical approach to sport for development and peace (SDP) interventions with approaches that highlight the potentially positive outcomes of SDP. Two examples of attempts to balance these approaches are highlighted. One is a critical analysis of responses to sport-related environmental problems. The other is a study of how a sport-related reconciliation event led by celebrity athletes was successfully organized. Design/methodology/approach In the first part of the chapter, the complexity of the SDP concept (and the terms sport, peace, and development) is discussed along with the challenges of negotiating critical and more optimistic stances on SDP. In the second part, two approaches to
Sport, Social Development and Peace Research in the Sociology of Sport, Volume 8, 19 43 Copyright r 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1476-2854/doi:10.1108/S1476-285420140000008000
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navigating between “extremely critical” and “unwaveringly optimistic” stances on SDP are outlined through two case studies. Findings The two case studies are described along with preliminary findings from studies that were conducted. Each case study is accompanied by a discussion of how the author “middle-walked” between “extremely critical” and “unwaveringly optimistic” positions on SDP. A focus in this section is on how theory, methods, and strategies for reporting findings were accounted for in the process of balancing these distinct positions. Research limitations/implications The difficulties attempting to balance critical and optimistic positions are discussed. The difficulties connecting critical analysis with practical suggestions for improving SDP-related work were also outlined. Keywords: Sport; peace; environment; Kenya; reconciliation
INTRODUCTION As the area of research and practice known as “sport for development and peace” (or “SDP”) has matured in recent years, scholars like Sugden (2010) and Coalter (2013) have identified an overt tension. The tension is between members of two seemingly oppositional camps. On the one side, we have what Coalter (2013) has described as the pro-SDP “evangelists.” Evangelists who are often practitioners of SDP are known to uncritically espouse the idea that sport is useful in supporting a whole range of positive peace and development-related outcomes. Research and evaluation of SDP programs, for evangelists, is commonly treated with relative indifference, seen to be useful only for “producing proof for their beliefs or legitimating their funding” (Coalter, 2013, p. 45). Members of this camp share an unquestioned belief in the idea that sport is a force for good and that sport is (or should be) integral to the promotion of positive social changes. The idea of not using sport for these purposes is rarely considered, as members of this camp focus on questions about how to better use sport to promote peace and development, not whether and/or when sport should be used for these purposes. The other, opposing camp of SDP-critics includes those who see most SDP-related work as inherently flawed, as part of a neoimperialist, neoliberal, and neocolonial project. Members of this camp observe how
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international NGOs funded by donors based in the Global North are implicated in a system that positions those in the Global South in a dependent relationship with these donors in a situation where they must acquiesce to those who devise the rules that make one eligible for such funding. SDPcritics also suggest that international NGOs are generally “well-meaning,” but commonly insensitive to the local contexts where they utilize sportrelated educational tools tools created by those in the Global North to be applied in a variety of countries and areas in the Global South. Members of this camp are critical of the idea that such NGOs should be relied upon to “fill the gaps” left by governments that are unwilling to deal directly with particular social and environmental problems guided as they are by the belief that such problems will be dealt with most effectively through market-related mechanisms. Sport mega-event promoters claiming to be SDP leaders are similarly criticized for promoting an undemocratic approach to development. Critics argue that those who bid for mega-events make ambitious commitments (in an attempt to appease those who award mega-events) that may lead to situations where governments must fast-track costly urban developments without the due process that is usually required for such projects. Ultimately, critics suggest that the social, economic, and environmental costs of such megaevents are huge and clear, and that the benefits of holding events are ambiguous at best, with the greatest benefits going to more privileged groups.
MIDDLE-WALKERS While the narrative I offer above includes two opposing camps, I argue in this chapter that it is most useful to attend to the activities of those in a third camp a large and multi-faceted camp that I call the “middle-walkers.” Middle-walkers, like Sugden and Coalter, claim that they do not align with either of these extreme positions, preferring a more balanced approach to SDP. This means acknowledging both the problems with SDP, as well as its potential. The reason I think middle-walkers deserve attention is that, in my view, most scholars who engage in research on SDP are in some way middlewalkers, even if they approach the middle in different ways. In fact, and although I have reiterated a narrative about “defenders and critics of SDP,” there are few who actually take on the unqualified extreme positions outlined above. While I also recognize that few scholars walk as close to
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the middle as someone like Sugden (who is, at the same time, a critical sociologist and SDP practitioner) and that most scholars lean in particular directions (sometimes heavily) most still attempt to somehow negotiate a middle ground. For example, even those who are sometimes slotted into the extremely critical category generally do not question the potential contributions of SDP per se, but instead focus on ways that SDP is commonly carried out and evaluated and especially on flaws in the neoliberal incentive system that drives the sponsorship activities and self-evaluation practices of many SDP NGOs (see Darnell, 2012; Darnell & Hayhurst, 2012; Lindsey & Grattan, 2012; Nicholls, Giles, & Sethna, 2011; Wilson & Hayhurst, 2009). In fact, those who launch some of the most biting critiques of SDP-related work who express concerns about poorly evaluated programs and question a system where evaluations are done by those with a vested interest in positive outcomes are in many cases quite supportive of SDP-related work and the idea of SDP. Such concerns about conflict-of-interest among SDP providers, poor programming, and resistance to rigorous evaluation are issues commonly raised by scholars like Coalter (2013) and Kidd (2008), who most would see as champions of responsible and rigorous SDP interventions. Even those who focus on how SDP work is commonly implicated in a system where those in the Global South are sometimes inunequal, condescending and exploitative relationships with Global North donors and SDP NGOs recognize how, on a micro-level at least, SDP programs commonly offer context-specific solutions to some local-level problems (Darnell, 2012; Giulianotti, 2006; Wilson & Hayhurst, 2009). Other debates that have arisen in the field which can be observed in recent exchanges between Darnell and Hayhurst (2012) and Lindsey and Grattan (2012), and between Coalter (2013) and some of the authors referred to in the previous paragraph are methodological ones. These debates tend to be more about what aspect of SDP-related work should be the focus of analysis, or if any one aspect deserves more attention than another. Darnell and Hayhurst (2012) say as much in their suggestion that ethnographic studies that illuminate how SDP programs operate on-theground should be “understood as complementary, not oppositional, to the critical analyses of ‘northern-led’ or ‘top-down’ development in SDP, particularly as understood through the theoretical deployment of hegemony and postcolonialism” (p. 112). Related debates pertain to questions about the most appropriate strategy for assessing the impacts of SDP programs on participants and their communities, not whether SDP is inherently good or
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problematic (see Coalter, 2013 for one side of the debate, and Kay, 2009 and Nicholls et al., 2011 for the other). While these are important and complex debates that reveal interrelated theoretical and methodological rifts in the field, such tensions are certainly not new in the sociology of sport field. In fact, we might even express some optimism about SDP’s role in bringing together those who share an interest in SDP, but disagree on some of these issues since highlighting these rifts and considering the implications of adopting particular perspectives on SDP is crucial as we attempt to come to terms with the pressing issues that SDP-related work presents. All this to say, the activities and strategies of middle-walkers deserve attention. They deserve attention as a way of informing research by those interested in maintaining a critical stance and, at the same time, contributing to the development of theory and evidence-driven forms of SDP work. I also suspect, and this is certainly true in my case, that those who teach about SDP are working with students who are often passionate about SDP-related work and strive to be (or have been) involved in this work and that discussions about how to do critically and contextually sensitive SDP work is central to pedagogical practices in these instances. With this background, I explore the work of middle-walkers and reflect on my own middle-walking activities in the following way. First, I offer provisional definitions of the oft-contested terms sport, peace, and development. Following this, I discuss efforts by sociologists of sport to find a middle ground in their attempts to study and contribute to the SDP field. This discussion features reflections on my own experiences of middle-walking while conducting studies on SDP-related topics. Finally, I offer broad reflections on theoretical challenges and strategies that underlie attempts to middle-walk through the field of SDP.
THE SHIFTING TERRAIN OF SPORT, PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT One of the major challenges facing scholars attempting to assess and potentially contribute to the field and practice of SDP is deciding what terms like sport, peace, and development mean and especially how they are understood and used by those engaged in SDP-related work. Put another way, middle-walkers must be sensitive to the problems with and potential of
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SDP at the same time as they must negotiate the very meanings of the terms that are the foundation of the SDP field. I have done some of these negotiations in my previous writing on SDP, where I suggested that the terms sport, peace, and development embody features of what anthropologist Le´vi Strauss (1987) famously called a “floating signifier” (Wilson, 2012a). I use the floating signifier concept here to illuminate how words like sport, peace, and development are symbols that take on meanings depending on the audience that interprets them and the context in which they are used. While some meanings might have more staying power than others, the dynamic nature of these terms leaves them open to multiple interpretations. Of course, this does not mean that the terms do not mean anything but, instead, that the meanings are “relatively anchored” (Hall, 1986). The term “sport,” for example, has been examined in some depth by itself, with scholars like Coakley and Donnelly (2009) suggesting that contemporary sports are best understood as “institutionalized, competitive activities that involve rigorous physical exertion or the use of relatively complex physical skills by participants motivated by internal and external rewards” (p. 4). These authors distinguish sport from “play,” which is “an expressive activity done for its own sake,” and from “dramatic spectacle,” which is “a performance that is intended to entertain an audience” (Coakley & Donnelly, 2009, p. 5). Andrews (2006) is less interested in offering stable definitions like these because, as he notes, sport is understood in so many different and sometimes contradictory ways as mass entertainment, as a venue for transcendent personal experiences, as individualistic and violent, as expressive and unstructured, and so on. For scholars like Andrews, then, what we think of as “sport” is always contextual, emerging from the meanings people assign to the term in particular locations, at particular historical moment. Atkinson (2010), drawing on Pronger (2002), has even suggested that particular activities like yoga and fell running that exist outside the capitalistic, hypercompetitive realm might be understood as “post-sport” activities because they are sport-like (e.g., in their physicality), but lack the structured and dominant institutionalized features described by Coakley and Donnelly. The peace concept is similarly unstable (Wilson, 2012a). Cortright (2008) notes, for example, that the term has at times been associated with being a pacifist which has been linked by some to an unwillingness to fight for justice when necessary. In Sun Tzu’s (2002) renowned book The Art of War, violent conflict is linked with the broader objective of creating “peace on the terms of the victor.” With these sorts of associations, it is perhaps no surprise that some people interested in what many of us think
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of today as peace-promotion wanted nothing to do with the actual term “peace.” Late nineteenth and early twentieth century philanthropist Andrew Carnegie is an example of this with Cortright (2008) noting that Carnegie generously “funded programs to prevent war and advance international cooperat[ion]” but wanted the word peace left out of the title of his international endowments pertaining to these issues (p. 6). An influential attempt to anchor the term was made by a founder of the peace studies field, Johan Galtung, who offered the terms “negative peace” and “positive peace.” Negative peace, for Galtung, refers to an “absence of war” and “absence of direct violence” of all kinds (physical and verbal/ psychological abuse) (cf. Jeong, 2000). Positive peace, on the other hand, is approached in contexts where attempts to address various inequalities and forms of discrimination have been effective (recognizing that peace, in this sense, is only ever approached but not fully achieved). Jeong (2000) described positive peace as “the removal of structural violence beyond the absence of direct violence” with structural violence referring to the denial of a sense of autonomy and freedom because of poverty, discrimination, and stark economic, social, and political inequalities (Jeong, 2000, pp. 24 25). These distinctions between negative and positive peace are especially helpful when thinking through reasons that societies that are not experiencing obvious forms of direct conflict might not be “peaceful.” For example, states where free speech is suppressed and where order is maintained predominantly through the use of coercion and military threat might not be engaged in any direct (violent) civil or international conflict. Of course, in these situations it would seem that citizens would not be experiencing the “freedom” and “autonomy” associated with “positive peace.” With this in mind, consider the situation in countries where sweatshops are located sweatshops known to employ labor forces that infamously produced apparel for multinational corporations like Nike. Concerns about labor conditions in these sweatshops, generally located in countries of the Global South, are long-standing and well-established (Knight & Greenberg, 2002; Sage, 1999). It is common for countries that host the sweatshops to have friendly diplomatic relationships with countries where the head offices of the corporations that sell apparel are stationed. This is an excellent example of a situation where “negative peace” may be maintained, but “positive peace” may not be. Straightforward claims about sport-peace connections are also unsettled if we take into consideration the broad range of topics that are addressed in the interdisciplinary field of peace studies. While the field of peace
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studies emerged initially from a concern with Cold War-related international issues (e.g., nuclear war threats), the field has grown to explore various human rights-related issues as well as strategies and topics that can help scholars and others understand how to foster peaceful societies. Those doing this work focus on topics ranging from health, to gender, to the environment, to journalism to international relations (among several others cf. Webel & Galtung, 2007; Wilson, 2012a). In my own writing on the sportpeace connection, I feature topics ranging from sport’s relationship with globalization and international diplomacy, to sport-related social movements and peace education, to international development and conflict transformation, environmental issues, and “sport for peace journalism” (or “SPJ”) (cf. Millington & Wilson, 2013; Wilson, 2012a, 2012b; Wilson & Millington, 2013; Wilson, Van Luijk, & Boit, 2013). To muddy the water even more, I will note that the concept of development is also highly contested and ambiguous, a point made well by Black (2010) and others (Wilson, 2012a). Development studies is, of course, its own field with its own subareas and debates. While I will not discuss this field in any depth here, it is worth recognizing that the term “development,” broadly speaking, could refer to major “top-down” initiatives (like mega-event-related urban development projects) or “bottom-up” development projects that are commonly grassroots projects initiated by those in communities attempting to address context-specific issues. What these initiatives share is a goal of “intervening” in particular contexts with the broad aim of improving the “well-being” and/or the “quality of life” of populations. As one might assume, measuring such things as well-being and quality of life is not straightforward or without tensions. Moreover, concerns about what counts as a “developed” and “developing” nation or area are ongoing, as are the social and political implications of such measures and categories. Furthermore, it is worth noting here that the term SDP is also contested, with scholars like Schrag (2012) pointing to the various concepts that are currently used refer to SDP-related phenomena, including: “sport in development” (Darnell, 2012); sport for international development and peace (SIDP) (Sugden, 2014); “sport plus” and “plus sport” (Levermore & Beacom, 2009) “development through sport”; (Houlihan & White, 2002; Levermore, 2008), sport for development (Giulianotti, 2010; Sugden, 2010), sport in/and international development (Darnell, 2012; Levermore, 2008), sport for peace (Ali, 2009). I will end this section by emphasizing that I am certainly not the first to suggest that associations between sport, peace, and development are
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complicated. Sociologist John Sugden, for example, described in his work on sport and peace-building in Israel how “peace ‘processes’ are messy affairs: hugely complex enterprises that move forwards or backwards according to conditions prevalent in the transcending social and political order” (p. 268). Following Sugden and others, then, the main point of this section is that when unstable terms like sport, peace, and development are brought together and marketed as though the connections are obvious and positive, then complexities, contradictions, and problems with SDP-related work will inevitably be concealed. All of this is to say that the terrain of SDP is unstable and negotiating a middle ground when doing SDPrelated work is not straightforward.
WALKING THE MIDDLE GROUND OF SDP In the previous section I mapped out some of the shifting terrain of SDP as a way of demonstrating how doing research on this topic comes with inherent definitional challenges that need to be negotiated. In this section I discuss some of my own experiences walking the middle ground of SDP through studies I have conducted on SDP-related topics. My reflections are both methodological and theoretical.1 The discussions of method include commentary on how the studies were carried out and the extent to which the studies led to clear recommendations for SDP practitioners. The theoretical aspect of this discussion is especially important in the sense that it is theory that guides our actions as researchers attempting to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the issues at hand. The point here, following Freire (1970), is that reflection must be bridged with action to bring about social transformation an appropriate way of thinking about what it means to maneuver between critique and intervention as it pertains to SDP. With this background, I present, below, descriptions of two studies I have been involved in that focus on SDP-related topics. Each study is accompanied by reflections on how I attempted to negotiate a middle ground in the justification for, doing of, and/or the presentation of the study. The one study is a critical, contextual analysis of some responses to environmental-related problems by sport mega-event organizers. The second is a study of a sport-driven reconciliation effort that examined the characteristics of and the social processes underlying the successful organization of a peace-building event. While each of these studies includes
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attempts to negotiate the middle ground of SDP, the methods and theories that guided these efforts varied significantly. I should also be clear that I do not consider myself to be an “ideal type” middle-walker. The “ideal type” I am referring to here is someone who simultaneously negotiates the roles practitioner and critical scholar. Much of my work, in contrast to this, has been at a distance from onthe-ground SDP-related work. Having said this, and recognizing that the experiences of people like scholar-practitioner John Sugden should be attended to (and they are in work like Sugden, 2010, 2014), there are many other ways to walk the middle ground, as I suggested at the outset of this chapter. For example, a recent article by Donnelly, Atkinson, Boyle, and Szto (2011) speaks to ways that sociologists of sport should act as “public intellectuals” as a way of informing and supporting, but also criticizing, SDPrelated work. As an example of this, we can look to the work of sociologist Rob VanWynsberghe, who has for years been involved in activist work that aims to hold Olympic Games organizers accountable for their actions and promises within cities (as a founding member of the Impact on Community Coalition (IOCC) activist group see Chapter 10 in this volume). VanWynsberghe also, subsequently, took the lead on the Olympic Games Impact study that formally assessed the impacts of the VancouverWhistler 2010 Games. In this way, VanWynsberghe has evaluated and at times critiqued Games organizers who are responsible for sustainabilityrelated work, while also offering visions for ways that the Games might contribute to a “preferred future” for cities (VanWynsberghe, Derom, & Maurer, 2012). Yet another example is scholar and former SDP practitioner Forde (2013). In a recent article, Forde offered a provocative and radically reflexive look at his own middle-walking as a white male Westerner doing SDP work in Lesotho. Through an autoethnographic study of his experiences in the field (accompanied by Forde’s own penciled illustrations), Forde offers his perspective on how those who do SDP-related work might benefit from but also be threatened by their own critical reflection practices. As he states: I see value in SDP volunteers, practitioners, and researchers engaging in critically reflective practices. I am sure this would impact how they engage in SDP. Yet, ultimately, like Heron’s (2007) onion that falls apart as you peel the layers back, I believe that there is only so much critical reflection that those working and benefitting from SDP can do without getting to a point where the very foundations of what they do falls apart. (Forde, 2013, p. 14)
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Taken together, these examples are meant to demonstrate that there are many routes through the middle ground, and we are only beginning to map these out. In an attempt to contribute to this mapping project, below I outline some of my own experiences and struggles attempting to middle-walk on the shifting terrain of SDP.
ON THE MARGINS OF THE MIDDLE GROUND: EXPLORING RESPONSES BY SPORT ORGANIZATIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS There are a range of well-known concerns about the actual and potential impacts of sport-related activities on the environment. Sport mega-events are perhaps the most notorious target for criticism because of concerns about the environmental consequences of venue construction and the holding of the events themselves (and associated travel and trash), but there are many other issues that have been raised over the years. Included here are concerns about the impacts of: alpine skiing and ski hill maintenance on natural vegetation and soil erosion; water sports like paddling and canoeing on wetland areas; and golf course construction and maintenance on natural habitats and on the health of human and wildlife. As I have outlined and argued elsewhere (Wilson, 2012a), although research on “sport and the environment” is not usually linked with the body of work on SDP, environment-related topics are clearly related to peace and development. Connections between environmental issues and the development concept are obvious (and are widely studied) if we consider how sport tourism and event hosting are both directly associated with economic development and are both known to impact urban and rural environments. Links with the peace concept, while less obvious, are striking if we consider that the social impacts of environmental damage and disaster are often distributed unequally with more vulnerable populations experiencing greater hardships. The difficulties experienced by less wealthy people living in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina represent an example of this. Another inequality that is exacerbated is “intergenerational inequality,” since the negative implications of problematic sport-related environment-impacting activities that are taking place currently are likely to disproportionately affect future generations (e.g., the potentially negative impacts of human-driven climate change). Perpetuating these inequalities undermines the pursuit of “positive peace,” even if these problems do
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not lead to direct conflict (although they could also lead to direct conflict, as I also discuss in Wilson, 2012a). I have been involved in projects focused on sport and environmentrelated topics (Millington & Wilson, 2013; Wilson, 2012a, 2012b; Wilson & Millington, 2013). In each of these projects, I (often with my colleague, Brad Millington) concentrate especially on highlighting what is taken-forgranted or left unsaid by these industries in their promotion and practice of what they claim to be “pro-environment” work. For one of these projects, Brad and I examined claims made by sport mega-event organizers about their pro-environment practices. We found that these organizers claim to be responding proactively to sport-related environmental problems by: (a) developing and/or using new technologies to minimize the impacts of venue construction and transportation and; (b) actively collaborating with environmental groups and government to come up with mutually beneficial solutions to environmental challenges. In many cases, sport event managers and promoters also claim that the events they run are “carbon neutral.” Emerging from a critical assessment of these claims were several concerns. One concern was that solutions to environmental problems that require an immense amount of faith in human ingenuity and new technologies like those proposed by sport mega-event organizers come with particular risks. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, that took several weeks to stop because none of the initially proposed solutions worked, is an excellent nonsport example of the problem with relying on human ingenuity and new technologies to deal with often unpredicted environment-related problems. We raised questions about the extent to which faith in human ingenuity and new technologies are relied upon to deal with the inevitable environmental issues associated with holding a sport mega-events (Wilson, 2012a, 2012b; Wilson & Millington, 2013). I have also pointed out in other writing that the development of new and more efficient technologies do not necessarily lead to decreases in overall consumption (and in some cases may even lead to more overall consumption) a phenomenon known as Jevons’ Paradox (Foster, Clark, & York, 2010; Wilson, 2012a). We also noted that studies focused on collaborations between sport mega-event organizers, representatives for corporations, government, and environmental activists show that activists commonly feel that their concerns are not taken seriously or dealt with (Kearins & Pavlovich, 2002). Perhaps more disconcerting is that government representatives who make and facilitate decisions on sport and environment-related matters have sometimes been known to ask for stakeholder input only after major
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environmental risk decisions has already been made. Neo (2010) observed this in his study of negotiations around the development of golf courses in Singapore, where he found that stakeholders were only asked about how to develop courses in a most sustainable manner since the decision to develop in the first place was itself never in question. Such an analysis could just as easily be applied to assessments of some sport mega-events, where decisions to pursue opportunities to host events would in some cases take place before consulting stakeholders who would likely question or resist such developments. Brad and I note that this type of collaboration and decision-making what has been termed “post-political” decisionmaking is preferable for governments that are mandated to both promote economic growth and at the same time act on behalf of citizens who are concerned with environmental protection. Unfortunately, and as Hannigan (2006) has suggested, such compromises tend to benefit economic interests over environment ones in a process he refers to as “environmental managerialism.” Finally, I have pointed out in recent articles, claims to be “carbon neutral” by event organizers are rife with problematic assumptions (see Wilson, 2012a, 2012b). For example, it is very difficult (and arguably impossible) to determine whether the carbon offset credit that people buy to offset carbon emissions credits used to support carbon savings projects, like hydroelectric projects or tree planting efforts would have taken place anyway, even without the contribution. Determining equivalency between those activities that lead to carbon emissions and contributions to projects designed to have offset these emissions is also extremely difficult. My argument here is that carbon offsetting does not in itself make up for the destruction of context-specific damage to ecosystems that may result from sport-related developments. As I have suggested elsewhere: … by measuring and documenting the emission levels associated with, for example, the destruction of trees to build a highway to an event venue, the distinctiveness of the tree and that particular ecosystem (and the air that will be impacted by increased traffic), is lost—even if more trees are planted in another location. In this way, the (destroyed) tree or (polluted) air is “abstracted” when the carbon emissions measure that is associated with it is considered to be “equivalent to” emissions-saving efforts in another part of the world. (Wilson, 2012a, p. 172, italics in original)
While this is not an exhaustive list of our concerns, I think the point is clear that the messages that are sometimes offered about the positive work that sport mega-event organizers are doing on environmental issues are in some respects deceptive. That is to say, the strategies for dealing
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with environmental problems that hinge on innovation, new technologies and collaboration are associated with many problems that are seldom acknowledged. Moreover, sport mega-event organizers rarely acknowledge that another option is available to them when it appears that an event may have larger than expected or especially difficult to deal with environmental impacts that option is, not holding an event. Of course, when the questions guiding these organizers are about how to best respond to the inevitable impacts of sport mega-events, not whether events are a good idea in the first place, such an option would not be raised. This “the show must go on” way of thinking, we suggest, is one of the main assumptions that should be questioned when assessing the environmental pros and cons of such events. This is not to deny the progress that has been made in dealing with environmental issues by sport mega-event organizers and other sport managers. It is, however, to suggest that a balanced approach to thinking about sport-related environmental issues requires asking more nuanced sets of questions about how to respond to these issues, and especially being open to the possibility that not holding a sport event might be, at times, the most responsible decision. Currently, however, Brad and I acknowledge that those who make decisions about the holding and organization of sport mega-events are guided by a dominant “sustainability” approach that balances economic gain against social and environmental gain. Critics, of course, commonly acknowledge that this approach commonly leads to compromises that favor economic concerns over environmental ones (Hannigan, 2006).
Walking the Middle Ground The critique referred to above was guided by the assumption that the practice of identifying ways that societal inequalities are perpetuated is itself an interventionist practice (Howell, Andrews, & Jackson, 2002). The aim here is, following in a “contextual cultural studies” tradition of research and analysis, is to demonstrate how the messages produced in and promoted through various societal institutions (e.g., media, education, sport) make particular social and cultural practices and assumptions seem “natural” and commonsensical. As Howell et al. (2002) have stated, to do contextual cultural studies work is to “contextually destabilize connections that appear natural and extremely stable” (p. 155; cf. Grossberg, 1997). The connections Howell et al. are referring to are those that exist between the various
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social and cultural messages and institutionalized practices that are dominant and taken-for-granted in society, and the meanings we commonly attribute to these messages and practices. To be “radically contextual” as a strategy for destabilizing these connections often means doing criticallyoriented research that demonstrates why what is taken-for-granted should not be taken-for-granted. It also means showing the contradictions and flaws in the assumptions and arguments and belief systems that are not usually questioned, and considering how these assumptions and belief systems underlie the inequalities and social problems. You can begin to see how Brad Millington and I adopted a contextual cultural studies approach in our work on sport and the environment. I indicated in the title of this section that we were “on the margins of the middle ground” because we are a long way from contributing to any tangible change here, and might be seen as offering critique without offering any or many practical or immediate solutions. In fact, in a commentary on Howell et al.’s work, Ian McDonald (2009) questioned the very idea that contextual cultural studies work is interventionist, noting that it is difficult to see how any obvious change have resulted from such critiques of sport-related structures although McDonald does acknowledge the importance of such work for informing critical pedagogical practice. McDonald makes an important point here that I am certainly cognizant of when doing contextual cultural studies work in the sense that I try not to overstate the likely (direct) impacts of my research. Having said this, and while acknowledging McDonald’s point, the project of identifying the taken-for-granted and often questionable assumptions that underpin belief systems that may lead to forms of oppression and poor or narrowed forms of decision-making on pressing issues is of utmost importance, and is a necessarily step towards social change (even if the person doing the critique is not the one making suggestions for change). Without this information, how would we even know that there are problems to be dealt with in the first place? There is also something important about supporting a culture of questioning the taken-for-granted, a reflexive culture where it is perhaps less likely that approaches to dealing with social problems become applied in a narrow and dogmatic fashion or are applied without a quick and healthy response from concerned citizens. I would also add here that one of the reasons that those offering critical assessments (on topics like responses by sport mega-event organizers to environmental problems) is that, to date, discussions about real alternatives are so rare that it is difficult to know where to start. Pitcher (2011) offers an explanation for why such discussions are often a non-starter in a
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moment when sport mega-event organizers are claiming that they are the environmentalists: … it’s entirely possible for us [i.e., radical activists] to take these key social actors to task, but it is a strategy that fails to work … because our critique is met not with rejection, but a form of agreement: yes, sexism, racism, unsustainability and homophobia are all terrible things, and we are all working to get rid of them. There is no antagonism here, and no real possibility of conflict [and I will add not room for discussions about alternative approaches to dealing with environmental problems.
Pitcher’s point illuminates why critiques like those offered by Brad and I are perhaps needed to begin a conversation about other possibilities (including, in this case, not holding sport mega-events under some circumstances), instead of focusing exclusively on ways to tweak dominant approaches. Put another way, it would seem in these instances that critics like Brad and I are seeking a middle ground that is disguised as radical and untenable (perhaps inadvertently, perhaps intentionally) by those who benefit from the dominant approach to doing sustainable sport. Having said this, and despite our critique, Brad and I still acknowledged the potential contributions that derive from the pro-environment innovations of some corporations and others. The problem, we suggest, is not necessarily with the way that solutions are sought (although there are certainly concerns), but with the idea that particular solutions are sometimes presented and treated as though they are the only solutions to sport-related environment-related problems. I spoke to this point specifically in a recent paper where I suggested that new technologies and innovations “should be considered alongside other approaches to dealing with environmental problems, approaches that might mean less consumption and less growth” (Wilson, 2012a, p. 174, italics in original). You can no doubt see how I am “middle-walking” in this statement, acknowledging the potential contributions of the corporate innovators, while suggesting that a middle ground should be sought that includes various responses to environmental problems.
SEEKING MIDDLE GROUND IN THE PROCESSES OF RECONCILIATION: STUDYING PEACE ACTIVISM, CELEBRITY, AND RUNNING EVENTS IN KENYA Following a contested election that took place in Kenya in 2007, violence broke out in and around Nairobi and in areas of the surrounding
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countryside. Although the reasons for the violence are complex and historical, the conflicts themselves commonly took place across ethnic lines between the Kikuyu (the ethnic group of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya’s National Alliance Party) and the Kalenjin (known to support Raila Odinga of the opposing Orange Democratic Movement, who is himself of the Luo ethnic group). I was involved in a study that examined an attempt to facilitate reconciliation in the weeks and months after the violence (Wilson et al., 2013). The response was led, in part, by current and former elite Kenyan runners and others who organized a series of Run-for-Peace events intended to bring together members of the conflicting ethnic groups for friendly running races (often for youth and children) and affiliated peace-building festivals. The most well-known of these took place in the Rift Valley town of Iten, an area where the post-election violence was especially pronounced and an area that is the home and/or training ground for many of the country’s current and former elite runners. The race and associated peace ceremonies, which featured 560 girls from local schools running a four-kilometer race through the town’s streets, was overseen by several former and current elite runners, including former world marathon champions Douglas Wakiihuri (a member of the Kikuyu ethnic group) and Luke Kibet (a member of the Kalenjin ethnic group) (Wilson et al., 2013). Media reports on the event, including one in the international running publication Runner’s World, described how the event was widely considered to be successful in bringing together members of the ethnic groups that had been in-conflict and promoting reconciliation and community-building. The study focused specifically on the role that elite/celebrity runners played in the organization of these events, with a particular focus on how having high profile athletes (with direct ties to the communities impacted by the violence) involved in the organization of the peace-promoting event may have: (a) enabled (or inhibited) the ability of movement members to mobilize the resources that were needed to successfully organize the event; and (b) created political opportunities for movement organizers interested in leveraging the sport of running (which is a highly valued cultural form for many Kenyans) and the presence of elite runners. The research team entered the study fully aware of the fact that there was no particular reason to believe that Run-for-Peace events like these were destined to be successful. That is to say, we recognized that bringing together members of ethnic groups that have recently experienced violent conflict could have been poor idea, potentially leading to a recurrence of violence and/or escalation of the conflict. There was also no particular
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reason to believe that celebrity athletes are necessarily the best people to lead such an intervention. Darnell (2012) and Giulianotti (2006) have been clear and convincing in their arguments that celebrity athletes may, at times, distract from the issue at hand and, in some cases, might make it difficult for SDP NGOs to adopt stances that challenge the status quo if such stances might threaten the image of the celebrity. In the longer term, it is also thought that having celebrity athletes represent SDP NGOs might make it difficult for NGOs that are unable to attract these athletes to attain funding since sponsors looking to attach their name to a humanitarian organization would also appreciate and prefer an association with high profile individual to help bring attention to the sponsor’s brand. One of the many problems with a system like this is that such a hierarchy of NGOs would not necessarily reflect the contributions of, or quality of work performed by these NGOs. Finally, Darnell (2012) suggested that democratic principles are in some ways undermined when celebrities play a major role in interventionist humanitarian work, arguing that “celebrities are poorly positioned, as non-elected officials, to mobilise change and may in fact undermine processes of governance by circumventing such processes” (p. 126). Darnell’s (2012) and Giulianotti’s (2006) arguments align well with the previous example I provided of critique that is intended to uncover taken-for-granted assumptions, with an eye toward unsettling a problematic approach to sport-related international development. The research team I was a part of was certainly cognizant of these critiques. We did, however, suggest that many of the concerns outlined by Darnell and Giulianotti did not readily apply to celebrity involvement in the Run-forPeace events because: (a) the athletes we studied had local connections (unlike the international celebrities referred to by these scholars, that parachute in to various settings to do SDP work); and (b) the context for the celebrity-led work was quite distinct for our study, as there was a clear need for recognizable, local leadership by well-respected individuals who were not politicians (because the violence was thought to stem from political corruption) and had with a history of working across ethnic lines. In this case study, the athletes had links with the local community, were well-respected for their athletic feats, and were known to associate with athletes of different ethnic backgrounds when training for and representing Kenya at international competitions. In the end, what we found was that the athletes appeared to be effective in mobilizing resources, pursuing political opportunities and devising a collective action frame because of their recognized positioning as active members of the
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communities impacted by the violence as well as their active involvement in and personal investment in the outcome of the peace-promoting activities, and because of “the unique pre-Olympic moment in which the events took place” (Wilson et al., 2013).
Middle-Walking Unlike Darnell and Giulianotti, our attempts to middle-walk in this instance were guided by meso-level theories commonly used by social movement theorists, namely the resource mobilization and political opportunity perspectives. These approaches helped bring our attention to the strategies used by the elite athlete leaders to mobilise resources in their efforts to promote and organize the movement and events, to the characteristics of the leaders themselves, and the ways and reasons these leaders were able to (at times) leverage political opportunities to their advantage. In this case then, we “middle-walked” by seeking a more nuanced understanding of the social processes of peace-promotion as they pertained to Run-for-Peace. That is to say, we wanted to better understand what the elite athlete leaders did, how they did it, the circumstances under which they did it, and why it mattered (or did not matter) that they were elite athletes. Our goal in drawing on meso-level (organizational) theories namely, resource mobilization and political process theories to study how these events were promoted and carried out was to inspire thinking about what might be learned from one situation (e.g., the organization of the Run-forPeace events in the Rift Valley) that might be useful for those designing reconciliation efforts in another situation. In this case, documenting and reflecting on how these events were organized and circumstances under which they were organized and the particular meaning of running and celebrity runners for many Kenyans offered a foundation for discussing the circumstances under which elite athletes would seem to be most likely to make a positive contribution to reconciliation work. We were of course careful to stress that the recommendations and conclusions we offered were always conditional, and there are never guarantees that emerge from these sorts of reflections (i.e., findings from studies like ours should not be seen as “generalizable” in the positivist sense). However, the idea here is that such studies may have practical implications, perhaps informing decisionmaking in a future reconciliation situation where a sport-related intervention is being considered.
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This argument aligns in some ways with suggestions made years ago by interpretive theorist Prus (1996), who argued that sociologists who conduct studies focused on the social processes of social life were contributing to a broader project by helping to develop models for what he called “generic social processes.” Our research, in a similar way, was intended to provoke thinking about how the processes at work in the organization of the Runthe-Peace events might be relevant for others, in other contexts, who were interested in the potential of (and problems with) sport and celebrity-driven efforts to promote reconciliation. The specifics of context are immensely important of course when deciding how helpful such research is for informing decisions that pertain to new and unique situations. In the end though, our position was that a rigorous study of the processes of reconciliation that includes full attention to the relevance of context is a contribution. This position aligns well with Coalter’s (2007, p. 2) argument for examining which “sport processes produce what outcomes, for which participants and in what circumstances” as a way of developing more widely applicable understandings of the middle range mechanisms that are always at play in SPD-related work. We maintained a middle ground through our study by remaining always open to the possibility that holding an event like Run-for-Peace, in particular circumstances, might be a poor idea. We also recognized that the belief in the potential of sport for reconciliation and community-building that was required of participants in the Run-for-Peace event was necessary for the events to be successful and that sport is not inherently a form of culture that brings people together or promotes peace. Of course, such a finding presented us with a conundrum because, on one hand, we are aware that unwaveringly optimistic and idealized images of sport and elite athletes are problematic and deceptive but, on the other hand, we recognize that promoting an uncritical view of running and the elite runners who are leaders of the Run-for-Peace movement and events was helpful as a strategy for convincing people that the reconciliation events are worth supporting and legitimate. Revealed in this instance, then, is the sort of problem that is encountered by middle-walkers who attend to the ways that the (often-positive) meanings assigned to sport and its athletes are helpful in peace-building efforts while acknowledging that such beliefs in no way undermine the wealth of research showing how inequalities and various social problems are commonly perpetuated through sport-related structures and systems. Of course, the main point here is the potential for reconciliation lies in the meanings people assign to sport, not sport itself. In this sense, our
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attempts to middle-walk took us into long-standing sociological debates about interrelationships between the structural and interpretive approaches to understanding sport. Although these are not the sorts of tensions that one “resolves,” they are indicative of the uneven and difficult terrain that is inevitably encountered when one is middle-walking through the SDP field.
MANY PATHS THROUGH THE MIDDLE GROUND: REFLECTIONS AND A WAY FORWARD My main goal in offering these reflections on my experiences attempting to middle-walk in the field of SDP is to inspire further thinking and dialogue about the range of ways that scholars might recognize and respond to problems with SDP-related work and also contribute to aspects of the SDP movement (Kidd, 2008). My first example the critique of dominant approaches to dealing with sport-related environmental problems is especially pertinent in a sociology of sport field where a wealth of critiques of SDP-related work have emerged in recent years. A main argument from this example was that those who offer critiques of SDP (i.e., sport megaevent organizers claiming to promote environmentalism through sportrelated development) are, in fact, middle-walkers. That is to say, critiques of SDP interventions can be seen as attempts to alert SDP practitioners of the problems with the system that SDP work exists within, and inspire dialogue about new strategies for dealing with problems that SDP is sometimes designed to address. The second example, of Run-for-Peace events in Kenya, was an illustration of middle-walking in the sense that the research team never assumed that the intervention we studied was necessarily a good idea. It is also pertinent that we actively attempted to position our study as a complement to work that has been critical of SDP-related interventions that feature celebrities. In this case, we also emphasized how by documenting the key features of social processes that underlie sport-related reconciliation, it becomes reasonable to offer tentative recommendations to those doing similar work in other contexts all the while recognizing that there are no guarantees that a strategy that worked in one instance will necessarily work in another. The main point to be taken from both of these examples is that middlewalking is difficult and messy and that, despite this, documenting the
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path we have taken through the middle ground can be helpful for those in the field of SDP who carry with them an awareness of the problems with, and potential of sport. In the end, my hope is that by sharing experiences walking different and similar paths through the middle ground SDP researchers recognize that the SDP field might not be as polarized as it seems. This recognition is especially important if the critical work that sociologists of sport have been doing is to be understood as making a contribution to the SDP field, as a form of middle-walking. The goal of finding new solutions at a moment when only particular solutions are considered acceptable would be a most desirable outcome of this recognition.
FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Sugden, J. (2010). Critical left-realism and sport interventions in divided societies. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45, 258 272. Sugden’s article offers readers an excellent overview of his attempts to balance critical analysis of SDP-related work with his goal of contributing to the resolution of pressing social issues through an SDP program he works within. 2. Coalter, F. (2013). Sport for development: What game are we playing? New York, NY: Routledge. Coalter’s book includes a wealth of discussion about his attempts to evaluate SDP-related programming with the goal of contributing to the improvement of such programming. Chapter 3 in the book, entitled “Conceptual Entrepreneurs, Liberation Methodologists and Research as Dirty Word” includes a provocative overview of the various positions that scholars and practitioners have taken on SDP-related issues, and an outline of Coalter’s understanding of what it means to balance critical viewpoints and more optimistic ones. 3. Wilson, B. (2012). Sport & Peace: A Sociological Perspective. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press. This book is a survey of various topics pertaining to sport and peace, including discussions of international development, social movements, and the environment. An extended discussion of the terms sport and peace (and their relationships with on another) is also included.
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4. Wilson, B., Van Luijk, N., & Boit, M. (2013). When celebrity athletes are “social movement entrepreneurs”: A study of the role of elite runners in runfor-peace events in post-conflict Kenya in 2008. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. Published “online first”, doi:10.1177/1012690213506005 This study reports findings from the study that is introduced in this chapter on the elite athlete-led organization of Run-for-Peace events as an attempt to promote peace-building following the post-election violence of 2007 in Kenya. This article includes an extended discussion not only of research findings and the theoretical approach (that drew heavily on theories of social movements), but also includes examples of the authors’ attempts to balance critical and more optimistic understandings of sport’s potential as a forum for reconciliation and peace-building. 5. Wilson, B., & Millington, B. (2013). Sport, ecological modernization, and the environment. In D. Andrews & B. Carrington (Eds.), A companion to sport (Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Cultural Studies) (pp. 129 142). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. This chapter includes an extended overview of some of the key arguments about the problematic responses by sport mega-event organizers to concerns about environmental issues. Attempts to acknowledge the progressive work that some sport mega-event organizers have done on environmental issues is balanced against a critique of assumptions that underlie some of these approaches.
NOTE 1. In saying this, I recognize, of course that separating theory and method in epistemological and ontological terms is impossible and undesirable.
REFERENCES Ali, A. (2009). Sport for peace report: Executive summary. ICSSPE Bulletin, 56, 11. Andrews, D. (2006). Sport-commerce-culture: Essays on sport in late capitalist America. New York, NY: Peter Lang. Atkinson, M. (2010). Entering scapeland: Yoga, fell and post-sport physical cultures. Sport in Society, 13, 1249 1267. Black, D. (2010). The ambiguities of development: Implications for “development through sport”. Sport in Society, 13(1), 121 129. Coakley, J., & Donnelly, P. (2009). Sports in society: Issues and controversies (2nd Canadian ed.). Toronto, ON: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
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Coalter, F. (2007). A wider social role for sport: Who’s keeping the score? New York, NY: Routledge. Coalter, F. (2013). Sport for development: What game are we playing? New York, NY: Routledge. Cortright, D. (2008). Peace: A history of movements and ideas. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Darnell, S. (2012). Sport and international development: A critical sociology. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. Darnell, S. C., & Hayhurst, L. (2012). Hegemony, postcolonialism and sport-for-development: A response to Lindsey and Grattan. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 4(1), 111 124. Donnelly, P., Atkinson, M., Boyle, S., & Szto, C. (2011). Sport for development and peace: A public sociology perspective. Third World Quarterly, 32, 589 601. Forde, S. (2013). Fear and loathing in Lesotho: An autoethnographic analysis of sport for development and peace. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. Published “online first”, doi:10.1177/1012690213501916 Foster, J. B., Clark, B., & York, R. (2010). The ecological rift: Capitalism’s war on the earth. New York, NY: Monthly Review Press. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Herder and Herder. Giulianotti, R. (2006). Human rights, globalization and sentimental education: The case of sport. In D. McCardle & R. Giulianotti (Eds.), Sport, civil liberties and human rights (pp. 63 77). New York, NY: Routledge. Giulianotti, R. (2010). Sport, peacemaking and conflict resolution: A contextual analysis and modeling of the sport, development and peace sector. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34, 207 228. Grossberg, L. (1997). Bringing it all back home: Essays on cultural studies. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Hall, S. (1986). The problem of ideology: Marxism without guarantees. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 10(2), 28 44. Hannigan, J. (2006). Environmental sociology (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Heron, B. (2007). Desire for development: Whiteness, gender, and the helping imperative. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Houlihan, B., & White, A. (2002). The politics of sports development: Development of sport or development through sport? Oxford, UK: Routledge. Howell, J., Andrews, D., & Jackson, S. (2002). Cultural studies and sport studies: An interventionist practice. In J. Maguire & K. Young (Eds.), Theory, sport & society (pp. 151 177). New York, NY: JAI. Jeong, H. (2000). Peace and conflict studies: An introduction. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate. Kay, T. (2009). Developing through sport: Evidencing sport impacts on young people. Sport in Society, 12(9), 1177 1191. Kearins, K., & Pavlovich, K. (2002). The role of stakeholders in Sydney’s green games. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 9(3), 157 169. Kidd, B. (2008). A new social movement: Sport for development and peace. Sport in Society, 11, 370 380. Knight, G., & Greenberg, J. (2002). Promotionalism and subpolitics: Nike and its labor critics. Management Communication Quarterly, 15(4), 541 570. Levermore, R. (2008). Sport-in-international development: Time to treat it seriously? Journal of World Affairs, 14, 55 66. Levermore, R., & Beacom, A. (Eds.). (2009). Sport and international development. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Le´vi-Strauss, C. (1987). Introduction to Marcel Mauss. London: Routledge.
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Lindsey, I., & Grattan, A. (2012). An “international movement”? Decentring sport-fordevelopment within Zambian communities. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 4(1), 91 110. McDonald, I. (2009). One-dimensional sport: Revolutionary Marxism and the critique of sport. In B. Carrington & I. McDonald (Eds.), Marxism, cultural studies and sport (pp. 32 47). New York, NY: Routledge. Millington, B., & Wilson, B. (2013). Super intentions: Golf course management and the evolution of environmental responsibility. The Sociological Quarterly, 54(3), 450 475. Neo, H. (2010). Unpacking the postpolitics of golf course provision in Singapore. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 34(3), 272 287. Nicholls, S., Giles, A. R., & Sethna, C. (2011). Perpetuating the “lack of evidence” discourse in sport for development: Privileged voices, unheard stories and subjugated knowledge. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 46(3), 249 264. Pitcher, B. (2011). Radical subjects after hegemony. Subjectivity, 4(1), 87 102. Pronger, B. (2002). Body fascism: Salvation in the technology of physical fitness. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press. Prus, R. C. (1996). Symbolic interaction and ethnographic research: Intersubjectivity and the study of human lived experience. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Sage, G. (1999). Justice do it! The Nike transnational advocacy network: Organisation, collective action and outcomes. Sociology of Sport Journal, 16(3), 206 235. Schrag, M. J. (2012). The case for peace-building as sport’s next great legacy: A literature review, assessment, and suggestions for applying the “slow child” in the emergent field of sport for development and peace. Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois. Sugden, J. (2010). Critical left-realism and sport interventions in divided societies. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45, 258 272. Sugden, J. (2014). Sport and peace-building in divided societies: Playing with the enemy. New York, NY: Routledge. Tzu, S. (2002). The art of war (J. Minford, Trans.). New York, NY: Viking. VanWynsberghe, R., Derom, I., & Maurer E. (2012). Leveraging the 2010 Olympic Games: “Sustainability” in a city of Vancouver initiative. International Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure & Events, 4(2), 185 205. doi:10.1080/19407963.2012.662618 Webel, C., & Galtung, J. (Eds.). (2007). Handbook of peace and conflict studies. New York, NY: Routledge. Wilson, B. (2012a). Sport & peace: A sociological perspective. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press. Wilson, B. (2012b). Growth and nature: Reflections on sport, Carbon neutrality, and ecological modernization. In D. Andrews & M. Silk (Eds.), Sport and neo-liberalism: Politics, consumption, and culture (pp. 90 108). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Wilson, B., & Hayhurst, L. (2009). Digital activism: Neo-liberalism, the internet, and “sport for development”. Sociology of Sport Journal, 26(1), 155 181. Wilson, B., & Millington, B. (2013). Sport, ecological modernization, and the environment. In D. Andrews & B. Carrington (Eds.), A companion to sport (Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Cultural Studies) (pp. 129 142). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Wilson, B., Van Luijk, N., & Boit, M. (2013). When celebrity athletes are “social movement entrepreneurs”: A study of the role of elite runners in run-for-peace events in postconflict Kenya in 2008. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. Published “online first”, doi:10.1177/1012690213506005
CHAPTER 3 USING POSTCOLONIAL FEMINISM TO INVESTIGATE CULTURAL DIFFERENCE AND NEOLIBERALISM IN SPORT, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMING IN UGANDA Lyndsay M. C. Hayhurst ABSTRACT Purpose The purpose of this chapter is to explore the utility of a postcolonial feminist girlhood studies approach to investigate, and better understand, how corporate-funded sport, gender and development (SGD) programs that adhere to the “Girl Effect” mantra take up: (1) the alleged benefits of SGD programming; (2) its (embodied) neoliberal tendencies; and (3) issues around gender and cultural difference in North-South aid relations. Methodology This study uses qualitative methods, including 35 semistructured interviews with staff members and young women, in order to investigate how a SGD program in Eastern Uganda that is funded by a
Sport, Social Development and Peace Research in the Sociology of Sport, Volume 8, 45 65 Copyright r 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1476-2854/doi:10.1108/S1476-285420140000008002
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Sport Transnational Corporation (STNC) and an International NGO used martial arts to build girls’ self-defense skills and address genderbased, sexual, and domestic violence. Findings Three major findings are revealed, including: (1) the martial arts program improved young women’s confidence levels, physical fitness, leadership capabilities, and social networks; (2) Western donors tended to use and frame sport (i.e., martial arts) as paramount for educating and training Ugandan young women to be (neoliberal) global “girl” citizens; and (3) issues of representation, racialized subjectivity, and cultural difference in SGD adversely influenced aid relations. Originality/value Evidence from this chapter suggests that it is crucial to question how global neoliberal development, as promoted via SGD practices, is not only racialized and classed, but also distinctly gendered. Infusing girlhood studies with a postcolonial feminist perspective enables a deconstruction, and attendance to, the ways in which colonial legacies, neoliberal processes, and the political resistance of development practices are taken up, and impelled by, SGD programs. Keywords: Sport, gender and development; sport for development and peace; postcolonial feminism; girlhood studies; neoliberalism
INTRODUCTION In recent years, the international development landscape has been influenced by the emergence of three distinct, yet related, tendencies. The first is the rise of the sport for development and peace (SDP) “movement,” which has arguably become increasingly gendered in its focus on women and girls as the ostensible beneficiaries of sport-focused interventions premised on social entrepreneurship, gender equality, microfinance, and gender-based violence prevention. Second, and alongside the increasing emphasis on gendering SDP, is the growing use of “privatized” aid, or the involvement of transnational corporations in governing, funding, and implementing SDP programs. Indeed, corporations such as Nike and Standard Chartered Bank currently play significant roles in supporting nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as Right To Play or offer their own SDP programs (e.g., the National Basketball Association’s Basketball Without Borders program). Not only do increasing linkages between corporate capitalism, consumerism, and development establish, and ultimately attend to, a
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neoliberal ideology that underpins the SDP sector (Hayhurst, Millington, & Darnell, in press), but the corporatization of girls’ involvement in SDP interventions has been buttressed by the Girl Effect campaign launched by the Nike Foundation in 2005 (Hayhurst, 2011b).1 The third trend in international development is the launch of the Nike Foundation-funded Girl Effect movement in 2008, which positions girls as the next tangible solutions to some of the most pressing development issues of our time (see Girl Effect, 2013). The purpose of this chapter is to explore the interface of these three tendencies. In short, I argue that a postcolonial feminist girlhood studies approach is useful to investigate, and better understand, how corporatefunded SGD programs that adhere to the Girl Effect mantra address, negotiate, and take up (1) the alleged benefits of SGD programming, (2) its (embodied) neoliberal tendencies, and (3) issues around cultural difference in (corporatized) North-South aid relations. With these arguments in mind, this chapter is organized in the following way. First, I outline the various theoretical frameworks that underpin this research, including postcolonial feminist approaches to girlhood studies and connections between this literature and sociocultural studies of sport. Hereafter, background on sport, gender and development (SGD) is provided, followed by context on the study explored in this chapter. Next, the methodologies employed to carry out this research are discussed, and three key findings are described: the benefits of martial arts for Ugandan young women; creating neoliberal girls through corporate-funded SGD programs, and negotiating cultural difference in North-South aid relations. Finally, I conclude by summarizing the research and discussing the implications of this study for donors and NGOs involved in SGD programming.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Postcolonial Feminist Theory, Development, and Cultural Studies of Girls This study is concerned with the experiences of girls in SGD interventions, specifically, in Eastern rural Uganda. To this end, theories of girlhood are a crucial departure point for considering the intersecting socio-politics of gender and youth as they pertain to international development. There is a noticeable lacuna in sociological, development, and feminist studies that use postcolonial approaches to examine “girlhood,” particularly to
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critically explore development interventions that specifically center on girls (Hayhurst, 2011a, 2011b, 2013a, 2013b). While some scholars have focused on the experience of girlhoods of marginalized girls in One-Third World nations (e.g., Jiwani, Steenbergen, & Mitchell, 2006), this chapter aims to take these studies a step farther by considering postcolonial feminist approaches to investigating girlhood.2 A useful starting point is examining the girlhood studies literature that elucidates how girls in the twenty-first century are assertive and self-reliant individuals who participate in global politics (Harris, 2004; Jiwani et al., 2006; McRobbie, 2009). Most of these studies of girlhood are embedded in, and/or explore, the contexts of Western capitalist locales such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Indeed, such research tends to overlook the intersecting politics of class, race, and sexuality that interlock to exacerbate inequalities on a global scale and subsequently do not consider the experiences of the “Two-Thirds World” girl who has not immigrated to an imperial center.3 For example, Harris (2004) outlines the category of the “at-risk girl,” although she mostly only considers those residing within the One-Third World. In fact, Harris (2004) concedes that young women at-risk are “those who are seen to be rendered vulnerable by their circumstances” (p. 25), but suggests that “unlike the can-do girls, who know how to successfully engage in the market, these other young women [at-risk girls] make poor consumption choices and enact the gains of feminism in problematic ways” (p. 29). Indeed, Harris’ (2004) categories seem to assume a homogeneity of what it means to be a girl (e.g., in terms of race, class, and sexuality). For, what if the “gains of [Western] feminism” do not necessarily account for the perspectives, situations, experiences, and life histories of girls in the Two-Thirds World? Discussions of global girl citizens, then, as buttressed by the Girl Effect discourse, take on the post-feminist masquerade in dangerous ways that claim particular formulations of girlhood. As McRobbie (2009) explained, the global girl, unleashed through a “Spice Girl-endorsed Grrrrl Power!” is defined in a very specific way: [The global girl] is defined in terms of an intersection of qualities which combine the natural and authentic, with a properly feminine love of self-adornment, and the playfully seductive with the innocent, so as to suggest a sexuality which is youthful, latent and waiting to be unleashed. This marks out a subtle positioning, a re-colonisation and re-making of racial hierarchy within the field of normative femininity. (McRobbie, 2009, p. 89)
From this perspective, essentialist frameworks such as the “at-risk girl” prove to be dangerous because they mostly eschew how we think about
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race, class and gender and the “political links we choose to make among and between struggles” (Mohanty, 2006, p. 46). In contrast, critical girlhood studies focuses on troubling the category of girl as an assumed social location. Scholars adhering to this theoretical position refuse to situate “the girl” as either a static subject/object, but rather understand young women as complex and contextual beings who are able to challenge and disrupt linear/binary discourses (e.g., girl as powerful/powerless) (Pomerantz, 2009). Nevertheless, by carefully considering this critical lens, Harris’ (2004) typologies of the “at-risk” and “can-do” girl may still prove useful for considering SGD interventions that target girls in the Two-Thirds World. These constructions are particularly beneficial for contemplating current neoliberal developments that characterize the global economy, which reinforce the can-do and at-risk discourses as personal effort, self-regulation, competitiveness, and material capital are required in order for a young woman to succeed under the current world order. That is, the can-do girl is the ideal neoliberal subject, one who is able to successfully take individual responsibility for social change. She is self-inventing, tactical, and determined (Hayhurst, 2013a, 2013b). In short, part of what I hope to demonstrate throughout this chapter is that SGD programs that adhere to the Girl Effect’s aim to transform and develop the at-risk, Two-Thirds World girl into a can-do success story are largely (and perhaps unsurprisingly) driven by the current neoliberal era of development. A postcolonial feminist orientation is useful for taking critical girlhood perspectives a step further. This theoretical standpoint endeavors to “be attentive to differences among women without replicating such essentialist notions of cultural difference” and “acknowledge[s] the degree to which the colonial encounter depended on an ‘insistence on Difference’; on sharp, virtually absolute, contrasts between ‘Western culture’ and ‘Other cultures,’” (Narayan, 2000, p. 83). Postcolonial feminist approaches also draw attention to the ways in which colonial legacies, neoliberal processes, and the political resistance of development practices are taken up, and buttressed by, the SDP movement (Hayhurst, MacNeill, & Frisby, 2011). In short, a postcolonial feminist lens is useful for unleashing how power is embedded in, and facilitated through, history, place, and political-economic relations (McEwan, 2009). If this framework is brought to bear on SGD, and girlhood studies more broadly, there is potential to deconstruct, and unravel, dominant girlhood studies frameworks to better understand how to expose, describe, and shift ideological and social structures that continue to validate Westernized forms of
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girlhood, and to question discourses such as those put forth by the Girl Effect in order to foreground marginalized girls’ experiences and perspectives. In the next section, I build on this postcolonial feminist framework by discussing key theoretical works in girlhood studies as they connect to the sociocultural studies of sport.
Connecting Girlhood Studies to the Sociocultural Studies of Sport Most research that focuses on sociocultural studies of girlhood and sport are based in the One-Third World (e.g., Azzarito, 2010; Cooky, 2009, 2011; Messner, 2009). In terms of youth and gender-related sporting experiences specifically, Messner (2009) argues that, although girls’ movement into sport “created a stunning challenge to categorical assumptions underlying beliefs in natural male superiority” (p. 203), there is still much work to be done. Specifically, he suggests that “the combination of sexsegregation, routine gendered interactions, and the ascendant ideology of soft essentialism has stripped youth sport of much of its revolutionary possibilities” (p. 203). Cooky’s (2009, 2011) recent research on girlfocused sport empowerment programs in California reminds us that the benefits of sport do not automatically occur by simply increasing opportunities for girls’ participation. In fact, Cooky (2011) warns that while it is important that such sporting activities expand structures of opportunities and allocate resources, a key necessity is that communities and adults, in particular, use their agency in socially and structurally transformative ways to help challenge gender inequalities to enable and activate girls’ interest in participating. She further argues that “Spice Girlendorsed” discourses of Girl Power! fail to account for intersections of race, class, and gender that complicate the ways girls take up empowerment through sport messages. Put differently, the current moment where post-feminist messages suggest that “sport itself is no longer a ‘man’s world,’ equality has been achieved, and the need for feminism has passed” (Cooky, 2011, p. 218) simply recolonizes the aims of global sporting girlhoods by ignoring postcolonial feminist concerns. This is particularly salient since most studies of sporting girlhoods fail to account for the hybrid ways that girls in the Two-Thirds World experience sport and eschew discussions of gender as a relational category (some exceptions include Brady, 2005; Forde, 2009; Saavedra, 2009). That is, sport is
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often used as a tool to position gendered identities as ones that must be changed, improved or rearticulated, without considering how dominant cultural constructions girlhoods, and SGD, are limiting in terms of empowering girls in the Two-Thirds World (Chawansky, 2011; Hayhurst, 2013a, 2013b). It is with these understandings of postcolonial feminist sensibilities to cultural studies of girls that SGD is investigated, and theorized, throughout this chapter.
SPORT, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT In the past decade, there have been important studies by sport feminists that have considered how the experiences of women and girls participating in sport in the Two-Thirds World are often influenced by the intersections among gender, race, class, and colonialism. For example, Pelak’s (2005) study used a highly detailed conceptual framework that clearly demonstrated the importance of considering categories of difference as they influence sport, and encouraged those studying SGD to view culture as hybrid, fluid and inherently dynamic, and to actively avoid universalizing women’s sporting experiences. Other feminist scholars have demonstrated that sport is a useful tool to contribute to gender and development in various ways, particularly as a means to enhance girls’ and women’s health and well-being (Kay, 2009), facilitating their self-esteem and self-empowerment (Forde, 2009), transforming gender norms (Thorpe & Rinehart, 2012), and providing young women with opportunities for leadership and achievement (Saavedra, 2009). While these are important insights into SGD programs, Saavedra (2005) has called for more research to “sensitize us to the gendered implications of any and all work related to sport and development, not just to that focused on females” (p. 1) The majority of SGD research thus far portrays the lives of women and girls as “enhanced” or “empowered” in various ways through access to sporting opportunities. Nevertheless, instances of “empowerment” or “development” in SGD are often enmeshed with heteronormative tones that sometimes go unchallenged. That is, SGD programs tend to engage with “sex” and “gender” in static ways, sometimes overlooking multiple gender roles, dynamics and relations: the very issues that SGD interventions often aim to tackle (Chawansky, 2011; Hayhurst, 2011a).
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CONTEXT OF STUDY: UGANDA The research discussed in this chapter was carried out in Uganda in multiple villages and sites across “Winita” (a pseudonym), a district in the northeast, with a population of approximately 500,000. There are a wide range of ethnicities throughout the district, including Jopadhola, Iteso, Samia, Bagwere, and Banyoli. The languages most frequently spoken/understood throughout Winita include Dhopadhola, Lusamia, Ateso, Lugwere, and Lunyoli, though in urban centers English, Swahili, and Luganda are the most common languages.4 Since colonization in 1894, Uganda has promoted and adopted policies and practices that encourage men to join the military, obtain an education, and locate work outside the home, which has resulted in women and girls being solely focused on domestic responsibilities (Tushabe, 2008). Ugandan society is patrilineal; therefore, girls are often subjected to the discipline of their fathers, and, once married, their husbands. Various studies have confirmed that female subservience is promoted by most Ugandan men (e.g., Tamale, 2001). For example, “bride-price,” a common cultural practice throughout Uganda, gives men rights over their wives and children, and essentially proposes that women are a product to be acquired (Hague, Thiara, & Turner, 2011). Thus, bride-price practices negatively influence the lives of young women in Uganda and exacerbate gender inequalities, gender-based, sexual and domestic violence, and reproductive health and gender equality agendas (Hague et al., 2011). The martial arts program aims to address some of these issues by using karate and taekwondo in combination with SNGO’s “gender training” curriculum to gain valuable information in the realms of conflict management, relationships, and domestic violence. Below, I explain the SGD program in further detail.
METHODOLOGY AND BACKGROUND ON SGD PROGRAMS Empirical research for the study explored in this chapter took place between September and December 2009 in Western Europe and Eastern Uganda. Specifically, I used qualitative methods, including 35 semistructured in-depth interviews with corporate and organizational staff members, as well as the young women participating in the program as martial arts trainers.5 Further, I observed various martial arts training sessions
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in order to investigate how a SGD program in Eastern Uganda that is administered by a Southern NGO (SNGO), and funded by a sport transnational corporation (STNC) and an international nongovernmental organization (INGO), used martial arts to build young women’s self-defense skills to help address gender-based, sexual and domestic violence (see also Hayhurst, 2011a, 2011b, 2013a, 2013b). The SGD program administered by SNGO commenced in early 2009. The goal of the program is to use karate and taekwondo to increase young women’s self-confidence they need to stay longer in school, resist unwanted pressures that lead to forced/early marriage, HIV infection, and school drop-out. The program targets girls ages 10 18, and it has expanded across Uganda since this research took place. More than 2,000 girls and young women have participated in the program as of 2012, with the goal of training 120 young women as “gender and sport leaders” and martial arts trainers. The young women interviewed for this research were ages 16 18, and they volunteered for SNGO staff through their work as martial arts trainers during after school programming.
FINDINGS “This Taekwondo Has Taught You Something!” The Benefits of Martial Arts When asked about the benefits of the martial arts program, the girls presented a variety of responses. First, all eight young martial arts trainers explained that the program increased their confidence so that they were able to “fight off” offenders. To this end, Jennifer (young martial arts trainer, SNGO, November 2009) offered that she was now confident enough to speak out and look at her attacker “in the eye” since partaking in the program. Lexi (young martial arts trainer, SNGO, November 2009) further explained how, before her karate training, she was shy and “didn’t know how to talk to people,” but after being in the program and training other girls, she now felt confident and assertive. This related to another perceived benefit of the program, which involved traveling to other communities across the Winita District to train other girls. As Ariel (young martial arts trainer, SNGO, November 2009) explained: “It [karate] has made me now feel strong and confident. I have now travelled to many places, like [other
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towns]. I have seen the codes of dressing other people in [other towns]. So, it has really changed me.” Not only was Ariel able to increase her confidence and physical strength, but she also encountered other girls and women who challenged the traditional ways of dressing. This was important for supporting the idea that it was acceptable for the martial arts girls to wear “trousers” as part of their karate and taekwondo uniforms. In this light, Trisha (senior martial arts trainer, SNGO, November 2009) described the reaction of the girls when she first arrived in her karate uniform: You know, we train in trousers and shorts. When they ask me like, “can I please go out?” And I say, “yeah,” you find that they run and they put on their uniforms. They didn’t want to go out in their shorts. But now, they go out in their trousers, the shorts they really believe it that we are training now. And they’re not scared anymore, you know?
Thus, the uniforms appeared to be, to an extent, a mechanism for improving the confidence of the girls. And yet, as discussed elsewhere (Hayhurst, 2013a, 2013b), in some cases the martial arts girls encountered further verbal (and in some cases, physical) abuse from community and family members when wearing trousers. However, Jennifer (young martial arts trainer, SNGO, November 2009) described how meeting other girls from different communities who also wore trousers made her feel more confident about dressing in these items for training. She further explained that she made new friends through her journeys, which helped her battle social isolation, as it was extremely rare for her to travel outside of her village. In particular, Jennifer enjoyed participating in “martial arts” demonstrations, which were often used as an attempt to educate communities about the positive experiences and outcomes of the program: We travel to places we don’t know … Sometimes I ask my friends if they know about [other town]. And sometimes I tell them that when I train, I am asked to do demonstrations and other things. It’s fun!
Another notable finding that highlights the positive experiences of the girls was their suggestion that they felt “strong” after partaking in the martial arts program. Most of the time, interviewees referred to this as being crucial for self-defense. For example, Robin (young martial arts trainer, SNGO, November 2009) noted: I tell them [her friends], this taekwondo will help you in the future, and it will also make your bones to be strong. Anything that will be attacking you, you also manage to attack it, yeah! Now they [her friends] are also doing, they also say, okay, let us also join!
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Cathy (Child Rights Officer, SNGO, November 2009) noted that the program not only improved the girls’ chances to participate in sport, but also provided an important opportunity for SNGO to act “as the girls’ parents” and present basic needs such as water and sanitary pads. For example, Elisa (former senior martial arts trainer, SNGO, November 2009) explained how SNGO was able to provide the girls with water while training, which she felt was imperative given the challenging fitness regimes they were experiencing while practicing karate and taekwondo: I am very proud of the [martial arts project], because the organisation has really helped. Because when we’re going to the fields, we can provide them [the girls] with water. At least with the girls, there are not too many of them, but at least [SNGO] has helped and tried yeah, so they can get that energy to fight or to do their training.
Certainly, the senior trainers (Trisha and Elisa) argued that they acted as role models for the younger martial arts trainers (Jessica, Jennifer, Ariel, Ashley, Robin, Vani, Joanna, and Lexi). This was imperative for inspiring leadership, and providing a “parenting role” for those girls who needed support outside of their homes. As Matt (Director, IT & Enterprise Development, SNGO, November 2009) suggested: [When] I’m telling [the girls] that, “well, what do you want to be”? You’ll find their aspirations are very, very low. Very low. And you have to tell them, “Look, you can be anything! Anything you want to be you can be that!” So that whole transformation, and that’s why I thought that this network must grow. Because if we get them exchanging ideas, talking to each other, and then we get role models involved, and then maybe coordinated through this office. There are many of our staff here who have done outstanding things. Yeah.
Overall, it was clear that the girls felt martial arts improved their education, confidence, fitness levels, leadership skills, and social networks. In particular, the martial arts program seemed to hold the potential to prevent gender-based violence, promote and build the girls’ self-esteem and confidence so that they were able to exert more control over their own bodies, challenge abusers, and challenge sexual exploitation. Indeed, and as Muhanguzi (2011) argues, the bolstering of Ugandan girls’ self-confidence has also been linked to their abilities to insist on safer sex practices. At the same time, however, the very benefits of the program may also be critically understood, and defined by, a distinct neoliberal tone. Similarly, and as Azzarito (2010, p. 267) suggests, a neoliberal tendency is evident in the context of Girl Power! through sport, where the onus is placed on the girls to learn “self-managing skills, [to be] resourceful, mobile, productive and self-motivated, constituting themselves alongside discourses of
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healthism and consumption, and eventually becoming global girl citizens.” The next section explores these issues in more depth.
Using SGD to “Make” Neoliberal Girls For staff from INGO and STNC, karate and taekwondo were certainly effective tools used to instruct, develop, and enhance the lives of girls, though they did not commend the program for its disciplinary tenets. The use of sport as a pedagogical site for educating girls to be global neoliberal citizens was also driven and acknowledged by STNC staff. For instance, Barbara (Former CSR Manager, STNC, October, 2009) referred to a study STNC did with a “think tank” on the impact sport has on the lives of girls: They [the study] found out statistically that if girls participate in sports, they’re less likely to be beaten, they’re more likely to stay in school, they’re less likely to get pregnant before they want to be pregnant. They’re more likely to finish their education … So, the statistics were already there. We know girls who participate in sports are much more likely to be successful in life. Not just in the levels of CEOs, but on a daily basis. So, we knew that was true, and I believe that that’s also true if you can get girls to play on the playing field of sport, they’re more likely to understand their rights, and follow up on their rights.
The statistical evidence that the girls’ lives were being improved through sport was often well cited by staff members from each entity (SNGO, INGO, and STNC). The same strategies were used in terms of suggesting that investing in girls would solve development problems. For example, Amy (Regional Head of Marketing, STNC, October, 2009) explained that she knew girls should be the focus of development interventions because: I read the book of the guy that started the Grameen Bank. And he totally backs it up with numbers that women are more reliable than men, and that they are the ones that actually generate wealth for their families and for their communities … And he’s one of the big supporters of the Girl Effect, because he knows it’s true. And when you look at the context of poor countries, it’s most often the woman who is in charge of keeping the family together. So, there is some truth on that … I believe in the Girl Effect.
Interestingly, it seemed that most staff members from STNC and INGO framed what the girls and SNGO staff referred to as “discipline” as selfrespect, being “empowered,” and ultimately, “having agency.” In this way, and as suggested elsewhere, SGD biopedagogies strongly influenced these various modes of subjectification by advocating that the girls stay confident, fit, instruct other youth in the community on martial arts techniques
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and practices, and monitor the progress of other girls in the program (see Hayhurst, 2013a).6 STNC staff (e.g., Amy in the quote above) continued to frame the girls’ empowerment and development not as something that developed through disciplining strategies, but as part of the broader Girl Effect movement where girls were being targeted by, girl-focused development interventions. In fact, discipline was rarely mentioned by interviewees from the West as one of the benefits from the girls’ participation in martial arts. That is, though the girls and SNGO staff framed discipline as one of the most important benefits of the girls’ participation in the martial arts programming, corporate and INGO staff viewed the same phenomenon from a different perspective. For the latter, discipline was conflated with girls being more “reliable” than boys, with higher self-esteem, the ability to respect one’s body, increased confidence and the will to empower oneself without support or assistance. This ethic of “self-care” and “self-empowerment” was put forth by interviewees such as Ginny (Former Advocacy Director, INGO, October, 2009), who suggested that participating in SGD interventions was beneficial since In a lot of these sport programs … they’re [the girls] told “take care of your body, your body is worth taking care of, just wash yourself everyday, wash your clothes. We don’t mind if there’s a hole in it or if your clothes are not, you know … clean. It should be clean but it’s okay if there’s a hole in it or something else is wrong with it.” And their self-esteem is … like that.
Ginny’s concern that the girls learn basic sanitation, and how to care for and respect their “own bodies,” though not directly framed as discipline, certainly demonstrated the promotion of self-surveillance, self-management and regulation of uncivilized behavior that lays claim to the kind of subjectivity that those who are “developed” should have. I suggest, though, that these kinds of statements seemingly uphold the idea that it is the responsibility of the girls to respect their own bodies by “staying clean.” Indeed, by promoting these (neo)colonial discourses, the global neoliberal order which contributes to the social and economic conditions in which these young women live remains unchallenged. The young martial arts trainers commented that basic sanitation, food and water were serious concerns that prevented them from participating in martial arts. Ashley, Jennifer, Ariel and Jessica all spoke of the hardships involved in trying to find clean water, food, and money to buy sanitary napkins. As Ashley suggested, “When I’m training, I cannot do this without food. Hunger. I would love it if we could have a well for drinking water.” Many of the girls (Jennifer, Jessica, Robin, Ashley) described the
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fear and humiliation they endured when they were unable to purchase sanitary pads during their periods, which often prevented them from participating in the program. While some girls searched for work to obtain money for pads, others would ask teachers, parents, or other relatives for money. However, there was often not enough money to spare (Field Notes, November 19, 2009). In short, the concerns outlined here as related to the girls’ hygiene tends to be presented as culturally backward by donors and staff from the West, and is (often) not contextualized within their broader socio-economic cultural environment. Furthermore, the idea that the girls should want to care for and clean their own bodies because of the solicitude of Westerners, potentially promotes and (re)inscribes a neocolonial logic that upholds Westerners as intelligible when it comes to sanitation, civility, and self-respect. In the next section, I address these ideas by exploring issues around cultural difference in SGD aid relations.
Negotiating Cultural Difference in SGD Aid Relations Here, I explore how STNC and INGO staff struggled to grapple with how cultural difference mediated their interventions into “foreign” Two-Thirds World spaces. STNC and INGO members who described their experiences in Two-Thirds World countries implementing or observing SGD programs that they were involved in would often position themselves as global citizens improving a place deemed exotic, dirty, wild, or ungoverned. Certainly, the constant stream of donor visits to Winita also reinforces “internal colonialism,” or the making of Europeans/developers (Darnell, 2007; Stoler, 2010). The quote below from Lesley (board member, INGO, October, 2009) demonstrates these types of reactions to entering the “African space”: In Kenya I was in two programs in the horrible slums of Nairobi. And part of the goal is to get kids off the streets, get them into a safe place, because it’s really you know women are just the object of violence from all sides. So, that was a major concern.7
Similarly, Rosie, Ginny, and Jenna (INGO staff) struggled to grapple with how cultural difference impacted their ability to intervene in foreign spaces. In the quote below, Rosie (Program Director, INGO, October 2009) suggested that Kenyans needed to be guided and protected since they were ultimately trapped by their social surroundings. She suggested that these marginalized surroundings prevented them from grasping the “true” meaning of empowerment, and how to “empower themselves”:
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I ask the girls in Kenya what they want, and then you get their idea of empowerment. And of course you have to workshop that and you have to guide them slowly, because the whole term empowerment they have no idea what it is about. And they’re trapped in their own social surroundings. So, it takes some time to get them to understand that they can empower themselves.
The multiple ways that empowerment was viewed from actors “on the ground” versus interviewees from STNC and INGO was particularly noteworthy, and speaks to issues of translation and cross-cultural communication in this type of work.8 For example, Liz (Senior Manager, Monitoring and Evaluation, SNGO, November 2009) noted that empowerment did not translate into Dhopadhola (one of the local languages spoken by the Jopadhola an ethnic group of Uganda), although she discussed that she had learned the concept from working in development and had created her own definition. As she stated: We’re empowering girls, even if we don’t say it in Dhop [Dhopadhola], but maybe we could say that we’re helping the girls to realise their full potential. We’re helping them to remain in school, we’re helping them to avoid risky behaviour through the gender training that we’re doing … So empowering them, is just the same as helping them.
Julie’s (Founder of INGO) interpretations of empowerment, though similar to Liz’s in some respects, seemed to speak more to the ways that girls needed to be catalysts for social change (in keeping with the Girl Effect discourse). In many respects, this differed from Liz’s emphasis (above) on ensuring that the girls “realize their full potential”: They [girls in the Two-Thirds World] need to be the agents of change basically, and if you don’t empower them, they will never go to a shelter. If they don’t feel strong enough and confident enough they will not leave their husbands. (Julie, Founder and Executive Director, INGO, October, 2009)
While Julie’s quote above might be interpreted as one of hope and possibility, it is also plainly embedded in an inherent assumption that girls are presumed to be marginalized until they are “empowered by” others. And yet, Julie’s understanding of empowerment also suggests that girls must take on the responsibility of social change for themselves by being “active” agents. From this perspective, gender is not viewed as a constrained choice that may involve, for example, examining the various social and structural determinants that may occur at multiple levels (micro, meso, and macro) to prevent girls from making an active “choice” to be empowered agents of change in their communities. In effect, “donor dollars” seemed to (perhaps indirectly) contribute to the civilizing process and improvement, as well as to alter and change the
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spaces that INGO and STNC perceived as dangerous and unsuited to promoting gender equality. Certainly, in the SGD space, the donor/development worker/recipient encounter is decidedly racialized, as Darnell (2007) has demonstrated through his research on Canadian SDP development workers. The logic of donor recipient relations is, then, only intensified by the global neoliberal development, which in itself, is ultimately premised on racial inequalities and notions of cultural difference (Wilson, 2011).
CONCLUSION The findings presented in this research suggest that the young women of Winita had beneficial experiences by participating in the martial arts program, whether through its “gender training” components, entrepreneurial mechanisms, and/or elements of physical fitness. Certainly, for every staff member or young martial arts trainer interviewed, there seemed to be some type of positive message to be delivered relative to their experience in the program. And yet, throughout this study, it seems crucial to question the assumption that the young women of Winita are supposed to be able to make decisions and choices about their own health and well-being within the broader contexts of power and privilege, where their gender ultimately influences the control they have over certain choices and opportunities. However, perhaps the more crucial question is whether or not we can assume that they necessarily always have a choice in the first place. The assumption seems to be that if only the girls make the right choices, avoid risky behavior (i.e., practice individual avoidance) and take more responsibility for their own actions, then will they be able to reap the benefits of the martial arts program (also see Hayhurst, 2013a). At the same time, the findings discussed here underline the need to further consider the inadvertent outcomes of the Winita girls’ participation in this SGD initiative in order to better understand if being able to engage in these activities (described above) was truly transformative. Overall, then, this study suggests that global neoliberal development, as promoted via SGD practices, is not only racialized and classed, but also distinctly gendered, not only from the perspectives of the donor, but also from the “targeted recipient” (SNGO, and the young women
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training in martial arts). Exploring these relations invokes a notion of postcolonial intersubjectivity, which enables us to recognize that the colonizer and the colonized mutually construct their subjectivities (Agathangelou & Ling, 2009). Put differently, this research demonstrates that neoliberal globalization entangles with development encounters to position, sustain and rework particular constructions of the racialized Other (Wilson, 2011). If we are to accept/assume that corporations and INGOs will remain staples of the SGD (and broader SDP) landscape as donors/authorities, we must carefully think about the role they play, and how structural inequalities and notions of cultural difference are addressed, and negotiated, through North-South aid relations. A potential starting point may be to invoke more collaborative, democratic, and legitimate systems of intervention, whereby citizens and NGOs in the Two-Thirds World are better able to negotiate and communicate directly with donors such as TNCs and INGOs, particularly in terms of making decisions about corporate and INGO involvement in programming. Indeed, as neoliberal globalization continues to embolden Girl Effect-focused SDP programs, it is imperative to consider how to engage with a postcolonial feminist perspective that advocates for decolonization, mutuality, and a shift in decision-making in SGD to address issues around cultural differences between donors and recipients, tackle structural inequalities and think through the ways that notions of gender and global girlhoods are taken up and framed in program curriculums. Perhaps only then will we begin to challenge unequal relations of power between donors and project “beneficiaries.”
FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Cooky, C. (2009). “Girls just aren’t interested”: The social construction of interest in girls’ sport. Sociological Perspectives, 52(2), 259 283. In this paper, Cooky invokes nuanced and embodied understandings from the perspectives of minority, low-income girls participating in a sport program in Los Angeles of how elements of hegemony and social construction are evident in SGD interventions. This article is essential for unpacking structure and agency in gender-focused sport and social development initiatives.
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2. Forde, S. (2009). Playing by their rules: Coastal teenage girls in Kenya on life, love and football. Kilifi, Kenya: Moving the Goalposts. This publication provides a rich account of the intersections among sport, gender and development in rural Kenya. Forde a British sport feminist, journalist and SGD NGO founder provides an in-depth description of her experiences working with adolescent girls over an eight-year period as they participate in Moving the Goalposts a girls’ football for development program started by Forde in Kilifi, Kenya. Through in-depth interviews and storytelling, Forde follows the lives of a group of young women through their teenage years to better understand how this program influences sexual and gender relations, domestic duties, sexual and reproductive health, and a myriad of other issues. 3. Pelak, C.F. (2005) Negotiating gender/race/class constraints in the new South Africa: A case of women’s soccer. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 40, 53 70. A useful article for explaining intersections of race, gender, and class as they influence the ways that women take up soccer in South Africa. An accessible piece for undergraduate students that breaks down key concepts such as hegemony and structural inequalities as they influence the lives of female South African footballers. 4. Saavedra, M. (2009). Dilemmas and opportunities in gender and sport-indevelopment. In R. Levermore & A. Beacom (Eds.), Sport and international development (pp. 124 155). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Here, Saavedra provides one of the most comprehensive theoretical pieces on the intersections among sport, gender and international development. She also outlines some of the most pressing concerns within gender-focused SDP programs, including challenges around protecting girls’ and women’s safety in and through sport, and challenging gender norms in diverse cultural contexts. 5. Shehu, J. (Ed.). (2010). Gender, sport and development in Africa: Crosscultural perspectives on patterns of representations and marginalization. Dakar, Senegal: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa. In this edited collection, Shehu and colleagues provide much-needed context, perspective and alternative voices on the intersections among SGD from an African perspective. Case studies from across the continent including Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Liberia offer diverse accounts of issues such as corporate sponsorship of women’s football and gender-based violence in girls’ and women’s sport.
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NOTES 1. Throughout this chapter, I try to avoid using the term “girl” and associated terminology when referring to the participants in this research, in an effort to evade degrading language associated with “the girl.” Instead, I mostly refer to girls as “young women” or the “young martial arts trainers” although at times I do use “girls” as this was the language often used by interviewees. 2. Throughout this chapter, and in previous published work (e.g., Hayhurst, 2011a, 2011b, 2013a, 2013b), I use the terms “One-Third World” to refer to the Global North and “Two-Thirds World” to refer to the Global South as discussed by Gustavo Esteva and Madhu Prakash (1998, as cited by Mohanty, 2003). These terms aim to remove the ideological and geographical binaries that are often embedded in other terms (e.g., Third World/First World, North/South). 3. However, many of these books were purposely focused on the experiences of girls of particular nationalities (e.g., Australian, Canadian, British) and, as such, addressing the contexts of those girls residing elsewhere was likely outside of the scope of the authors’ analyses. I further discuss these issues and literatures elsewhere (see Hayhurst, 2013a, 2013b). 4. A local translator was always present to assist with interpretation for the interviews with the young martial arts trainers. All interviews with SNGO staff and the young women were in English. 5. In order to protect the identity of research participants, and following ethical guidelines set out by the University of Toronto’s Research Ethics Board, I use pseudonyms throughout the remainder of the chapter. 6. The notion of biopedagogy recently emerged in critical health studies and in body studies of sport, fitness, and physical education to examine the instruction of the micropractices of self-regulation, self-surveillance, and bodily monitoring that hail subjects to (and reinforce) wider discourses such as patriarchy, healthism, and colonialism (e.g., Harwood, 2008). 7. INGO also funds SGD programs that are based in Kenya. 8. This is not to suggest there were homogeneous perspectives on empowerment that pitted the “Two-Thirds World” versus the “One-Third World.”
REFERENCES Agathangelou, A. M., & Ling, L. H. M. (2009). Transforming world politics: From empire to multiple worlds. New York, NY: Routledge. Azzarito, L. (2010). Future girls, transcendent femininities and new pedagogies: Toward girls’ hybrid bodies? Sport, Education and Society, 15(3), 261 275. Brady, M. (2005). Creating safe spaces and building social assets for young women in the developing world: A new role for sports. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 33(1 2), 35 48. Chawansky, M. (2011). New social movements, old gender games? Locating girls in the sport for development and peace movement. Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, 32, 121 134.
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Cooky, C. (2009). “Girls just aren’t interested”: The social construction of interest in girls’ sport. Sociological Perspectives, 52(2), 259 283. Cooky, C. (2011). Do girls rule? Understanding popular culture images of “girl power” and sport. In S. S. Prettyman & B. Lampman (Eds.), Learning culture through sports: Perspectives on society and organized sports (pp. 210 226). Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield. Darnell, S. C. (2007). Playing with race: Right to play and the production of whiteness in “development through sport”. Sport in Society, 10(4), 560 579. Esteva, G., & Prakash, M. S. (1998). Grassroots post-modernism: Remaking the soil of cultures. London: Zed Books. Forde, S. (2009). Playing by their rules: Coastal teenage girls in Kenya on life, love and football. Kilifi, Kenya: Moving the Goalposts. Girl Effect. (2013). Home. Retrieved from http://www.girleffect.org/question Hague, G., Thiara, R. K., & Turner, A. (2011). Bride-price and its links to domestic violence and poverty in Uganda: A participatory action research study. Women’s Studies International Forum, 34, 550 561. Harris, A. (2004). Future girl: Young women in the twenty-first century. London: Routledge. Harwood, V. (2008). Theorizing biopedagogies. In J. Wright & V. Harwood (Eds.), Biopolitics and the “obesity epidemic”: Governing bodies (pp. 15 28). London: Routledge. Hayhurst, L. M. C. (2011a). “Governing” the “Girl Effect” through sport and development: Postcolonial girlhoods, corporate social responsibility and constellations of aid. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Faculty of Physical Education and Health, University of Toronto. Hayhurst, L. M. C. (2011b). Corporatising sport, gender and development: Postcolonial IR feminisms, transnational private governance and Global Corporate Social Engagement (GCSE). Third World Quarterly, 32(3), 531 549. Hayhurst, L. M. C. (2013a). Girls as the “new” agents of social change? Exploring the “Girl Effect” through sport, gender and development programs in Uganda. Sociological Research Online (Special Issue: Modern Girlhoods), 18(2). Hayhurst, L. M. C. (2013b). The Girl Effect and martial arts: Exploring social entrepreneurship and sport, gender and development in Uganda. Gender, Place & Culture, 21(3), 297 315. Online first, doi:10.1080/0966369X.2013.802674 Hayhurst, L. M. C., MacNeill, M., & Frisby, W. (2011). A postcolonial feminist approach to gender, development and Edusport. In B. Houlihan & M. Green (Eds.), Handbook of sport development (pp. 353 367). London: Routledge. Hayhurst, L. M. C., Millington, R., & Darnell, S. C. (under review). The role of NGOs in mega sport events. In M. Parent & J.-L. Chappelet (Eds.), Handbook of sports event management. London: Routledge. Jiwani, C., Steenbergen, C., & Mitchell, C. (2006). Girlhood: Redefining the Limits. New York, NY: Black Rose Books. Kay, T. (2009). Developing through sport: Evidencing sport impacts on young people. Sport in Society, 12(9), 1177 1191. McEwan, C. (2009). Postcolonialism and development. London: Routledge. McRobbie, A. (2009). The aftermath of feminism: Gender, culture and social change. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. Messner, M. (2009). It’s all for the kids: Gender, families and youth sports. London: University of California Press.
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Mohanty, C. T. (2003). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practising solidarity. London: Duke University Press. Mohanty, C. T. (2006). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practising solidarity. London: Duke University Press. Muhanguzi, F. K. (2011). Gender and sexual vulnerability of young women in Africa: Experiences of young girls in secondary schools. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 13(6), 713 725. Narayan, U. (2000). Essence of culture and a sense of history: A feminist critique of cultural essentialism. In U. Narayan & S. Harding (Eds.), Decentering the center (pp. 80 100). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Pelak, C. F. (2005). Negotiating gender/race/class constraints in the new South Africa: A case of women’s soccer. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 40, 53 70. Pomerantz, S. (2009). Between a rock and a hard place: Un/defining the “girl”. Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, 1(2), 147 158. Saavedra, M. (2005). Women, sport and development. Retrieved from http://www.sportandev. org/data/document/document/148.pdf Saavedra, M. (2009). Dilemmas and opportunities in gender and sport-in-development. In R. Levermore & A. Beacom (Eds.), Sport and international development (pp. 124 155). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Stoler, A. L. (2010). Carnal knowledge and imperial power. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. Tamale, S. (2001). How old is old enough? Defilement law and the age of consent in Uganda. East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights, 7(1), 82 100. Thorpe, H., & Rinehart, R. (2012). Action sport NGOs in a neo-liberal context: The cases of Skateistan and Surf Aid International. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 37(2), 115 141. Tushabe, C. (2008). The autonomy of Ugandan women’s organisations: How it matters in creating and maintaining a dependable democracy. Wagadu, 6, 45 59. Wilson, K. (2011). “Race”, gender and neoliberalism: Changing visual representations in development. Third World Quarterly, 32(2), 315 331.
CHAPTER 4 SERVICE-LEARNING: AN EDUCATIONAL MODEL FOR SPORT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Ashleigh M. Huffman and Sarah J. Hillyer ABSTRACT Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide an educational model that addresses local community needs using sport-based service-learning. Design/methodology/approach Drawing from the experiences of a Sport and Community Development (SCD) class at the University of Tennessee, this chapter will detail the structure, philosophy, and framework of the course, while emphasizing the ways former students, community members, and community partners experienced cross-cultural community development through sport-based service-learning. Findings The findings of this study demonstrate that if implemented with careful consideration and reflexivity, sport-based service-learning can positively address the needs of the community while promoting analytical student learning through practical application.
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Research limitations This study is limited in that the SCD course has only been in existence for three years. Long-term implications of our efforts are only beginning to surface. Social implications As recognized by the United Nations in the declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there are serious challenges facing today’s global population. Whether it is extreme poverty and hunger, child mortality, disease, maternal health, obesity, or environmental sustainability, individuals are looking for answers as they relate to nutrition, health, and well-being (United Nations, 2008). The goal of this chapter is to introduce an educational model, philosophy, and framework that promotes the use of sport and physical activity, as a way to address the health needs of local communities, while simultaneously fostering community development and crosscultural understanding. Keywords: Service-learning; Iraqi refugees; community development; educational model; sport-based service; cross-cultural understanding
INTRODUCTION The purpose of this chapter is to introduce an educational model that promotes the use of sport and physical activity as a way to address the health needs of local communities, while simultaneously fostering student learning, community development, and cross-cultural understanding. Using a Service-Learning: Sport and Community Development (SCD) course as a departure point, this chapter will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the course, how it was developed, why it was developed, and the benefits for students and the community. This study is based on 49 qualitative interviews, more than 50 reflective student journals, electronically recorded field notes, and 6 semesters of experience teaching the SCD class. We hope the model, philosophy, and framework put forth in this chapter will be of use to scholars and practitioners interested in sport and servicelearning initiatives.
THE BACKGROUND In the Spring of 2010, both authors were invited to design the first-ever service-learning course for the Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and
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Sport Studies at the University of Tennessee. At the time, neither of us had experience teaching a university-based “service-learning” course and to our knowledge, very few sport-based service-learning courses even existed (Miller & Nendel, 2011). Despite the uncertainties, we were excited for the opportunity. As long-time Sport for Development and Peacebuilding (SDP) practitioners, we were happy to merge our nonprofit work through Sport 4 Peace1 into the educational realm. Hillyer, Director of Sport 4 Peace, has been implementing sport-based programs internationally for more than 20 years, during seven of which Huffman has served as Assistant Director. Through our work with Sport 4 Peace, we have traveled to some of the most volatile and underserved regions of the world to conduct sport and peacebuilding programs, primarily with girls and women. Our most extensive work has taken place in the Middle East, including the development of women’s fast-pitch softball in Iran, basketball camps for girls and women in Iraq, and adaptive sports clinics for youth in Iraq. Domestically, we have also been using sport for development and peacebuilding in women’s prisons and with local Burundian refugee youth. We viewed the university-based service-learning opportunity as a systematic way to involve students in the work of Sport 4 Peace in order to train the next generation of scholars and practitioners interested in SDP. To begin our service-learning quest, we started on campus at the Tennessee Teaching and Learning Center. We reviewed their servicelearning handbook and met with various consultants regarding course design, assessment, and reflection. We also met with other faculty engaged in service-learning on campus and asked for resources, articles, and tips based on their personal experiences. Several faculty members provided us with copies of their syllabi, including learning objectives and examples of assignments. Although these faculty members were outside of our discipline, the resources they provided gave us a more holistic understanding of service-learning and the ways it could be implemented within our local context. After a thorough review of the literature and several on-campus meetings, we accepted the offer from our department head to create a sportbased service-learning course. Based on our own work with Sport 4 Peace, we knew the only way to experience success was to ensure the “service” was driven by actual community needs. Rather than utilizing a charity model of intervention (Artz, 2001; Darnell, 2007; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Fourre, 2003; Freire, 1999), our philosophy at Sport 4 Peace has always been to R.E.S.P.O.N.D. creating Relevant, Engaging, Sustainable
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Partnerships that promote local Opportunities, Networks, and Development. We employed this philosophy as we explored the cultural landscape of Knoxville, Tennessee, looking for areas where our expertise in sportbased cross-cultural programming could be maximized and of true value to the local community.
THE CONTEXT: IRAQI REFUGEES IN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE Through our work with Sport 4 Peace, we had become increasingly aware of the challenges facing refugees worldwide. Because we had developed sports programs in many of the countries where refugees were fleeing, we felt the refugee resettlement office may be the best place to begin our local community needs assessment. During our meeting, the resettlement office informed us of the growing number of refugees relocating to Knoxville and the difficulties they were facing as an agency trying to keep up with the demands. We also quickly learned that Iraqis were the primary group seeking refuge in Knoxville and one of the largest displaced groups worldwide, behind Afghans and Palestinians (Sassoon, 2009). Because of the war between the United States and Iraq and the subsequent collapse of the Iraqi government and its social institutions, nearly one out of every six Iraqis were forced to move. By 2009, almost 5 million Iraqis were displaced (Sassoon, 2009). Unfortunately, many Iraqis were displaced as a result of their allegiance to the U.S. Military, as interpreters, constructions workers, and engineers (U.S. Government, 2008). They were considered traitors and many were threatened, kidnapped, or killed. For their allegiance, the U.S. government created a special visa program permitting Iraqis to move to the United States (U.S. Government, 2008). Between 2003 and 2009, the United States took in 33,000 Iraqi refugees, a small portion of the 2 million seeking asylum (Schneller, 2010). Knoxville, like many other small cities in the United States, has felt the effects of this migration. Since 2003, Knoxville has relocated more than 250 refugees per year. Currently, Knoxville is home to more than 3,500 refugees of various backgrounds, including Burundians, Liberians, Iraqis, Sudanese, and Burmese. Iraqis make up the second-largest group of refugees, but the fastest growing segment with more than 120 families (350 + individuals)
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now living and working in Knoxville (Bridge Refugee Services, personal communication, May 3, 2011). During our discussion with the resettlement office, we also learned of the injustices the Iraqis were facing in our midsize, predominately white, southern town. The agency mentioned several instances of violence and “hate crimes” and an overall shortage of individuals willing to sponsor the Iraqi families. Many of the Iraqis were suffering from depression and other forms of emotional trauma like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Bridge Refugee Services, personal communication, May 3, 2011). Lack of employment, the absence of friendships and social networks, and the inability to speak English only exacerbated these issues. Although the Iraqis had left the war zone, they were facing a new set of challenges that would require extensive help from the local community.
THE COURSE: SPORT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT After leaving the resettlement office, we were convinced that our knowledge and expertise could best be applied by helping the Iraqi refugees transition to Knoxville. Because of our extensive work in Iraq and local programming with Burundian refugees, we felt particularly well suited to work with this population and saw it as a tremendous opportunity for our students. We knew creating a service-learning class using sport and physical activity would not only help the Iraqis transition to the area (Refugee Council of Australia, 2010; Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group [SDP IWG], 2008), but would also challenge our students to confront possible ignorance or negative stereotypes (Eyler & Giles, 1999; Stonebanks, 2008). As helpful as the resettlement agency was in identifying specific community needs, they were unfortunately bound by confidentiality laws and could not provide names or addresses of the incoming Iraqi families. As a result, we had to find creative ways to obtain this information. In order for the Iraqis to positively receive our ideas, we needed key community partners, people that were truly invested in the families, to help us. By word of mouth, we met with a language agency, a sewing co-op, and a refugee ministry at a local church. We learned a great deal through these meetings and received very positive feedback regarding our sport-based service-learning idea. One Arab man found this concept especially intriguing and volunteered to introduce us to a few of the Iraqi families.
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For two weeks, we visited numerous families, sitting with them in their homes, drinking hot tea, and eating sweets. During our conversations, we asked them about the challenges they were facing as refugees transitioning to Knoxville and the ways our class could assist them. Of course, employment opportunities and learning the language were of utmost importance, but there were other basic needs that also emerged. First of all, the Iraqis spoke passionately about the need for more social interaction, with Americans and with other Iraqis. Physically, they were isolated from each other (living in various apartment complexes across town) and socially they were isolated from the greater Knoxville community (language, transportation, culture, religion, and lack of employment). Coming from a relationship-driven society, they longed for a chance to interact with Americans, to host them as friends in their home, and to share their culture with them. The Iraqi women identified friendship and opportunities to visit other women outside of the home as key elements to their overall health and happiness. Second, Iraqi women also expressed a strong desire for physical activity opportunities in a culturally appropriate space. Unfortunately, very few “women’s only” health clubs exist in Knoxville and access to those clubs requires transportation and financial means, making it difficult for the Iraqi women to participate. In addition to exercise, they also requested educational sessions on health-related topics, including healthy cooking, healthcare and insurance, emergency room visits, insomnia, stress, depression, and disease prevention. The women identified themselves as caretakers of the household and recognized the importance of attending to their own physical, emotional, and spiritual needs in order for the home to function successfully. Unfortunately, without a support network of friends and family to help them, they lacked the motivation and opportunity to make their own health a priority. Lastly, the women spoke avidly about their children and identifying safe spaces for them to play, free of bullying and other dangers (e.g., drugs, gangs, violence) they associated with living in low-income housing. Few, if any, of the children had the opportunity to participate in sports because they lacked equipment to play at home and the finances to play in a league or on a school team. With all of these challenges, physical education classes and recess became the only outlets for the children to play, leaving them with boundless amounts of energy but no place to release it. After listening to their concerns, we were convinced that a sport-based service-learning class could definitely be of benefit to this population. And we knew the expertise of our students and the variety of disciplines within
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our department would prove valuable in meeting the Iraqis’ physical, social, and emotional needs. We took our notes to the office and began thoughtfully constructing the first-ever undergraduate service-learning course for Kinesiology, Therapeutic Recreation, and Sport Management students at our university.
THE STRUCTURE: SPORT AND SERVICE COURSE OUTLINE In order to maximize the SCD experience for three distinct disciplines of study while simultaneously meeting the needs of the local community, we had to establish a course outline that balanced the time spent in class with the time spent in the community. We wanted students to feel prepared enough to engage the Iraqis, while also having ample time to reflect and debrief their experiences. After several conversations, we developed the structure of the course (Fig. 1). As detailed in Sport and Service Course Outline, the SCD course is divided into three parts: (1) classroom training; (2) weekly community programming; and (3) monthly sport-based social events. Each of these components are in direct response to the needs of the community, which include health and physical activity for the women, safe spaces for children to play, and an opportunity to engage socially with Americans and each other. This structure is also intended to give Kinesiology, Therapeutic Recreation, and Sport Management students an opportunity to apply their discipline-specific knowledge in meaningful ways. In the first five weeks of the semester, students are immersed in “cultural training,” SDP philosophies, and teambuilding/leadership activities. The training consists of readings, role-play, scenarios, “hot seat” interviews, reflective writing, team challenges, and an exam. Through various activities, students learn how to facilitate sports programs for youth, fitness classes for women, and teambuilding games with cross-cultural populations. They are also made aware of cultural customs and engage in different scenarios to prepare them for the mixed-gender social events and in-home visits. The goal of the first five weeks is to promote a group of students who are aware of their own stereotypes and biases, knowledgeable about Iraqi culture and customs, and prepared to lead in a sport or exercise setting. After the community engagement begins, classroom time is used for event planning as well as debrief and reflection. Students work in small groups to
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Fig. 1.
Sport and Service Course Outline.
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unpack their experiences, to learn from each other, and to prepare for the next opportunity with the community. After five weeks of preparation, students begin engagement with the community. Every Thursday for 10 weeks, students lead two hours of community programming, which consists of an after-school sports and tutoring program for the Iraqi children and a fitness class and health seminar for the Iraqi women. Out of respect for the Iraqi women and their religious customs, the service-learning class is divided by gender. Male students work with the children, teaching team sports, playing informal games, and tutoring or helping with homework. This provides children with a safe place to play and learn while receiving undivided attention from the male students in the class. It also allows our male students to practice intentionality in identifying and addressing “teaching” moments moments during the sport activities in which life lessons can be extracted and discussed (SDP IWG, 2008; Shields & Bredemeier, 2009). While the males work with the children, the female students engage with the Iraqi women, teaching team sports (e.g., volleyball, basketball, softball) or fitness classes (e.g., aerobics, kickboxing, yoga, Zumba). After the sportskill session or fitness class, female students lead a health seminar, where they work with the Iraqi women to establish baseline measurements (i.e., height, weight, BMI, blood pressure, and fitness levels), customized fitness strategies, goal-setting objectives, and nutrition plans. Additionally, the students teach on topics requested by the Iraqis including disease prevention, insomnia, stress management, and maternal health. As detailed later in the chapter, the fitness classes also function as a site for relationship building, social inclusion, and cultural exchange. Students are responsible for leading each of these after-school sessions with a partner and must submit a lesson plan that includes an icebreaker, a teambuilding game, the fitness or sport lesson, and the health or tutoring goals for the week. This structure allows Kinesiology, Therapeutic Recreation, and Sport Management students to apply their discipline in very unique ways as instructors of fitness, as facilitators of teambuilding, as coaches, as health educators, and event managers. It also allows them to develop skills in cross-cultural facilitation and to better understand the ways sport can be used to promote socio-political objectives like social inclusion, empathy, trust, and peacebuilding (Bailey, Hillman, Arent, & Petitpas, 2013; Beutler, 2008; SDP IWG, 2008). Lastly, the students are responsible for developing three large-scale social events that include recreational activities or a sport element. These social events are designed for the whole family, creating a stronger sense of
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inclusion and community, allowing the Iraqis to socialize with one another, with our class, and with other invested community partners. This also gives the male students in class an opportunity to learn from the Iraqi men as to their unique challenges and the ways they are experiencing resettlement. The social events are also an excellent way for our students to “give back” to community partners by inviting them to share in our events and recognizing their contributions. Due to the scope of the events, especially the final event each semester (150 200 people), students learn particularly valuable skills in event management. Students are responsible for fundraising, event planning, managing volunteers, organizing donation drives, coordinating registration, designing and ordering t-shirts, soliciting sponsorships, and logistics (food, transportation, childcare, etc.). The success of the events rest on the students’ ability to work together as a team and take the idea from start to finish from conception to evaluation. These events tend to be an eyeopening experience for students and great preparation for future employment. As students quickly learn, working with the community can be challenging. Unlike other classes, there are no answers in the back of a book. This can be frustrating for students who are accustomed to more traditional methods of learning: read, repeat, regurgitate (Bok, 2006; Butin, 2010; Eyler & Giles, 1999). Despite the challenges, we believe this model has proven effective in the six semesters it has been implemented. Using the words of students, Iraqis, and community members as our evidence, we will detail the ways this model moves students and Iraqis through the community development process.
THE RESULTS: SPORT AND SERVICE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRESSION After several semesters of teaching the SCD course, we noticed a distinct pattern in the ways students and Iraqis were experiencing the class. Like points on a continuum, the relationship between the students and the community evolved somewhat systematically over time. From the first uncomfortable meeting to the tears and hugs at the end of the term, there appeared to be a progression of “ah-ha” moments that repeated each semester. Of course not everyone experienced this progression in the same way; nor was the progression linear in movement. As the relationships evolved,
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however, most students and most Iraqis experienced a change in the way they perceived the other; a change that included courage, compassion, and conviction, moving from awareness of the other to appreciation for one another. We have dubbed this movement the Sport and Service Community Development Progression. Using the words of students and the community, we have labeled transcendent moments or recurring themes they experienced as the class progressed. Although we know relationships are much more organic and complex than this progression can detail, this is our attempt to unpack a few of the distinct layers that make up the community development process, including: (1) Connection, (2) Courage, (3) Compassion, (4) Capital, and (5) Community.
Connection According to interviews with students and Iraqis, the first step in achieving community is finding a shared interest or connection. In the SCD class, students and Iraqis entered the relationship with preconceived notions of the other that stemmed largely from September 11 and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. For both sides, sport quickly became the point of connection, the common language that made the “uncomfortable comfortable.” Concurrent with the literature, students and Iraqis identified sport as a neutral topic that helped build common ground and launch conversation (Bailey et al., 2013; Beutler, 2008; SDP IWG, 2008). Beyond functioning as a common language, the SCD course became a point of connection in other ways connecting theoretical ideas to practical application, connecting students to Iraqis, and connecting the university to the community. For many students, the SCD course functioned as their first opportunity to connect with the community. As one male student, a junior in Sport Management, expressed: “My life exists within the campus bubble. I’m not from here, so I don’t know anyone in the local community … definitely not Iraqis or Muslims.” Despite having very few interactions with Arabs or Muslims, the students had surprisingly strong convictions about working with the Iraqis. Although they admitted feeling ignorant about the situation in Iraq, they initially chose words and phrases like “uneducated,” “poor,” “illiterate,” “towel-heads,” “camel jockeys,” “enemies,” and “terrorists” to describe the Iraqi people. Understanding what students from the post-9/11 generation have internalized as “truths” about Iraqis is very important in appreciating
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the friendship and community built between the two groups. It also speaks to the larger body of literature regarding sport as an effective tool in “building a shared sense of identity and fellowship among groups that might otherwise be inclined to treat each other with distrust, hostility, or violence” (SDP IWG, 2008, p. 207). On the flip side, Iraqis also had many preconceived ideas about Americans that caused a tremendous amount of hesitancy and fear. Most of their perceptions of America were based on military interactions. One Iraqi woman, who nearly lost her husband in a Humvee explosion, said she was very scared to come to the United States even though her husband served as a translator for the American Military. She said in her interview: I didn’t want to come here because I was afraid that people would not accept us. Even though my husband helped Americans, people see the scarf and they judge us based on 9-11. Even though there is religious freedom here, I still feel like people may look at me and think I am a terrorist.
Through this class, Iraqis and Americans connected in a meaningful way. The SCD class gave them a reason to get to know each other and dispel the fears or misconceptions they had about the other. In many instances, the Iraqis and students competed together, as teammates, in various informal competitions throughout the semester. The high-fives, the smiles, and the achievement of succeeding together on the playing field or during the fitness classes created a bond that allowed for dialogue beyond simple pleasantries. This interaction laid the groundwork for deeper conversations and provided the initial momentum needed to continue in the relationship.
Courage For the SCD relationship to evolve beyond a mere commonality, students and Iraqis had to establish a level of comfort and trust with one another. In the fitness class, trust was especially relevant. Adult Iraqi women were learning aerobics or sport skills from university-aged female students. It was important for the students to create an environment where the Iraqi women could be vulnerable and learn new skills without feeling judged by their younger counterparts. It was also important for the students to feel supported as they developed their own skills teaching fitness, sports, and health. For both, it required a certain amount of courage to try something new in front of strangers.
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What we found is that the inherently physical nature of sport or exercise can promote trust. In the instance of the exercise class, trust was built through human touch (Huffman, 2011). When Iraqis or students could not understand the verbal cues given, physical cues were used. Students would physically guide Iraqis through various strength training movements and in return, Iraqis would place their hands on the hips of the students and teach them dances common in Iraqi culture. Sport became a physical language that allowed the two groups to communicate and allowed for an intimacy that promoted trust. As one 27-year-old Iraqi mother of two expressed during class: You know this class is so fun. Really, my favourite memories in America are exercise and dancing. It’s so funny. I don’t even like sport. But your class, it is so comfortable. When we don’t know how to do a movement, the students, they stand right beside us and just help us learn. And everybody laughs together. It makes me feel no stress.
As noted in the literature: “Sport for peace initiatives are particularly effective in helping to build confidence and trust between opposing parties and advancing the healing process … building trust also entails seeing the humanity in every individual” (SDP IWG, 2008, p. 225). In the SCD class, touch helped the Iraqis and students feel increasingly connected to one another, establishing trust among the group. That trust later allowed the Iraqi women to feel comfortable enough to share significant cultural information and their own personal stories of survival, deepening the relationship. This exchange of information allowed students to connect with the Iraqis and to understand their humanity, as people with families, friends, and dreams of their own. Sharing these deeply personal stories with the students was also cathartic for the Iraqis, helping them to move forward in the healing process and deal with the loss and grief they had experienced. Compassion One of the primary objectives of the SCD class was to use sport to encourage cross-cultural dialogue between the Iraqis and the students and to challenge previously held assumptions about the other. Ultimately, we hoped that the interaction with one another would at least promote mutual understanding with the potential for something greater (SDP IWG, 2008). What we discovered is that most students and most Iraqis not only came to an understanding of one another; they actually developed a sense of compassion for the other. Specifically for students, the war in Iraq became much less black and white. Knowing the Iraqi families added another
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dimension to the narrative. The Iraqis gave the war a face, a name, and revealed its complexity. As the semester progressed, students found themselves having difficult conversations with their family and friends because of the empathy they were experiencing for the Iraqi people. As one male student, a senior in Kinesiology, wrote in his journal: “This class challenges you to grow in your thinking and find out why you believe the things you do. By interacting with the Iraqis at the events, I have a new respect for these people and their strength to start over.” This coincides with what Eyler and Giles (1999) found to be one of the most consistent outcomes of service-learning “the reduction of negative stereotypes and the increase in tolerance for diversity” (p. 29). This also coincides with the SDP literature in which “sport is believed to have the potential to foster individual empathy, tolerance, cooperation, social skills, and teamwork,” all of which were found to be true to some extent in the SCD experience (SDP IWG, 2008, p. 212). And through consistent and positive experiences with the service-learning students, the fears of the Iraqis slowly dissolved. As one Iraqi Muslim woman whose husband was killed while aiding Americans explained: I thought, when I come to America, no one will accept me, no one will speak with me. I had this dark idea about American people. I was afraid and scared. But the students, they are not like this. They are so kind, so friendly, so gentle, and they help us from the first day that we came. Until now, they keep helping us. I love my new friends. I wish we stay together forever.
This type of compassion allowed students and Iraqis to forge solid bonds that extended beyond the classroom and resulted in exchanges outside of class and even after graduation. These connections served as new networks of support that not only promoted social inclusion but also social capital (Bailey et al., 2013; SDP IWG, 2008).
Capital As discussed earlier in the chapter, most refugees living in Knoxville struggle with isolation, lack of community, and limited social networks to help them advance in American society. Even “simple” activities like mailing a letter can be very difficult. As one young community partner from the local sewing co-op stated in her interview: For most refugees coming from non-Western countries, having a network is very important to them. That’s how they find jobs; that’s how they get a car; that’s how they
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get married. Now you have all of these families coming in with tremendous needs and they don’t have networks. They don’t know how to mail a letter or get a driver’s license or fill a prescription. For many refugees there really is a sense of powerlessness because they no longer know how to navigate society.
In response to this issue, one of the key concepts that we tried to address in the SCD class was increased social inclusion (Donnelly & Coakley, 2002) and, ultimately, greater networks of social capital (Bailey et al., 2013; Sammut, 2011). As defined by Donnelly and Coakley (2002), social inclusion is more than just the removal of obstacles or barriers to [sport] participation. It is an understanding and appreciation of diverse thoughts; it is a humanistic and proactive approach to fostering community and validating the lived experiences of various groups. It goes beyond “bringing the ‘outsiders’ in, or notions of the periphery versus the centre. It is about closing physical, social, and economic distances separating people, rather than only about eliminating boundaries or barriers between us and them” (pp. viii ix). Closely related to the idea of social inclusion is that of social capital. Social capital can be thought of as networks of support that “provide community members with resources they can utilise in various circumstances” (Sammut, 2011, p. 4.9). Although the primary focus of the SCD course was sport and exercise, many students in the course took it upon themselves to help the Iraqis fill out job applications, schedule doctor’s appointments, get prescriptions filled, enroll in the university, complete financial aid paperwork, interpret electric bills, and move apartments. In a sense, the SCD class has functioned as a support network dedicated to providing the Iraqis with the knowledge and resources they need to navigate American society. The willingness of the SCD students to offer this support stems from the genuine bonding that takes place during the semester. Accordingly, the Iraqis have reported an increased sense of control over their lives, which has resulted in less anxiety and improved mental health.
Community Ultimately, the SCD class was designed to develop community. As Crawford (2010) suggested: “[successful] community development works to increase and strengthen social connections within a community in order to improve the community’s ability to solve its own problems” (p. 40). By strengthening the social connections between students, Iraqis, and community members and providing the appropriate networks and resources for
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the Iraqis to navigate American society, the SCD class entered the final stage of the development progression building community. According to one community partner from the refugee ministry who attended many of the events hosted by our class, even she experienced a new feeling of inclusion and support as a result of our efforts. As communicated in her interview: There’s been a real bonding that has taken place and your class has made an imprint on the Iraqis’ lives and mine. And it’s a unique relationship because you have shown them [the Iraqis] that you value them and that’s built a community of trust. It’s been really encouraging for me because now I feel like I’m part of something bigger, a bigger team, more than just me and a few friends investing in their lives. It’s very liberating, very empowering, and it makes me want to support you all in whatever way I can.
The Iraqis also voiced this sense of community and the ways the class made them feel valued and more comfortable in America. Many of the women expressed the relief they felt in knowing people in the community who they could call if they needed something, like moving to a new apartment or taking a sick baby to the doctor at night. They also communicated the ways their overall health improved, especially mentally and emotionally. And lastly, they found the class to be a “bridge” between cultures, helping them to feel safe and accepted in their new home. As one Iraqi Muslim mother of four expressed: This class makes me feel so comfortable. It encourages me. I feel strong. I feel healthy. It makes me feel good about myself. And now I have friends, American friends. And we talk and we laugh. You talk about American life and we talk about Iraqi life. We share those ideas and we create a good community. And sport is like a bridge between us. It’s not a scary bridge; it’s a safe bridge. It is a bridge to peace.
These statements are reflective of a much larger body of data that demonstrates the ways students and Iraqis moved from the initial meeting of one another to a shared sense of community. Although not all students and not all Iraqis progressed in this way, the identified stages of community development in this chapter can at least serve as a starting point for conversation.
CHALLENGES Despite the success of the SCD course, service-learning is not without dangers or challenges. From an instructor’s perspective, this class is incredibly time-consuming, hard to assess, and requires real-time feedback and coordination with students, community members, and community partners. Providing transportation for the Iraqis to every event, including weekly
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programming, and a lack of overall funding from the university are substantial barriers to sustainability. Moreover, it is especially difficult as an instructor to manage students who are not committed or invested in the success of the class. Every semester, we have students drop the course or fail the course. Often times, students who drop the course do so because they disagree with the concept of the course or do not want to work with the community or Iraqis specifically. They feel it is too much work and prefer traditional methods of learning where “no one calls on them” to participate or contribute. Students who fail the course often do so as a result of irresponsible behavior, like not showing up on the day of a community-organized event or not following through on a major assignment (e.g., sponsorships, food donations, t-shirt orders, etc.). Fortunately, in the SCD experience, students who drop or fail the course are very much the outliers; most students sign up for the class because they see the value in applying their discipline and are excited about working in the community with “real people” addressing “real issues.”
CONCLUSION As examined throughout the chapter, the SCD class was committed to addressing the health needs of the local community while simultaneously promoting cross-cultural understanding, student learning, and community development. By creating a model that emphasized reciprocity, reflexivity, and collaboration, we were largely able to achieve these goals. As evidenced in the Sport and Service Community Development Progression, students and Iraqis experienced benefits beyond achieving a letter grade or engaging in physical activity; together, they built a more inclusive and welcoming community. It is our hope that other scholars and practitioners will be able to use the framework put forth in this chapter to develop or enhance their own sport-based service-learning efforts.
FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group. (2008). Harnessing the power of sport for development and peace: Recommendations to governments. Toronto, ON: Right to Play and the International Working Group Secretariat Office.
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Created by the United Nation’s Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group in partnership with Right to Play, this is currently the most thorough and extensive report on the Sport for Development and Peace movement. Detailed in the report is the working definition of SDP, the history and milestones of the movement, a glossary of terms, and resources for scholars and practitioners. It also includes a wealth of information on the following: sport and health, sport and child/ youth development, sport and gender, sport and persons with disabilities, and sport and peace. This is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the field of SDP. 2. Eyler, J., & Giles, D. E. (1999). Where’s the learning in service-learning? San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Based on extensive national research, this book is one of the first to focus on the domains of learning and the ways service-learning contributes to these domains (e.g., cognitive, affective, psychomotor). Using quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this is also one of the first books to explore service-learning through the eyes of students. This book has become a foundational piece in the service-learning cannon of literature and an important read for anyone interested in promoting service-learning efforts. 3. Bailey, R., Hillman, C., Arent, S., & Petitpas, A. (2013). Physical activity: An underestimated investment in human capital? Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 10, 289 308. Commissioned by Nike, Inc., this article is based on more than 500 pieces of published research on sport and physical activity and how it contributes to physical, emotional, individual, intellectual, social, and financial capital. The result of this article is the development of the Human Capital Model, which details the benefits of sport and physical activity in the aforementioned health domains. This article also provides excellent visual references and statistics to support the ways physical activity increases human capital. 4. Miller, M. P., & Nendel, J. D. (Eds.). (2011). Service-learning in physical education and related professions: A global perspective. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. This edited volume offers an in-depth look at the way service-learning is currently being applied in physical education courses and sport-related disciplines. This book is a significant read because it provides theoretical and pedagogical frameworks for designing and implementing sport-based service. It also offers 12 case study examples, complete with activities,
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assignments, and assessment models on which to draw new ideas. 5. Butin, D. (2010). Service-learning in theory and practice: The future of community engagement in higher education. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. This book offers critical and thought-provoking analysis regarding student learning in higher education. It challenges traditional methodologies of classroom instruction, while also acknowledging the pitfalls and difficulties associated with community engagement and service-learning. It is an important read for anyone interested in the theoretical aspects of student learning and the future of community engagement.
NOTE 1. Sport 4 Peace was founded in 1993 and has partnered with numerous international organizations to implement more than 500 sports projects in 72 countries. For more information on Sport 4 Peace, please visit the website at sport4peace.org.
REFERENCES Artz, L. (2001). Critical ethnography for communication studies: Dialogue and social-justice in service-learning. Southern Communication Journal, 55(3), 239 250. Bailey, R., Hillman, C. Arent, S., & Petitpas, A. (2013). Physical activity: An underestimated investment in human capital? Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 10, 289 308. Beutler, I. (2008). Sport serving development and peace: Achieving the goals of the United Nations through sport. Sport in Society, 11(4), 359 369. Bok, D. (2006). Our underachieving colleges. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Butin, D. (2010). Service-learning in theory and practice: The future of community engagement in higher education. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Crawford, J. E. (2010). Using sport as a tool for development. Unpublished Master’s thesis, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH. Darnell, S. (2007). Playing with race: RTP and the production of whiteness in ‘development through sport’. Sport in Society, 10(4), 560 579. Donnelly, P., & Coakley, J. (2002). The role of recreation in promoting social inclusion. Toronto: The Laidlaw Foundation. Eyler, J., & Giles, D. E. (1999). Where’s the learning in service-learning? San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Fourre, C. (2003). Journey to justice: Transforming hearts and schools with Catholic school teaching. Washington, DC: National Catholic Education Association. Freire, P. (1999). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.
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Huffman, A. (2011). Using sport to build community: Service-learning with Iraqi refugees. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tennessee. Retrieved from http://trace.tennessee. edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2271&context=utk_graddiss Miller, M. P., & Nendel, J. D. (Eds.). (2011). Service-learning in physical education and related professions: A global perspective. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. Refugee Council of Australia. (2010). A bridge to a new culture: Promoting the participation of refugees in sporting activities. New South Wales Government. Retrieved from http:// www.refugeecouncil.org.au/docs /resources/reports/A_Bridge_to_a_New_Culture_abrid ged.pdf. Accessed on October 14, 2013. Sammut, G. (2011). Civic solidarity: The negotiation of identity in modern societies. Papers on Social Representations, 20, 4.1 4.24. Sassoon, J. (2009). The Iraqi refugees: The new crisis in the middle east. New York, NY: I.B. Tauris. Schneller, R. (2010). No place like home: Iraq’s refugee crisis threatens the future of Iraq. Terrorism Monitor, 8(8), 8 12. Shields, D. L. & Bredemeier, B. L. (2009). True competition: A guide to pursuing excellence in sport and society. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group. (2008). Harnessing the power of sport for development and peace: Recommendations to governments. Toronto, Ontario: Right to Play and the International Working Group Secretariat Office. Stonebanks, C. D. (2008). An Islamic perspective on knowledge, knowing, and methodology. In N. Denzin, Y. Lincoln & L. Smith (Eds.), Handbook of critical and Indigenous methodologies (pp. 239 321). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. United Nations. (2008). Achieving the objectives of the United Nations through sport. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations. United States Government. (2008). Managing chaos The Iraqi refugees of Jordan and Syria and internally displaced persons in Iraq. Staff trip report to the Committee on Foreign Relations United States Senate, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
CHAPTER 5 THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF SPORT TO HIV/AIDS AWARENESS Chiaki Okada ABSTRACT Purpose To highlight and explain some characteristics of sport which can contribute to HIV/AIDS awareness as a part of comprehensive HIV/AIDS countermeasures. HIV/AIDS is among the most crucial of global issues, and sport is widely viewed as a possible vehicle to counter it. By using data from a Zimbabwe study, the chapter draws on several unique characteristics of sport which can help in combating challenging social problems. Findings Several characteristics of “awareness activities” in Zimbabwean baseball were observed. Some points are characteristics of sport itself, some are related specifically to baseball, and the others are, we can say, peculiar to the activities of the Zimbabwe Baseball Association (ZBA) and the Maxwell and Friends Foundation (MFF). As an awareness catalyst, sport has some unique characteristics, although we cannot say that promoting HIV/AIDS awareness through sport can always be effective for all fields. However, the worldwide increase in such activities shows certain advantages of using sport as an awareness tool.
Sport, Social Development and Peace Research in the Sociology of Sport, Volume 8, 87 102 Copyright r 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1476-2854/doi:10.1108/S1476-285420140000008004
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Originality/value This chapter shows some unique characteristics of sport in the field of HIV/AIDS awareness. It will contribute to the reexamination of sport from the perspective of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP). Keywords: HIV/AIDS awareness; life skills; baseball; Zimbabwe; youth
INTRODUCTION During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, many activities concerning HIV/AIDS were conducted by United Nations organizations, official development assistance by some countries, International NGOs, and private enterprises. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and SONY provided HIV/ AIDS awareness programs during the publicly broadcast matches in various countries. Although, to some, the coupling of HIV/AIDS and sport might seem odd, in recent years sport has become regarded as an innovative method for making known how to overcome the various restrictions and obstacles in the tackling of HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the current study is to clarify the characteristics of sport which can contribute to HIV/ AIDS awareness. In the past, HIV/AIDS was perceived as a terrifying disease that signified almost certain death. In recent years, however, it has become possible to significantly reduce the probability of developing AIDS, if the person could take adequate anti-retroviral therapy (ART) even after being infected with HIV. At the same time, close and impacting connections between HIV/AIDS and culture, religion, economy, and society have been revealed. Therefore, a vast discrepancy is created between those who can live a normal life as they did before becoming HIV-positive and those whose lives are hampered by HIV infections. The actual contemporary fear of the HIV/AIDS problem is not the illness itself, but rather the fact that an individual’s life can be compromised by “artificial” social factors. The spread of HIV/AIDS not only destroys human life, but also threatens to render families and communities dysfunctional. The loss of human resources, an increase in the number of orphans, and the collapse of education/medical systems expand poverty and social anxiety. Consequently, societies that already face problematic situations are presented with yet further difficulties.
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In 2012, around 35.3 million people worldwide were HIV-positive. Although the number of deaths caused by AIDS has declined in recent years, the total number of such deaths is even now approximately 1.6 million per year. Notwithstanding an additional 1.6 million people newly gained access to treatment after becoming HIV-positive, 2.3 million people are newly infected with HIV in 2012, and the number of children who had lost one or both parents to AIDS had increased to 17.8 million in 2010 (UNAIDS, 2013). Although such orphans are usually looked after by their relatives for a period of time, if their relatives are financially strapped, the orphan may have to engage in household work or even paid labor. Caring for such orphans tends to be regarded as a family issue, as most governments do not provide enough support legally and financially. There are many orphans who do not have even a minimum standard of living, nor can they obtain emotional comfort for the loss of their parents or siblings. Carol Bellamy, former executive director of UNICEF, has observed: “The crisis of orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS is massive, growing and long-term. But two-thirds of countries hard-hit by the disease do not have strategies to ensure the children affected grow up with even the bare minimum of protection and care” (UNICEF, 2003).1 In addition, these orphans have a higher-than-average probability of having been born HIV-positive. However, most of them have not been tested for HIV, causing a delay in the commencement of their treatment. Although HIV/AIDS is one of the crucial global problems even now, global efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS and related issues are ongoing in several sectors. Sport as a tool for HIV/AIDS awareness is also expected to have certain responsibilities in the area of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP).
HIV/AIDS AWARENESS AND SPORT IN RECENT YEARS Although in recent years the fatality rate of HIV/AIDS has declined, it continues to create conditions where life expectancy is reduced. The importance of HIV/AIDS prevention needs no discussion, and it is clearly understood that education and awareness activities for the younger generation are essential for comprehensive HIV/AIDS countermeasures.
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The objectives of HIV/AIDS countermeasures in recent years are as follows: 1. improving the rate of HIV testing, 2. spreading knowledge to reduce the development of AIDS after HIV infection, 3. eradicating prejudices and discrimination related to HIV/AIDS. The question of the causes of HIV/AIDS directly ties into topics related to sex and sex practices. There are societies where talking about sex and reproduction is considered taboo, and there are many people, particularly among the younger generation, who find it awkward to seriously discuss sex with others. Even in churches, which in many societies play the role of transmitting important information in communities, topics related to sex are sometimes unmentionable, or there is a tendency for such topics to be avoided in public places such as schools, workplaces, and homes. Additionally, even if the government promotes HIV/AIDS awareness within schools, most teachers do not have specialized knowledge and skills to handle this, and in many cases, these teachers are reluctant to cover topics related to sex during their classes. It is not difficult to understand that social, religious, and educational backgrounds make it difficult to spread information about HIV/AIDS. However, to this point, we have not been able to find a more effective way to spread information for preventing people from contracting HIV and developing AIDS. Moreover HIV/AIDS awareness activities should focus on increasing the level of human resources that take into consideration HIV/AIDS-related issues correctly to reduce stigma and discrimination in society, and to use knowledge gained from the activities in guiding the future of society. The focus of HIV/AIDS awareness should be youth, and in this aspect, sport has been used as one of the central tools. Although it depends on the sporting activity, HIV/AIDS awareness through sport is generally believed to have the advantage of cost-effectiveness. Attracting more volunteers who can be committed to HIV/AIDS-related issues at a lower cost is a requisite for HIV/AIDS awareness. Peter Piot, former executive director of The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), has argued: “One third of the 40 million people living with HIV are young people under age 25, many of whom are involved in sport, either as spectators or as participants. It is vitally important for young people to have access to information about HIV so that they can stay HIV-free and lead healthy and productive lives. The sport community is a key partner in reaching out to young men and
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women, whether in their village or town, or globally” (IOC, UNAIDS, 2008, p. 19). On the basis of this understanding, HIV/AIDS awareness through sport has been recognized as one of the best uses of the characteristics of sport. However, we cannot ignore the fact that, in some countries, some areas of social life cannot develop without addressing HIV/AIDS countermeasures, mainly due to the impending seriousness of HIV/AIDS problems. The sporting world and sport-related people are also obliged to search for concrete contributions to HIV/AIDS-related matters. The answer to the question “what can sport do for HIV/AIDS?” is sometimes contrived both to explain the functionality of sport and to direct funds for HIV/AIDS to sport. However, we cannot connect some characteristics of sport directly with HIV/AIDS awareness, and the advantages and disadvantages of sport in the field of HIV/AIDS awareness should be carefully observed. Kaufman and Welsch (2012) have examined the evidence to show the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS awareness activities through sport and found it limited. There were two quasi-experimental studies on sports-based HIV/AIDS awareness programs in Zimbabwe (Clark, Friedrich, Ndlovu, Neilands, & McFarland, 2006) and Tanzania (Maro, Roberts, & Sørensen, 2009), and a cross-sectional study in Kenya (Delva et al., 2010). Although there have been more reports based on qualitative methods such as field observations and interviews recently, it is difficult to see clear evidence of the positive role of sport or to obtain data showing the unique characteristic of sport. To begin with, we tend to include several patterns of relationships between HIV/AIDS and sport when we discuss HIV/AIDS awareness through sport. HIV/AIDS awareness related to sport is mainly conducted in some campaigns and events by international organizations which can be considered as those aimed for the broadest effects. The International Olympics Committee (IOC) and UNAIDS concluded a cooperative agreement in 2004. Later on, they held a workshop titled “HIV/AIDS awareness through youth sport” in South Africa. In 2005, the manual “Toolkit on HIV & AIDS Prevention through Sport” was produced through the joint collaboration of several organizations and has been translated into seven languages for use in multiple countries. There are other examples conducted by UNICEF, National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and sporting associations, on the World Aids Day, December 1. The objectives of these events, which are conducted in different formats including workshops, seminars, and sport events, are: 1. preventing HIV transmission,
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2. acquiring necessary lifestyle habits for controlling the development of AIDS, 3. eliminating discrimination and prejudice toward HIV-positive and AIDS patients, 4. transmitting information useful in preventing and caring for patients suffering from HIV/AIDS. These activities have two different origins one is with a strong spirit of charity mainly held in “first world” countries, and the other is mainly held in developing countries offering information related to HIV/AIDS as education programs directly to audiences. There are several other formats as well: lectures, workshops, providing free space for playing, and activities with professional athletes as role models. We have recently seen many HIV/AIDS awareness activities with the participation of famous athletes. Clark et al. (2006) conducted surveys of HIV/AIDS education with a professional soccer player in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to see the outcomes of the program. They found a significant increase in knowledge and the attitudes of participants using pre-, immediately post-, and five-months postintervention surveys. However, Wilson, Van Luijk, and Boit (2013) pointed out the difference of celebrity athletes “who are a ‘presence’ at sport for development and peace events,” and “those who might be considered ‘social movement entrepreneurs’.” This research emphasizes the fact that these celebrity athletes will not be role models automatically, and that a significant role model should be created under certain conditions. Balls printed with slogans of HIV/AIDS awareness are sometimes distributed, and festivals with awareness campaigns using films and stage dramas are sometimes held. These activities differ depending on whether the association hosting the event is related to HIV/AIDS, social development, or sport. Although it will take a long time to evaluate the relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of these awareness activities through sport, these events are believed to be significant in tackling unseen obstacles, such as discrimination and prejudice, due to their ability to affect a broad sector of the world population. The most common patterns in sport-related HIV/AIDS awareness are HIV/AIDS awareness conducted through sport. The number of associations that perform sport activities, especially in south-central Africa, where the HIV/AIDS infection rate is particularly high, is increasing drastically these days. Kenya’s Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) is said to be a pioneer of the practice of conducting awareness activities through soccer.
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They hold HIV/AIDS awareness sessions, targeting a total of 15,000 boys and girls, during breaks and after soccer matches collaborating with UNICEF. Besides HIV/AIDS awareness, MYSA has several development programs such as leadership training and educational scholarships, which have been highly evaluated and were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 and 2004. Below I will introduce a case from Zimbabwe as an example of HIV/AIDS awareness conducted through sport, to observe these characteristics of sport contributing to HIV/AIDS awareness. In recent years, some organizations have created their own sports and games that include information related to HIV/AIDS, which is HIV/AIDS awareness in physical movements and activities. The Kicking AIDS Out (KAO) group, a network related to HIV/AIDS awareness began in Kenya in 2001, and has spread, with EduSport in Zambia and Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) in Zimbabwe. With the collaboration of development assistant agencies of the Norwegian government, KAO’s network has been dynamically spread in the other areas such as Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, and Namibia. From 2002 onwards, KAO started to summarize their experiences. KAO arranged some movements, games, and sport activities to give basic knowledge about HIV/AIDS to their participants and introduced 12 sports and games in a book (The Activity Book) which has been translated into other languages to use in the awareness fields all over the world. Their past experiences have been compiled as several reports, too. Because these games have been developed, by combining sport and HIV/AIDS awareness, participants can learn about HIV/AIDS issues while they exercise and play games. It is possible to perform these games by changing the rules in accordance with the number of participants, location, and available equipment, in addition to the participants’ ages and gender. However, in recent years, there have been doubts as to whether sports associations using these materials ensure the quality of the exercise, even though they improve the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS awareness. People in the field state that there is no guarantee they contribute to such aspects of sport as technique, physical strength, and tactics, although HIV/AIDSrelated matters have been successfully introduced within these games and exercises. This could be viewed as the result of incorporating innovations such as HIV/AIDS awareness through sport: “We all started as sport organizations but as we chased the money we turned into development organizations forgetting about sport” (The Kicking AIDS Network, 2010, p. 25). In a short period of time, many development agencies and sports associations came to be involved with HIV/AIDS awareness through sport,
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continuing the new expansion despite lack of monitoring and evaluation of its effectiveness. This is because pragmatic activities were prioritized before scrutinizing their accomplishments because immediate action on HIV/ AIDS is necessary, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This is common in the other HIV/AIDS awareness activities, too, not only those conducted in partnerships with sport. In the future, verification of the accomplishments of concrete outcomes to formulate more effective programs by monitoring and evaluation should be required.
CASE EXAMPLE IN ZIMBABWE The number of deaths caused by AIDS in Zimbabwe had reached 83,000 by 2009. The life expectancy in the country is 42, which is one of the lowest rates in the world. It is estimated that 14.3% of the population consists of HIV-infected people aged between 15 and 49 and that there are 1 million AIDS orphans aged under 17. The HIV infection rate of adults has decreased from its 2006 level, which was 18.1% (Zimbabwe Ministry of Health, 2009). The high effectiveness of HIV/AIDS awareness in Zimbabwe is acknowledged in the world in recent years. Gregson et al. (2006) have revealed a decline in new HIV infections due to changes in sexual behaviors in Zimbabwe, as a result of increasing educational standards in the country. At the same time, several factors that inhibit HIV/AIDS awareness, such as gender disparities and religious taboos, have become apparent. Although Zimbabwe is one of the successful countries as regards HIV prevention, several HIV/AIDS-related issues have shaken the foundation of the society. The country is still facing difficult social issues so conducting appropriate HIV/AIDS countermeasures will directly affect its future. In this situation, The Maxwell and Friends Foundation (MFF), which is one of the famous local Zimbabwean organizations for HIV/AIDS prevention, and the Zimbabwe Baseball Association (ZBA), which is under the Ministry of Education, have collaborated awareness activities for HIV/ AIDS since 2010. To explore the contribution of sport (baseball) on HIV/ AIDS awareness, I conducted personal interviews and field observations. The personal interviews were held at the center and in the suburbs of Harare (capital), Bulawayo (second biggest city), Gweru, and Masvingo with 33 people in total: two chairmen and three staff members from ZBA and MFF, seven from SRC, nine from governmental/nongovernmental HIV/AIDS-related organizations (clinics and information centers, etc.),
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four from NGOs which conduct HIV/AIDS awareness programs, eight teachers and one headmaster from secondary schools where ZBA and MFF have baseball clinics. Additionally, I participated in some clinics as a volunteer member of ZBA to observe the actual activities in the clinics. This was in September 2011 and I also had an intensive interview with the ZBA chairman in March 2011. MFF was established in 2008, with the aim to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS. The representative of MFF is a priest who used to work in a church on the outskirts of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe. He was the first priest who admitted to being HIV-positive in the country and conducts HIV/AIDS awareness activities in several ways. As he gives short lectures and interviews on television programs as well as his poster being displayed in many places throughout the country, most people recognize him as the bravest priest in the country. Since 2010, he has conducted HIV/ AIDS awareness activities during baseball clinics held nationwide in collaboration with ZBA. Maxwell, a representative of MFF, explained his reasons for cooperating with ZBA as follows: 1. many participants coming to baseball clinics are aged between 13 and 18, when correct learning of sexual matters and behaviors is important, 2. there is a constant stream of newcomers due to the ZBA’s current activities to “popularize” baseball, 3. baseball is a new sport in Zimbabwe and attracts the participation of more girls than the other sports, because direct physical contact is not required as in soccer or basketball. Specific awareness activities are conducted either during break times or after baseball practices/matches. Those in charge of HIV/AIDS awareness gather participants to discuss various aspects related to HIV/AIDS for 30 40 minutes. The male-to-female ratio is about “half and half,” and the lectures and discussions are conducted with boys and girls together. The topics covered change slightly in consideration of the atmosphere and participants’ attitudes. However, the basic flow concerns: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
the way participants perceive their career path and future, the future of Zimbabwe, current significant problems in the country, the fact and status of HIV/AIDS in Africa and Zimbabwe, the responsibility to tackle the problem of HIV/AIDS for the future, the way to approach issues related to HIV/AIDS in one’s own surroundings.
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Within the discussion, topics relating to knowledge of HIV/AIDS such as its cause and transmission, which were frequently picked up as a theme of awareness activities in the first decade of the century, are barely touched. The focus is on a macro perspective of the country and the future image, as well as on a micro perspective of dealing with HIV/AIDS in the participants’ daily lives, which comfortably brings participants into the conversation. Question-and-answer sessions are made available after the discussion, and participants can ask questions. Such frequently asked questions are, “Is there any danger of HIV infection from sharing sports equipment?” or “What is the percentage of HIV-positive people who develop AIDS?” As a final message, the lecturer states the reality that “Except for those who have negative results from HIV tests, everyone is HIV-positive at present,” and additionally, the lecturer strongly recommends that all participants immediately take HIV tests. We can observe several characteristics of HIV/AIDS awareness in the fields of ZBA and MFF’s awareness. First, the awareness programs are conducted by “close others” who have coached baseball for a few days, so that a sense of closeness with the players has developed, allowing for a discussion of HIV/AIDS and sexual matters. Second, the baseball ground under a clear sky provides a relaxing atmosphere in which players may feel at ease to talk about HIV/AIDS and sexual matters. The participants usually feel closeness to the other teammates in the open-air environment, which makes them talk candidly and freely. Third, this awareness activity plays the role of a hub to transmit information to youths, especially to those who have never considered HIV/AIDS-related issues. There were multiple opportunities for youth to get information and knowledge about HIV/AIDS offered by local and international organizations; however, healthy, active, and sporting youth tend to ignore this kind of information. Fourth, communication is one of the important and fundamental characteristics of baseball. It is said that playing baseball requires intelligence to use tactics and “signs” which we can see as body actions or numerical signals by hands between a catcher and a pitcher, and the field and the dugout. The participants can learn the importance of communication by verbal and nonverbal ways on the baseball fields. Finally, sport is linked to an interest in health and the human body, and relates to HIV/AIDS and to health and physical education which is taught at schools along with sport in some countries. Compared with other awareness activities, sport may be particularly suitable as a vehicle for propagating information related to HIV/AIDS. A prominent characteristic of sport is that it brings a multitude of people together who, while assuming different roles players, spectators,
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operators, and coaches can share a learning experience. As the representative of MFF remarked: “It is difficult to attract people’s attention for a long period of time without getting them bored outside of sport. With normal HIV/AIDS awareness, they will get bored after 10 minutes of talking.”2
CONCLUSION We verified several characteristics of the HIV/AIDS awareness activities by ZBA and MFF in Zimbabwe. Some characteristics in this were peculiar to this activity and the others can be widely introduced to general HIV/AIDS awareness through sport. As advocated in HIV/AIDS awareness in general as well as this activity, we can see, “life skills” are something that become the basic concept for achieving the objectives related to HIV/AIDS awareness. The UN organizations show core life skills such as “problem solving, critical thinking, effective communication skills, decision-making, creative thinking, interpersonal relationship skills, selfawareness building skills, empathy, and coping with stress and emotions” (UNESCAP, 2003, Module 7, p. 2). It is difficult to acquire these life skills by ourselves or by reading books. We can obtain the actual skills only by interaction with others, and opportunities produced by sport are an intensive method to obtain them. Therefore HIV/AIDS awareness through sport has been expected to have a significant role in fostering life skills, and several organizations such as KAO (2004), EduSport by Banda, Lindsey, Jeanes, and Kay (2008), Grassroot Soccer (2008), IOC/UNAIDS (2008), Right To Play (2008), Womenwin (2009), Football for an HIV-free Generation (F4) by Khan (2010) connect sport and life skill education in their activities. The United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace (2003) shows “the life skills learned through sport help empower individuals and enhance psychosocial well-being, such as increased resiliency, self-esteem and connections with others” (p. 2). However, after 10 years, Forde (2013) pointed out the fact that life skill has become a “buzz word” and argued that “the concept of life skills in SDP is potentially constructed through various means such as fundraising and promotional materials, policy documents, and locally constructed understandings” (p. 3). According to Boler and Aggleton (2005), there were critical arguments already in 2004: the lack of commitment shown to life skills by national
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governments is likely to be due, in part, to the problems in definition and understanding. Life skills approaches may also be perceived as donordriven, meaning that many Ministries of Education may not give them sufficient priority in terms of policy development, capacity building or effective implementation … Furthermore, HIV/AIDS prevention is still viewed by many Ministries of Education as the responsibility of Health Ministries, territorial divides that are frequently deepened by donor funding, as few Ministries of Education receive direct funding for HIV/AIDS work (Boler & Aggleton, 2005, p. 3). Although life skills education is one of the key factors in the HIV/AIDS awareness of many organizations and fields, in a sense, the lack of reality in the context of the participant’s real life should be perceived to avoid excessive expectations of HIV/AIDS awareness activities. However, HIV/AIDS awareness through sport is a practical method in a situation where homes, schools, and communities cannot provide adequate awareness opportunities for youth. It is not unnatural for participants, coaches, and organizers to gather temporarily for sharing something during/ after sport activities. Sporting opportunities, which are sometimes perceived as “serious play,” have functions that take people away from their daily lives, and push them to learn and be aware of something new, serious, and important for their future. Discussing HIV/AIDS, gender, reproduction, and human rights, all of which are not daily topics for most people, particularly teenagers, may create the recognition that these matters are actually close to one’s daily and entire life. Needless to say, if participants cannot acquire a certain level of recognition of the importance of HIV/ AIDS awareness as well as life skills through participating in awareness activities, they remain merely sporting activities. I cannot clearly show evidence that sport can make significant contributions to HIV/AIDS matters on a macro level. It is an empty dream that sport can solve complicated HIV/AIDS-related problems at the global level directly. However, sport may be able to contribute to individuals’ awareness of HIV/AIDS, to change sexual behaviors, and to acquisition of life skills. On the micro level, the expected role of sport is not small referring to the case in the Zimbabwean field and reports by several organizations. Fig. 1 shows the expected significances of conducting HIV/AIDS awareness through sport in the four categories emphasized in current HIV/AIDS awareness curricula. In Fig. 1, I refer to several awareness activities not only in Zimbabwe but also in other areas and I divide them into four categories according to their goals: (1) to secure our body/health, (2) to secure our mental health,
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To secure our body/health By participation in sport Feel familiarity with our body Care for our own body Prevent development of AIDS
How do we prevent HIV infection? How do we prevent development of AIDS? Acquaintance with knowledge about HIV/AIDS to prevent infection/development of AIDS
To understand sex What are sexual differences? What is sexual development? Understanding of reproductive health Eliminating anxiety/fear regarding sexuality Toleration of sexual diversity
By participation in sport Learn teamwork and cooperation Respect others’ dignity Eliminate stigma/discrimination
To understand others
HIV/AIDS Awareness Through Sport
How do we behave towards HIV–AIDS patients? What are gender roles in our family/community? Eliminating stigma discrimination against HIV/AIDS and gender Understanding human rights Respecting others’ dignity in family/society
To secure our mental health By participation in sport Learn gender differences Understand sexual diversity
How do we keep self-efficacy? How do we face problematic situations? How do we come to terms with AIDS related death?
By participation in sport Communicate with others Manage and eliminate stress Have confidence/self-efficacy
Acquaintance with knowledge related to HIV/AIDS Stress control and management
Fig. 1.
Concrete Contributions of Sport to HIV/AIDS Awareness in Zimbabwe.
(3) to understand others, (4) to understand sex. These are typically set as goals of awareness activities. As an awareness catalyst, sport has some unique characteristics, although, again, I cannot say that promoting HIV/AIDS awareness through sport is always effective for all fields. However, sport was adopted in many problematic areas and as such is spreading globally and rapidly. The fact is that the worldwide increase in such activities shows certain advantages of sport as an awareness tool, because most of these activities were generated by people who face HIV/AIDS in real life. Speaking optimistically, I believe that this fact, and results produced by a number of organizations, show sport is one of the effective devices to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS and related issues especially for youth, from a micro perspective. Needless to say, the merits and demerits of using sport in HIV/AIDS awareness vary according to each field, and more concrete contributions should be examined carefully before/during/after awareness activities. Although I highlighted some characteristics of sport which can contribute to HIV/AIDS awareness in Fig. 1, these characteristics need to be clearly recognized by the implementers of the awareness activities. Sport, as a whole, has some uniqueness to contribute to global issues from the perspective of SDP. However, we need some clearer evidence of the contribution of sport, and continuous seeking for such evidence will develop the future framework for HIV/AIDS awareness through sport.
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FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Clark, T. S., Friedrich, G. K., Ndlovu, M., Neilands, T. B., & McFarland, W. (2006). An adolescent-targeted HIV prevention project using African professional soccer players as role models and educators in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. AIDS and Behavior, 7(2), 61 71. This research is on HIV/AIDS awareness through soccer in Zimbabwe. The role of elite players was verified by the survey regarding the acquired knowledge and improved attitude of participants using pre-, immediately post-, and five-months post surveys. 2. Lindsey, I., & Banda, D. (2011). Sport and the fight against HIV/AIDS in Zambia: A “partnership approach”? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 46, 90 107. Lindsey and Banda consider the partnership among HIV/AIDS-related organizations referring to the case example in Zambia. The qualitative analysis was made based on research reviewing and interviews for stakeholders. They point out the lack of policy co-ordination and strategic partnerships among NGOs and donor agencies. 3. Okada, C. (2013). HIV/AIDS awareness through sports A case in Zimbabwe and its characteristics. The Bulletin of the Faculty of Human Sciences Osaka University, 59, 107 123. Okada shows some characteristics of a HIV/AIDS awareness activity using baseball in Zimbabwe. Four advantages in this particular program were clarified as a conclusion, however, further examination to verify the characteristics of sport in general for effective HIV/AIDS awareness programs is required. 4. UNESCAP. (2003). Life skills training guide for young people: HIV/ AIDS and substance use prevention. Social Development Division of UNESCAP. This is one of the well-known guides for training and for acquaintance with knowledge and skills relating to HIV/AIDS especially targeting youth. Their theme is presented in 10 modules. Life skills’ training in nonformal education settings is in Module 7. 5. Wilson, B., Van Luijk, N., & Boit, M. (2013). When celebrity athletes are “social movement entrepreneurs”: A study of the role of elite runners in runfor-peace events in post-conflict Kenya in 2008. International Review for the
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Sociology of Sport, published online first on October 9, 2013, SAGE Publication. Retrieved from http://irs.sagepub.com/content/early/recent The authors used a case study “Run-for-Peace” in Kenya, where there is a conflict between the ethnic groups Kikuyu and Kalenjin. The role of elite athletes for promoting peace-building was verified. Additionally, the difference between researcher and activist perspectives is discussed.
NOTES 1. This was a statement made by the Executive Director of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy, during the presentation of “Agreement on Strategic Framework on AIDS Orphans,” which was concluded between UNICEF and UNAIDS in October 2003. 2. From the interview conducted in August 2011, with the Maxwell and Friends Foundation representative, Maxwell Kapachawo.
REFERENCES Banda, D., Lindsey, I., Jeanes, R., & Kay, T. (2008). Partnerships involving sports-fordevelopment NGOs and the fight against HIV/AIDS. York St. John University, York. Retrieved from http://assets.sportanddev.org/downloads/zambia_partnerships_ report_nov_2008.pdf Boler, T., & Aggleton, P. (2005). Life skills-based education for HIV prevention: A critical analysis. UK working group on education and HIV/AIDS. Retrieved from http://www. unicef.org/eapro/life_skills_new_small_version.pdf Clark, T. S., Friedrich, G. K., Ndlovu, M., Neilands, T. B., & McFarland, W. (2006). An adolescent-targeted HIV prevention project using African professional soccer players as role models and educators in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. AIDS and Behavior, 7(2), 61 71. Delva, W., Michielsen, K., Meulders, B., Groeninck, S., Wasonga, E., Ajwang, P., … Vanreusel, B. (2010). HIV prevention through sport: The case of the Mathare Youth Sport Association in Kenya. AIDS Care, 22(8), 1012 1020. Forde, S. D. (2013). Look after yourself: An analysis of life skills for preventing HIV/AIDS in sport for development and peace curriculum material. Master thesis of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Retrieved from https://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/ 2429/44656/ubc_2013_fall_forde_shawn.pdf Grassroot Soccer. (2008). Resiliency coach’s guide For a sport-based HIV/AIDS prevention and youth life skills intervention. Grassroot Soccer. Retrieved from http://www.sportanddev.org/en/learnmore/sport_and_health/practical_implications_of_sport_for_ health_programming/index.cfm?uNewsID=6 Gregson, S., Garnett. G. P., Nyamukapa, C. A., Hallett, T. B., Lewis, J. J. C., Mason, P. R., Chandiwana, S. K., & Anderson, R. M. (2006). HIV decline associated with behavior change in eastern Zimbabwe. Sexual Behavior Science, 311(5761), 664 666. [Adobe Digital Editions version]. doi:10.1126/science.1121054
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IOC & UNAIDS. (2008). Together for HIV and AIDS prevention A tool kit for the sport community. UNAIDS. Kaufman, Z. A., & Welsch, R. L. (2012). Effectiveness of a sports-based HIV prevention intervention in the Dominican Republic: A quasi-experimental study. AIDS Care, 23(3), 377 385. Khan, N. (2010). Using football in HIV prevention in Africa. Coxswain Social Investment plus (CSI + ). Retrieved from http://www.sportanddev.org/toolkit/manuals_and_tools/?2029 Maro, C. N., Roberts, G. C., & Sørensen, M. (2009). Using sport to promote HIV/AIDS education for at-risk youths: An intervention using peer coaches in football. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 19(1), 129 141. Right to Play. (2008). Live safe play safe A life-skills course to protect children from HIVinfection. Facilitator’s Guide (Chapter 5), CORE Initiative (USAID). Retrieved from http://assets.sportanddev.org/downloads/7__live_safe_play_safe.pdf The Kicking AIDS Out (KAO) Network. (2004). Kicking AIDS Out Through movement games and sports activities. NORAD. Retrieved from http://www.sportanddev.org/en/ toolkit/manuals_and_tools/?13/1/Kicking-AIDS-Out-Through-Movement-Games-andSports-Activities The Kicking AIDS Out (KAO) Network. (2010). The Kicking AIDS Out network 2001 2010 A historical overview. The Kicking AIDS Out Network. Retrieved from http://www. kickingaidsout.net/news/Documents/The%20Kicking%20AIDS%20Out%20Network %202001-2011.pdf The United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace. (2003). Sport for Development and Peace: Towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, United Nations. UNAIDS. (2013). AIDS by numbers. UNAIDS. Retrieved from http://www.unaids.org/en/ media/unaids/contentassets/documents/unaidspublication/2013/JC2571_AIDS_by_the_ numbers_en.pdf UNESCAP. (2003). Life skills training guide for young people: HIV/AIDS and substance use prevention. Social Development Division of UNESCAP. Retrieved from https://www. unodc.org/pdf/youthnet/action/message/escap_peers_00.pdf UNICEF. (2003). UNICEF, UNAIDS applaud milestone in coordinated global response to children orphaned due to AIDS. Joint Press Release by UNICEF. Retrieved from http:// www.unicef.org/media/media_15081.html Wilson, B., Van Luijk, N., & Boit, M. (2013). When celebrity athletes are “social movement entrepreneurs”: A study of the role of elite runners in run-for-peace events in postconflict Kenya in 2008. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, published online first on October 9, 2013. doi:10.1177/1012690213506005 Womenwin. (2009). Empowering girls and women through sport and physical activity. Womenwin. Retrieved from http://womenwin.org/files/pdfs/EmpoweringReport.pdf Zimbabwe Ministry of Health. (2009). National survey of HIV and syphilis prevalence among women attending antenatal clinics in Zimbabwe. Harare: MOHCW.
CHAPTER 6 THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE PREVENTION OF YOUTH VIOLENCE: A LIFE SKILLS-BASED APPROACH IN EL SALVADOR James Mandigo, John Corlett, Pedro Ticas and Ruben Vasquez ABSTRACT Purpose El Salvador’s youth have faced a climate of violence for decades. Schools have been identified as the most cost-effective ways to help students develop the life skills they need to prevent violence. This study examined the potential role of a physical education (PE) program taught by some of the first Salvadoran teachers to be trained to foster life skills through PE within schools. Design/methodology/approach Fourteen schools that had hired a PE teacher trained in life skills-based PE volunteered to participate in the study. Semi-structured interviews with the school director, PE teacher, and a focus group of students at each school were conducted.
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Findings Interviews were content analyzed and potential themes were initially placed into one of three life skills categories using a deductive analysis based upon the World Health Organization’s (WHO) (2002) three categories of life skills: (i) Coping and Self-Management; (ii) Communication and Interpersonal; (iii) Decision Making/Problem Solving. Then, using an inductive analysis, various themes within each life skills category were identified. The findings revealed that participants in the study identified the role that PE provides in developing life skills in each of the three categories and many identified the importance of these life skills to prevent violence both in and out of schools. Social implications Findings from this study highlight the important role that schools play in the development of life skills and the prevention of youth violence. PE in particular offers a promising approach due to its applied nature and opportunity for students to learn through doing and the application of life skills in a safe manner. The findings also support the importance of trained PE teachers to deliver such programs. Originality/value Central America has and continues to be a region with high levels of youth violence. Given that PE is a mandatory school subject in Salvadoran schools (and in other Central American countries), shifting the focus toward a life skills-based approach to PE offers educators an opportunity to address the country’s number one public health concern which is youth violence. To our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind in El Salvador to explore the role of PE as it relates to youth violence and can help in future curricular revisions in schools and the development of degree programs at local universities. Keywords: Physical education; youth violence; life skills
INTRODUCTION El Salvador is Central America’s smallest yet most densely populated country. Located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean and nestled between Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, El Salvador’s most recent past is one centered around violence. Since 1980, El Salvador has endured a 12-year civil war and two decades of violence precipitated by notorious gangs such as the “Mara Salvatrucha 13” (MS-13) and “Barrio 18.” Since 2005, El Salvador (population 6 million) has averaged 10 homicides per day with the vast majority of these crimes committed by young males with
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a peak age of 23 (World Bank, 2011). The youth homicide rate in El Salvador is 92.3 homicides per 100,000 youth compared to an overall rate of 66 murders per 100,000 individuals (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2011). This has regularly ranked them first in youth homicide rates (e.g., Waiselfisz, 2008) and second in overall homicide rates (UNODC, 2011) on a global level. According to the Pan American Health Information Platform,1 11% of all deaths in El Salvador are attributed to murder. For children and youth under the age of 25, 28% of reported deaths in 2009 in El Salvador were caused by homicides. When broken down by gender, 36% of all deaths reported in 2009 for males under the age of 25 were due to homicides compared to 17% for females in the same age group. The total combined cost of crimes and violence in the country represents 11% of El Salvador’s Gross Domestic Product, making it the country’s top business constraint (Schwab, 2013) and severely undermines the country’s long-term potential for economic growth (World Bank, 2011). Understanding the prevalence of violence and potential solutions at an early age is vital, particularly for El Salvador, given that “…most violence appears to erupt in youths who have been aggressive early in life” (Loeber & Hay, 1997, p. 384). In 2005, the Salvadoran Ministry of Education identified sport and physical education (PE) as a potential mechanism to help in their efforts to reverse the rapidly growing trends associated with youth violence. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the role that PE in Salvadoran schools is helping to play to develop the life skills necessary to combat youth violence. Results from interviews conducted with key stakeholders such as school directors, teachers, and students from across El Salvador will be used to provide an inside glimpse into the opportunity that many see PE can provide to help change the current culture of Salvadoran youth violence.
The Role of Schools in the Prevention of Youth Violence Schools are an ideal place to provide children and youth with the values, skills, processes, attitudes, and role models to reject violence (McAlister, 2000; WHO, 2002). Adopting a life skills-based approach to education offers a promising method to address youth violence in a school setting. Life skills can be defined as: …abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. In particular, life skills are
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psychosocial competencies and interpersonal skills that help people make informed decisions, solve problems, think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, build healthy relationships, empathize with others, and cope with managing their lives in a healthy and productive manner. Life skills may be directed toward personal actions or actions toward others, or may be applied to actions that alter the surrounding environment to make it conducive to health. (WHO, 2002, p. 8)
As it relates to violence, “… interventions for developing life skills can help young people to avoid violence, by improving their social and emotional competencies, [and] teaching them to deal effectively and non-violently with conflict” (WHO, 2010, p. 29). By developing life skills, students “… learn self-protection, ways to recognize perilous situation, cope and solve problems, make decisions, and develop self-awareness and selfesteem” (UNICEF, 2009, p. 30). Life skills-based violence prevention programs run at a fraction of the cost of treating victims of violence or punishing the perpetrators of it and show significant net savings when comparing the costs of treatment compared with prevention (Watters et al., 2004). This is particularly important within the Salvadoran context where a 10% reduction in crime would result in a 1% increase in the overall economic growth rate (World Bank, 2011). Simply telling students that it is right to make nonviolent choices is not enough to ensure that they will do so. They need to be supported and mentored to understand the nature of positive choices in ways that resonate authentically in their educational activities and in ways that are effectively mediated by teachers. Developing life skills is more effective when they are taught intentionally (Holt, Tamminen, Tink, & Black, 2009) through effective pedagogical approaches (Coalter, 2007) that enable learners the opportunity to learn by doing (Theokas, Danish, Hodge, Heke, & Forneris, 2008).
The Role of PE within an Educational Setting While all school subjects provide the opportunity to know, none is more suited to provide the opportunity to do than PE (Goudas, Dermitzaki, Leondari, & Danish, 2006). Among many others, Ullman (2004) has distinguished between declarative and procedural knowledge. The former is “knowing what” the learning and representation in mind about facts and events. The latter is “knowing how” the control of typically complex sequences of motor and cognitive skills and habits. These kinds of knowledge have different memory systems and different modes of operation
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functionally: having declarative knowledge does not guarantee having related procedural knowledge. PE is a world of procedural knowledge, just as violence is a world of procedural knowledge. Trying to reduce or eliminate violence with just the tools of declarative knowledge is doomed to fail. The inclusion of PE in the United Nation’s International Year of Sport and PE (Beutler, 2006) highlights the global vision that PE can have to foster social change. Appropriately structured PE opportunities in schools can enhance the development of life skills that can help to reduce delinquent behaviors like violence. Coakley (2002), for example, highlights that through appropriately structured physical activities, adolescents develop feelings of being physically safe, personally valued, socially connected, morally supported, personally empowered, and hopeful about the future. In turn, these have served as important in the development of nonviolent behaviors. Similarly, in a systematic review of the benefits and outcomes of PE in schools, Bailey (2006) reported: “… numerous studies have demonstrated that appropriately structured and presented activities can make a contribution to the development of prosocial behaviour, and can even combat antisocial and criminal behaviors in youth” (p. 399). The life skills learned through physical activity settings form a critical foundation for children and youth to more effectively deal with issues such as conflict and violence (Coakley, 2002; Ewing, Gano-Overway, Branta, & Seefeldt, 2002). However, Bailey (2006) goes on to stress the importance of trained teachers to facilitate these benefits and outcomes. In the Latin American context, Gutie´rrez, Pilsa, and Torres (2007) identified the need for a more student-centered environment in which PE teachers are aligned with their school’s mission and foster creativity through their direct participation in the physical activities of their students. He places teacher education at the center of this change. In an extensive review of juvenile violence in the Americas, McAlister (2000) reported that communication and education are critical to change attitudes and develop the skills needed for violence prevention among youth. As a result, schools have the potential to help change the current culture of youth violence. However, Gould and Carson (2008) emphasize that formal training in teaching life skills is lacking and that if environments such as PE are to become an avenue for the development of life skills, providing teachers with opportunities within their training (either pre-service or in-service) on effective pedagogical strategies is necessary. Studying the implementation of a PE initiative focused upon the development of life skills, while highly significant in the immediate Central American context, is relevant to any environment where poverty, gangs, guns, and violence are prevalent. There
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is also little research information about the influence of innovative, locally relevant PE on fundamental issues such as behavioral change in harsh cultural circumstances, particularly related to the issue of youth violence. And while Central America is a part of the world often ignored in education and social research, Central America (and El Salvador in particular) is an ideal setting in which to explore how creative PE curriculum and the teachers who deliver it can change schools with significant violent challenges.
The Evolution of PE Teacher Training in El Salvador El Salvador’s history of PE training was long centered on the development of elite athletes whose success would promote El Salvador internationally. In support of this, in 1968, the Ministry of Education created the “Escuela Superior de Educacion Fisica y Deportes,” the National School of PE and Sports to enhance teaching and coaching techniques for various competitive sports. Although a positive step for PE despite its elite sports emphasis, the school closed at the start of the civil war in 1980 and never reopened at the end of the war 12 years later. In response to the lack of training for PE teachers and to ever growing concerns around increasing levels of youth violence throughout the country, a new Undergraduate PE degree program was started in 2007 at Universidad Pedago´gica in the capital of San Salvador. The program was rooted in humanistic principles and designed in a way that would train: “… future teachers to use PE not just to promote physical health but as a vehicle to provide children and youth with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to solve conflict peacefully … [through the use of] humanistic principles which support the type of social reform sought by so many across El Salvador” (Mandigo, Corlett, Hobin, & Sheppard, 2010, p. 6). The Rector at the University outlined the vision of the program this way: Physical education is more than throwing a ball, playing soccer. It goes beyond that. It involves a series of elements such as mental health, physical health … the development of self-esteem … and being able to practice other aspects such as values … These values and principles that are taught through physical education is what will be transmitted into the homes and communities. [Physical educators] can become some sort of leader, because they will stand out.2
Faculty members who taught in the program also identified the potential impact of a PE program focused on a life skills-based approach to education:
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Physical Education helps to have a new way of thinking, now through physical activities we stop children to think in conflictive situations instead we are helping them to integrate, to be happy, and also this helps them to have healthier hearts. We have to remember that a healthy spirit and soul works better and it is contagious to others. Physical education can help to get rid of violence, sports as well can help, and it would help us as a country. (Mandigo et al., 2010, p. 13)
Before the program started in 2007, Pedago´gica offered no programs in PE but had a strong focus and reputation in teacher training. Only four years later, some 342 students (7% of all education students at Universidad) were pursuing a PE degree (69 in the 5-year program and 273 in the 3-year program). This rapid growth reflects the tremendous interest in PE and the use of teaching life skills. As has been reported previously by Andre´ and Mandigo (2013), students graduating from this program left feeling significantly more confident in their abilities to deliver a PE program rooted around humanistic principles. The purpose of this study was to track a selected group of graduates from this program to examine the impact they had on the development of life skills within the schools that they were employed.
METHODS The real measure of success of a teacher education program is what happens when graduates begin teaching. To understand the perceived impact of PE as it relates to the development of life skills, a convenience sample chosen by Pedago´gica of 14 schools who had hired a PE graduate from the Universidad was chosen. Two of the teachers in the study were females while the remaining 12 were males. Although one of the teachers had not yet graduated, s/he was near completion of the program and had been hired full-time to teach PE at the school.
Participants The school director (i.e., principal) and PE teacher at each school provided informed consent to participate in an interview at the end of the school year. Following local research protocols in El Salvador, informed consent for a maximum of six students from each school (three male, three female) to participate in a focus group at the end of the school year was provided by
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the school director who indicated that they were authorized to provide permission on behalf of the students’ parents/guardians for students to participate in the study. All research protocols were approved by the Brock University Research Ethics Board and by the Scientific Committee from Universidad Pedago´gica. The number of eligible students to participate in the study across all 14 schools was 1,254 (581 males, 596 females, 77 not identified) students. The 14 schools were located in four geographic areas of El Salvador: four schools from the Central Zone (29% of participating schools), three schools from the Western Zone (21% of participating schools), three schools from the Outer Central Zone (21% of participating schools), and four schools from the Northern Zone (29% of participating schools). There were a total of seven public schools, six private schools, and one semi-private school in the study. Finally, using data from the Mapa de Violencia de El Salvador (Carcach, 2008), nine of the schools were in areas that had homicide rates higher than the national average (i.e., 4.89/10,000) with the remaining five schools in areas that were lower than the national homicide average.
Interviews Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the 13 out of the 14 school directors and the 14 PE teachers at each school at the end of the school year. Focus groups with up to six students per school were also conducted at the end of the school year in each school. The focus of the interviews centered on the role of PE and, in particular, the development of life skills and the prevention of violence. Participants for the focus groups were selected by either the school director or the PE teacher.
Data Analysis All interviews were conducted in Spanish by a trained researcher from the Research Office at Universidad Pedago´gica. Each interview was then translated and transcribed into English for data analysis. This resulted in 9,958 words of text for the teacher interviews, 7,567 words of text for the principal interviews, and 6,456 words of text for the student focus group interviews. Starting with a deductive analysis, quotes were grouped into one of three Life Skill categories as outlined by the WHO (2002): (i) Coping and
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Self-Management Skills; (ii) Communication and Interpersonal Skills; and (iii) Critical Thinking/Problem Solving. Once pertinent quotes were grouped into the corresponding life skills category, they were further content analyzed inductively to “illuminate key issues” (Patton, 2002, p. 439) that allowed for themes to emerge within each of the life skills categories. Content analysis refers to “…any qualitative data reduction and sense-making effort that takes a volume of qualitative material and attempts to identify core consistencies and meanings” (Patton, 2002, p. 453).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Table 1 provides an overview of the various life skill categories and corresponding themes identified by each of the three groups (i.e., directors, Table 1.
Life Skill Categories and Themes Generated from Interviews.
Coping/self-management Personal responsibility Diversion Stress management Confidence Motivation Healthy development Perseverance Leadership Self-discipline Character Patience Communication and interpersonal skills Equality Getting along with and cooperating with others Respect Teamwork Communication Sharing Mentorship Decision making/critical thinking Conflict resolution Problem solving
Students
Teachers
Directors
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*
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teachers, students). Each group identified the role that PE had in helping in the development of each category of life skills (i.e., coping and selfmanagement, communication and interpersonal, and decision making/ critical thinking). The following represents a summary of the various themes that emerged under each of the life skill categories.
Coping and Self-Management Skills According to the WHO (2002), coping and self-management skills include “skills for increasing confidence and abilities to assume control, take responsibility, make a difference, or bring about change … managing feelings … [and] … managing stress” (p. 9). The following outlines the various themes that emerged from the interviews and examples of what Patton (2002) called thick descriptions provided by each group. Personal Responsibility Each of the three groups identified the role that PE played in helping students assume a level of personal responsibility for their actions. Directors identified that students did not miss school on days that they had PE: “I can tell you regarding their behavior outside the school. The change is that very few of them miss the PE’s class, we do not have to be dogging them to make them go to their class.” Simply offering PE was an effective way to ensure that students attended school. This is particularly important in the prevention of violence given that school truancy has been reported to be a contributing factor (Hawkins et al., 2000). Teachers identified that PE helped to foster responsibility in their daily life. For example, one of the PE teachers stated that: “…if you are responsible of a team, then you will be able to be responsible in your personal life.” Students also recognized that personal responsibility learned through PE is also an important skill in everyday life: “Yes we learn values, to respect others, to be more united, to be responsible. I think that if we practice them when playing, we should practice them in our daily life.” Hellison (2011) has identified the importance of actively integrating life skills into physical activities in PE to provide students with a unique opportunity to not only experience for themselves the importance of personal responsibility, but also the skills necessary to be personally responsible.
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Diversion Each group identified that PE can be a form of diversion or a distraction from various issues that may cause problems or get them into trouble in and out of schools. For example, one PE teacher and school director identified that learning sports through PE provides them with an outlet when they are not in school: We can prevent violence by having the students busy with sports, external activities, so they do not waste time, they have more friendships, and they practice sports to become better human beings. (PE Teacher) It is a way to co-exist among the students, and nowadays it is preferable to have kids practicing a sport instead of wandering on the streets with bad friendships. When they practice or develop an exercise, their parents know where they are and with who they are. (Director)
Students also identified the benefits of being active outside of school: “Yes, because when we are taught, and if we like the game we are dedicated to it and we are away from bad things like smoking, and other things, or stealing.” Participation in sport programs has been suggested to act as a diversion toward criminal (Cameron & MacDougall, 2000) and risky behaviors (Holt, Scherer, & Koch, 2013) and as a deterrent toward joining gangs (Seefeldt & Ewing, 1997). Although PE was identified as a coping strategy to distract from potential negative social behaviors, previous research casts doubts upon the long-term sustainability of programs that simply divert youths’ actions away from participating in criminal activities to participating in physical activities (Wortley, 2010). Rather, PE programs where teachers intentionally teach life skills are more effective at fostering long-term social development (Bailey, 2006; Gould & Carson, 2008). Stress Management Each of the three groups identified the role that PE can have to help in both the reduction of stress and the management of stress. For example, one of the directors indicated that: “[PE] is the one they like the most, is the one which makes them de-stress themselves from the problems they bring from home.” Given the high rates of poverty and violence in the country, children and youth are under considerable stress. For example, 32% of youth in El Salvador have reported feelings of sadness and hopelessness, while 13% reported seriously considering suicide (Springer, Selwyn, & Kelder, 2006). As this student identified, PE provided her and
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her family with a coping strategy for dealing with stress in the home environment: My mom goes home very stressed, and she sometimes feels pain in her body, so, I decided to perform my PE exercises with her and it has helped her a lot because when she was young she used to work and study but she didn’t have PE’s classes, so, she says that she feels much better now.
Confidence Both directors and teachers identified the importance of PE in the development of confidence as a way to prevent violence. For example, the following director identified the importance of developing confidence, especially for students who come from homes that are not always supportive: We have achieved it through discipline and the PE class, because sometimes the student comes frustrated and doesn’t feel capable of becoming a successful person. Unfortunately at home, what they point out most of the time is the negative aspects. Here we give importance to the student’s esteem and that he or she has a lot of worth, so, many of them have changed their minds. We do it through PE and dance … they also have therapy, and we can perceive that they change their minds.
Fostering confidence is important in the prevention of violence. Previous research has shown, for example, that the more confident a student is, the less likely they are to be a victim of aggressive behaviors such as bullying (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010). This sense of confidence, in turn, helps to open up the lines of communication both between the teacher and other students: There is more confidence with me because we interact more outside the classroom. There is more confidence from them when we are going to perform something or when they need to talk about something. (Teacher)
Motivation Both teachers and directors also talked about the role that PE played in helping to motivate their students which, in turn, helped to create a more positive attitude toward attending school: “Students from the fourth grade, they exposed how motivation they were receiving through PE’s class was motivating them for the other areas, so they come to school with a more positive attitude” (Director). By fostering motivation through PE, students developed a renewed sense of hope.
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Healthy Development Both directors and students identified the importance that PE had on students’ overall healthy development. Although the direct connection to violence prevention was not always made, the benefits of physical activity as it relates to a healthy mind, values, and disease prevention were raised. For example: “… we have tried to include many branches of PE, and other times we have talked about the important of PE in the students’ emotional development” (Director); and, “… it helps us to be in a good physical health and to have a sane mind” (student). The healthy development of the whole student is an important component of any physical activity program that is focused upon violence prevention. Hellison, Martinek, and Cutforth (1996) highlight that physical activity programs that not only promote the physical development of youth but also explicitly address the social, emotional, and moral development of youth are most effective at tackling violence-related issues. Other Themes Other themes unique to each of the groups also emerged. Perseverance was a theme only identified by the students. Perhaps tied to the idea of confidence, students suggested that PE helps “… to make things until you finish it, and not to give up.” Teachers identified leadership and self-discipline as important. Leadership was identified by six of the teachers as being a significant personal skill developed through PE. In particular, teachers noticed that students would often teach their siblings or friends a game that they learned in PE class: It happens mostly with girls who are from first grade to fifth grade. They come and tell me “teacher, I put into practice the game you showed us last week with my little cousins, my neighbors,” so I see that they have a lot of enthusiasm.
Teachers also identified the importance of PE in developing self-discipline that is also one of the first skills identified by Hellison (2011) as being necessary in the development of life skills: As a PE teacher, I am happy to see students who at the beginning of the year were misbehaving and making mess, but now their behavior is regular because they collaborate in class, and it is an indicator that there is something positive the class teaches them. (Teacher)
Finally, school directors identified character and patience as unique features of PE. For example, one director suggested that fostering patience among students is an important skill to prevent violence and aggressive
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behavior: “We see that they do not misbehave, and we have seen that they show patience; the impact of sport helps them inside and outside the school, and in their personal life.”
Communication and Interpersonal Skills The WHO (2002) highlighted the importance of interpersonal communication skills, negotiation/refusal skills, empathy building, cooperation, teamwork, and advocacy skills. Thick descriptions of examples of the various themes that were provided by each of the three groups are described below. Equality Each group identified the role that PE can play in promoting equality. One director commented: “The impact of what they learn inside the school is big for example, values like tolerance, to be able to see everyone’s individualities, respect to those individualities, and that will help to their environment.” Teachers also identified the important role that PE had in helping to foster gender equality. For example, the same teacher remarked: “First, you have to work with their minds because sometimes girls say ‘I can’t do the same things that boys do’, or, ‘I don’t want to work with boys’, so, the teacher has to look for a way to work with them, because up to now you can see that both genders are in the same level. I had to change everything to work with them, but at the end, we achieved the goal.” Promoting gender equality is of particular importance in El Salvador where traditionally patriarchal attitudes prevail among men and women. Springer et al. (2006) reported that adolescent females were significantly more likely than boys to report higher levels of sadness/hopelessness, thoughts of suicide, and forced sexual intercourse. As identified by participants in this study, PE can help to promote gender equality with respect to both declarative and procedural knowledge that appear vital to helping to change cultural attitudes and behaviors. Getting along and Cooperating with Others Each group also identified that PE was important in helping students to get along and cooperate with others. Teachers in particular identified this theme with 8 out of 15 identifying it as an important contribution. For example: “Their attitude changed because at the beginning some of them were very shy, others were kind of problematic but, little by little, they have changed. Many of them are participating more; others are more
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sociable and do not fight that much.” Teachers also identified that these skills transferred outside of the school environment as well: “Well, the change in behaviour I have seen is a great improvement because they get along a lot, they have become better with me. Their behaviour has improved inside and outside the school.” Directors commented that the PE teacher was integral in helping the students to develop these cooperation skills: I like to see that they cooperate with their partners and other levels because we have applied PE classes and cooperation where older kids have cooperated with younger kids. Sometimes a kid may show negativity when they do something bad, there may be some frustration also, but there is when we have the importance of the PE teacher. He doesn’t leave it as is, he tries to help the student.
Getting along and cooperating with others is an important outcome for many youths and has been found to be an important deterrent against youth violence (Hawkins et al., 2000). Holt et al. (2009) reported that positive peer interaction was the most meaningful aspect of players’ participation in youth sport. Goudas and Magotsiou (2009) highlight that appropriately structured PE programs can be effective at fostering cooperation skills and deceasing short-temper and irritability. Although further research is required to examine their transference to everyday life, PE would appear to provide a rich and fertile ground for youth to grow and develop these skills. Respect All three groups identified the important role that PE played in fostering respect for others. For example, one student identified the importance of transferring the respect learned in PE class to everyday life: “Yes we learn values, to respect others, to be more united, to be responsible. I think that if we practice them when playing, we should practice them in our daily life.” Teachers also made the connection to the transfer of respect from the PE class to everyday life: … they are taught values like respect, communication, and they develop those values so at the same time they practice them in the school they can practice them at their families, with their friends, neighbors, and others.
Developing respect through physical activities has been identified as an important life skill in previous research. Holt, Tink, Mandigo, and Fox (2008), for example, reported that male athletes and their coaches identified respect as an important life skill learned by playing soccer. Similarly,
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Hellison (2011) identifies the importance of physical activities to fostering the development of respect for the rights and feelings of others. Teamwork Holt et al. (2008) also identified teamwork as important life skill developed through participation in physical activity. It was also an interpersonal skill identified by each of the three groups. For this particular student, teamwork was seen as an important vehicle to work with others: “It helps us to get along with our partners, to work as a team, that is the most important thing because, for example, the new ones didn’t get along too well, but now, we all get along.” Teachers also recognized the impact that stressing teamwork had with their students: … they realised that PE is … also to learn values, rules, which are taken inside a game and to work as a team, and to see what good things we can get from everything. They saw that it helped them to socialize with other people and that we do not have to judge others if we do not know them … and it helped them in the school and in their lives.
As suggested by this quote, team games in PE class provided students with an opportunity to work together to achieve a common goal. While such skills may also be useful in a gang situation (e.g., wearing the same gang colors, using hand signals only other gang members know, wearing gang tattoos, etc.), the teacher above identified that PE fosters teamwork in a way that reinforces positive life skills such as respect, empathy, and equality. Communication Both students and teachers stated that fostering communication through PE can help reduce violence and fights: … we can have communication with other person and not to fight. If someone wants to bother us, we go away and tell that person not to bother anymore. (Student) I feel that they have improved their communication, and there are less fights, they participate a lot in the activities I plan. (Teacher)
Students with communication skills are able to state their position clearly, listen to others’ point of view and communicate positive messages (WHO, 2002). These skills are important in violence prevention as they can help prevent misunderstandings (Dusenbury, Falco, Lake, Brannigan, & Bosworth, 1997). Team game activities (both cooperative and competitive) require participants to communicate together in order to be successful. There are also different forms of communication such as oral, listening and
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body language that students can learn in PE making it an ideal place to develop and apply different types of communication skills in a variety of situations. Sharing Teachers and students also both identified the role that PE had in teaching children and youth the importance of sharing. One student commented that learning how to share was an important skill to avoid fighting with others: “Soccer matches are not just to make rivalries, but to share, to be happy. With no fighting, we all succeed.” In a country like El Salvador where resources are often scarce, many turn to criminal and violent behaviors such as theft. With an annual income in 2012 of less than 3,600 USD per year (almost three times less than the regional average) and more than a third of the population living below the poverty line (as estimated by the World Bank3), El Salvador is ripe for antisocial behaviors to evolve as standard ways of “making a living.” Hence, developing skills that enable students to recognize the importance of sharing resources together is an important life skill not only to prevent violence, but also perhaps to help stimulate economic growth. Mentorship Teachers and directors recognized the important mentorship opportunities and role models that are created through PE. For example, the following director recognized that many students at his/her school did not have positive role models at home to help teach important life skills. The PE teacher at the school played a particularly important role in developing such values: I think that the teacher involves all the students and treats them respectfully and ethically, but some students are mistreated at home … and if there is a motivating teacher who doesn’t favour those ones who have the best physical complexion, but all of them, it will be very positive, the teacher will make them realise that they can help others. The PE’s class can be very beneficial for students.
Teachers, in turn, recognized the important mentoring role that they played for their students: … many kids had bad attitudes for [sic] activities, and it happens because we have to get them involved into the class, to be dynamic, to talk to them, and there were many who had problems, all of them have problems, but that’s why we are the teachers, we have to help them to make classes in an active way so they can focus and change their minds.
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Teachers and other leaders within schools who model the type of life skills that they want their students to demonstrate are critical (Hellison, 2011; WHO, 1999). By demonstrating through their actions, teachers provide living examples of how important life skills are integrated into everyday life and enable students to see how they can do the same. Role models are even more critical for youth given that lack of role models may be linked to gang membership (Wang, 1994), which is estimated to be at over 450,000 (or close to 7% of total population) in El Salvador (Central America Country Management Unit, 2012). In particular, Salvadoran role models such as PE teachers are able to demonstrate that it is possible to avoid violence in a culture where violence seems part of day-to-day living.
Decision Making and Critical Thinking Skills This category of Life Skills identified by the WHO (2002) addresses issues such as decision making skills, problem solving skills, and critical thinking skills. Once again, thick descriptions of ways in which PE fostered the development of these skills are identified below. Conflict Resolution Skills Each of the three groups identified PE as an effective way to develop conflict resolution skills and PE being an important source of learning these skills: “We could see that there have been some changes in the students. In fact, some of them have improved in conflict solving issues” (Director). PE teachers also noted behavioral changes throughout the year: “They now know they can’t be violent. They know they must be part of the change, they solve things peacefully.” The students themselves also recognized that PE provided them with an opportunity to develop their conflict resolution skills that can then be applied to everyday life: “We are taught to stop the impulse of fighting. Because when there are actions where you can hit others, you have to learn self-control.” Conflict management skills are critical to violence prevention (Dusenbury et al., 1997) and physical activity environments such as sport and PE can provide ideal settings to develop conflict resolution skills. However, simply throwing or kicking a ball will not guarantee the development of conflict resolution skills as the infamous “Football War” between El Salvador and Honduras demonstrated (Cable, 1969). The education that is needed to replace violent conflict with peaceful conflict resolution is one,
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like PE, grounded in the ability to know what is right and then to know how to act on it. Successful programs taught by qualified and trained teachers such as the ones in this study who embed humanistic principles such as fair play and respect into their PE programs are better able to foster effective conflict resolution skills (Ca´rdenas, 2013). Problem Solving Each of the groups also identified the importance of PE in helping students to solve problems more peacefully. Teachers can provide students with a game in which they must work together to find a solution. This helps develop effective problem solving skills: “… when we make that dynamic to put a ring around their bodies to make them think how to help their partners to solve the problem without breaking the rules.” Students started to recognize solving problems together is much more effective than resorting to violence or trying to solve it on their own: “… let’s say that someone has a problem, then the rest of the class tries to help to solve the problem. And the more united we are, the easier it is to solve the most difficult problems.” These findings are consistent with previous research that has demonstrated physical activity to be an effective way to solve problems. Papacharisis, Goudas, Danish, and Theodorakis (2005) reported that physical activity programs that focus specifically upon developing life skills can result in higher levels of problem solving skills at the end of the program compared to the start. Again, this reinforces the applied opportunities that PE offers students to demonstrate life skills such as problem solving.
CONCLUSION Because violence is learned, it can be unlearned (WHO, 2002). Schools are the most effective place to provide the life skills that students need to avoid violence. The results of this study provide an “inside” and firsthand perspective into the perceptions of students, teachers, and school directors of the role that PE provides in the development of these skills. As previous literature has stressed, life skills need to be intentionally taught through sound pedagogical approaches (e.g., Hellison, 2011; Holt et al., 2009) by teachers who are appropriately trained to deliver life skills-based PE programs (Gould & Carson, 2008). In other words, “life skills must be taught, not caught” (Theokas, Danish, Hodge, Heke, &
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Forneiris, 2008, p. 78). For violence prevention programs to be effective, students need opportunities to practice these life skills (Dusenbury et al., 1997). PE is an ideal place for students to develop, practice, and apply these skills (Danish, Forneris, & Wallace, 2005). Based on interviews with students, teachers, and school directors in this study, we conclude that physical education is playing an important role in the development of life skills necessary in the prevention of Salvadoran youth violence because of the sound pedagogical training teachers are receiving at Universidad Pedago´gica. Although the measurement of actual behaviors both inside and outside of the school environment needs to be investigated over both the short and long term, it would appear that appropriately structured PE delivered by competent teachers holds a particular promise in being part of the solution toward a more peaceful generation of Salvadoran youth. Central America, in particular, is a region where fostering the development of life skills through sport and PE may be an effective way (both in terms of outcome and cost) of addressing youth violence. Surrounding countries like Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize have all seen steady increases in violence-related deaths and injuries over the past two decades (UNODC, 2011; World Bank, 2011). Yet, each country has a formalized education system through a Ministry of Education that includes PE. Results from this study identify the importance of investing in teacher training to help create change at the grassroots level of PE delivery in schools. There is every belief that a similar approach that is being used in El Salvador could be replicated over time in other Central American countries with similar promising results.
FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Ca´rdenas, A. (2013). Peace building through sport? An introduction to sport for development and peace. Journal of Conflictology, 4(1), 24 33. Provides a literature review on sport for development and outlines practical strategies based on existing evidence. Then goes on to provide examples from Columbia that help to provide cultural context for Latin American countries dealing with violence issues among their youth. 2. Coakley, J. (2002). Using sports to control deviance and violence amongst youths: Let’s be critical and cautious. In M. Gatz, M. Messner,
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& S. J. Ball-Rokeach (Eds.), Paradoxes of youth and sport (pp. 13 30). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Provides a literature review on the role that sport can play in addressing youth violence. Using case studies, Coakley provides examples of lessons learned that can assist practitioners in helping to establish their programs aimed at preventing violence. 3. Hellison, D. (2011). Teaching personal and social responsibility through physical activity (3rd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Provides an overview of the role that physical activities (e.g., sport, recreation, physical education) can play in the development of personal and social responsibility. Provides an overview of existing literature and the integration of several case studies with “at-risk youth” throughout the book. Concludes with practical examples of developing personal and social responsibility through physical activity. 4. Theokas, C., Danish, S., Hodge, K., Heke, I., & Forneiris, T. (2008). Enhancing life skills through sport for children and youth. In N. Holt (Ed.), Positive youth development through sport (pp. 71 82). New York, NY: Routledge. Provides a definition of life skills and relates this to how they can be developed through sport. Also provides case studies of existing sport programs that integrate life skills. Finally, provides a summary of recommendations for practitioners to consider when implementing life skills into their programs. 5. World Health Organization. (2002). Skills for health. Skills-based health education including life skills: An important component of a child-friendly/ health-promoting school. Geneva: World Health Organization. Provides an overview of the role of schools to foster the development of life skills. Provides an overview of why developing life skills in school-based curriculum is important to address important health topics such as substance abuse and violence prevention.
NOTES 1. Available at: http://new.paho.org/ 2. Quote from a previous study reported by Mandigo et al. (2010). 3. As reported at: http://data.worldbank.org/country/el-salvador
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Funding for this research was supported by an International Opportunities Fund Grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded to John Corlett, James Mandigo, Pedro Ticas, Ken Lodewyk, Enrique Garcia, and Joanna Sheppard. The authors wish to thank the following individuals for their assistance with this research project: Luis Mario Aparicio, Jessica Cerritos, staff at the UPES Research Office, Nick Beamish, and Jillian Weir. The authors also wish to acknowledge the work of Dr. Andy Anderson who was instrumental in helping to start this research and was taken from us far too early. We miss you Andy! Finally, the authors also wish to acknowledge the contributions of Scotiabank International who helped to provide initial funding to the Salud Escolar Integral program in El Salvador.
REFERENCES Andre´, M., & Mandigo, J. (2013). Analyzing the learning of the taking personal and social responsibility model within a new physical education undergraduate degree program in El Salvador. The Physical Educator, 70(2), 107 134. Bailey, R. (2006). Physical education and sport in schools. A review of benefits and outcome. Journal of School Health, 76(8), 397 401. Beutler, I. (2006). Report on the International Year of Sport and Physical Education. Geneva: United Nations. Cable, V. (1969). The “Football War” and central American common market. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944 ), 45(4), 658 671. Cameron, M., & MacDougall, C. (2000). Crime prevention through sport and physical activity. Australian Institute of Criminology: Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, 165, 1 6. Carcach C. A. (2008). El Salvador. Mapa de violencia y su referencia historica. San Salvador, El Salvador: Centro de Monitoreo y Evaluacion de la Violencia desde la Perspectiva Ciudadana. Ca´rdenas, A. (2013). Peace building through sport? An introduction to sport for development and peace. Journal of Conflictology, 4(1), 24 33. Central America Country Management Unit. (2012). El Salvador: estudio institucional y de gasto pu´blico en seguridad y justica. Washington, DC: World Bank. Coakley, J. (2002). Using sports to control deviance and violence amongst youths: Let’s be critical and cautious. In M. Gatz, M. Messner, & S. J. Ball-Rokeach (Eds.), Paradoxes of youth and sport (pp. 13 30). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Coalter, F. (2007). A wider social role for sport. Who’s keeping the score? Oxon, UK: Routledge. Danish, S. J., Forneris, T., & Wallace, I. (2005). Sport-based life skills programming in the schools. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 21(2), 41 62.
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Dusenbury, L., Falco, M., Lake, A., Brannigan, R., & Bosworth, K. (1997). Nine critical elements of promising violence prevention programs. Journal of School Health, 67(10), 409 414. Ewing, M. E., Gano-Overway, L. A., Branta, C. F., & Seefeldt, V. D. (2002). The role of sports in youth development. In M. Gatz, M. Messner, & S. J. Ball-Rokeach (Eds.), Paradoxes of youth and sport (pp. 31 48). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Goudas, M., Dermitzaki, I., Leondari, A., & Danish, S. (2006). The effectiveness of teaching a life skills program in a physical education context. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 21, 429 438. Goudas, M., & Magotsiou, E. (2009). The effects of a cooperative physical education program on students’ social skills. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 21(3), 356 364. Gould, D., & Carson, S. (2008). Life skills development through sport: Current status and future directions. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1(1), 58 78. Gutie´rrez, M., Pilsa, C., & Torres, E. (2007). Perfil de la educacio´n fı´ sica y sus profesores desde el punto de vista de los alumnos. Revista Internacional de Ciencias del Deporte, 8(3), 39 52. Hawkins, J. D., Herrenkohl, T. I., Farrington, D. P., Brewer, D., Catalano, R. F., Harachi, T. W., & Cothern, L. (2000). Predictors of youth violence. Juvenile Justice Bulletin, (April), 1 11. Hellison, D. (2011). Teaching personal and social responsibility through physical activity (3rd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Hellison, D. R., Martinek, T. J., & Cutforth, N. J. (1996). Beyond violence prevention in inner-city physical activity programs. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 2(4), 321 337. Holt, N., Tamminen, K. A., Tink, L. N., & Black, D. E. (2009). An interpretive analysis of life skills associated with sport participation. Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, 1(2), 160 175. Holt, N. L., Scherer, J., & Koch, J. (2013). An ethnographic study of issues surrounding the provision of sport opportunities to young men from a western Canadian inner-city. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 14, 538 548. Holt, N. L., Tink, L. N., Mandigo, J. L., & Fox, K. R. (2008). Do youth learn life skills through their involvement in high school sport? Canadian Journal of Education, 31(2), 281 304. Hurley, V., & Mandigo, J. L. (2010). Bullying in physical education: Its prevalence and impact on the intention to continue secondary school physical education. PHEnex, 2(3). Retrieved from http://ojs.acadiau.ca/index.php/phenex/article/view/1397 Loeber R., & Hay D. (1997). Key issues in the development of aggression and violence from childhood to early adulthood. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 371 410. Mandigo, J. L., Corlett, J., Hobin, E., & Sheppard, J. (2010). The role of physical education teacher preparation in the prevention of youth violence in El Salvador. PHEnex, 2(1), 1 23. McAlister A. (2000). Juvenile violence in the Americas: Innovative studies in research, diagnosis, and prevention. Washington, DC: Pan American Health Organization, Division of Health Promotion and Protection, Adolescent Health Unit. Papacharisis, V., Goudas, M., Danish, S., & Theodorakis, Y. (2005). The effectiveness of teaching a life skills program in a sport context. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 17, 247 254.
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Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Schwab, K. (2013). The global competitiveness report 2012 2013: Full data edition. Geneva: World Economic Forum. Seefeldt, V., & Ewing, M. E. (1997). Youth sports in America: An overview. President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports: Research Digest, 2(11), 1 12. Springer, A. E., Selwyn, B. J., & Kelder, S. H. (2006). A descriptive study of youth risk behavior in urban and rural secondary school students in El Salvador. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 6(3), 1 11. Theokas, C., Danish, S., Hodge, K., Heke, I., & Forneris, T. (2008). Enhancing life skills through sport for children and youth. In N. Holt (Ed.), Positive youth development through sport (pp. 71 82). New York, NY: Routledge. Ullman, M. T. (2004). Contributions of memory circuits to language: The declarative/ procedural model. Cognition, 92(1 2), 231 270. UNICEF. (2009). Child friendly schools model. New York, NY: UNICEF. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2011). Global study on homicide. Vienna: United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/ Homicide/Globa_study_on_homicide_2011_web.pdf Waiselfisz J. J. (2008). Mapa da violencia: Os jovenes da America Latina. (Rede de Informac¸a˜o Tecnolo´gica Latino-Americana). Sao Paulo, Brazil. Retrieved from www.ritla.net/index. php?option=com_content&task=view&lang=pt&id=4759 Wang, A. Y. (1994). Pride and prejudice in high school gang members. Adolescence, 29(114), 279 291. Watters, H., Hyder, A. A., Rajkotia, Y., Basu, S., Rehwinkel, J. A., & Butchart, A. (2004). The economic dimensions of interpersonal violence. Geneva: World Health Organization. World Bank. (2011). Crime and violence in central America: A development challenge. Washington, DC: World Bank. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ INTLAC/Resources/FINAL_VOLUME_I_ENGLISH_CrimeAndViolence.pdf World Health Organization. (1999). Violence prevention: An important element of a health promoting school. Geneva: World Health Organization. World Health Organization. (2002). Skills for health. Skills-based health education including life skills: An important component of a child-friendly/health-promoting school. Geneva: World Health Organization. World Health Organization. (2010). Violence prevention: The evidence. Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/ 4th_milestones_meeting/evidence_briefings_all.pdf Wortley, S. (2010). The review of the roots of youth violence: Volume 5 literature reviews. Toronto, ON: Queens Park Printer.
CHAPTER 7 THE FIFA WORLD CUP 2010 AND ITS LEGACY ON “SPORT AND DEVELOPMENT” PRACTICES IN SOUTH AFRICAN CITIES Naofumi Suzuki ABSTRACT Purpose This chapter attempts to examine what lasting change the 2010 Fe´de´ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup brought to the practices of “sport and development” in South Africa. It also discusses whose “rights to the city” were and were not promoted as a consequence of this mega-event. Methodology/approach A multiple case study approach was employed to look at: (1) what new initiatives have been launched and will be sustained after the event; (2) what the experience of existing initiatives was like; and (3) what structural changes might be brought about to promote the practices of “sport and development.” Semistructured interviews and on-site observations were conducted in November 2010, looking at six “sport and development” initiatives operating in and around Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Sport, Social Development and Peace Research in the Sociology of Sport, Volume 8, 127 145 Copyright r 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1476-2854/doi:10.1108/S1476-285420140000008006
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Findings As far as the experience of NGOs is concerned, positive changes were observable in terms of generating a more enabling climate for “sport and development,” although how long it will be sustained remains to be seen. The study shows that the World Cup provided opportunities for some new initiatives to start up, and also for relatively small existing ones to expand, while the experience of more established initiatives varied in terms of the extent of involvement in this one-off event. Social implications These “positives” notwithstanding, the benefits tend to be limited to football-based practices, and potential “reach” into other areas of social development are questionable. Finally, it appeared that there was a mismatch between the beneficiaries of the programs and the victims of urban development. Keywords: FIFA World Cup; South Africa 2010; sport and development; right to the city; legacy
INTRODUCTION To understand the recent progress of the “sport and development” movement, the 2010 Fe´de´ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup held in South Africa cannot be overlooked. Despite skepticism from some quarters surrounding the capabilities of South Africa to successfully carry out the event, the largest concern being the safety of visitors given the high incidence of violent crime in South African cities, it turned out to be successful in terms of security, atmosphere, the number of visitors, aesthetics of stadia, as well as financial revenue (FIFA, 2011; Gibson, 2010). So, from several points of view, the first ever World Cup held in Africa left a legacy that South Africa could be proud of for many years to come. Indeed, the event was not just about football. It was about Africa. FIFA, for instance, was committed to ensuring that the legacy of the event extended to the whole of Africa, and thus ran and facilitated a number of “football for development” initiatives, the most prominent of which were Football for Hope and Win in Africa with Africa (FIFA, 2005; FIFA, n.d.). The latter was started up in 2004 when South Africa was selected to host the 2010 World Cup, and was aimed at providing assistance for African football to become self-dependent, mainly through upgrading football grounds by installing high-quality artificial turf (FIFA, n.d.). On the
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other hand, the Football for Hope initiative, partnering with streetfootballworld, an NGO facilitating global networking of the “football for development” movement, is a worldwide initiative with a stronger inclination toward social development (FIFA, 2005). In relation to the 2010 World Cup, FIFA launched a plan to build twenty multipurpose community centers called FIFA Football for Hope Centres (FHC) in disadvantaged areas across the continent, the very first of which opened in 2009 in Khayelitsha, Cape Town (FIFA, 2012). An FHC would typically consist of a football ground and a community hall, and would be expected to function as the hub for community-based organizations to reach out to the disadvantaged population and tackle a range of social problems (FIFA, 2012) (Fig. 1). It was not only FIFA, but also a whole range of businesses as well as not-for-profit communities that were keen to “do something” for Africa in relation to this historic event. To give one of the prominent examples, Sony Corporation, in cooperation with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), held public viewing events in remote rural communities in Ghana and Cameroon (Sony Japan, 2011). This constituted the major part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program called Dream Goal 2010, and Sony was voted “Corporation of the Year” in the Beyond Sport Awards 2011.
Fig. 1.
FIFA Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
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However, these initiatives need to be understood within the broader context of the “sport and development” movement, which has been expanding globally for the last couple of decades (Cornelissen, 2011). In essence, it is a movement that tries to utilize elements of sport for the purpose of broader human and social development, whether that be a sporting program with social development objectives (sport plus), or a social development program incorporating sport to improve its attractiveness and/or effectiveness (plus sport) (Coalter, 2007). The earliest of examples could be found in the late 1980s, but the last decade in particular has seen a rapid development, with the United Nations also advocating for the role of sport to contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by establishing the Office for Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) in 2008 (SDP IWG, 2008; UNOSDP, 2011). Declared in 2000, the MDGs aim to achieve a range of targets in eight categories by 2015. These include the following goals: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empowerment of women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.
Many people think that sport is not capable of tackling these goals alone, but has a part to play within “a broad, holistic approach” in addressing each one of them in one way or another (UNOSDP, 2011). What the 2010 World Cup meant to this movement in general is a question worth exploring (Suzuki, 2011).
WORLD CUP LEGACY AND THE “RIGHT TO THE CITY” Notwithstanding the hype around the first ever African World Cup, the event undoubtedly brought the most significant changes onto the host nation. While it may have been an opportunity for South Africa to demonstrate its post-Apartheid economic and political progress, the host cities also aspired to capitalize on this opportunity to modify their urban fabric
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through major stadium and transport development projects and boost their tourism prospects (Cornelissen, 2009; Pillay & Bass, 2009). Such upgrades in urban infrastructure, huge financial expenditures aside, stand as obvious legacies for host cities (Figs. 2 3).
Fig. 2.
Greenpoint Stadium, Cape Town.
Fig. 3.
Soccercity, Johannesburg.
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Also often highlighted has been the neglect, or alienation, of the urban poor. The adverse effects of large-scale displacement, likely triggered by stadium and urban development in many of the host cities, have been strongly voiced by a number of civic organizations. One such organization is Sport for Solidarity, a UK-based NGO aiming to raise awareness for human rights issues in relation to sport, whose documentary film Tin Town: the Unaccountable Cost of the 2010 World Cup depicts the concerns of shack dwellers in the city of Cape Town building up to the event (Sport for Solidarity, 2010). A concern for displacement was also raised in relation to the “beautification” of the highway from the Cape Town airport to the town center (Newton, 2009) (Fig. 4). Thus, it can be argued that the World Cup imposed both positive and negative consequences upon different sets of stakeholders. This may be considered as an example of where the urban space was used in a way that would benefit some people, but not others. In analyzing the case of the Greater Elis Park Development project in Johannesburg, Be´nit-Gbaffou (2009) refers to the notion of the “right to the city.” Of particular relevance here is Purcell’s (2006) cautious argument that it should include not only the rights of local residents, but also those of other actors who have “stakes” in other ways. But, regarding Purcell’s argument, the urban development associated with the World Cup has cast a serious question as to exactly whose right was at stake (Be´nit-Gbaffou, 2009). The World Cup should certainly count as one of those occasions when the rights of stakeholders at different geographical scales would have to be considered in making decisions on urban development. That said, it would not be justifiable if the poor were on the “receiving end” of suffering only, and not receive any benefits accruing from the event. In fact, studies of the economic benefits of mega-events strongly point to the prospect that the 2010 World Cup would not lead to poverty reduction (Pillay & Bass, 2009). However, the term “legacy,” as opposed to such words as “impact” and “effect,” implies that “pro-poor” legacies could be deliberately created by adding programs specifically designed for them (Pillay & Bass, 2009). This is precisely the reason that it would have mattered what sort of social development programs were operating along with the 2010 World Cup so as to benefit the urban poor in the host cities. Most such social development programs would have incorporated football elements into them, and thus could be considered as “sport and development” programs. Therefore, the following section reports on the summary findings of a study conducted to investigate the legacies that the 2010 World Cup regarding sport and
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Temporary Relocation Area in Delft.
development programs and practices in and around the host cities (Suzuki, 2011).
LEGACY FOR “SPORT AND DEVELOPMENT” IN SOUTH AFRICA My study was exploratory, based on interviews and on-site observation held in and around Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria in November 2010. The fieldwork was conducted for nine days and included 14 interviews with 22 informants (four local and provincial government officers, 16 staff members of four programs, two beneficiaries of a program, and a university professor) and two occasions of on-site observation, each of which lasted for two to three hours. The websites of the programs were also closely examined before and after the fieldwork for relevant content. The study set out to understand what, if any, lasting change the 2010 World Cup brought about to the practices of “sport and development” in South Africa. More specifically, it explored the following three questions: 1. What new initiative has been launched and will be sustained after the event?
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2. What was the experience of the existing initiatives like, and what change, if any, has been made to their post-event activities? 3. What structural changes might be brought about to promote the practices of “sport and development” in South Africa? The scope of research embraced not only not-for-profit but also governmental and for-profit sectors, but the findings are presented below from the viewpoint of the not-for-profit, nongovernmental sector. The case studies reported in this chapter are listed in Table 1. These initiatives vary in terms of their geographical and thematic scope, but all but one are led by NGOs, the most common organizational type as a vehicle of “sport and development” practice (Suzuki & Kurosu, 2012). The World Cup’s contribution to “sport and development” in South Africa is assessed below in terms of organizational sustainability of these NGOs. The only exception is Youth Development through Football (YDF), a bilateral cooperation between the German and South African governments which provides technical assistance to local “sport and development” NGOs, and thus could be considered as a change in institutional structure to promote “sport and development.” The following three subsections present the findings in terms of sustainability of new initiatives, impact on established initiatives, and structural changes to assist small NGOs.
Sustainability of New Initiatives First, in terms of the new initiatives that had been launched, it seemed that not-for-profit organizations might have been more proactive than local municipalities. Stars in Their Eyes and Dreamfields Project, both launched in 2007, were recognized to be among the most active ones. Case 1: Stars in Their Eyes Stars in Their Eyes was a program designed to build capacity in football coaching in urban and rural disadvantaged communities in Western Cape. It was established as a CSR program of a Dutch company, Cool Fresh International, which trades fruits from South Africa to Europe, and conducted in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport of the Western Cape provincial government. It was formed around the idea of “twinning” local clubs affiliated to South Africa Football Association (SAFA) with Dutch counterparts, with the latter providing on-site
List of Case Studies.
Name of Initiative
Launched
Entry to Sport and Development in SA
Institutional Features
Main Objectives and Activities
New initiatives Stars in Their Eyes
2006
2006
Coaching skills training for local football coaches
2007
2007
Local NGO-led corporate social responsibility (CSR) program created by Cool Fresh International; Partnership with Western Cape provincial government Local NGO-led, CSR program; Financial support by number of major South African corporations; Partnership with Department of Education
Established initiatives SCORE
1991
1991
Altus Sport
1995
1995
Grassroot Soccer
2000
2006
Local NGO; partnership with number of national/international funders and national/provincial governments Local NGO; partnership with YDF, NIKE and other national/ international funders US-based NGO; partnership with number of national/ international funders and national/provincial governments
Community capacity development through organizing sports activities Youth development; sport and life skills training HIV/AIDS awareness and life skills training using Skillz Curriculum
2007
Bilateral governmental cooperation (Germany South Africa); funded by German government
Life skills training for disadvantaged youth using primarily football
HIV/AIDS awareness and life skills training by organizing youth football teams and tournaments Local football academy and coaching skills training
Dreamfields Project
Change in institutional structure Youth 2007 Development through Football (YDF) YDF’s partners SA Cares for Life
1993
2010
Religion-based local NGO for child care; partnership with YDF
Dona’s Mates
1999
1999
Local NGO Self-supported football academy; partnership with YDF
Provision of football equipment and infrastructure (including pitches) in disadvantaged communities
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Source: Cornelissen (2011); http://www.starsintheireyes.nl/content/people; http://www.dreamfieldsproject.org; http://www.score.org.za/about/; http://altussport. co.za/node/37; http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/where-we-work/south-africa/; http://www.za-ydf.org/pages/home/; http://www.prodder.org.za/civicrm/contact/ view?reset=1&cid=12386; http://www.donasmates.co.za/development/.
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Table 1.
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coaching clinics for local coaches and then mentoring them afterwards (Development Works, 2009). As of November 2010, it claimed to have reached 193 community leaders from 53 disadvantaged communities (Jooste, 2010). Case 2: Dreamfields Project Dreamfields Project was founded by journalist John Perlman, who aspired to improve the facilities and equipment for football in disadvantaged communities. Thus, the project involved donating bags of football kits, as well as upgrading local football grounds. It has continued after the event as well, and as of April 2012, the project claims to have donated football kits to over 2000 local teams and built/upgraded fourteen grounds, and developed a partnership with SAFA, which has also committed itself to a project called Legacy Project, whose goal is to build facilities for grassroots football development using the National Lottery Fund (Dreamfields Project, 2012). Both initiatives seemed to have been created by passionate individuals and their respective supporters, but it was uncertain as to how long this kind of independent, self-reliant program could sustain itself after the World Cup ended. As far as the information available at the time of writing, Dreamfields Project is at least up and running, while developing quite a strong partnership with the business and football communities. Impact on Established Initiatives Second, there were additional established local NGOs that had been in operation even before South Africa was chosen to host the World Cup. The perceived impact of the tournament on three such organizations SCORE, Altus Sport and Grassroot Soccer is reported here. Case 3: SCORE SCORE is arguably one of the earliest “sport and development” initiatives and widely considered to be one of the leading organizations in this field of practice. Having been introduced in Cape Town as a US-based NGO in 1991, it became a locally based organization in 1995. It also runs programs in Namibia and Zambia. The program is designed to provide assistance in organizing sporting activities in disadvantaged communities in South
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Africa. Its approach is called the “community development approach,” in that SCORE’s work is to facilitate community capacity building through organizing structured sporting activities. Their work is composed of three separate, but inter-connected, programs called Cup of Heroes, VIP (Volunteer Involvement Program), and Living Sports. In short, they are the annual sporting festival for all of the communities SCORE works in, the database of volunteers, and a training program for community leaders, respectively. They constitute a sort of a career ladder, through which a young person could progressively move from a participant to a peer leader, and then to a community leader. It is difficult to illuminate the entire picture of the achievements it has had to date because of issues regarding scale but, as one small indication, it claims to have “recruited volunteers from 22 countries,” “coached more than 20 different sporting codes,” and “built more than 45 multipurpose sports facilities for communities in 4 Provinces” (SCORE, 2011). SCORE’s position concerning the World Cup was clear. It kept a distance from the hype, and ran the SCORE for 2010 campaign in its own capacity. The main event was the SCORE Cup, which was designed to provide opportunities for those young people who would not be able to afford a ticket and transport to watch the games, and thus would be excluded from the excitement of the World Cup. It was a football tournament held during school holidays for the over 50 communities SCORE worked with and involved some 10,000 young people (SCORE, 2011). The participants also had opportunities to learn about the culture of other countries participating in the World Cup. In terms of its impact on the organization’s sustainability, the staff members considered that it was minimal, apart from the experience of organizing an event during a holiday period, which they normally did not do. They were more concerned with the possible adverse effect of getting involved with the one-off, temporary funding proposals, which would have disturbed their daily, long-term operation based on voluntary participation rather than the attraction of a large amount of sponsorship money. Case 4: Altus Sport Altus Sport has almost as long a history as SCORE in South Africa, though operating on a smaller scale in and around Pretoria. Established by a renowned former Olympian and a professional tennis coach in 1995, it is centered on a program called Life’s a Ball, which utilizes a variety of balls to train basic sporting skills as well as personal and life skills. It has also
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more recently introduced a football-based program Streetsoccer. Its main aim is youth development, and it commits itself to life skills and leadership training for around 20 young people aged between 17 and 27, all formally unemployed and “hanging around the streets.” These young leaders would then run sessions of Life’s a Ball or Streetsoccer at local primary and high schools. It is hoped that these young leaders would move on to get a job elsewhere when they get older than 27 years. Similarly to SCORE, the staff members of Altus Sport considered that the impact of the World Cup on the long-term operation of “sport and development” NGOs would be minimal. That said, Altus Sport was involved in a number of World Cup-related events in June and July 2010, partnering with a range of organizations including Sony, streetfootballworld, FIFA, NIKE, and so on, which in total mobilized over 9,000 children and young people in over 20 different occasions (Laubscher, 2010). Apart from these events, Altus Sport seemed to have increased its capacity through the partnership with YDF initiative led by the German development aid agency, GTZ (Gesellschaft fu¨r Technisch Zusammenarbeit), as well as Nike’s CSR project called Sport for Social Change Network (SSCN). Altus Sport was appointed as the convener of SSCN, and is looking to contribute to the capacity building of local “sport for development” NGOs in the coming years. Case 5: Grassroot Soccer Grassroot Soccer is a US-based NGO established in 2002, and has been operating in South Africa since 2006. Already one of the relatively established NGOs in the field of “sport and development” through its operation in Zimbabwe, its entry into South Africa was likely motivated by the nation’s hosting the World Cup. It is also a member of the streetfootballworld network, and claims to be “a strong contributor to the ‘Football for Hope’ movement” (Grassroot Soccer, 2012). Unlike SCORE and Altus Sport, Grassroot Soccer specifically uses football as a tool for HIV/AIDS education. Its approach is known as Skillz Curriculum and has been adopted by other “sport for development” organizations as well. It mixes football-based activities and HIV/AIDS awareness training aimed at those aged 10 19, mostly approached through community schools. The staff members perceived that the benefit of the World Cup for the organization was threefold. First, it raised its “credibility,” and thus “became known to a much wider audience” (staff member). One of the
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opportunities for them to appeal to a wider audience might have been the Skillz Holiday program sponsored by Castrol, which was a tour around nine venues throughout the country to provide Skillz Curriculum sessions. Second, Grassroot Soccer had an agreement with the City of Cape Town to manage the Khayelitsha Football for Hope Centre for five years. This presented a new challenge for the organization, as it had had no experience in providing facility-based services before, although it could also contribute to increasing its capacity and effective delivery of service through more stable and continuous engagement with local young people. Third, it also received three years of funding from the national government for organizational capacity building. Hence, it could be said that the 2010 World Cup had benefited Grassroot Soccer in terms of developing its organizational capacity for the next several years. To sum up, the experience of these three relatively established NGOs varied. On one end of the spectrum, there was SCORE, which kept away from the temporary income stream tied to the World Cup. On the other end, there was Grassroot Soccer, which capitalized on the opportunity and linked up with the mainstream of “football for development” such as the FHC so as to strengthen its capability. In between, there was Altus Sport, which did act as a kind of mediator to make use of the corporate sponsors’ money for the benefit of the local young people, but did not consider such support to be long term.
Structural Changes to Assist Small NGOs Third, the study looked at whether the 2010 World Cup had brought about any structural change, whether it be institutional, financial, or physical. While it is hard to tease out such structural changes through an exploratory study such as this, one such example might be observable in the work of YDF, especially through networking and the dissemination of a toolkit. Case 6: Youth Development Through Football: GTZ/GIZ Unlike the five cases above, YDF was not an NGO, but an initiative led by GTZ, a German development aid agency. In 2011, GTZ was integrated with other two institutions to form the Deutsche Gesellschaft fu¨r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and GIZ took over. The program came about in 2007 as a result of an agreement between the German and
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South African governments after the 2006 World Cup in Germany. It was originally planned to continue until 2012, but it has been extended to 2013. GTZ/GIZ was to provide technical support for the governmental and nongovernmental sectors to build capacity in terms of the use of sport for social development. The main focus was on NGOs, whose capability to deliver actual programs on the spot was regarded as the key to YDF’s operation. Two of the notable measures were: (1) networking of stakeholders through the aforementioned SSCN, which was launched through the partnership between NIKE and YDF, and commissioned to Altus Sports; and (2) the development of a toolkit for football-based youth development, including HIV/AIDS and life skill training, much like Skillz Curriculum of Grassroot Soccer. In 2010, for the 15 days prior to the tournament, YDF carried out a tour around eight southern African countries to “showcase” its work, and to disseminate the toolkit in particular. It appeared that YDF was keen to connect small NGOs to broader opportunities for them to develop themselves. This was probably because, if YDF were to promote “sport and development” activities in disadvantaged communities using its toolkit, it would have to rely on local NGOs for their delivery. In this regard, two of their “clients” were SA Cares for Life and Dona’s Mates Football Academy. Neither was a “new face” in the communities they were each operating in, but they had not yet established themselves as implementers of “sport and development” as such. They had long worked in remote rural townships in Gauteng Province. SA Cares for Life had worked in the social work and health sectors, but had just started to incorporate a football element to its service as a tool to engage with young people. It had become in contact with YDF through a conference of SSCN, and was planning to start up its own football tournament. In contrast, Dona’s Mates had aspired to establish a local football academy and operating since 1999. However, since it had been completely self-funded, it had difficulty in financial stability. Although YDF would not fund them long term, it was hoped that using YDF’s toolkit Dona’s Mates would have more publicity to increase its accessibility to funding opportunities. The long-term consequences of YDF’s work are yet to be seen, of course. However, with the installation of knowledge through the toolkit as well as the connection to a broader network of “sport and development” through SSCN, it might have provided the foundation for smaller NGOs like SA Cares for Life and Dona’s Mates to develop their organizations
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further. They will certainly face a challenge when YDF ends in 2013, but then the true value of YDF’s legacy in sustainable capacity development will be tested.
CONCLUSION This chapter has looked at the legacy of the 2010 World Cup in terms of its contribution to social development in Africa, focusing on the “sport and development” movement. Despite the hype around the first ever World Cup in Africa, there was a concern that the poor population of the host nation would be neglected, or even further marginalized. It was an opportunity for the host cities to upgrade their urban infrastructure not only stadiums, but also housing and transport systems, which raised concerns over the displacement of the urban poor (Newton, 2009). Although the whole scale as well as the nature of such alleged adverse effects on the poor population is hard to grasp fully, the “sport and development” initiatives reported here could be considered as agents to create inclusive structure that would enable the marginalized communities to access the benefits accruing from the “once-in-a-life-time” event, so that some of the adversities could be overcome. Importantly, though, while the legacy of physical infrastructure would inevitably live long after the event, continuous, deliberate effort would be necessary if we want the positive social legacy on to the marginalized communities to last as long. Thus, the impact on the “sport and development” organizations as enablers of social inclusion could be considered imperative. The findings presented above, although admittedly inconclusive, depict the diverse experiences of the NGOs engaging in “sport and development” in South Africa around the period of the 2010 World Cup. A fuller appraisal on the whole range of programs at different organizational and geographical levels is available elsewhere (Cornelissen, 2011). As far as the experience of NGOs is concerned, at least some positive changes were observable in terms of generating a more enabling climate for “sport and development.” However, how long it will be sustained remains to be seen. Moreover, it is uncertain as to whether such changes were significant enough considering the huge scale of alleged adverse effect of displacement as well as the reported financial success of the event. The relevance of this to the discussion on the “right to the city” would be threefold. First, notwithstanding the positive progress to some degree,
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its benefits might be in the main limited to football-based practices. Football alone would not necessarily open up opportunities for democracy. The opportunities for participation to express cultural identities, and thus to claim the right to the city, would be more widened for those who adore football. Attention needs to be paid to the potential exclusiveness of these newly created opportunities for football. Second, the potential “reach” of these opportunities into other areas of social development might be questionable. The value of the use of sport in development arguably lies in its alleged contribution to wider social development. If these football-centered opportunities for participation were not to lead to ones in other spheres of life, then what has been made more accessible for the participants would be confined to the rights to football only. Third, there may well have been a mismatch between the beneficiaries of the “sport and development” programs and the “victims” of urban development associated with the World Cup. Considering the concerns that the urban development fostered by the hosting of the event had more to do with the rights of the governments and the business sector (Be´nit-Gbaffou, 2009), and thus may have represented the “dominant societal values,” the beneficiaries of the opportunities widened by “sport and development” initiatives must be those who had been neglected, or even undermined, their rights to the city. In this regard, most of the practitioners in the nongovernmental sector seemed to be well aware of the uneven distribution of benefits accruing from the World Cup on the whole and try to reach out for the marginalized population in both rural and urban areas, who were likely to be excluded. Nevertheless, from the viewpoint of urban development and the rights to the city reflected in it, it could be argued that the practices of “sport and development” should be targeted at those who suffered from displacement, for example. No evidence had been found yet that such an intervention had taken place. Hence, the 2010 World Cup has offered an intriguing case to examine the actual relationship between urban development and different stakeholders’ rights to the city. This chapter has attempted to approach this relationship from a rather unconventional angle, pursuing the possibility of “sport and development” to complement the unevenly represented rights to the city resulting from “fast-tracking” of urban development (Be´nitGbaffou, 2009). Although a fuller investigation would be necessary to reach more robust conclusions, it can at least be said that the notion of the right to the city would be also useful for a critical appraisal of “sport and development” in urban contexts. And it seems important to note that sport can play a significant role in this process.
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FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Coalter, F. (2007). A wider social role for sport: Who’s keeping the score? London: Routledge. Fred Coalter, one of the pioneers in the “sport and development” research, discusses his early work in this field of research. Based on his earlier experience in studying the roles of sport in social development in the context of the UK urban policy, he develops the framework for evaluating sportbased programs so as to build managerial capacity on the field. 2. Cornelissen, S. (2011). More than a sporting chance? Appraising the sport for development legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Third World Quarterly, 32(3), 503 529. Cornelissen offers an extensive review of the “sport for development” programs that were being held around the time of the FIFA World Cup 2010, covering a total of 34 programs at global, continental, provincial, urban and local levels. This is an invaluable resource for anyone trying to assess the social legacy of South Africa 2010. 3. Pillay, U., Tomlinson, R., & Bass, O. (Eds.). (2009). Development and dreams: The urban legacy of the 2010 Football World Cup. Cape Town: HSRC Press. This volume includes a broad range of urban issues that were of particular concern in each of the host cities as well as the nation on the whole at the time building up to South Africa 2010. Not only does it include some excellent detailed case studies of urban development in host cities, but it can also serve as a good comprehensive introduction to “sport and development” in many respects. 4. Levermore, R., & Beacom, A. (Eds.). (2009). Sport and international development. London: Palgrave Macmillan. This is another pioneering work that brings together theoretical discussions and empirical case studies in “sport and development.” Particularly important is Levermore’s chapter titled “Sport-in-International Development: Theoretical Frameworks,” which provides a good overview of how this field of practice has developed rapidly in recent decades. 5. Purcell, M. (2006). Urban democracy and the local trap. Urban Studies, 43(11), 1921 1941. This source offers a well-balanced, critical review of the idea of the “right to the city.” While it could often be hard to grasp the essence of the idea,
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Purcell sensibly does it by relating it with the discussion on geographical scales and democratic decision-making. His claim that prioritizing the rights of the “local” people does not always guarantee better democracy is worth considering when one attempts to assess the contribution of “sport and development” to promoting social justice.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT This chapter is based on, and modified from, the article of the same title included in SUR: Sustainable Urban Regeneration Vol. 32 published by Centre for Sustainable Urban Regeneration (cSUR), The University of Tokyo. The study was conducted as part of a larger project on urbanization in Africa, sponsored by cSUR. The ideas presented in this chapter were developed thanks to the discussion with one of the colleagues there, Atsufumi Yokoi.
REFERENCES Be´nit-Gbaffou, C. (2009). In the shadow of 2010: Democracy and displacement in the Greater Ellis Park development project. In U. Pillay, R. Tomlinson, & O. Bass (Eds.), Development and dreams: The urban legacy of the 2010 Football World Cup (pp. 200 222). Cape Town: HSRC Press. Beyond Sport. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.beyondsport.org/. Accessed on August 31. Coalter, F. (2007). A wider social role for sport: Who’s keeping the score? London: Routledge. Cornelissen, S. (2009). Sport, mega-events and urban tourism: Exploring the patterns, constraints and prospects of the 2010 World Cup. In U. Pillay, R. Tomlinson, & O. Bass (Eds.), Development and dreams: The urban legacy of the 2010 Football World Cup (pp. 131 152). Cape Town: HSRC Press. Cornelissen, S. (2011). More than a sporting chance? Appraising the sport for development legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Third World Quarterly, 32(3), 503 529. Development Works. (2009). Final report: Formative evaluation of the Stars in Their Eyes project. A report prepared for the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Provincial Government of the Western Cape. Dreamfields Project. (2012). The Dreamfileds Project: Home. Retrieved from http://www. dreamfieldsproject.org/home.aspx. Accessed on April 30. FIFA. (2005). Football for Hope: Football’s commitment to social development. Retrieved from http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afprograms/worldwideprograms/footballforh ope_e_47827.pdf FIFA. (2011). 61st FIFA congress FIFA financial report 2010. Zurich: FIFA.
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FIFA. (2012). FIFA.com 20 Centres for 2010 The official campaign for FIFA World Cup. Retrieved from http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/socialresponsibility/footballforhope/ 20centres/index.html. Accessed on April 30. FIFA. (n.d.). Win in Africa with Africa. Retrieved from. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/ afdeveloping/pitchequip/cs_wininafrica_37448.pdf Gibson, O. (2010). World Cup 2010: South Africa leaves a World Cup legacy to remember. The Guardian, July 12. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/uk Grassroot Soccer. (2012). Grassroot soccer: Educate. inspire. mobilise. stop the spread of HIV. Retrieved from http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/where-we-work/south-africa/ Jooste N. (2010). A collection of World Cup stories and successes Section 4c: Sport development: Cool fresh international: Stars in Their Eyes. Unpublished document provided by Provincial Government of Western Cape. Laubscher, L. (2010). 2010 World Cup activities June July 2010: Summary of activities conducted by Altus Sport during the 2010 World Cup. Unpublished report. Altus Sport, Pretoria, South Africa. Newton, C. (2009). The reverse side of the medal: About the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the beautification of the N2 in Cape Town. Urban Forum, 20(1), 93 108. Pillay, U., & Bass, O. (2009). Mega-events as a response to poverty reduction: The 2010 World Cup and urban development. In U. Pillay, R. Tomlinson, & O. Bass (Eds.), Development and dreams: The urban legacy of the 2010 Football World Cup (pp. 76 95). Cape Town: HSRC Press. Purcell, M. (2006). Urban democracy and the local trap. Urban Studies, 43(11), 1921 1941. SCORE. (2011). SCORE: Changing lives through sports. Retrieved from http://www.score.org. za/ SDP IWG (Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group). (2008). Harnessing the power of sport for development and peace: Recommendations to governments. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/sport/shared/sport/pdfs/ SDP%20IWG/Final%20SDP%20IWG%20Report.pdf Sony Japan. (2011). Dream goal 2010. Retrieved from http://www.sony.co.jp/SonyInfo/csr/ ForTheNextGeneration/contentslist/dreamgoal2010/index.html Sport for Solidarity. (2010). Tin Town: The unaccountable cost of the 2010 World Cup [DVD]. Sport for Solidarity. Suzuki, N. (2011). Lasting legacies, or cherished memories? The impact of 2010 FIFA World Cup onto the ‘sport for development’ practices in South Africa. ISSA World Congress for the Sociology of Sport, 12 15 July. Havana, Cuba. Suzuki, N., & Kurosu, A. (2012) Towards an ecological understanding of ‘sport and development’ movement using an organizational database. ISSA World Congress for the Sociology of Sport, 16 18th July. Glasgow, UK. UNOSDP. (2011). Sport for development and peace: The UN system in action. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/sport/home
CHAPTER 8 AN EXAMINATION OF CROSSCULTURAL MENTORSHIP IN ALBERTA’S FUTURE LEADERS PROGRAM Miriam Galipeau and Audrey R. Giles ABSTRACT Purpose In this chapter we examine cross-cultural mentorship within Alberta’s Future Leaders (AFL) program, an initiative in which mainly non-Aboriginal youth workers and arts mentors mentor Aboriginal youth in Aboriginal communities in Alberta through the use of sport, recreation, and arts for development. Design/methodology/approach We use an exploratory case study methodology in concert with semi-structured interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and archival research. We use Foucauldian discourse analysis to analyze our results. Findings We identified two dominant discourses that shape AFL: first, mentorship can help Aboriginal youth to avoid negative life trajectories and, second, youth leadership development is universal. We argue that sport, recreation, and arts for youth development that does not prioritize
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cultural relevancy and does not attend to issues pertaining to colonialism’s legacy risks, in a Foucauldian sense, disciplining Aboriginal youths in ways that reaffirm colonial relations of power between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Originality/value This chapter focuses on sport, recreation, and arts for youth development within a marginalized segment of the Canadian population: Aboriginal youth. Keywords: Alberta’s Future Leaders program; aboriginal; youth development; sport for development
INTRODUCTION A growing number of scholars (Felicity, 1999; Preston, 2008; Wall, 2008) have highlighted the need to recognize Aboriginal youths as future leaders in Canada, especially due to the fact that they represent a young and rapidly growing segment of the population and of the “young labor force” (Preston, 2008, p. 2). Alberta’s Future Leaders (AFL) program has been responding to this need since its establishment in 1996. AFL is a sport, recreation, and arts for development program for Aboriginal youths in Alberta that is operated by the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks, and Wildlife Foundation. Each year, predominately non-Aboriginal employees are hired and sent in pairs to work in First Nations and Me´tis communities in Alberta, Canada, over the summer months. These seasonal employees are known as youth workers or arts mentors and are expected to act as mentors for the Aboriginal youths (known as “mentees”) with whom they work. ASRPF is “dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of Albertans by encouraging active lifestyles, promoting athletic excellent and multi-sport games” (Alberta Sport, 2013, para. 2). Since sport is at the core of ASRPWF, sport also plays an important role in AFL’s vision, mission, and mandate. AFL’s vision is “Promoting active, vibrant Aboriginal communities, where local sports, recreation, arts and leadership experiences inspire youth to become positive leaders” (Future Leaders Program, 2013, para. 2); thus, sport is naturally AFL’s main tool for developing Aboriginal youth into future leaders. The ways in which AFL uses sport as its main tool for future leader development can be seen in the mentors they recruit and the opportunities that AFL facilitates for the mentees. Each year, AFL aims specifically to recruit mentors with a background that includes experience in sport. As
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well, AFL occasionally invites special guest sport coaches into the communities to lead sport workshops. As a result, the mentees who participate in AFL’s programs have opportunities to lean new sport skills or improve on existing skills from outsiders of their communities, which AFL hopes will ultimately lead to the development of future leaders. As AFL was created in response to issues related to crime, alcohol abuse, and high rates of suicide in Aboriginal communities in Alberta (Rose & Giles, 2007), the youth workers and arts mentors are meant to mentor Aboriginal youths away from these negative life trajectories. Even though youth mentoring is currently a rapidly growing and widely used practice within mainstream youth development (Rhodes, Liang, & Spencer, 2009), programs that specifically provide mentorship for Aboriginal youth are still uncommon (Klinck et al., 2005). As such, there is a lack of knowledge concerning power relations at work within non-Aboriginal mentor/Aboriginal mentee contexts, particularly within sport, recreation and arts for development approaches. Further, according to Perry (2001), there is a tendency in cross-cultural youth settings to downplay white privilege and deny the importance of culture. Given this claim, along with the significant and growing number of Aboriginal youths in Canada, cross-cultural mentorship involving Aboriginal youths’ leadership development through sport, recreation, and the arts is a rich area of study. In this paper, we seek to understand to what extent and how power relations, discipline, and discourses shape AFL’s mentorship practices. Drawing on the findings from focus groups, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and archival research, we identified two dominant discourses that shape AFL: first, mentorship can help Aboriginal youth to avoid negative life trajectories and, second, youth leadership development is universal. As a result, we argue that if cultural relevancy is not prioritized in cross-cultural youth mentorship programs with Aboriginal youths, issues pertaining to colonialism’s legacy might be overlooked, which can lead to disciplining (Foucault, 1977) Aboriginal youths in ways that reaffirm colonial relations of power between Aboriginal and nonAboriginal people.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE Within the existing literature, Elders and mentoring, cross-cultural mentorship, and cultural relevancy are prominent topics that can be used to
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inform Aboriginal youth leadership development through sport, recreation, and the arts. Below, we provide an overview of these areas and relate them to AFL. Elders and Mentoring Aboriginal cultures in Alberta traditionally relied on Elders for guidance (Council on Aboriginal Initiatives, 2011; Ungar & Liebenberg, 2008). Chansonneuve (2005) explained that Elders in Canada are: …recognized for their wisdom, their stability, their humour and their ability to know what is appropriate in a particular situation. The community looks to them for guidance and sound judgment. They are caring and are known to share the fruits of their labours and experience with others in the community. (p. 4)
Despite colonialism’s legacies, Aboriginal peoples continue to maintain deep respect for their Elders (Rosenberg, Wilson, Abonyi, Wiebe, & Beach, 2008). Some important examples of how Elders play essential roles in Aboriginal youths’ development include knowledge sharing from Elder to youth (Brascoupe´ & Waters, 2009; Matthew, 2009; Sinclair & Pooyak, 2007), the presence of Elders in educational settings (Preston, 2008), and the informal social control Elders provide in communities (LaPrairie, 1992). Further, Wall (2008) found that Aboriginal youths consider Elders to hold a wealth of knowledge about their cultures and communities. Even though Elders’ experience and knowledge commands respect from youths (Giles, Castleden, & Baker, 2010), this respect may be waning. According to Fox (2007), due to increased pressures from tourism industries, Aboriginal traditions are often treated as tourist spectacles where cultural performances are staged more for capital gain than for traditional practice, which has damaged cultural interconnections between healers, Elders, natural forces, spiritual practices, and kinship relationships. Further, while Elders are respected for their lived experiences and knowledge, they are sometimes limited in their knowledge about current issues that face Aboriginal youths, such as sexual abuse or illegal drug use (Andersson & Ledogar, 2008). In addition, Elders may not speak the same language as Aboriginal youths (Friedel, 2010). According to Friedel (2010), the intergenerational “disconnect” that exists between Aboriginal youths and Elders is rooted in residential schooling and other colonial practices and policies that removed Aboriginal peoples from or prohibited their involvement in their cultures and traditional practices. Finally, while Aboriginal peoples in Canada represent a demographically young population (Statistics
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Canada, 2006), Elders are a growing minority in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2008). As a result, Elders are consequently vulnerable to community marginalization and exclusion. Part of this waning respect, marginalization, and exclusion can be seen in how Elders are not being sought after as potential mentors for Aboriginal youths despite the fact that Elders are ideally suited for such a role (Felicity, 1999; Wall, 2008). Indeed, research has shown that cultural identity development for Aboriginal children and youth is reliant on relationships with, and healthy influence from, older family members (Mussel, Cardiff, & White, 2004). Further, a report by Sinclair and Pooyak (2007) entitled Aboriginal Mentoring in Saskatoon: A Cultural Perspective, which included input from youths, Elders, and community participants, found that: When the participants were asked to define what might be some culturally relevant ways to enhance Aboriginal mentorship they all responded: “Elders need to be involved from the beginning.” Elders provide “guidance, leadership, wisdom, support to the staff, and children,” “take time to reflect” and are described as being “methodical” about their approach in assisting the agency or program staff. Elders also are able to provide important cultural teachings to the mentors and mentees. (p. 40)
Despite Elders’ knowledge, skills, and cultural roles, youths mentoring youths is nevertheless a current trend in mentoring practices. For example, Elders play minute roles within AFL’s staff orientation and programs; instead, AFL employs an approach that focuses primarily on youths mentoring youths (Rose & Giles, 2007). According to Crooks, Chiodo, Thomas, Burns, and Camillo (2010), mentorship from older Aboriginal youths can provide the connection to a role model that Aboriginal youths require for positive development. Importantly, however, in the case of AFL, the majority of its youth mentors and arts workers are nonAboriginal. In other words, AFL practices cross-cultural mentorship.
Cross-Cultural Mentorship In cross-cultural mentorship (e.g., non-Aboriginal youths mentoring Aboriginal youths), mentors must avoid setting the expectation that the mentee should mimic the mentor, which could exacerbate colonial relations of power between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and promote perceptions of non-Aboriginal superiority (Rose & Giles, 2007). Such superiority can be perpetuated through, for example, the denial of culture.
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Perry (2001) explained that when a group of people denies having culture, it “connotes a relationship of power between those who ‘have’ culture (and are, thus, irrational and inferior) [e.g., Aboriginal peoples] and those who claim not to (and are, thus, rational and superior) [e.g., non-Aboriginal peoples]” (p. 86). Culture plays an important role in youth mentorship. Aboriginal peoples and Euro-North Americans have different approaches to mentorship. According to Klinck et al. (2005), the overarching difference is that the Euro-North American approach to mentoring is typically authoritative, while Aboriginal approaches to mentorship are more casual. These differences between mentoring are not opposing sides of a dichotomy, but rather ends of a continuum that promote the same intention: to have strong role models for youths (Klinck et al., 2005). While having an Aboriginal mentor (from peer age, up to Elder age) for Aboriginal youth is favorable (Klinck et al., 2005; Sanchez & Colon, 2005; Sinclair & Pooyak, 2007), Klinck et al. (2005) argued that Aboriginal role models can be difficult to find due to sociocultural problems like high rates of residential school trauma, drug and alcohol abuse, and involvement in criminal activity. Furthermore, suitable mentors within Aboriginal communities are often already highly engaged in the community and spread thin as a result (Sinclair & Pooyak, 2007). As such, cross-cultural mentorship is an option that may hold promise. Even though a cross-cultural approach might help to respond to the apparent “shortage” of Aboriginal mentors (which we would argue is a problematic assertion in and of itself), non-Aboriginal mentor/Aboriginal mentee mentoring practices can be fraught with colonial discourses of nonAboriginal peoples’ purported superiority. Rhodes et al. (2009) examined ethical principles of youth mentoring relationships and cautioned that “[p]ower differentials inherent in the ages and roles of the adults and youth can widen when there are also differences in class and cultural backgrounds” (p. 454). As Sinclair and Pooyak (2007) noted, “Aboriginal youth are often positioned to see non-Aboriginal people as power brokers” (p. 6). Thus, in order to ensure cultural differences are accounted for, youth mentorship programs must offer cultural awareness training to help to raise the mentor’s awareness of potential issues such as cultural biases or blind-spots (Rhodes et al., 2009; Sanchez & Colon, 2005). Klinck et al. (2005) explained that a non-Aboriginal mentor’s knowledge of Aboriginal peoples’ cultures, histories, and social contexts could help in the development of the mentor/mentee connection. Rhodes et al. (2009) recommended that staff initially receive cultural awareness training. As well, ongoing supervision of cultural awareness in practice is essential “as new
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situations arise so that mentors can openly acknowledge any biases that they may hold and remain open and non-judgmental” (Rhodes et al., 2009, p. 456). Another critical factor to fostering a positive cross-cultural mentorship environment involves ensuring a program is culturally relevant.
CULTURAL RELEVANCY Sinclair and Pooyak (2007) claimed that cultural relevancy in programming exists when a program respects cultural traditions and protocols. The need to emphasize cultural relevancy in Aboriginal youth development programming was clearly expressed by Crooks, Chiodo, and Thomas (2009) who argued, “programs cannot be one-size-fits-all, and that most mainstream programs do not adequately match the unique needs and strengths of Aboriginal youth” (p. iii). In fact, there is growing recognition that many programs across Canada are not adequately meeting these needs (Crooks et al., 2010). Part of this inability to meet Aboriginal youths’ needs might be due to constructions of whiteness as cultureless/normal (Frankenberg, 1993; Perry, 2001), which is a discourse that exacerbates power relations rooted in colonialism (Comeau, 2005) and neglects to recognize and respect cultural differences (Perry, 2001). Sinclair and Pooyak (2007) contended that it is insufficient to include token cultural elements in programs that employ cross-cultural mentoring for Aboriginal youth development (e.g., integrating smudge ceremonies within training sessions); instead, program leaders for such programs must be culturally competent so that they can offer more nuanced and meaningful cultural elements in mentorship programs for Aboriginal youth, which can be achieved through collaborating with community members in hiring and training processes. Collaborating with the mentees also has a role to play in mentorship programs between Aboriginal mentees and non-Aboriginal mentors. According to Sinclair and Pooyak (2007), by using a collaborative approach that engages Aboriginal youth mentees in planning and implementing programs, Aboriginal youths become cocreators and develop ownership of programs in which they are engaged. Crooks et al. (2010) explained that when Aboriginal youths are involved in programming efforts, it accomplishes several things: stronger understanding and integration of youths’ cultural identities; enhancement of youth engagement; fosters youth empowerment, and; establishes and maintains effective
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partnerships. On the other hand, if Aboriginal youths are excluded from programming efforts, these benefits are unlikely to occur. Consequently, such programs risk failing to meet their participants’ needs and ultimately struggle to succeed as a program. Collaboration with Aboriginal youths is therefore vital in fostering cultural relevancy in programming, as through a collaborative approach, program leaders can be better positioned to understand the youths’ cultures and develop cultural competency. Indeed, as Ladson-Billings (1995) noted, “Culturally relevant teachers utilize students’ culture as a vehicle for learning” (p. 161). The above literature illustrates that cross-cultural mentorship between non-Aboriginal mentors and Aboriginal mentees is a practice that requires attention to culture and relations of power at work. Understanding the ways in which a program like AFL handles these issues can offer important insights into the ways in which Aboriginal youth development through sport, recreation, and arts programs can be structured and delivered so that they do not reaffirm relations of power that resemble those found in colonial acts throughout history.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Our analysis of AFL’s mentorship approach is grounded in Foucault’s concepts of modern power, discipline, and discourse. These concepts can be used to identify the ways in which dominant relations of power serve to privilege some and marginalize others. Foucault has a distinct way of looking at power. Power to Foucault is not necessarily an oppressive force; rather, for Foucault (1977), power is productive. Accordingly, to Foucault (1990), “there is no power that is exercised without a series of aims and objectives” (p. 95). Also, power “brings into play relations between individuals (or between groups)” (1982, p. 786). In order to identify relations of power within AFL’s mentoring practices, we sought to understand how discipline was being exercised within AFL. Discipline to Foucault “is a technique of power which provides procedures for training or for coercing bodies (individual and collective)” (Smart, 2002, p. 85). Foucault (1977) explained that discipline leads to a domination of bodies that fosters social surveillance and “normalization” (i.e., a person self-disciplining him/herself into both believing and acting on the idea that only normal/right or abnormal/wrong ways of doing things
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exist). As a result, discipline produces docile bodies (Foucault, 1977). The goal of discipline is typically to have individuals behave in ways that aligns them with dominant societal discourses. Foucault did not study discourse in a traditional linguist sense; instead, he was interested in how discourse works as a system of representation (Hall, 1997) that constructs our sense of reality (Mills, 2003). In other words, according to Foucault, discourse shapes the ideas in society that are taken for granted as being “true” (Maguire, 2002). Discourse also “influences how ideas are put into practice and used to regulate the conduct of others” (Hall, 1997, p. 44). Taken together, Foucault’s concepts of power, discipline, and discourse are productive tools with which to examine AFL’s approach to crosscultural youth mentorship in a development through sport, recreation, and arts context.
METHODOLOGY Consultations with AFL’s two program staff and AFL’s Provincial Support Committee (a group of individuals from the government, industry, and non-governmental organizations that advises AFL) occurred through email, by phone, and in person continually throughout this research. We used these initial consultations to codetermine the research objectives, questions, methodology, and methods. Then, throughout the research process, we regularly updated and consulted with AFL program staff and Provincial Support Committee members to ensure they were satisfied with the research. Based on feedback we received from AFL’s program staff and Provincial Support Committee members, we chose an exploratory case study as our methodology. Gerring (2007) defined case study research as “the intensive study of a single case where the purpose of that study is at least in part to shed light on a larger class of cases (or population)” (p. 20). According to Gagnon (2010), an exploratory case study, focuses on previously neglected subject matter. The questions are open-ended (Gerring, 2007), which highlights the exploratory aspect of this approach to case study research. Importantly, case studies call for the use of multiple methods. As such, we collected data through focus groups, participant observation, archival research, and semi-structured interviews, all of which we outline below.
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METHODS Prior to the commencement of data collection in the summer of 2011, the research project received approval from the University of Ottawa’s Research Ethics Board. Further, all participants completed consent forms or, in the case of minors, parental consent and assent forms. We held two focus groups at each of AFL’s four main gatherings (resulting in a total of eight focus groups). Six of the focus groups were with the youth workers and arts mentors, and two focus groups included only the mentees. We held the first two focus groups during the orientation session for youth workers and arts mentors at the beginning of the summer. During these focus groups, the 13 newly hired and eight returning youth workers and arts mentors (who were divided into two groups each time to make the numbers more manageable) shared their expectations for the summer before entering the communities. Six weeks later, during AFL’s midterm review session, the first author conducted two more focus groups; one was with the new staff and the other was with the returning staff. The topic of discussion for these, the third and fourth focus groups, was how the youth workers and arts mentors felt about their experiences so far relative to their initial expectations. The first author conducted the next set of focus groups approximately one month later with the mentees (n = 17) from each community that played host to AFL programming during the summer of 2011. These focus groups occurred at a ranch where AFL’s leadership retreat was held. AFL’s leadership retreat is a weeklong overnight trip organized for the mentees from all of the communities involved with AFL. She asked the mentees to share their experiences with and expectations with AFL, especially concerning the leadership retreat. Finally, we conducted the last two focus groups at AFL’s final review gathering at the end of the summer. For these focus groups, we divided up the partners who worked together in each community so that one was in each focus group. In these, the seventh and eighth focus groups, we invited the youth workers and arts mentors to discuss their experiences with AFL and to express their thoughts on the program’s strengths and weaknesses. We complemented the focus group data with the data we collected through participant observation (Marshall & Rossman, 2010) throughout the five weeks we spent with the program throughout that summer as well as through archival research (Stan, 2009) of AFL’s 2011 recruitment poster and internal reports from 2011. The reports are electronic documents that AFL granted us permission to access and consisted of the 2011 annual executive report and reports written by the youth workers and arts mentors from each community. While these documents provided important
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background information, we also conducted semi-structured interviews to gain insight into AFL’s establishment and current direction. We also conducted semi-structured interviews (Bloor & Wood, 2006; Gagnon, 2010) in January and February 2012 over the phone (n = 2) and in person (n = 3) with five members of the Provincial Support Committee. The individuals who are on the Provincial Support Committee not only help to shape the program, they also have a great deal of knowledge about and insight into AFL’s history and are influential figures in its future directions. As such, they were ideal individuals to interview. Collectively, focus groups, participant observation, archival research, and semi-structured interviews produced rich data.
ANALYSIS We used Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) to analyze the data. FDA is concerned with “the relationship between discourse and power” (Willig, 2003, p. 173), as discourses “are strongly implicated in the exercise of power” (Willig, 2008, p. 113). Through analyzing discourses, we can better understand the ways in which discourses shape and sustain unequal power relations (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997). We used Willig’s (2003) six stages of FDA: The first stage seeks to identify discursive constructions; the second stage aims to “locate the various discursive constructions of the object within wider discourses” (p. 175); the third stage is about looking more closely at “the discursive context within which the different constructions of the object are being deployed” (p. 175); identifying the subject’s position is the focus of the fourth stage; the fifth stage “is concerned with the relationship between discourse and practice” (p. 176); and, the final stage’s focus is on the participants’ subjective experiences (2003). Through these six stages of Willig’s (2003) FDA, we were better able to understand how power, discourse, and discipline shape AFL and its cross-cultural mentoring practices. Importantly, in June 2012, we presented the draft research results to AFL program staff. They expressed strong support of the findings, which are outlined below.
RESULTS We identified two prominent discourses in the data. The first discourse was that cross-cultural mentoring helps to prevent or halt the negative life
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trajectories Aboriginal youths face. The second discourse was that youth leadership development is universal.
Discourse One: Mentorship can Prevent or Halt Negative Life Trajectories Participants in our research argued that AFL youth workers and arts mentors help mentees to avoid inevitable trajectories, like poor education, unemployment, and incarceration. At the midterm review, a youth worker expressed that she found that many Aboriginal youths she interacted with saw pursuing educational attainment as futile (personal communication, June 14, 2011). Overall, what this youth worker found was that the youths projected a sense of hopelessness and inevitable failure regarding academic or employment ambitions. A member of the Provincial Support Committee noted that: the education system on reserves, where education is a federal responsibility, is not up to par with provincial standards and high school completion rates on reserves are low (personal communication, January 30, 2012). This individual also explained how on reserves, “chances of employment are next to nothing” (personal communication, January 30, 2012). In order to avoid this seemingly inevitable downward spiral and sense of despair, participants drew on a discourse that youth workers and arts mentors could help to show mentees different perspectives that the mentees could then adopt in an effort to change their lives for the better. At midterm review, a youth worker stated: “I think we really do make a difference in some of these youths’ lives and give them a different perspective; we open new opportunities; we give them the hope to dream” (personal communication, June 14, 2011). The “different perspective” in question largely stems from the fact that most of the youth workers and arts mentors are non-Aboriginal outsiders to the communities. A youth worker who used the approach of showing Aboriginal youths “something else” stated: “we made the cross-cultural exchange our bigger strength: trips to the city, conversations about music, and the world outside [a community], and opportunities, and our own backgrounds” (personal communication, May 4, 2011). Accordingly, one Mentee stated that AFL can “show us what we could do with our future. They take us to new places and they show us new things and I just think that’s really great” (personal communication, July 19, 2011). A Mentee similarly expressed how she appreciated what the youth workers and arts workers had to offer as outsiders:
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They do really good … broadening our scope on the world and every time I’m with them I learn something new because they’re not from our settlement: they’re brand new people … Brand fresh new people … and you have countless things to learn … doesn’t matter what it is or when it is but it’s valid and incredibly useful information that you wouldn’t know if you didn’t … if you yourself didn’t leave the settlement. (personal communication, July 19, 2011)
In addition to broadening the youths’ perspectives, according to a member of the Provincial Support Committee, as outsiders, the youth worker and arts mentors are also “able to expose kids to something positive … for a lot of Aboriginal kids, they don’t have a dream because they don’t know what to dream about … this [AFL program] allows them to or teaches them how to dream” (personal communication, January 30, 2012). In a similar vein, another member of the Provincial Support Committee said: “They’ve seen … all their life … their dad and their mom not getting up to go to work, and if you can show them something else and a different lifestyle and a different way of life, some of those kids are going to pick up on that” (personal communication, February 6, 2012). Some mentees noted how they were picking up on this “different lifestyle” modeled by the youth workers and arts mentors. One observed: “For me, I’ve learned a lot of new experiences and challenges [through AFL] and I’m glad I did before I got into drugs and alcohol” (personal communication, July 12, 2011). A member of the Provincial Support Committee echoed this sentiment: “If kids are busy stealing second base, they’re not stealing something else” (personal communication, January 30, 2012).
Discourse Two: Youth Leadership Development Through Sport, Recreation and the Arts is Universal A universal approach to youth development and culture transcended AFL throughout the summer, with the exception of the orientation week. The orientation week was an exception as it occasionally focused on culture and cultural differences in AFL’s program delivery. Notably, the orientation week was facilitated by an Aboriginal man (who had previously worked for AFL) and an Aboriginal Elder (who sits on the Provincial Support Committee) spoke to the youth workers and arts mentors about how to act and work in Aboriginal communities (Field Notes, May 2011). Despite these measures during the orientation week to sensitize the youth workers and arts mentors toward culture and cultural
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differences, many of them made comments that downplayed white privilege and promoted the idea of cultural sameness. For example, during a focus group at midterm review, one youth worker noted: …they’re just kids. You don’t have to treat them any differently [than non-Aboriginal kids]. They have the exact same mannerisms, the exact same behaviours as other kids. So it’s really like, it’s not a big deal. I think people might almost say it’s a big deal, but in reality they’re quite similar to [kids from] a small town. (personal communication, June 14, 2011)
The statement above exemplifies how differences between cultures were not given much credence by the youth workers and arts mentors. One of the questions asked during a focus group at the midterm review was, “Have you felt equipped so far to work in an Aboriginal community?” A youth worker responded, “Most of us aren’t Aboriginal so of course we’re not equipped. But in the same way, I mean it’s not THAT different” (personal communication, June 14, 2011). At the midterm review, the first author also asked the youth workers and arts mentors if they had incorporated Aboriginal cultures into their programming. One arts worker said her community contact (the main contact person within each community for the youth workers and arts mentors) specifically told her not to incorporate Aboriginal cultures into programs (personal communication, June 14, 2011). In response to the same question, one youth worker felt “it would be kind of insulting for me to organize an ‘Aboriginal themed’ activity” (personal communication, June 14, 2012). While these mentors were prohibited from, or uncomfortable with, incorporating Aboriginal cultures into programming, another youth worker noted: “I’m not going to assume there’s interest in Aboriginal activities just because they’re Aboriginal” (personal communication, June 14, 2011). Essentially, whether they were uncomfortable, prohibited, or assumed there would be no interest, the youth workers and arts mentors typically were not incorporating Aboriginal cultures into their programming. Rather, the youth workers and arts mentors employed a universal approach to youth development through sport, recreation, and the arts, which was based on the assumption that all youths are the same and have the same development needs. This universal approach to youth leadership development was also present in the programming offered at the leadership retreat a highly anticipated week during which select youths from each community who showed leadership potential (and thus became mentees) were expected to develop tools that would enable them to develop into “future leaders.” Over
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the seven days, the mentees, who were chaperoned by one or both of the youth workers and/or arts mentor who worked in their communities, participated in “outdoor adventure activities and leadership theory based sessions to develop effective communication, personal habits, maintain a positive attitude, promoting your reputation, responsibility, accountability, authority perceptions, working with others, community development, youth action, decision-making and problem solving” (AFL, 2011, p. 8). During the leadership theory-based sessions, the facilitator administered the Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory (CFSEI-2) to the mentees. The CFSEI-2 is a questionnaire that was designed by Battle (1992) as a measure of self-esteem that is purported to work with members of any culture. Further, at the retreat, Aboriginal cultural practices were seldom mentioned/drawn upon: by special guests to the retreat, during a community building group activity, and when a morning lecturer noted that eye contact can be a sign of disrespect when communicating with Elders (personal communication, July 13, 2011). AFL’s lack of emphasis on culture resulted in some underlying tensions between the mentees and youth workers and arts mentors. In a focus group, one Mentee at the leadership retreat said: Well, I think there are some misunderstandings between cultures. I guess sometimes it may be offensive. It may not be intended to be offensive … [but] there are cultural differences; it’s a big thing. And that I don’t think they [the youth workers and arts mentors] are prepared for certain cultural differences … They just thought they were going to go into a community to help do these things … They weren’t trained to understand that the youth were of a different culture … what I would like to see and what I kinda thought this would be was to encourage leadership and preserve the culture kinda thing. Well, I would like to see that at least. It may not be a goal a goal of this program but that’s just something I think would be a nice goal for them. (personal communication, July 19, 2011)
While this Mentee remarked that there is a lack of awareness regarding cultural differences from the youth workers and arts mentors, a comment one youth worker made at the final review exemplified this point: “the [Aboriginal] people themselves … for me, are very similar to the people that I’ve worked with in the past in other youth work [settings]” (personal communication, August 25, 2011). One possible explanation to the youth workers’ and arts mentors’ lack of cultural awareness is that in the summer of 2011, only one out of the 21 youth workers and arts mentors who worked for AFL for the entire summer were of Aboriginal heritage (there were three individuals of Aboriginal heritage who worked for AFL for part of the summer; one young woman
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left midway through the summer, one young man left toward the end of the summer, and one young woman was hired to replace the young woman who left). According to a member of the Provincial Support Committee, having all Aboriginal employees would be ideal, as they would carry similar cultural backgrounds as the youths they are meant to mentor; yet, other members of the Provincial Support Committee noted that Aboriginal staff are difficult to recruit and seldom meet AFL’s hiring criteria (personal communication, January 30, 2012), which places a strong emphasis on postsecondary education (AFL 2011 Recruitment Poster). Another member of the Provincial Support Committee noted: “the original vision [of AFL] was [to have Aboriginal youth workers] but it is very, very tough to find them out there … right now I see that as being one area we can work on: increasing the Aboriginal youth workers that work for us” (personal communication, February 6, 2012).
DISCUSSION The results of our research illustrate how a universal, or supposedly color blind, approach to programming is practiced by AFL and its youth workers and arts mentors. As a result, cultural relevancy is not prioritized and the program risks (re)affirming colonial power relations between nonAboriginal and Aboriginal people through the discipline (in Foucauldian terms) of Aboriginal youths through Euro-Canadian practices. Consequently, the power relations at work make it difficult for AFL to achieve its objectives. The first discourse we identified as being employed by those involved in AFL, that cross-cultural mentorship can prevent or halt negative life trajectories, is especially reflective of Foucault’s (1977) concepts of power and discipline. According to the literature as well as our findings, Aboriginal youths typically view academic ambitions as futile. Low educational attainment, as well as weak job prospects on reserves, also results in low employment rates for Aboriginal youths (Preston, 2008). In light of these concerns related to education and employment for Aboriginal youths, AFL must use caution in its interests in developing Aboriginal youth through employing mostly non-Aboriginal mentors. The discourse that is produced as a result is that Aboriginal peoples simply need a good (i.e., non-Aboriginal) example to follow (one that is impossible to find in Aboriginal communities); they need to be disciplined so they can
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then be successful. An exercise of disciplinary power is, in part, rooted in viewing all youth as the same and denying culture and associated colonial practices as being of any importance (Comeau, 2005; Frankenberg, 1993; Perry, 2001). Such a “cultureless” approach presents “a set of normative cultural practices against which all are measured and into which all are expected to fit” (Frankenberg, 1993, p. 204). By hiring mentors who do not face the similar challenges as the Aboriginal youth they are mentoring, the power relations at work that enable non-Aboriginal peoples to be more successful in gaining access to postsecondary education and employment are ignored and relations of power rooted in colonialism are (re)affirmed. As stated in the literature, Aboriginal cultures traditionally rely on the guidance of Elders (Klinck et al., 2005). However, apart from serving in an advisory role on the Provincial Support Committee, AFL youth workers and arts mentors, and the program in general, seldom include Elders in programming. Instead, AFL focuses on using primarily non-Aboriginal youths to mentor youths. Since the literature emphasizes Elders’ traditional roles and strengths as appropriate leaders for Aboriginal youth (Felicity, 1999; Matthew, 2009; Rosenberg et al., 2008; Small, 2007; Wexler & Goodwin, 2006), we had not expected that AFL’s cross-cultural approach would be valued to the extent that it was by the youth workers, arts mentors, mentees, and the Provincial Support Committee. Indeed, the vast majority of the mentees stated how much they enjoyed having the youth workers and arts mentors bring different perspectives and experiences to Aboriginal communities and felt that the youth workers and arts mentors had a positive impact on their lives. This appreciation is meaningful since in a cross-cultural mentoring relationship, “a strong bond can offset cultural differences” (Rhodes et al., 2009, p. 456), which can consequently foster a positive cross-cultural environment. Positive cross-cultural environments between Aboriginal and nonAboriginal peoples are significant because, as Williams and Tanaka (2007) explained, they create opportunities for learning and knowledge translation, which can help to offset power relations that reflect relations of power found in colonial acts. Nevertheless, the apparent benefits of learning from non-Aboriginal peoples could also be rooted in a discourse of white cultural superiority; that learning about white culture is “good” for Aboriginal youths a discourse upon which both Aboriginal youths, as well as youth mentors and arts mentors may have (consciously or unconsciously) drawn. As Darnell (2007) and Millington (2010) noted, volunteers and/or workers within sport for development programs may go into the programs with the purest of intentions, yet reestablish
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colonialism through notions of needing to “develop” Others (Darnell, 2007; Millington, 2010).
Youth Leadership Development through Sport, Recreation, and the Arts is Universal Even though having non-Aboriginal youth workers and arts mentors might be deemed valuable for the cross-cultural exchange opportunities they can offer in a sport, recreation, and arts for development context, this approach also hinders AFL’s capacity to address issues related to culture. The current approach creates a dynamic where the youth worker and arts mentors risk being positioned as figures whose job it is to discipline, in a Foucauldian sense, Aboriginal youth into adhering to Euro-Canadian cultural practices. We argue that AFL’s hiring practices contribute to this issue. While members of the Provincial Support Committee claimed that finding Aboriginal youth workers and arts mentors was a challenge, AFL’s recruitment tactics do not appear to focus on recruiting Aboriginal employees. In the 2011 recruitment poster, under a heading that read “What qualifications, qualities and experience do I need?”, 11 points were listed: four points concerned possessing a driver’s license, first aid and CPR certifications, having a criminal record check, and having a personal vehicle; five points addressed experience with youth, programming, sports, recreation, arts, being selfmotivated, having good communication skills, and being a team player. Two points addressed educational background (“Recreation, Physical Education, Fine Arts, Education, Native Studies, Social Work, Child/Youth Care or relevant postsecondary education”), and one point included having a “willingness to live and learn in another cultural setting.” Notably, while Native Studies was included in the education background, postsecondary education was a required qualification a serious barrier for Aboriginal peoples interested in applying for these positions since there is “a relatively lower level of educational attainment and higher dropout levels of Aboriginal peoples compared with their non-Aboriginal counterparts” (Brigham & Taylor, 2006, p. 168). This recruitment poster (which is distributed mainly throughout university and college networks) does not seem to differ significantly from a recruitment advertisement that could be used for a youth development program for non-Aboriginal youths. As a result, AFL’s recruitment tactics primarily attract Euro-Canadian postsecondary students from urban centers and do not stress the importance of knowledge
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of Aboriginal cultures, which contrasts with the program’s stated interest of recruiting and retaining Aboriginal youth workers and arts mentors. Another important component that shows how AFL struggles with cultural relevancy is the leadership retreat. Emblematic of this struggle was the daily programming structure, which involved morning lectures on leadership development and afternoon adventure activities, all of which were facilitated respectively by a non-Aboriginal college professor and nonAboriginal staff from an outdoors adventure company. The use of the allegedly “culture free” CFSEI-2 is another example of the ways in which AFL struggles with cultural relevancy. Holaday, Callahan, Fabre, and Hall (1996) administered the CFSEI-2 to 634 children from seven different cultural backgrounds, including Inuit, and concluded that the CFSEI-2 is actually not “culture-free.” Specifically, Holaday et al. (1996) found that: The significant differences between groups on all scales of the CFSEI-2 scales indicate that statements describing the experience of self-esteem are endorsed differently by young people living in different geographic locations, having different family and economic situations, or belonging to different races or ethnicities, or any combinations of these factors. (p. 550)
In addition to having Aboriginal backgrounds, which can vary considerably, the mentees at the leadership retreat live in geographic locations and have family and economic situations that, by and large, differ dramatically from the youth workers’ and arts mentors’. The assumption that culture essentially does not matter in youth leadership development and in measuring the degree to which it is obtained (e.g., through the CFSEI-2) promotes unequal power relations (Sinclair & Pooyak, 2007), as it fosters the understanding that cultural variables are unimportant, when they can and do exert a strong influence on the ways in which Aboriginal peoples live their lives. In other words, by not prioritizing cultural relevancy, the program fails to recognize the very real barriers that Aboriginal youth face and, as a result, AFL cannot address these barriers in a way that would bring about change. Instead, the approach is disciplinary, with a core message that the youths participating in AFL can be like the youth workers and arts mentors if they just choose act like them.
CONCLUSION Since youth mentoring and leadership programs, particularly through sport, recreation, and the arts, are on the rise and the Aboriginal youth
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population in Canada is growing at a rapid rate, the findings presented in this chapter are timely. Specifically, this chapter helps to raise awareness of the ways in which Aboriginal youth leadership programs can (re)affirm colonial power relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people through discipline if cultural relevancy is not prioritized. As AFL is premised on building youth leaders, we would like to end this article with the youth workers’, arts workers’, and mentees’ suggestions for how AFL could better incorporate and reflect Aboriginal cultures: involve more Elders, provide more cultural awareness training to youth workers and arts mentors and hire more Aboriginal people as youth workers and arts mentors. By acting on these suggestions, AFL would be better situated to challenge the discourses and disciplinary practices upon which many of its employees and participants drew and to serve as a strong example of youth development through sport, recreation, and the arts that does not perpetuate colonialism.
FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Felicity, J. (1999). Native Indian leadership. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 23(1), 40 56. Jules Felicity helps to build on understandings of Native Indian leadership in Canada by compiling relevant historical background, a literature review, and excerpts from interviews with three Native Indian leaders. The author encourages the reader to think critically about leadership practices found within education and programming initiatives designed for Aboriginal youth, and highlights the importance of valuing cultures and traditions in such programs. 2. Holaday, M., Callahan, K., Fabre, L., & Hall, C. (1996). A comparison of culture-free self-esteem scale means from different child and adolescent groups. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66(3), 540 554. doi:10.1207/ s15327752jpa6603_5 Margot Holaday and colleagues examine a popular test that was designed to assess people’s self-esteem of all ages and cultures. Through this article, the authors help to clarify the role of culture in shaping individuals and explain ethical was to work in a multi-cultural setting.
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3. Klinck, J., Cardinal, C., Edwards, K., Gibson, N., Bisanz, J., & da Costa, J. (2005). Mentoring programs for aboriginal youth. Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health, 3(2), 109 130. Jason Klinck and colleagues compare and contrast Aboriginal and mainstream approaches to mentoring Aboriginal youth. They present a poignant discussion on elements that can promote success in programming, which is relevant for both researchers as well as service providers. 4. Matthew, C. (2009). Nurturing our garden: The voices of urban Aboriginal youth on engagement and participation in decision-making. Canadian Issues: Journeys of a generation: Broadening the aboriginal well-being policy research agenda (pp. 53 58). Montre´al: Association for Canadian Studies. Cheryl Matthews draws attention to the need to involve Aboriginal youth in programming efforts that are for them. The author looks at Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community perspectives and presents insightful ways that help to encourage meaningful involvement of Aboriginal youth in program planning. 5. Mills, S. (2003). Michel Foucault. London: Routledge. In this book, Sara Mills presents a practical introduction to Michel Foucault’s key concepts and ideas. In addition to giving hints on how to “use” Foucault, the author also provides an annotated guide to Foucault’s most influential work as well as suggestions for further readings.
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Statistics Canada. (2006). Aboriginal peoples in Canada in 2006: Inuit, Me´tis and First Nations, 2006 census. (2009). Retrieved from http://www12.statcan.ca.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/ census-recensement/2006/as-sa/97-558/p4-eng.cfm. Accessed on October 2, 2010. Statistics Canada. (2008). Educational portrait of Canada, 2006 census: Aboriginal population. Ottawa, ON: Author. Retrieved from http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/analysis/ education/proportion.cfm. Accessed on June 9, 2012. Ungar, M., & Liebenberg, L. (2008). Resilience in action: Working with youth across cultures and contexts. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press. Wall, K. (2008). Reinventing the wheel? Designing an Aboriginal recreation and community development program. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 31(2), 70 93. Wexler, L., & Goodwin, B. (2006). Youth and adult community member beliefs about Inupiat youth suicide and its prevention. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 65(5), 448 458. Williams, L., & Tanaka, M. (2007). Schalay’nung sxwey’ga: Emerging cross-cultural pedagogy in the academy. Educational Insights, 11(3), 1 18. Willig, C. (2003). Discourse analysis. In J. Smith (Ed.), Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods (pp. 159 183). London: Sage. Willig, C. (2008). Introducing qualitative research methods in psychology (2nd ed.). Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
CHAPTER 9 FROM GENOCIDE TO COMMUNITY SPORT: A CAMBODIAN LIFE HISTORY Chiaki Okada and Kevin Young ABSTRACT Purpose This chapter narratively chronologizes the life of a man, now in his late 1960s, who has been key in promoting sport as a vehicle for community development in one of the most economically and politically challenged of all Southeast Asian countries Cambodia. Design/methodology/approach Popular in a number of disciplines but rarely applied so far in the field of sport, social development and peace, the main strength of life history analysis is its ability to let stories speak for themselves. The focus on “narrativization” not only provides a rich account of a given topic, but also allows storytellers to shape their accounts, identify their audience, and detail the settings in which these accounts take place. Findings Cambodian sport (especially football in the northwest province of Siem Reap) and Cambodian society more broadly owes much to the committed efforts of Mr. Ouk Sareth. Not only does the chapter help to better understand the various phases and trajectories of Sareth’s
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colorful life and the fascinating experiences he has encountered, but also the unique challenges his country has faced and overcome during the seven decades of his life. Research limitations/implications We hope that others involved in studying the link between sport, social development and peace will consider narrative method and life history approaches to showcase the pivotal individuals who have operated in the “engine room” of this link. Keywords: Cambodia; life history; narrative methodology; sport development; community
INTRODUCTION This case study addresses the main theme of this volume by illustrating ways in which sport may be associated with community development and peace building when marshaled by committed and influential individuals. However, the thrust of the chapter is as methodological as it is substantive. Our beginning point is the argument that while innovative in many respects, the “sport, social development and peace” literature has been fairly one-dimensional methodologically speaking. Paradoxically for a social arena that so obviously depends on the prolonged stewardship of seminal individuals, a life history approach has rarely been undertaken. In this chapter we attempt to redress this methodological imbalance by narratively chronologizing the life of a man who has been central in promoting sport as a vehicle for community “development” in one of the most economically and politically challenged of all Southeast Asian countries Cambodia.
GENERAL CONTEXT: THE CHANGING PLACE OF SPORT IN CAMBODIAN SOCIETY Bordered by Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, the Southeast Asian Kingdom of Cambodia (formerly Kampuchea) has a population of 14.3 million (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2014). Most Cambodians are Buddhist and make their living off the land. The
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level of social indicators such as GDP (2080 PPPUS$), literacy rate (77.6%) and primary/secondary school enrollment rate (46.0%) is still low even compared to other countries in this area, although there is a remarkable annual national economic growth (UNDP, 2013). In the mid-late 1970s, under the Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge administration, extensive genocidal “cleansing” took place and a period of civil and social chaos ensued. The population fell from 10 million to 7 million. Approximately one third of Cambodians were killed, although the exact number of victims varies according to the source one uses. Unofficial reports indicate that professionals such as lawyers, doctors, and teachers, as well as artists and athletes were especially targeted because of their presumed power to influence the masses. Although the Pol Pot regime ended in 1978, civil war and social confusion continued through the 1980s. The so-called Paris Agreement was established in 1991 and the long road for Cambodian revival began. While the lifestyles of ordinary Cambodians today continue to be modest and arduous by Western standards, economic growth hovers at an impressive 8% per year. The garment and tourism sectors lead this growth, and Siem Reap, the focal area of this research, accounts for 70% of the national tourism income. However, even though the famous and tourist-drawing ruins of Angkor Wat are located there, poverty in this rural area is still much more severe than in other provinces in the country, and living conditions can be harsh. About 53.7% of residents in Siem Reap live below the poverty line of 0.32$ (for urban areas) and 0.27$ (for rural areas) per capita per day consumption as set by the Cambodian government. Sport in Cambodia operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS). Focusing on youth who, using a local metaphor, are viewed as representing the “work-horses” to lead the country into a more prosperous future, education is a high priority, and the importance of sport-related education is also increasingly emphasized in the Cambodian constitution. However, the actual implementation of sport-related activities has faced difficulties due to a chronic lack of human and material resources. Persons occupying roles such as administrative officers, teachers and coaches after the Pol Pot regime have been scarce, and the few sport-related people that do exist have struggled without educational materials, training opportunities, and basic resources. Although there are close to 400 primary and secondary schools, approximately 40,000 students, and 670 teachers in Siem Reap province, the total number of Physical Education teachers is surprisingly low (approximately 20). Since extensive governmental support for sport could not realistically be
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expected in a country lacking basic necessities and comforts, sport in the school system has gradually taken off as a private enterprise. Despite extreme poverty throughout much of the country, and reflecting broader globalizing trends, television has come to be regarded as an important element of daily life, and so Cambodians are able to consume world sport, including that played at the highest level, such as European football, the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games. In turn, these seem to have influenced and encouraged widespread interest in sport participation. Until the early 2000s, there were few leisure-time options in this mostly agrarian culture, and organized sport activity was rarely available due to lack of opportunity and, most likely, lack of cultural relevance. However, there have been significant changes regarding sport and, most encouragingly, consistent and patterned systems of sport have sprung up in recent years in Cambodia. Today, while the sporting environment, sports opportunities and resources remain basic, Cambodians throughout the country have launched numerous sporting initiatives, albeit without the level of instruction, facilities or financial aid that are simply taken for granted in more developed countries. The number of private sport clubs (offering, e.g., football pitches, tennis courts, and fitness facilities) is quickly increasing and, in some urban areas, it is now common for ordinary people to pay membership fees in order to participate. Today, it is fair to note that many Cambodians have come to recognize sport as a preferred aspect of their cultural lives, but hardly an essential component in a country still recovering from a turbulent, and often violent, history (Okada, 2012).
OUR KEY INFORMANT AND HIS SPORT PHILANTHROPY As noted, Siem Reap, hometown of Mr. Ouk Sareth (see Photo 1), the focus of our chapter, is one of the poorest regions among the 24 provinces/ cities in Cambodia. However, it is also the home of the famous World Heritage Site, Angkor Wat, which attracts many foreign tourists. Especially since 2002, the number of tourists visiting Siem Reap has increased enormously, which has further stimulated the development of the tourism sector with the construction of large-scale hotels and the growth of new employment opportunities, such as travel agencies and restaurants. Under these circumstances, the lives of the people have gradually changed, even for those not directly involved in the tourism industry.
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Ouk Sareth (aged 66) in the Varin District, Siem Reap Province, 2013. Source: Reproduced with permission from Mr Ouk Sareth.
For example, circumstances surrounding sports in Siem Reap have greatly transformed in the last ten years. Many people have come to play sports as well as to watch sports on TV and at stadiums. Sport remains very gendered (Okada & Young, 2011) but, at least at school level, both girls and boys are encouraged to exercise and get involved. In particular, football, which Ouk Sareth struggled to promote for years, has become the most popular sport in Cambodia. It is claimed (by many of our Cambodian interviewees) that many young men started playing organized football in their teens and twenties. Although they used to play loosely organized football only for pleasure during their school days, fields and other settings for playing the game have improved of late. One can now witness many spaces for playing football in both urban and rural areas, although no reliable data exist on the exact numbers of team, players or pitches in Siem Reap. It has, however, become extremely popular for young men to form teams, hold practices and play friendly matches on local green spaces (Okada & Young, 2011).
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One wonders how Ouk Sareth perceives these changes now. It was 1998 when we first met him and became involved in Cambodian “sport development” practice and research. This was the time Sareth started to work for the Siem Reap Department of MoEYS as a sports administrative officer. Initially, he devoted himself to improving the sports environment centered around schools and playgrounds. As a first step for his dream, he desired to promote football in Siem Reap, revitalizing football based on his experience of playing for the Cambodian national football team during the 1960s and 1970s. Even as recently as 1998, there was simply no viable infrastructure or impacting support culture for promoting sports in schools and the community (such as government policies, human resources, facilities, equipment, or even public impetus). But, again, things have changed, and now many ordinary citizens like to play and watch sports. More and more parents want their children to enjoy sports even though they have no direct athletic experience themselves. Fifteen years ago, Cambodians were simply not familiar with organized sport. In order to promote it and recommend its usefulness in post-conflict communities, Ouk Sareth had to start by explaining the role and possible benefits of sport even to school teachers and local government officials.
Photo 2. Ouk Sareth and the Victoria Hotel Football Champions of the Siem Reap Hotel and Tourism Football League, 2013. Source: Reproduced with permission from Mr Ouk Sareth.
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The purpose of this chapter is to record the development of sport in Cambodia after 1998, especially focusing on the case of Siem Reap, and to chronologize the history of sport in a pre- and post-conflict society through a close examination of Ouk Sareth’s life. In the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime, there were (and are) few remaining documents, records and survivor memories.1 Accordingly, the development of sport had to depend entirely on well-placed persons who viewed sport favorably and as vehicle for social change. Ouk Sareth is one of the few Cambodians who has, in simple terms, devoted himself to promoting sport in his country. We believe that documenting his history is important and useful in both scholarly and social terms, and could perhaps even set an example for other post-conflict societies/studies. Today, Mr. Ouk Sareth is in his late sixties and remains in good health. He still works for the Cambodian sport development sector as an advisor and coordinator, and also continues to coach football (see Photo 2).
A RETROSPECTIVE METHOD Popular in a number of disciplines but rarely applied so far in the field of sport, social development and peace,2 the main strength of narrative life history analysis is its ability, as sociologist Arthur Frank puts it, to “let stories breathe” (Frank, 2010). The focus on “narrativization” is not only to provide a thorough account on a given topic, but also to allow storytellers to “structure their stories, the identity of the audience, and the narrative environment within which stories develop” (Smith & Sparkes, 2012; Van den Hoonaard, 2012, p. 152). Because it takes us beyond the life of a single individual into a deeper account of places, politics and people (Gubrium & Holstein, 1998, 2009), we believe that the “life history” of Ouk Sareth is personally fascinating, sociologically relevant, and socially pivotal. In our case, life history is especially poignant because, again, there are so few remaining records of Cambodian life and the place of sport in it. In this way, Sareth’s portrayal is culturally critical as he ages it seems increasingly imperative to record his version of the past. Life history interviews are the foundation of this chapter. This kind of interviewing is a “qualitative research method for gathering information on the subjective essence of one person’s life” (Atkinson, 1998, p. 3). While both authors have met Ouk Sareth, Okada has known him for over a decade and enjoys a good rapport with him. She conducted interviews with
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our subject over several years. Procedurally, interviews were conducted in informal settings where Sareth was most at ease before/after meetings, at local football games and at sports events mainly in public spaces. Occasionally, depending on time available, interviews were swift and concluded quickly; others lasted up to two hours. In order to establish an overall picture of his life but one replete with rich detail, Sareth was asked a series of narrative method questions, none of the “yes”/“no” variety, all pitched in an open-ended and fully conversational way aimed at Geertzian “thick description” (Geertz, 1973). While fundamentally unstructured, we nevertheless sought out a sequence of related life events arranged in chronological order. Sareth speaks English, but the bulk of the interviews took place using the Khmer language. Thus, a third-party Japanese translator helped in piecing together Ouk Sareth’s story. Sareth, Okada and the translator openly discussed and ordered Sareth’s narration which was later translated into English. As ever, we are acutely aware of the possibility of content and meaning being “lost in translation,” although multiple interactions with our respondent over the past decade give us confidence that his story has been accurately de- and reconstructed. Additionally, during meetings with him and to confirm our interpretations, Sareth frequently referred to his own personal diary to ensure that we accurately understood events and the general time sequence. Finally, where facts, figures, dates, events, etc., are concerned, we have also verified with the subject himself that our account details are correct.
OUK SARETH: JOURNEY THROUGH THE PAST Phase One: 1947 to 1963
Socialization into Sport
Cambodia became independent from France in 1953 and enjoyed peace under the rule of Norodom Sihanouk. Just a few years before its independence, in Peamro village, Prey Veng province, Ouk Sareth was born on May 30, 1947 the first boy of the eventual 13 children of Ouk Saly and Svang Rin. Sareth had one older sister, nine younger sisters, and three younger brothers, but four siblings died during the Khmer Rouge regime and two others died from dengue fever when Sareth attended university. Sareth’s father was a national government official and held several important posts. An intellectual with ability in the French, Vietnamese, and Pali languages, he was killed during the Khmer Rouge regime. He had
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never forced Ouk Sareth to study and always respected his children’s choices. Sareth could do what he wanted to do, and could go where he wanted to go. He has no memory of playing football with his father, who neither played football nor sport in general, but who liked to watch football games at the local stadium. When Sareth lived in Kampot,3 a Russian football team visited Cambodia for a match in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital city. Sareth took a cyclo (pedicab) from Kampot and went to the Stade Rambair Stadium4 in Phnom Penh to watch the game with his father. It took several hours to travel more than 100 kilometers between Kampot and Phnom Penh. Sareth vividly remembers the game and his impression of the appearance of the stadium. Little did he know at the time that it would have a lasting effect on his life. Today, Sareth’s mother is still alive, aged over 80. She neither forced her children to study nor play sports, so Ouk Sareth grew up in a free and warm domestic environment. Although he showed good physical ability in elementary school, his true athletic talent did not reveal itself until he was in Jayavarman II Secondary School in Siem Reap. He was slim and only 160 centimeters tall in his first year of secondary school, but he participated in the national competition for secondary school students representing Siem Reap province in his third grade. He competed in the 100- and 200meter sprint and the 4 × 100-meter relay, and won a gold medal in the 200meter sprint. His parents had not realized he had such athletic potential until that point. Thereafter, they began encouraging him to play sport and gradually came to enjoy sport and see the promise it offered their son. Sareth started to play football intensively when he met a physical education teacher, Tan Kiryvuth, at secondary school. His first position was striker, but he switched to goalkeeper during high school.
Phase Two: 1964 to 1979 An Elite Athletic Career is Stalled by a Totalitarian Government In 1964, Sareth entered a two-year college in Phnom Penh, but soon after graduating in 1966, he moved to North Korea to study sports management for three years. As a student in North Korea, he practiced football three times a day, ate as much as he could and drank ice coffee laced with plenty of condensed milk to increase his weight. He developed strength rapidly and gained seven kilograms in the first four months.5 When he returned to Cambodia, Sareth continued his university studies until 1973. He also played football for the team of the Royal Police and
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contributed to their first appearance in the national championship. This led him to start his life as a Cambodian national football team player in 1968, when he was 21 years old. He was selected as a representative for the Cambodian youth team and the full national team at the same time. The Cambodian national team at that point was coached in turns by men from North Korea, France, Czechoslovakia and China. It played frequent international games in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea, and won third place after Burma and North Korea in the Asian Championship in Jakarta in 1971 (see Photos 3 5). That same year, Sareth married a Cambodian woman who was a national volleyball team player. Together, they had two children. In the 1960s, Cambodia was one of the leading countries for sport in Southeast Asia. Athletes were trained intensively at the national training center as in other socialist countries, and young sport scholars were accepted from neighboring countries.6 In Battambang, the second largest city in Cambodia, there was a training center for the preparation of talented Cambodian junior athletes aged between 8 and 13. The Olympic
Photo 3. The Cambodian National Football Team Participated in the King Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, 1970. Source: Reproduced with permission from Mr Ouk Sareth.
Photo 4. The Cambodian National Football Team Participated in the President Cup in Seoul, South Korea, 1971. Source: Reproduced with permission from Mr Ouk Sareth.
Photo 5. The Cambodian Team from Phnom Penh Played in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 1973. Source: Reproduced with permission from Mr Ouk Sareth.
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Stadium was built in Phnom Penh in 1965 with support from China which had ambitions to hold the Olympic Games in an allied communist country. During this era, many national and international competitions were held in this new stadium. In the 1970s, Cambodia entered a period of utter chaos, as the country became embroiled in political struggle between democracy and communism. The United States and South Vietnam carried out raids periodically against Cambodia. Disordered by airstrikes, Cambodia’s domestic public safety and its economic situation weakened in 1969. In 1970, Lon Nol, supported by the United States, deported Norodom Sihanouk from the country to China. However, due to internal instability, the people’s frustration against the Lon Nol Regime increased and the Khmer Rouge gathered its forces throughout the country. The Khmer Rouge rallied themselves against democratic forces and aligned with Norodom Sihanouk to regain control of the country with support from communist nations such as North Vietnam, China and Russia. During this turbulent time, Ouk Sareth graduated from university in 1973 and joined a team named “Force Army National Khmer (FANK),” where he could dedicate himself to playing football once again. On April 17, 1975, Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge. The Lon Nol Regime was overthrown and tyrannical rule ensued. The Khmer Rouge severed diplomatic relations with united Vietnam and started to promote a utopian vision of a country populated by unskilled farmers who tamely served their country. Concomitantly, the Khmer Rouge forced ordinary people in their thousands to “migrate” into rural areas; to live in designated and closely policed groups, and to work under the control of young, uneducated farmers. People were prohibited from staying with their families, and classified into five crude categories: (i) fully workable persons, (ii) ordinary persons, (iii) persons who lacked physical strength and parents with infants, (iv) persons who were perceived as a security risk, and (v) the elderly and infirm. Thousands of ordinary Cambodians starved, and disease killed many others. Persons considered as “intellectuals” or individuals openly questioning authority, or those categorized as Type iv, were slaughtered and often tortured horribly. Ouk Sareth was in Phnom Penh the day it fell. He was forced to move to Kompong Speu province and stay in a group in Phnom Srong district. After eight months, he was taken to Sisophon, and following that he was moved back and forth several times between Sisophon and Phnom Srok districts in Banteay Meanchey province. During this time, when challenged by the new system of authority, Sareth pretended that he had no understanding
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of what was taking place and was illiterate. He concealed his name and provided no information about his career as a football player. Sadly, however, his father, four brothers and sisters, wife, two children, and many of his former teammates in the national team died under the regime. This tragic and chaotic period continued for three years, eight months and twenty days. Hun Sen and Heng Samrin supported by a Vietnamese force arrived in Phnom Penh at the end of 1978 to terminate the Khmer Rouge regime. They established the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) in 1979. In May, 1979, Ouk Sareth started the long walk back to Siem Reap, where he had grown up, from the Phnom Srok district in Banteay Meanchey province, over 100 kilometers away. In Cambodia, May is dry and the hottest time of the year, so he rested under the shade of trees during the day and walked during the night. Due to a chronic lack of food, Sareth was in extremely weak physical condition at the time. He progressed little by little while scrambling for food off the ground and sometimes receiving basic noodles from people he met along the way. By mid-June, he arrived at Kralanh Bridge located on the border of Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey province. By that point, he was barely able to walk but continued to push forward. Around him, there was nothing but destruction and death; quite literally, the “killing fields” that Hollywood has made famous broken and bombed homes and bridges hidden by broken trees and overgrown vegetation. Dazed and confused, he searched for his family for almost four weeks (he had also asked for them in Battambang and Svay Rieng, where there was no word). Once again, his efforts were in vain. They may have been killed, but the truth is that nobody knows how or where they are. One assumes they fell victim, like so many others, to a brutal genocidal regime.
Phase Three: 1980 to 1996
Figuring a Future, Finding a Way
After returning to Siem Reap in June 1979, Ouk Sareth started to play guitar on the devastated streets, busking for food. During this time, along with dozens of others, he helped cutting down the trees that lay scattered around the demolished village, so that it could be rebuilt. He continued with this voluntary work and subsistence lifestyle until he eventually found reliable work again this time as Sports Manager with the Department of Culture, Information and Sport, Siem Reap province (January 1980.) He married his current wife, and they had a son in 1980, another son in 1983, and a daughter in 1993. He formed a football team with some Vietnamese
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men and started training at the same time as taking up his job at the Ministry. Furthermore, in 1982, he returned to the Cambodian national football team. He participated in such events as the Indochina Cup held in Phnom Penh in 1982, and also played in matches in Russia in 1983 and 1984, until he finally retired from the national team in 1985 at the age of 38. Following his retirement, Sareth accepted the position of Sports Manager in the Department of Education, Youth and Sport, Siem Reap province7 which was newly established in 1987 as a part of governmental reform. At this time, Cambodia seemed to be in a process of positive renewal but, in fact, another confusing period had begun. The power struggles between the governmental group8 supported by Vietnam and the other allied rebel group9 opposed to Vietnam erupted into a civil war in many areas, except for Phnom Penh which was under the stable rule of the government, PRK. Even after the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed, Cambodia still lacked infrastructure and resources in almost every sector. Many people suffered from lack of food and housing. Moreover, there was no freedom to travel and no postal or telephone facilities. This situation obstructed the rebuilding of lives and people had little choice but to move toward refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border. While traveling, they faced innumerable landmines and attacks by the surviving Khmer Rouge force. The number of these “internal migrants” increased with time, but the outflow and mass movement of refugees gradually revealed to the world the grim reality of what had happened, and was happening, in Cambodia. In the 1990s the situation started to improve, when the United Nations became involved in helping settle the social and political struggles of Cambodia. The UN assisted in the conclusion of the Paris Peace Accords in 1991, which became the first case of UN-led nation building. It ostensibly aimed to end the civil war politically rather than by force, but said it actually intended to separate Norodom Sihanouk, the King of Cambodia, from the rebels to maintain a semblance of a “kingdom.” Subsequently, the first general election was held in 1993 under the operation of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), and a turnout of more than 90 percent was recorded at the polls, with a power shift from a communist regime to a democracy ultimately occurring. Under the new regime, Sareth temporarily worked as a staff member of a UNHCR-related NGO from 1994 to 1997. As the operation required him to move away from Siem Reap and, having no substitute for his post in the department, the many hours of work he had performed as Sports Manager were laid to
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waste. The stadium located at the center of the city became empty, overgrown with grass and random animals and, ultimately, a dilapidated playground for children.
Phase Four: 1997 to 2009
Recovery and a Return to Sport
Cumulatively, the Khmer Rouge regime and subsequent civil war had devastating impacts on Cambodia in numerous ways only one being poverty (again, Siem Reap remains the poorest area of the country). Along with antipoverty measures and rebuilding efforts taken by different political and organizational groups, the reconstruction of sports facilities was welcomed and carried out very gradually by only a few dedicated officials. In 1997, and finishing his work at the NGO, Ouk Sareth returned to Siem Reap and resumed his work as Sports Manager. He intentionally located his office at the deserted sports stadium in the center of the city and started to reconstruct the sports environment of the region from scratch there was simply no facility, equipment, material or human resources for sports in Siem Reap at that time. Few officials showed any interest in “rebuilding” sport, including government department directors, so Sareth had to face all difficulties with his two colleagues in the sport office (Keo Bunthoun,10 specialized in track and field, and Thu Sam Ang, specialized in volleyball). It was several years until another director of the department, To Kim Sean, was appointed. Sareth set a target for the sport office to hold the 2000 national competition for secondary school students in Siem Reap and launched efforts to improve the sports environment and sports opportunities, especially in schools. In particular, his office set up a plan to construct a sports field, and arranged equipment and the recruitment of new sports teachers. To execute these plans, he had to raise funds by himself because there was no allocated budget from the government. Therefore Sareth visited the Siem Reap provincial governor, Agriculture Department, Commerce Department and even relatively affluent townsfolk to solicit financial support, always sharing his ideas regarding how sport development could also facilitate forms of social advancement. The provincial governor showed particular support for his proposals and provided modest funds to help implement them. With these funds, Sareth bought some tools from the Commerce Department, and personally, along with friends, repaired facilities which could still be used for sports activities. Furthermore, he also raised pigs which he sold at a local market to provide further funds,11 while
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he kept some portion of them aside for his family to eat.12 Any extra income he received through his various entrepreneurial efforts was put directly back into efforts to improve local sports facilities. Sareth’s patient efforts paved the way for the hosting of the 2001 national competition for primary students in Siem Reap, which continue to be held annually for football, volleyball, basketball and athletics in one of the provinces in Cambodia. As the host province of the games, a budget for building and repairing sports fields and sports offices was allocated by MoEYS this process accelerated the reconstruction of the sports environment in Siem Reap. Among other initiatives, large schools were targeted as enhanced base points in each area to develop football fields, volleyball and basketball courts and to distribute sparse equipment. Angkor High School, Prasat Bakong High School and Teachers’ Primary College were among these sites. As noted, Sareth devoted himself to promoting sports in Siem Reap even though he had several requests to be a coach or a government officer working in the capitol city of Phnom Penh after his retirement from the national football team. As attractive as some of these opportunities were, his principal commitment remained to the poor opportunities for young talented children in the rural provinces. Sareth could not have accomplished this work alone. Slayman Salim, his former teammate on the national team, assisted in helping improve the conditions for sport participation in rural areas. Salim was formerly the head coach of the Cambodian national team based in Phnom Penh, but at the same time he worked as a sports manager in Koh Kong province, where he lived. Ouk Sareth and Slayman Salim remain close friends and continue to share the same hope for the ongoing evolution of Cambodian sport, especially for children. Deep into the process of sports environment reconstruction, in 2007 Sareth retired from the department, informally advising until 2009. However, even after formally retiring from the post, there are numerous operations that no one in the area can execute but him, such as collaboration projects with foreign aid groups or international competitions. Therefore, Sareth continues to offer his informal but crucial philanthropy, deeply committed to the development of younger generations, without a salary. Furthermore, in constant demand, he continues to coach some football teams such as elementary school student teams, adult teams and provincial representatives, and sat as the Chairman of Siem Reap Football League (SFL) in 2009. There is no question that the infrastructure and culture of sport for children and adults alike in Cambodia’s poorest province would be fundamentally different and specifically worse off without the generous efforts of Ouk Sareth.
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A CAMBODIAN SPORT ODYSSEY THROUGH THE LENS OF A SURVIVOR Most people enjoying comfortable lives in developed societies cannot conceive of the life Ouk Sareth has lived a life that predates the current scholarly fascination with sport’s possible contribution to lofty social, political, and moral goals. It is no overstatement to say that Sareth has survived chaos and turmoil to devote himself to the promotion of Cambodian sport and Cambodian society. Our sense is that, post-genocide, he continued to be involved in sport (football especially) out of a sense of obligation and debt as a survivor of political terror as he reminded us, so many of his teammates and friends had lost their lives. However, perhaps surprisingly, during interviews, Sareth never spoke overly emotionally, and his passion for sport has not been constant throughout his life, as can be seen in the following dialogue: Question (Q) Ouk Sareth (OS) Q OS
: Did you think about football during that period (of the Khmer Rouge)? : No, never. We were not allowed to consume sugar for three years, so I couldn’t use my brain! : You couldn’t think anything because you didn’t have anything to eat? : I couldn’t get enough nutrition. Lack of nutrition. I seemed old and became “skin and bones.” I was extremely underweight. There was little food so I was malnourished.
As with the 1970s, there was a time in the 1990s when Sareth was not involved in sport: OS
: In 1994, I got a letter inviting me to join the national team again as one of the coaching staff. But I couldn’t go because I was working for an NGO from 1994 to 1998, [in total for] four years. I was in the UNHCR-related NGO.
Q OS
: During those four years, did you teach or coach football? : No. I didn’t teach during the four years. When I worked for the NGO, I didn’t coach.
Clearly, Sareth’s passion for sport was at stages much cooler than one might have expected. His is not a story of a man who realized a naı¨ ve
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sport-based dream, but the candid record of a man having a special historical (and, in his view, realistic) role to play in Cambodian sport, and social development. Even the period he was away from sport (from 1994 to 1998) has significant meaning for sport development of Siem Reap. During that period, Sareth deepened his understanding of what was practically possible and what was not for sport in Cambodia. Siem Reap has come to be regarded as one of the few truly successful provinces with respect to sport promotion. A sport magazine published by the government in Cambodia (the only sport-related publication in the country) describes the Siem Reap sport scene in the following terms: We can see remarkable activities surrounding sport in Siem Reap. That includes training for athletes, sport activities in and out of school, and developing sport infrastructure. In Siem Reap, it is essential for continuing those activities to gain support from groups and individuals of good will. (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, 2007, p. 3)
Such development of sport in Siem Reap owed much to Ouk Sareth’s work for the sport office. The reasons he could successfully lead sport promotion are that he had effective ideas, practical hands, and an empathy for and understanding of Cambodian children, all of which were drawn from his truly exceptional life. He accumulated his knowledge by learning and surviving considerable difficulty surrounding the possibility for sport in his home region. Cambodian society has clearly depended on his broad knowledge of sport development, both at regional and national levels. As but one example of his concrete contribution, Sareth routinely warned numerous officials against the marginalization of sport in developing societies, making arguments that ranged from the possible health and emotional benefits of sports participation for children to the cultural importance of Cambodia being perceived as a sports contender “from outside.” Of course, Sareth has faced numerous critics and opponents over the years persons and sometimes government officials who felt that his commitment to sport was misplaced or overly enthusiastic, or simply that other areas of reclamation were more important in a post-conflict society. Sareth always acknowledged the diversity and complexity of social life, but still always returned to defend sport and its possible benefits for the community. In many ways, one can understand the views of Sareth’s critics, since his goals involve both the enhancement of community sport for children as well as making Cambodia contenders on an international scale. Given the difficulties faced by this nation over the past several decades, the latter has perhaps appropriately been opposed over time by people compelled by a more gradual rise back to elite competition. But Sareth continues to vie for a top-level
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Cambodian sports culture. For instance, he assertively makes claims for sport to be played on the best fields, with the best equipment, and under the best conditions possible. As simple as it sounds to people in the Global North, he argues vehemently, for example, for school students to wear comfortable and appropriate athletic apparel for sports such as t-shirts and shorts rather than wearing school uniforms. Sareth has also encouraged learning sport correctly in a technical sense, as well as with respect to the ethos of sportsmanship so familiar in other countries. In Cambodia, even today, one can frequently see people playing sport such as football without keeping rules; rules are often also ignored by referees during matches. Sareth assiduously emphasizes the observance of the rules by all participants and officials. Needless to say, it is difficult to demand such levels and codes of participation in such an area of severe poverty and limited living circumstances. Although overly strict regulations may well exclude (or even repel) some people from playing, at the same time it could be one positive dimension toward the creation of an effective Cambodian sports culture. As a life-long elite athlete and coach, Sareth is predictably committed to a future where Cambodia can compete on national and international levels. As such, while he does not expect unrealistic things from children in schools who find pleasure in simply kicking or throwing a ball, his vision of “sport development” for his country goes beyond recreational fun to consider a future where Cambodia is able to compete with the world’s powerful nations. Once again, we acknowledge on this matter that the globalized modern sporting environment is not problem-free, or that an elite model of sport always serves the amateur and recreational sport community well it is important not to overlook the complexities and possible problems on both dimensions (Okada & Young, 2011). However, arguably, the presence of individuals who have their own sport visions such as Ouk Sareth may be critical for sport development, although the number of such people is unfortunately very low in Cambodia. Sareth recognizes that his fight for sport as a social vehicle is not embraced by all Cambodians. Indeed, this frustrates him, especially insofar as the problem is related to resources: As he observed: The problem is human resources. It is staff. Mr. To Kim Sean (former Director of the Department of Education, Youth and Sport in Siem Reap province) came to like sport and the provincial governor also did. But the budget for sport is still not enough. Sport staff are also insufficient as well as equipment. We have the stadium but we don’t have enough equipment and staff. In this case, the stadium doesn’t work as a stadium but just a flat area. Do you understand what I mean?
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As noted earlier, the circumstances surrounding sport have greatly changed in Siem Reap. Until just a few years ago, sports were not common pursuits among Cambodian people in general. Now, however, many people play sport on a regular basis, especially around the center of the city. Along with football and volleyball, one can see people jogging on a regular basis this used to be perceived as a culturally inappropriate endeavor for Cambodians, only partly because of the high temperatures and humidity throughout much of the year. To make changes aimed at health benefits and cultural understanding more widespread and sustainable, Sareth has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the national and local government’s role. As he expressed to the aforementioned sports magazine in 2008: “I desire to encourage sport activities and create a vibrant sport environment in the province. The department will spend its time to enable all students and all people to participate in any sport even if we have a lot of difficulties” (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, 2007). Furthermore, Sareth has always underlined the link between voluntarism and a vibrant sports community: I think the most important thing is to let people participate (in sport activities). If there is no field to use, despite more people come to like playing sport, what would you do? We have to prepare the field. For that, we should become more knowledgeable about land … I want people to understand that their voluntary participation will improve the sport environment. In fact, their understanding will enable us to buy good uniforms and shoes for competitions … In sport activities, we are trying to increase the number of people in all positions through the following approaches. We ask retired players to help manage games and coach young players. We also support various companies and NGOs, most of them are involved in the tourist businesses (a major industry in Siem Reap), to form a league and play games. Once that is realised, sport in Siem Reap will truly prosper.
In addition, Sareth expressed his view of the link between people’s activities and the government’s role as follows: We, the sport office, have ideas but we can’t bring them to fruition without people’s participation. When I say “people,” I mean the players, teams and local people who support the team. When we have certain kinds of competitions, people are willing to take part. The reasons are that they have recognised playing football is good for their health and they like playing it. People who don’t participate in a competition are those who don’t like football. We can’t force them to play football if they don’t like it. We want them to play another sport which they like … The central government can support people’s activities instead of ignoring them. Meanwhile, the Ministry preferentially allocates a budget to some provinces to carry out sport-related projects actively. Therefore, we should consider carefully how we plan and manage our activities.
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Considering sport promotion, Sareth, with all of his experience in diverse fields, places an emphasis on people’s initiative vis-a`-vis participation. For him, enterprise, effort and voluntarism are among the key driving forces of a vibrant sports environment, and these are the virtues he centrally promotes much as is the case in the Global North. Thus far, the sport of football seems to have advanced most rapidly, but it is possible that other sports such as volleyball, basketball and track and field events may follow suit in years to come. At the same time as Sareth has carried out his duties for sport promotion in the province as a sport administrative officer, he has been directly involved in (indeed, has spearheaded initiatives toward) training children as a volunteer coach for many years. He teaches widely from elementary student groups to adult amateur groups so that there are many people and several generations who get to benefit from his experience and expertise. In all cases and given the grace of the man, all students can freely ask questions or seek advice regarding practical matters stemming from sports management, to athletic ability to learning skills for various sports. In Siem Reap, everyone in sport from the very young to the elderly is attached in some way to Sareth, affectionately referring to him “our sports mentor” or “our football mentor.” It is obvious that Sareth is a pivotal person for sport promotion in Siem Reap not only at the government level but also at the grassroots level. We should once again emphasize Sareth’s commitment to sport promotion by encouraging people to participate at their own will and on their own terms. In these pursuits, his technical knowledge is important, but no more than his spirit and his generosity. In recent development studies, Sen (1993) has written: “the well-being of a person should be measured in terms of what a person can do and can be.” Similarly, Marbub ul Haq notes: “Human development is a process of enlarging people’s choices. In principle, these choices can be infinite and change over time. But at all levels of development, the three essential ones are for people to lead a long and healthy life, to acquire knowledge and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living” (UNDP, 1990 2010, p. 10). When viewing Ouk Sareth’s activities and approach from the standpoint of these sorts of principles that is, taking the word “development” to include voluntary involvement in activities to pursue one’s own happiness and philanthropically improve the lives of others we can, indeed, claim that his life represents an exemplar of “community development through sport.”
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CONCLUSION Taking a life history approach, this chapter tracks the chronology of a human life that directly pursued sport as a source of community development from childhood to the present. Tapping biographical recollections that help us detail a long chronological sequence, we tell the story of a man affectionately regarded as the “father of sport” in a Cambodian province still deeply enmeshed in poverty, but that has overcome human terror at the hands of a genocidal political regime. Addressing the potential of this methodology, Ritchie, Lewis, McNaughton Nicholls, and Ormston (2014, p. 270) argue that “Life histories can be analyzed as a single narrative, as collections of stories around common themes ….” As such, we now better understand the various phases and trajectories of Ouk Sareth’s colorful life, and the fascinating experiences he has encountered. However, as Rubin and Rubin (2012, p. 4) also astutely note, life histories simultaneously provide a far more macro picture of the social context in question, helping us to understand human agency as a part of broader world events, social change and cultural experiences. As with Spaaij (2011) and others, we conclude that short- and long-term sport-for-development impacts are inevitably limited by the wider socio-political climate in which various initiatives operate. And in this way, the life of Ouk Sareth poignantly details the unique challenges his country has faced and overcome during the seven decades of his life. Partly due to him, Cambodian sports opportunity, sports participation and community development have been themes that weave throughout.
FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Okada, C. & K, Young. (2011). Sport and social development: Promise and caution from an incipient Cambodian Football League. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 47(1), 5 26. Based upon qualitative methods (specifically interviews and observation), this article reports on a sport initiative (the Siem Reap Hotel Football League) in northern Cambodia. Emphasizing that sport is “contested terrain” and may simultaneously improve and exacerbate existing social relations, this paper shows that any promise sport offers communities in either a micro or macro sense should be viewed cautiously.
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2. Wilson, B. (2012). Sport & peace: A sociological perspective. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press. This book offers an overall summary of various topics and literatures relating to the notions of “sport and peace” and “sport for peace,” including discussions of international development and associated social movements. Helpfully, the book offers an in-depth and critical exploration of what is meant by the term “sport, peace and social development.” 3. Smith, B. & Sparkes, A. (2012). Narrative analysis in sport and physical culture. In K. Young & M. Atkinson (Eds.), Qualitative research on sport and physical culture (pp. 79 101). Bingley, UK: Emerald Press. Smith and Sparkes introduce readers to the methodological descendant of interviewing techniques narrative analysis. Three types of narrative analysis holistic-content, holistic-form, and meta-autoethnography are the focus in this illuminating methodological chapter. 4. Gubrium, J. & Holstein, J. (1998). Narrative practice and the coherence of personal stories. The Sociological Quarterly, 39(1), 163 187. In this discussion of the usefulness of narrative analysis, these seminal writers on qualitative methods discuss the complexity and dynamics of narrative practice, and emphasize the importance of sensitive analytic vocabulary to bring social processes to life in an accurate and interesting way. 5. Spaaij, R. (2011). Sport and social mobility: Crossing boundaries. New York, NY: Routledge. This provocative book provides a call for detailed and localized empirical research in the sport-for-development genre.
NOTES 1. This explains why photographs used illustratively in this chapter are spread unevenly across Ouk Sareth’s life most were destroyed or went missing during the Pol Pot regime. 2. Apart from one life history study conducted in Japan and published in Japanese (Goto, 2010), we know of no other life history research in the general field of sport, social development and peace. For this and other reasons, it seems reasonable to argue that this research area could display (and ultimately benefit from) greater methodological diversity and innovativeness, as Wilson also implies in this volume (see Chapter 2).
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3. His family moved respectively to Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, and Kampot as his father was transferred with his job. 4. This stadium, “Stade Rambair,” was named after the French architect who designed it. It can still be seen in Phnom Penh today. 5. He was 175 centimeters tall and weighed only 60 kilograms before leaving for North Korea. 6. This information was collected from an interview with Chhay Kimsan, current coach of national track and field team, posted on NyoNyum, Volume 36, 2008. 7. The Department of Education, Youth and Sport was organized under the auspices of MoEYS. The Department operated three offices Education Office, Youth Office and Sport Office. Ouk Sareth headed the latter. At the point of starting this job, however, the exact duties of the Youth Office and Sport Office were poorly defined. Sareth helped better structure them but, importantly, also showed how all three overlapped in Cambodian communities. 8. The government group was led by Hun Sen and Heng Samrin. 9. The allied rebel group was called the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea and led by Pol Pot who had taken control of the Khmer Rouge regime, Norodom Sihanouk, and Son Sen. Meanwhile, the international community regarded the group as the official government of Cambodia and allowed them to enjoy a seat in the United Nations. 10. Keo Bunthoun was appointed as a sports manager in 2008. 11. At that time, it was quite normal for athletes to garner resources by selling products, including farm animals. 12. Needless to say, with the salaries of government officials being so meager, he also had trouble making a living.
REFERENCES Atkinson, R. (1998). The life story interview. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Frank, A. W. (2010). Letting stories breathe. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays. New York, NY: Basic Books. Goto, T. (2010). Study on the difference of sport life: Analysis of life history. Joint Journal of the National Universities in Kyushu, Education and Humanities, 4(1), 1 10. Kumamoto University, Japan. Gubrium, J. F., & Holstein, J. A. (1998). Narrative practice and the coherence of personal stories. The Sociological Quarterly, 39(1), 163 187. Gubrium, J. F., & Holstein, J. A. (2009). Analyzing narrative reality. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. (2014). Development Operational Plan 2014. Phnom Penh: Relief web. Retrieved from http://reliefweb.int/ sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/MAAKH001_14DOP.pdf Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. (2007). Cambodia Sports Magazine. Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, 7, 1–5. Okada, C. (2012). The redevelopment of sport in Cambodia Reflections on a football player who survived the Khmer rouge regime. In K. Gilbert & W. Bennett (Eds.), Sport, peace and development (pp. 387 396). New York, NY: Common Ground Publishing.
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Okada, C., & Young, K. (2011). Sport and social development: Promise and caution from an incipient Cambodian Football League. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 47(1), 5 26. Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., McNaughton Nicholls, C., & Ormston, R. (2014). Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students & researchers. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (2012). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. Sen, A. K. (1993). Capability and well-being. In C. M. Nussbaum & A. K. Sen (Eds.), The quality of life (pp. 30 53). Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. Smith, B., & Sparkes, A. (2012). Narrative analysis in sport and physical culture. In K. Young & M. Atkinson (Eds.), Qualitative research on sport and physical culture (pp. 79 101). Bingley, UK: Emerald Press. Spaaij, R. (2011). Sport and social mobility: Crossing boundaries. New York, NY: Routledge. UNDP. (1990 2010). Human Development Report. United Nations Development Program. UNDP. (2013). Human Development Report 2013. United Nations Development Program. Van den Hoonaard, D. K. (2012). Qualitative research in action: A Canadian primer. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
CHAPTER 10 WHERE’S THE “EVIDENCE?” REFLECTING ON MONITORING AND EVALUATION WITHIN SPORT-FOR-DEVELOPMENT Ruth Jeanes and Iain Lindsey ABSTRACT Purpose The purpose of this chapter is to critically examine the extensive calls for enhanced evidence within the sport-for-development field. The chapter questions whether these are appropriate and realistic. Design/methodology/approach The chapter utilizes current literature to deconstruct the assumptions that increased evidence will legitimize the field of sport-for-development, improve practice and enhance future policy. The authors’ own experiences, working as external evaluators, are also drawn upon to critique the value of current “evidence.” Findings The chapter illustrates how current calls for evidence are somewhat misguided and are unlikely to fully realize the intended consequence of validating sport-for-development or improving future practice. Utilizing personal reflections, the impact that Global North/Global South power imbalances have on data is discussed, suggesting that this
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will rarely lead to data that provide a detailed understanding of work in practice. Research limitations/implications The chapter builds on the work of other authors illustrating the importance of disconnecting research from evidence and monitoring and evaluation in the sport-for-development field. Originality/value The chapter utilizes previous literature but also provides a rarely available personal perspective on the issue of evidence that continues to permeate the rationale behind undertaking research within sport-for-development. Keywords: Evidence; monitoring and evaluation; sport-for-development; impact
INTRODUCTION Frequent calls for the development of an improved “evidence-base” are ubiquitous in the field of sport-for-development. The following statements, taken respectively from a United Nations report, from a “Concept Paper” developed by a Danish sport-for-development network, and the opening editorial of the Journal of Sport for Development demonstrate the widespread nature of such calls: [Academia should] build a strong evidence base for the effective and efficient use of sport-for-development and peace that can feed into the development of viable policy recommendations. (United Nations, 2012, p. 21) There is a growing pressure and interest to effectively measure and demonstrate the outcomes and impacts of sports projects. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are considered essential in the field, as it is vital for the process of continuous improvement and qualifications, and hence for the process of legitimising sport-for-development as a field. (Network for Sport and Development, 2009, p. 5) SFD organisations must “evaluate or perish”. Only by applying rigorous research methods will the SFD sector establish adequate evidence to streamline its approach and survive broad contractions in foreign aid budgets. (Richards et al., 2013, p. 2)
We would argue that these quotes are representative of others by similar stakeholders in the field of sport-for-development in the urgency of their appeals and largely uncritical acceptance of the utility of evidence in influencing policy and practice. As can be identified in these quotes, calls for
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evidence are often associated with processes of monitoring and evaluation. These latter two processes of evidence-gathering are rarely distinguished, although commonly they have a shared focus on a specific sport-fordevelopment program. Monitoring and evaluation can also, to differing extents, be considered as processes of research, although research may also encompass investigations that go beyond specific sport-for-development programs. Our purpose in this chapter is to problematize some aspects of the “call for evidence” and the associated processes of monitoring, evaluation and research. In doing so, we add to some emergent critiques in the sport-fordevelopment literature offered by Kay (2009, 2012), Nicholls, Giles, and Sethna (2011), Coalter (2013), and Adams and Harris (2014) among others, while also recognizing that such critiques are more common in other fields of development studies and public policy. The chapter is divided into two sections. The first of these sections examines and questions the rationales that underpin calls for evidence through considering the supposed benefits and beneficiaries of an improved evidence-base. The second section reflects more personally on these issues, critically discussing the realities of evaluation in practice through drawing on the experiences of the authors.
EVIDENCE FOR WHAT AND WHOM? As exemplified in the quotations above, there appear to be (at least) two assumed benefits of an improved sport-for-development evidence-base: firstly, more supportive policy and funding decisions and, secondly, improved practice and delivery of sport-for-development initiatives. Typically, it appears that the policy makers and funders who are to be convinced by improved sport-for-development evidence would belong to policy fields, such as international development, with a wider remit than solely sport-for-development. Conversely, the use of evidence to improve sport-for-development practice is an aspiration orientated toward stakeholders in the sport-for-development sector itself. There could be some connections between the two aspirations and groups of stakeholders for example, through the assumption that improving practice will lead to more advantageous policy decisions. Nevertheless, this broad bifurcation of aspirations and stakeholders demonstrates that it is important to adopt a differentiated approach to examining the rationales underpinning calls for improved evidence of sport-for-development. This section will do
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so by considering the potential consequences of evidence on policy decisions and practice in turn.
Evidence to Shape Future Policy and Funding? If policy makers and funders are to be convinced of the merits of sport-fordevelopment then it appears that the underlying assumption is that new evidence would indicate the positive developmental outcomes of sport programs. Thus, it would be easy to suggest that those making this argument would be among the much criticized sport-for-development “evangelists” (Coakley, 2011; Coalter, 2013). Nevertheless, the view that the sport-fordevelopment evidence-base is limited is not the preserve of such “evangelists” alone. Even within some well-argued and critical academic literature, there can be claims that there is “little more than anecdotal evidence … about the impact of sport in development” (Hartman & Kwauk, 2011, p. 285). Nevertheless, as Coalter (2013) argues, this would be to ignore the substantial body of literature on the effects of sporting involvement which includes comprehensive reviews by Coalter (2007) himself and the edited collection by Kidd and Donnelly (2007). To ignore such evidence appears to be associated with subscribing to the view of sport-for-development as a new “movement” while ignoring the long history of sport being used for various social purposes (Coalter, 2013; Kidd, 2008). It is possible to hypothetically consider the implications for the sportof-development field if this existing, wider evidence-base were to be adopted by policy makers and funders, although we will argue later that considering the influence of evidence in such simplistic terms is unrealistic. A very brief summation of the wider literature would be that involvement in sport “might lead to desired outcomes for some participants or some organizations in certain circumstances” (Coalter, 2010, p. 311, emphasis as in original). Irrespective of any subsequent improvements in sport-for-development practice, it would be very unrealistic to believe that the rigorous generation of new evidence would contradict or alter this overall appraisal to any substantial degree. Therefore, apparent aspirations that sport-for-development as an entire field would be “legitimized” (Network for Sport and Development, 2009) by collective evidence of positive impacts appear to be based on a misplaced optimism that is, in this case, characteristic of sport-for-development “evangelists.” Rather, any adoption by policy makers and funders of rigorous evidence on sport-for-development outcomes would be more likely to have
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differential impacts for different stakeholders or particular programs within the sport-for-development field. Existing evidence already qualifies, to some extent, what impacts are derived from particular types of involvement in sport, for which participants, in which contexts. Improvements to evidence on sport-for-development are therefore likely to provide more fine-grained understanding of such qualifications. This evidence, then, would enable policy makers and funders to adopt a utilitarian prioritization of particular programs where impacts are considered to be more likely or more positive. For example, while we argue elsewhere of the inappropriateness of such measures (Lindsey and Culbertson, 2013), it is indicative to consider the potential consequences of the adoption of the evidence produced by Substance (2013) that sport programmes in the UK addressing substance misuse may result in broader cost savings that are over three times more valuable in financial terms per participant to those programmes addressing other social outcomes. No comparison with the estimated financial value of services other than sport on the same outcomes is offered. A hypothetically rational response to these findings would be direct a greater proportion of sport-fordevelopment funding to projects addressing mental health issues (and encouraging these projects to attract more participants), rather than necessarily increase the total funding to sport. Taken on a wider basis, such evidence-based policy and funding decisions would likely increase the divisions and competition between fragmented sport-for-development stakeholders rather than legitimize the entire field. Pressure to produce positive results from evaluations of single programs would also increase as a result, exacerbating issues described in the second section of this chapter. Much of the preceding argument is based on policy makers and funders taking rational decisions based on available evidence. More broadly across different policy fields, “much of the debate around standards of evidence has focused on [such a] an instrumentalist view of evidence use, which involves the direct application of research to policy and practice decisions” (Nutley, Powell, & Davies, 2012, p. 14). This instrumental view appears to be the assumption adopted by those advocating for efforts to improve the sport-for-development evidence-base, and certainly there are few voices within the sport-for-development field speaking to a more nuanced view. Elsewhere, however, Nutley et al. (2012) are joined by others such as Mulgan (2005) and Smith and Joyce (2012, p. 57) who argue that: … such a linear relationship [between evidence and policy] is dependent on an unrealistically simple account of policy making, given that policy decisions are also informed
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by a multitude of other factors, including ideology and values, public opinion and lobbying.
The veracity of this criticism becomes further apparent if we consider theoretical models of the policy making process. While rational processes in which decisions would linearly derive from consideration of the evidence are still promoted as appropriate approaches for policy development (e.g., Veal, 2002), few contemporary policy analysts would argue that such models represent an accurate model of the policy process in actuality (Hill, 2005). Instead, Houlihan (2005) argues for the utility of models, such as Multiple Streams and Advocacy Coalitions Frameworks, which offer more complex explanations of the policy process. Within the “Multiple Streams” framework, evidence may help to identify particular policy problems or support solutions to these problems. However, this framework also highlights the unpredictability of the policy process in which individual “policy entrepreneurs” play a significant role in enabling particular policies to be adopted. For Smith and Joyce (2012, p. 66), the Multiple Streams framework “… illustrates the unpredictability of knowledge transfer and suggests that there will always be limitations to guidance on how to promote the increased uptake of research evidence.” Technical information, of which the types of evidence discussed in this chapter are but one form, is considered to have a more specific role in the policy process within the Advocacy Coalition Framework. Nevertheless, policy remains substantially determined by the interaction of different coalitions of actors each with their own set of beliefs which may be (or, equally, may not be) adapted according to evidence and only over a relatively long-period of time (Houlihan, 2005). The point of considering such models, which serve largely as examples in this case, is not to fully identify the policy making process as it affects sport-for-development. Rather, consideration of each of these models, and others, helps identify the limited influence that evidence may have on policy making. Moreover, the models suggest that evidence, of the rigor being called for, would be but one form of information that may be utilized by those involved in the policy process. Considered alongside our earlier qualifications as to what evidence may actually indicate about the impact of sport-for-development initiatives, it becomes clear that the aspirations of those who may identify evidence as a “game changer” in establishing sport-for-development within broader but related policy fields are ultimately likely to be disappointed. As we turn to some of the issues related to the potential contribution of further evidence to sport-for-
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development practice, it becomes apparent that similar misconceptions occur.
Evidence to Contribute to Improved Practice? If evidence regarding sport-for-development is to influence practice, then it is important to initially consider the nature of the evidence that would be useful in doing so. Such a consideration is often not present in undifferentiated calls, such as those cited in the introduction, to extend the sport-fordevelopment evidence-base. Nevertheless, a relatively self-evident initial observation would be that the types of information that may be beneficial to improving practice within the sport-for-development sector would not likely be the same as those that would (supposedly) convince external policy makers and funders of the merits of sport-for-development.1 Such a distinction broadly corresponds to Coalter’s (2013) argument that, rather than concentrating on demonstrating impact, the sport-for-development sector needs to develop greater understanding of the processes or mechanisms that may lead to such impact. This is not to say that different types of information could, and in some cases are, being collected through the same evidence-gathering process. However, it is important to recognize that practices of monitoring, evaluation and research may each focus to a different extent on sport-for-development processes or outcomes, and, therefore, may each have different degrees of utility for improving sport-fordevelopment practices. By their very nature, practices of monitoring and evaluation are concerned with specific, and mostly singular, sport-for-development programs. It is these specific sport-for-development programs that are most likely to be improved as a result of being monitored or evaluated. However, a significant proportion of such evidence-gathering in sport-for-development is undertaken by external consultants at the behest of program funders. While the implications of these approaches to evidence-gathering will be considered in the following section, it is somewhat inevitable that subsequent reporting and dissemination practices will be orientated toward those organizations that have commissioned and funded monitoring, evaluation or research (Adams & Harris, 2014). The extent to which reported findings are valuable to directly inform the practice of those delivering programs must, therefore, be questioned, irrespective of the extent to which funding organizations may attempt to influence subsequent implementation practices.
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What is even more doubtful is the extent to which monitoring, evaluation and potentially research may contribute to the improvement of practices enacted in the delivery of sport-for-development programs on a wider basis. There are, at least, three initial reasons to doubt whether this may occur. First, as Cronin (2011) recognizes, weaknesses of dissemination within the sport-for-development sector limit the utility of relevant evidence. For example, a substantial proportion of program evaluations are not made public and academic research is often published in formats that are both directly and indirectly inaccessible to practitioners. Second, Cronin (2011) identifies that existing reviews of sport-for-development evidence tend to focus on impact rather than underlying processes. In other international development fields, systematic reviews have attempted to draw broader lessons from drawing together evidence from different programs (Department for International Development [DfID], n.d.). Further methodologically rigorous reviews, focused on practices (rather than impact) and aligned with specific themes of sport-for-development work, may be considered beneficial for improving future practice. However, it is our third concern that is perhaps the most fundamental. Irrespective of any progress made with regard to the synthesis of evidence or its dissemination, any suggestion that findings from particular sport-for-development programs could be beneficial to practice in other programs could be considered tenuous. The reason for this claim is that the contexts within which sportfor-development programs are delivered, and their intended beneficiaries, may differ in infinitely different and unknown ways. The effects of these potential differences on sport-for-development processes and outcomes certainly cannot be identified directly from the evidence pertaining to the initial programs. As a consequence, we must consider that transferability or generalizability of evidence-based practices may be inherently limited even if there is comprehensive evidence regarding the relationship between specific programs and the context in which they are delivered.
REFLECTING ON MONITORING AND EVALUATION PRACTICES As discussed in the introduction, the second half of the chapter will consider some of the broader arguments presented in the previous section and explore some of the realities of attempting to collect a “strong evidencebase” in practice. We will do so by drawing on our experiences of
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evaluating several sport-for-development projects delivered by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Zambia over a period of seven years. All of the projects were delivered in compound communities, mainly in Lusaka, the capital city. Compound communities are impoverished, high density housing quarters usually on the outskirts of a city. Over the course of the evaluations the main data collection methods were interviews with NGO staff and focus groups with project peer leaders and young people who participated in the projects. The latter took place in a selection of compound communities across Lusaka. While different international development agencies provided the funding for these evaluations, UK-based sports agencies were responsible for the day-to-day overseeing of incountry stakeholders and deliverers. Five different NGOs were involved in the evaluated projects, two of which were indigenous NGOs, developed and managed by local people, the other three were international NGOs but managed by in-country local staff. This section builds on the previous by also questioning the possibility and value of collecting “robust” evidence and discussing some of the challenges personally experienced when attempting to do this. The first part discusses how Global North/South power dynamics influence the process of monitoring and evaluation, including how this shapes the relationship between evaluators and NGO staff, how monitoring and evaluation is perceived by NGO staff and, in turn, how this affects the type of data external evaluators are able to collect. The second part considers how Global North donors may shape the type of data that are collected and how relevant and valuable this actually is for NGO staff working “on the ground.” The discussion that follows reflects explicitly on donor funded projects and donor funded external evaluation systems undertaken for the “internal audiences” of the UK sporting and development agencies that managed and funded the projects respectively. We do recognize that other models of evaluation take place including locally initiated evaluation and donor imposed self-evaluation by NGO staff. While the sporting agencies had some interest in understanding delivery mechanisms, the interests of the development agencies were primarily centered on gaining evidence of impact and justification of future budgets. These complexities contribute further to the points developed in the previous section by both demonstrating the overlapping purposes of specific evaluations and indicating that evaluations may be commissioned for somewhat narrow self-interest among organizations already committed to funding sport-for-development. Grand aspirations of “legitimizing sport-for-development as a field” (Network for Sport and Development, 2009, p. 5) appeared absent.
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From our experiences of working on this type of evaluation, we would argue that requests for evidence and the belief that robust evidence can be collected seemingly ignores the inherent power dynamics that exist between Global North funding agencies, Global North researchers, Global South NGOs and on-the-ground deliverers. These dynamics, as we will discuss, affect the entire evaluation process continually shaping the type of information that can be collected. The imbalances of power that exist between donor funding agencies and NGOs have been well established within international development literature (Eabrahim, 2003; Easterley, 2002) and there is a growing recognition within sport-for-development of how these shape and influence practice (Beacom, 2007; Darnell & Hayhurst, 2011; Kay, 2012). The hierarchical lines of power that are transmitted down from funding agencies to NGOs inevitably exert considerable influence on how evaluation is interpreted and understood by in-country NGO staff, the peer leaders and young people who take part in the projects in the various compound communities. Supporting the points we raised earlier in the chapter, while evaluation is often “sold” to NGO staff as supporting and enhancing their practice, the NGOs we worked with rarely saw it as anything other than an assessment of their capabilities and capacity to deliver impacts determined by funding agencies. Therefore, from the outset, the ability of us as external evaluators to capture the day-to-day realities of what happens within sport-for-development projects in any sort of meaningful or useful manner is potentially limited. For NGOs we worked with, concerned about further funding, providing anything other than a positive picture of their practice would be a foolish and risky endeavor. Inevitably, what is presented to external evaluators tends to be “packaged” by NGO staff to provide a particular image that they believe the funding agency wants to see. It is useful to illustrate what NGO staff believe is at stake when engaging with evaluation via a specific example. One project worked on provided funding for the employment of additional NGO staff to oversee the program across several different provinces. These positions were filled by individuals who had previously been working in the capacity of voluntary peer leaders on other projects with the NGO. They were from highly impoverished compound communities. For these individuals, therefore, the UKfunded roles represented a significant opportunity, providing regular paid employment that generally would have been unavailable to them within their compound communities. They had previously relied on piecemeal, unsecured paid work for their livelihoods and voluntary opportunities to develop their skills. The positions with the NGO provided a level of
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security for both them and their families that simply would not have been experienced previously. This context is important because it emphasizes what was at stake for these staff members when engaging with evaluation. For them, as much as we may try and suggest evaluation is undertaken to facilitate learning and program development, its connections with accountability, assessment and ultimately judgments that may have significant consequences for their livelihood were inescapable. Inevitably, staff became very nervous of communicating information that may suggest they were not meeting the ambitious outcomes of the funding agency and this has considerable implications for how they will assist external evaluators.
Data Collection and External Evaluation: A Balance of Power? “Outsider” evaluation experts are considered to best placed to provide the type of rigorous, objective review of practice that is required to produce the “holy grail” of a robust evidence-base (Riddel, 1999). However, our experiences would suggest it is naive to assume that external evaluators work in a social vacuum. Instead, evaluators become an intricate aspect of the topdown power relations between Global North funders and Global South recipients (Kay, 2012). Evaluators become the interface between the programs on the ground and how external donor agencies view and understand them. Within other studies (Jeanes & Kay, 2013), we have provided a fuller analysis of the inherent tensions and possible repressive power relationships that exist between Global North researchers contracted to undertake evaluation and Global South NGO staff and communities. These relations greatly restrict the type of data and information that can be collected. The context in which evaluation data are usually collected also does little to assist with reducing the North/South hierarchy. Within sport-fordevelopment, UK funders have, at least, tended to prefer the use of UKbased researchers. There are possibly a number of reasons for this: a perceived lack of capacity within country, potentially a lack of trust of the objectivity and rigor of in-country assessments and, conversely, a belief that UK-based researchers have greater knowledge and capacity to evaluate in a way that is considered trustworthy and reliable. With limited finance available, the practicalities of this approach means that evaluators such as ourselves tend to spend short, intensive periods of time in Global South countries. This has further impacts on the type of data collected. Practically, as an evaluator, to collect any data it was essential to develop a strong working partnership with the NGO staff. Ethically this is also
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desirable particularly if seeking to develop a more collaborative approach to evaluation that gives some power back to the NGO. We found ourselves as external evaluators often entering contexts with limited local knowledge and virtually no established on-the-ground relationships; the support of NGO staff was absolutely essential to gain both access and cooperation from project participants to collect data. Consequently, the idea that we can somehow be more objective and rigorous becomes questionable. Inevitably we visited communities that NGO staff felt would provide the best image of the project in action. NGOs presented young people who they were confident would communicate positive experiences and, importantly, who would demonstrate to funding agencies that their money was being well spent. These tensions were perhaps most apparent when evaluating multiple projects simultaneously, all of which were funded by different agencies and run by different NGOs in the same area. One young girl appeared at several different interviews providing a rich account of how each project had been invaluable to her and her community. She was extremely articulate and, without prompting, discussed a complex and difficult childhood, explaining how each sport development project had provided her with skills, hope and a focus to develop herself. Staff at different NGOs had clearly recognized that she would provide a compelling description of how much she valued each project. As this young girl was used as a figurehead across several projects, it prompted a consideration by us of whether she was representative of the broader community of young people taking part in the projects. Generally, though, accessing a random and diverse selection of participants is almost impossible because of the reliance on NGO staff to facilitate data collection. It is practicalities such as those described above that we must consider when seeking to answer calls for more “evidence.” As outsiders, whose reports are perceived to stimulate further funding or result in a cut to existing funding, evaluators are in an extreme position of power and authority. Inevitably, NGO staff respond by restricting the data external evaluators can access and ensure what evaluators can “reach” presents a positive image of the value and impact of the work being undertaken. Our own experiences illustrate how monitoring and evaluation can actually provide a context where NGOs resist power hierarchies and exert some agency by controlling the information that is passed back up the power chain. To consider that they would do otherwise is naı¨ ve and greatly underestimates the authority external evaluators hold. This discussion therefore raises considerable questions as to whether objective, robust and accurate data can be collected within an evaluation framework. Given such constraints and
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complexities, the likely answer is “no” and the continued quest for this type of knowledge fails to acknowledge, or grossly oversimplifies, the relationships and the repressive power dynamics that exist between funding agencies, NGOs, evaluators, and participants. As external evaluators we have been more fortunate than many in that we have been able to work with the same NGOs across a number of years in evaluating different projects. This ongoing opportunity has allowed the establishment of deeper and potentially more trusting relationships with NGO staff as the years have progressed. As reports have been developed in consultation with NGO staff and well received by funding agencies we have potentially come to be seen as more of a help and less of a hindrance. A consequence of this has been the opportunity to talk with staff in a more relaxed and informal manner. Additionally, we have gained a much better understanding of the intricacies of the communities they are working within. Through this, we have been able to speak with a broader range of young people, see more of the day-to-day realities of projects in action and recognize that, although it may feel that we am being engineered toward such a conclusion, many young people do gain considerable benefit from their involvement (Jeanes, 2013). When returning to communities year after year and meeting the same peer leaders, they also have become more open about the challenges and difficulties they face. Often they would talk about the difficulties of persuading young people to change their behavior when there is little support from broader family members. They admit that there are frequently large numbers of young people within their community who sport-for-development programs simply cannot reach and work with. Similar to Spaaij (2011), we have concluded that impacts are likely to be limited by the broader socio-political context in which projects are operating and, therefore, achieving sustainable impact is inherently challenging. We have also recognized that “absolute” understanding or “robust” evidence along Global North lines simply is not possible. We have gained greater insights and understanding from these more fulsome interactions but the additional knowledge continues to create more uncertainties and ethical tensions. The more detailed information that has begun to emerge in informal discussions is highly valuable for understanding why particular approaches may be problematic or limited, but we have had concerns that sharing such information with funding agencies would again potentially lead to negative judgments on the viability and impact of particular projects. Such is the competitive climate of funding for sport-for-development projects that there always remains the concern for NGO staff that highlighting particular weaknesses with a project will have a detrimental effect
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on project funding, even when these limitations are the result of broader structural issues beyond the control of project workers.
Formalizing Monitoring and Evaluation: Realities and Tensions We have questioned earlier in the chapter who evidence is being collected for and for what purpose. As the previous section suggests, formalized systems do not necessarily allow the type of data to be collected that NGO staff would potentially find useful. Alongside generic calls for extending the evidence-base of sport-for-development, practitioners and academics have advocated for more standardized, theory-driven approaches to evaluation (Coalter, 2007, 2010; Schulenkorf, 2012). Approaches to evaluation based on “logic models” have been increasingly popular within sport-for-development to attempt to provide consistency and transparency on what projects are attempting to achieve and how it is believed that this will happen (Savaya & Waysman, 2005). Logic models essentially provide a template that encourages project staff to consider what are the aims of their project, what resources are required to achieve these aims and what are the intended outcomes both in the short and longer term. Within broader development studies, there has been a range of critiques of the inflexibility of logic model approaches and the tendency for them to again lead to top-down program delivery and evaluation. Chambers and Pettit (2004) have critiqued how models tend to largely be devised by funding agencies that determine the aims and intended outcomes of particular projects and then pass these on to local staff to implement. This was reflective of our experience across several projects. During initial discussions with one UK sporting agency about a potential evaluation, the UK-based lead staff member commented: “the logic model we have for the project is absolutely ridiculous. It’s talking about working with thousands of people a year and achieving all these things that are impossible … we know it is ridiculous but it’s what [the funding agency] want to see happen.” Logic models for many of the projects worked on have been constructed by funding agencies in isolation and handed back to on-the-ground staff to implement, as literature suggests has previously occurred elsewhere (Chambers & Pettit, 2004; Hinton, 2004). We have also worked on projects where logic models have been constructed in collaboration between funding agencies and NGO staff. The experiences of this process have been similar to those documented by Win
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(2004) who describes her experiences of trying to develop a logic model under the guidance of foreign aid staff: We spent three days trying to fit visions, objectives, strategies and our way of seeing the world into the differently shaped blue, green and yellow cards. It was really not funny, though. It was painful. Nobody understood this method and the logic behind it. (Win, 2004, p. 125)
Similarly, the NGO staff we worked with struggled to see the relevance of the logic model, were unsure what was required of them to “populate” the model and ended up deferring to Global North’s staff opinion on what their logic model should look like just to “get it done”. The potential for the resultant logic model to continue to influence the practice of these NGO staff for the subsequent years has not been appreciated in this process. While, on the surface, the process is seemingly undertaken in partnership, in reality the outcomes that NGO staff are working toward continue to be prescribed to them. Kay (2012, p. 892) has similarly suggested: “although M + E ostensibly serves to inform program development, in reality it is inevitably shaped by the organizational requirements of those commissioning it.” This often leads to project aims that are both unrealistic and often do not reflect local need. Guest (2009) has concluded that outcomes attributed to sport-for-development projects tend to focus on constructs established within the Global North such as self-esteem, that have limited relevance or meaning in the Global South. Guest discusses how such targets are arbitrary and generally meaningless within the context of project communities, an issue we also experienced. The logic models guiding the evaluations we have worked on have required NGO staff to meet targets of raising self-esteem levels across particular numbers of participants. They have also provided quantitative targets for numbers of young people who are empowered, a concept in itself which is incredibly complex and difficult to measure. Funding agencies tend, via their logic models, to place emphasis on numbers at the expense of understanding the experiences that occur within programs. One particular project set NGO staff a target of training approximately 100 peer leaders over the period of a year. Naturally, staff felt they had to do this even if such numbers were not required to facilitate delivery of sport-for-development activities in communities. The emphasis shifted from an informal system of training that was previously in place to one where getting anybody to undertake formal training became paramount so that staff could “meet their target.” Peer leaders who had been organizing delivery for many years had attended training to help increase numbers but also many young people were being
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trained who were not necessarily returning to communities and subsequently delivering sport-for-development activities. While it could be argued that they may have gained some valuable skills via the training, conversely the emphasis on numbers was stretching the NGOs limited resources and preventing staff from working with active peer leaders on a more regular basis. Instead staff time was largely taken up by organizing numerous training sessions across communities and persuading young people to attend. Again, the needs of the NGO and especially the local communities had become lost among what funding agencies thought was needed. Because the collection of evidence becomes tied to “proving” such targets have been met, local nuances become lost within the monitoring and evaluation process.
CONCLUSION This chapter has attempted to problematize the extensive and increasing calls for improvements in the evidence-base of sport-for-development programs. It has done this by raising questions across a variety of dimensions that consider what evidence is required, for whom, to serve what purpose and how this evidence is collected in practice. Through analysis of these questions we have pinpointed a range tensions that arise in the quest for evidence. The first half of the chapter outlined the lack of specificity that exists in current calls for developing an evidence-base. These generally fail to consider what type of evidence is needed and for what purpose and, by implication therefore, suggest that any type of evidence is a positive thing and will enhance the credibility of the sport-for-development field. As the first half of the chapter indicates, such beliefs are contentious. Several assumptions have tended to drive the focus on collecting evidence, that it will “prove” the value of sport-for-development, it will lead to enhancement of future practice and it will guide the development of future policy. All of these beliefs have been deconstructed and illustrated to be questionable. First, we cannot assume that such evidence would provide a positive assessment of sport-for-development projects. Second, broader policy analysis has suggested evidence is rarely at the forefront of guiding future policy developments. Finally, we are unsure whether current “evidence” is of practical value to NGO staff or whether it even reaches them. The second half of the chapter indicates how external monitoring and evaluation, as a specific tool through which to collect evidence, is inherently
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problematic. We have suggested that Global North/Global South power imbalances will continually impact the type of evidence that is collected via external monitoring and evaluation processes, leading to questions about the value of this information particularly when intending to use such knowledge to guide future policy and enhance practice. Such information instead tends to satisfy funding agency requirements and potentially lead to future funding opportunities but does little to provide enhancements to the field that it is suggested evidence will provide. As Kay (2012) and Coalter (2010) advocate, there needs to be a move away from the notion of collecting evidence toward one that prioritizes the development of understanding. Kay (2012, p. 900) argues that in order to achieve this there is a need to disentangle monitoring and evaluation from its connections with funding and ultimately “evidence”: There is an argument, therefore, for reorientating M + E from the interminable pursuit of “definitive” evidence, which primarily addresses the priorities of external funders, to a quest for alternative types of knowledge that may prove more appropriate, valid and obtainable and offer more value to sport in development programmes in-country.
We would additionally suggest that a distinction should occur between research and monitoring and evaluation more broadly. While the three may be interchangeable to in-country staff, we would also argue that the differences also are not readily recognized within Global North-led calls for evidence. However, we believe a research-focused approach would move away from examining specific sport-for-development projects in isolation and allow opportunities to develop knowledge of wider social contexts and processes to develop the type of understanding Kay (2012) and Coalter (2010) suggest would be valuable and also support improvements in practice. The work of Spaaij (2011) in Brazil is one such example of this type of detailed research. Kay (2012) again makes a valuable point on this issue suggesting the knowledge that local staff and deliverers may find useful does not necessarily have to be generated through formalized research channels. She discusses how in projects she researched in Brazil and India: Knowledge and learning about how to use sport came not from a structured system of M + E … It was underpinned instead by detailed understanding developed through many years spent in local schools and communities. The projects were successful and dynamic and project learning was taking place … but formal information gathering systems played little role in it. (Kay, 2012, p. 897)
This raises an important issue, that knowledge and understanding is likely to be generated spontaneously within the projects themselves and does not necessarily have to come from external researchers. It is important to
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recognize the potential role we, as researchers, also have in assisting NGO staff and deliverers with sharing such knowledge. In the opening section of the chapter we illustrated that the calls for evidence within sport-for-development are focused upon using such information to provide broader legitimization of the field. We suggest that the type of research we advocate, which shifts away from evidence and in particular validating notions of the “power of sport,” may actually assist in the longer term with this aim. More nuanced and subtle understandings are likely to enhance practice and contribute to recognition of sport-for-development as a more mature field that can make a contribution to a broader development effort. The challenge is for those involved in the gathering of evidence to modify their practices so that they can make a more effective contribution to advancing the sport-for-development field in this way in the future.
FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Spaaij, R. (2011). Sport and social mobility: Crossing boundaries. London: Routledge. Ramon Spaaij’s book, and work more generally, provides excellent examples of the value of the detailed, localized research that we suggest is necessary to develop the field of sport-for-development. 2. Lindsey, I. & Gratton, A. (2012). An “international movement”? Decentering sport-for-development within Zambian communities. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 4, 91 110. This paper provides a useful illustration of the type of information that can be gathered by ethnographic studies that move away from understanding single projects in isolation and instead seek to develop whole community knowledge. The paper also outlines the potential contradictions that exist between evidence-based knowledge and data collected in this more nuanced way. 3. Kay, T. (2012). Accounting for legacy: Monitoring and evaluation in sport in development relationships. Sport in Society, 16, 888 904. Tess Kay’s paper offers an insightful critique of the relationship between monitoring and evaluation, funding agencies and accountability within sport for development. The current chapter seeks to build on several of the core arguments presented in this paper.
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4. Jeanes, R. & Kay, T. (2013). Conducting research with young people in the global south. In K. te Riele & R. Brooks (Eds.), Negotiating ethical challenges in youth research (pp. 19 30). London: Routledge. This chapter provides insights into some of the issue raised within the current study regarding imbalances of power that exist between Global North researchers and Global South NGO staff and sport-for-development participants and how this impacts on data collection. 5. Coalter, F. (2010). The politics of sport-for-development: Limited focus programmes and broad gauge problems? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45, 295 314. Fred Coalter’s work generally, and this paper specifically, is useful for understanding the rationale underpinning monitoring and evaluation within sport-for-development and also problematizing its current value.
NOTE 1. This is not to say that improving sport-for-development practice may not contribute to efforts to garner support among external policy makers but, as the arguments early in the section indicate, this is very unlikely to be a linear or short-term process.
REFERENCES Adams, A., & Harris, K. (2014). Making sense of the lack of evidence discourse, power and knowledge in the field of sport-for-development. International Journal of Public Sector Management. Beacom, A. (2007). A question of motives: Sport reciprocity and international development assistance. European Sports Management Quarterly, 7, 81 107. Chambers, R., & Pettit, J. (2004). Shifting power to make a difference. In L. Groves & R. Hinton (Eds.), Inclusive aid: Changing power and relationships in international development (pp.137 162). London: Earthscan. Coakley, J. (2011). Youth sports: What counts as “positive development?” Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 35, 306 324. Coalter, F. (2007). A wider social role for sport: Who’s keeping the score? Oxon, UK: Routledge. Coalter, F. (2010). The politics of sport-for-development: Limited focus programmes and broad gauge problems? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45, 295 314. Coalter, F. (2013). Sport-for-development: What game are we playing? Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
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Cronin, O. (2011). Comic relief review: Mapping the research on the impact of sport and development interventions. Manchester, UK: Orla Cronin Research. Darnell, S., & Hayhurst, L. (2011). Sport for decolonization: Exploring a new praxis of sportfor-development. Progress in Development Studies, 11, 183 196. Department for International Development (DfID). (n.d.). Research for development: Systematic reviews. Retrieved from http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/SystematicReviews.aspx. Accessed on September 11, 2013. Eabrahim, A. (2003). Accountability in practice: Mechanisms for NGOs. World Development, 31, 813 829. Easterley, W. (2002). The cartel of good intentions: The problem of bureaucracy in foreign aid. The Journal of Policy Reform, 5, 223 250. Guest, A. (2009). The diffusion of development-through-sport: Analysing the history and practice of the Olympic movement’s grassroots outreach to Africa. Sport in Society, 12, 1336 1352. Hartmann, D., & Kwauk, C. (2011). Sport and development: An overview, critique, and reconstruction. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 35, 284 305. Hill, M. (2005). The public policy process (4th ed.). Harlow, UK: Pearson Education. Hinton, R. (2004). Enabling inclusive aid: Changing power and relationships in international development. In L. Groves & R. Hinton (Eds.), Inclusive aid: Changing power and relationships in international development (pp. 201 220). London: Earthscan. Houlihan, B. (2005). Public sector sport policy: Developing a framework for analysis. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 40, 163 185. Jeanes, R. (2013). Educating through sport? Examining HIV/AIDS education and sport-fordevelopment through the perspectives of Zambian young people. Sport, Education and Society, 18, 388 406. Jeanes, R., & Kay, T. (2013). Conducting research with young people in the global south. In K. te Riele & R. Brooks (Eds.), Negotiating ethical challenges in youth research (pp. 19 30). London: Routledge. Kay, T. (2009). Developing through sport: Evidencing sport impacts on young people. Sport in Society, 12, 1177 1191. Kay, T. (2012). Accounting for legacy: Monitoring and evaluation in sport in development relationships. Sport in Society, 16, 888 904. Kidd, B. (2008). A new social movement: Sport-for-development and peace. Sport in Society, 11, 370 380. Kidd, B. & Donnelly, P. (Eds.). (2007). Literature reviews on sport-for-development and peace. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto. Lindsey, I., & Culbertson, L. (2013). The holy grail of evidence-based policy … and its distortion of sport-for-development practice. European Sports Development Network Conference, 4 5 September 2013, Edge Hill University. Mulgan, G. (2005). Government, knowledge and the business of policy making: the potential and limits of evidence-based policy. Evidence & Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice, 1, 215 226. Network for Sport and Development. (2009). Concept paper: How to monitor and evaluation sport for development projects. Copenhagen: Network for Sport and Development. Nicholls, S., Giles, A. R., & Sethna, C. (2011). Perpetuating the “lack of evidence” discourse in sport-for-development: Privileged voices, unheard stories and subjugated knowledge. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 46, 249 264.
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Nutley, S., Powell, A., & Davies, H. (2012). What counts as good evidence? Retrieved from http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/A4UEprovocationpaper2.pdf. Accessed on September 11, 2013. Richards, J., Kaufman, Z., Schulenkorf, N., Wolff, E., Gannett, K., Siefken, K., & Rodriguexz, G. (2013). Advancing the evidence base of sport-for-development: A new open-access, peer-reviewed journal. Journal of Sport-for-development, 1, 1 3. Riddel, R. (1999). Evaluating NGO development interventions. In D. Lewis (Ed.), International perspectives on voluntary action: Reshaping the third sector (pp. 222 241). London: Earthscan. Savaya, R., & Waysman, M. (2005). The logic model: A tool for incorporating theory in development and evaluation of programs. Administration in Social Work, 29, 85 103. Schulenkorf, N. (2012). Sustainable community development through sport and events: A conceptual framework for sport-for-development projects. Sport Management Review, 15, 1 12. Smith, K. E., & Joyce, K. E. (2012). Capturing complex realities: Understanding efforts to achieve evidence-based policy and practice in public health. Evidence & Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice, 8, 57 78. Spaaij, R. (2011). Sport and social mobility: Crossing boundaries. London: Routledge. Substance. (2013). Sport works. Retrieved from http://www.sported.org.uk/what-we-do/sportworks. Accessed on September 11, 2013. United Nations. (2012). Sport-for-development and peace: Mainstreaming a versatile instrument. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/sport/shared/sport/pdfs/SG%27s %20Reports%20to%20GA/A-67-282/A-67-282_English.pdf. Accessed on September 11, 2013. Veal, A. J. (2002). Leisure and tourism policy and planning (2nd ed.). Wallingford, UK: Cabi Publishing. Win, E. (2004). If it doesn’t fit on the blue square it’s out! An open letter to my donor friend. In L. Groves & R. Hinton (Eds.), Inclusive aid: Changing power and relationships in international development (pp. 123 127). London: Earthscan.
CHAPTER 11 MEGA-EVENTS, SPORT LEGACIES AND SOCIOLOGICALLY INFORMED IMPACT ASSESSMENT Michael Atkinson and Amanda De Lisio ABSTRACT Purpose While discourse abounds regarding the potential impacts of sports mega events on host cities, existing ideologies about, strategies for, and systematic examinations of “legacy” effects are poorly understood. This chapter presents a sociological examination of the sport mega-event legacy measurement process. Design/methodology/approach In this chapter, we reflect on our own involvement in legacy evaluation in the context of the 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games in Toronto to examine existing legacy measurement strategies, review their findings, and present a theoretical detour via the past for consideration in future sociological contributions to the legacy measurement process. Findings Data discussed in this chapter suggest a need for the creation of a more sociologically informed, methodologically robust and piecemeal rather than Utopian-oriented “report card” measurement device for legacy evaluation.
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Practical implications Based on the review of evidence, we contend that if sociologists of sport remain committed to keeping their roles, as public intellectuals, applied researchers or participatory activists in the sport for development/legacy nexus, those involved might do so with a greater attention to focusing on what Karl Popper (1961) refers to as piecemeal social engineering strategies and measurements, and attending to those legacies both on and off the event organizing committee radar screen. Keywords: Legacy; evaluation; social engineering; policy; methodology
INTRODUCTION: ON BEING SOCIOLOGICAL IN NON-SOCIOLOGICAL PLACES In 2012, we helped to develop a sports legacies research group at the University of Toronto called the Sports Legacies Research Collaborative (SLRC). The task of the SLRC, somewhat akin to the sports legacies “Think Tank” at the University of British Columbia, is to act as a hub, or research network, for North American scholars centrally interested in the practice of politics of sport mega-event impact analysis. The formation of the SLRC followed a collective recognition within the university that the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games in Toronto could be strategically utilized as a platform for multi-disciplinary work on sports mega-events as civic experiments of sorts. The SLRC has, over the course of time, partnered with a range of community stakeholders, government and nongovernment groups, and interested academics in a collective effort to flesh out empirical and conceptual understandings of how mega-events like the Pan Am Games implicitly or explicitly intervene on the physical cultural, socioeconomic, and urban geographic realities of host cities. Early in the SLRC’s genesis, several of its members were approached by a not-for-profit private sector group in Toronto mandated with community integration initiatives in the city. This organization funds community projects geared toward urban revitalization, and is embedded within a full range of sport-for-development programming in the city. Our group was asked to join one of this organization’s multi-institutional sport-fordevelopment initiatives (an umbrella program we refer to in this chapter as the “Raising the Bar” campaign) for “leveraging” the Pan Am Games in 2015 as an urban rebuilding opportunity. As one of over thirty partners
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in the “Raising the Bar” initiative, members from the SLRC were asked to aid in the development of a legacy measurement system, or scorecard of sorts, for assessing the multi-level and multi-dimensional social impacts of the Games in Toronto. For just over a year, we worked within the “Raising the Bar” program as legacy evaluation strategists, but eventually withdrew owing in part to the sheer difficulty for many of us in the SLRC to grasp, conceptualize, and/or devise measures of either the real or imaginary legacy impacts Pan Am 2015 as envisioned by the group. Our collective confusion as sociologists on a broader team of sports evangelists led us to (re)analyze the methodological links between theory, evidence, and public intervention in mega-event research. Quite simply, we were well aware of the myriad tools used to measure the “legacies” of major games. Cashman (2003) identifies six core clusters of legacy “leftovers” studied by sports policy makers and analysts: economic; physical infrastructure; education; public life [and welfare], politics and culture; sport; symbols, memory, and cultural history. Roughly speaking, each of these conceptual categories manifest into legacy planning for major Games including the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games, World Cup [of football], and others (Corneilssen, 2011). A flourishing sport management and quasi-sociologically informed sportfor-development literature contains dozens of articles reviewing existing sport legacy “success” and event/sport policy effectiveness (see Chen, Henry, & Ko, 2013). Academics contributing to the sport-for-development/ mega-event literature have documented the material, social and ideological effects, producing (now) meta-review after meta-review of the (normally quantitative/economic) effects of major Games on host cities (see McCartney et al., 2010). In short, there is no dearth of academic information on imperative of measuring legacy, the sorts of legacies promoted by major sports organizations and powerful elites in host cities, critiques of existing legacy measurement systems, and calls for rigorous sociological dissections of sport-based social policy. Apt suggestions for specific “indicator” use, technical expertise in identifying sources of data, the need to combine quantitative and qualitative data collection strategies, and how to conduct “meta syntheses” of existing reports are offered, but largely with a prototypically “technical” rather than sociologically explanatory flair (Chen et al., 2013). As a result, existing studies of legacy measurement provide little guidance for those sociologists of physical culture entrenched in the measurement process with policy makers, event planners, and evaluators. By and large, sociologists have not inscribed sociological (that is, theoretical) insight into all stages of the measurement process. We see
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missed opportunities to write and test theoretical explanations of how/why events change the social fabric (or not) in the practice of measuring sportbased legacies. Returning to our case study, the community organization recruiting the SLRC into the sports legacy evaluation field in Toronto had been named by HostCo (a group responsible for the strategic management of Pan Am 2015) as the group responsible for the event’s legacy evaluation. Their task is to examine whether the 2015 Pan American Games will create healthier, more active, and stronger communities in the city. From the very beginning, this group’s relation to the rapidly expanding Pan Am 2015 legacy institutional infrastructure in Toronto became difficult to conceive. The “business” of legacy in a host region like Toronto is socially thick, bureaucratic, multi-organizational, and at times, both interdependent and widely dispersed. The community organization with whom we worked had legacy relations with, to name a few, TO2015 (organizing committee), Sport Canada, the provincial government of Ontario, The Ontario Trillium Foundation, Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Get Active Toronto, the YMCA of Canada, and scores of others. Each, apparently, would contribute in one city program or another to help in the realization of one or more legacy initiatives. Early on in our partnership with the community organization, we learned that they envision Pan Am 2015 as a chance for people within the broader geographic “footprint” of the Games (i.e., southern Ontario) to: enhance social networks and develop “social capital”; determine how to leverage the Games and explore program ideas which will develop social capital, and lead to healthier, more active and stronger communities; ensure commitment to find ways to implement research, programs and evaluation before, during and after the Games. Our collective problem, as “hired” sociological guns in a community group, was three-fold. First, simply conceptualizing the size, scope, and institutional mapping of the players, stakeholders, policy initiatives, programs, offices involved, and desired outcomes proved daunting. With hundreds of groups clamoring to claim a piece of the Pan Am legacy pie, we were befuddled by the lack of a homologically tight urban regeneration game plan; or at least, by the limited roadmap for deciphering who, precisely, was in charge of what related to policy, new programs, infrastructure, community outreach and so forth; namely the “on the ground” strategies for measuring change. Second, and much to our surprise, most of the government and non-governmental groups with whom we consulted had little to no conception of how the social development/legacy strategies
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expressed in the 2015 Games bid book could be realized in the short or long-term through specific policies or programs. Third, relatively no one within the “Raising the Bar” conglomerate could articulate why or how any legacy program surrounding the Games should work in principle. To fully grasp the sheer number of moving legacy “parts” machined into Pan Am 2105 social interventions, we first scoured the actual 2015 Games bid book. The “for public consumption” bid book is a massive, 245 page treatise on the legacy planning accompanying the 2015 Pan Am Games. In the book, sweeping and grand claims are offered as to the potential effect of the Games on revitalizing, reinvigorating, and redrawing the city of Toronto through sport. While there exists, to the best of our knowledge, no systematic review of mega-event “bid book” legacy promises, a cursory review of those from recent Games including Pan Am 2011 (Guadalajara, Mexico), the 2104 Commonwealth Games (Glasgow, Scotland), the 2014 FIFA World Cup (Brazil), the 2010 (London, England), 2014 (Sochi, Russia), and 2016 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Olympic Games are similarly laced with grandiose urban regeneration promises. As articulated in the Pan Am 2015 Games bid book summary, the legacy “plan” would be built upon the four pillars of the Canadian Sport Policy; or simply, the foundational ideologies and practices for [elite] sport in Canada. These pillars are: participation, excellence, capacity, and interaction. The so-called domestic legacy would be geared toward complementing existing sport programming in the city and helping to provide an “unprecedented opportunity” for sport in the Province of Ontario through better sport infrastructure and sport development. From there, legacy planning became much more murky and conceptually challenging. The document, officially titled Toronto 2015: Your Moment is Here, then raises the proverbial legacy bar by emphasizing how the Games will, at a minimum (p. 200): • Incorporate cultural awareness initiatives and celebrations. Many of these, such as art exhibits and commissioned sculptural pieces, will remain as part of Toronto’s cultural mosaic long after the Games; • Give young people in Toronto a range of unique opportunities, including the opportunity to experience the developmental potential of sport. Toronto 2015 will work to engage youth in the planning and staging of the Games; • Foster an environment of inclusion of broad and sincere involvement of the diverse communities that constitute the mosaic of Canada; and, • The new infrastructure built for the Games, primarily the Pan American Village, the CSIO, the Pan American Aquatics Centre and the paired
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Athletics Stadium and Velodrome, will help revitalize the communities in which they are located. These facilities will increase post-Games social inclusion opportunities through increased participation and grassroots programming, re-develop currently under-utilized areas of the urban landscape, re-develop brownfields, enhance the transportation network and create economic opportunity. From there, and as echoed in the city hall meetings, policy sessions, legacy planning events, SLRC-sponsored roundtables, and other events we attended through the “Raising the Bar” program, a related three-pronged legacy strategy (ostensibly to be shared by all disparate groups working in Toronto to leverage the Games as a social rebuilding opportunity) emerged; described as one buttressed by a need to use the mega event as a means of stimulating “social capital” (the new conceptual buzzword in sport legacy policy corners) in the city as the “trigger” for creating social change (Nicholson & Hoye, 2008). Social capital seems to mean, in the case of Pan Am 2015 and legacy, the facilitation of social networks facilitating community participation and problem-solving; to be sure, in no policy discussions are the sociological roots of the concept explored. While not exhaustive, legacy advocates in the “Raising the Bar” campaign believe the Games could be instrumental in the social capital-related categories outlined in Table 1. The Pan Am 2015 legacy promises read, in the best instance, as the standard legacy template for all mega-events; and in the worst, as untenable policy cliche´. Any single strategic legacy goal outlined in Table 1 could Table 1.
The Main Legacy Promises of Pan Am 2015.
Social Change and Development • Social integration and community-building • Economic development • Urban renewal • Education reform • Arts and culture investment • Regional identity and civic pride benefits • Decreased crime • Human rights and equity improvement
Sustainable Health Communities • New funding systems and infrastructures • Participation opportunities • Healthy, active transport systems • Population health benefits and disease prevention • Health care infrastructural regeneration • Positive environmental impacts
High Performance Sport • Infrastructural development (high performance sport) • Long-term talent identification and skill development • Athlete safety • Measureable performance outcomes • Commercial investment in sport • Technological development
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have hundreds of programmatic manifestations, involving any number of people. No road map for achieving these goals exists to date, and no overview or architectural diagram for establishing the interconnections, logistics, synergies, or resource distribution between all those involved in legacy programming, implementation, or evaluation could be formulated. In this mega-event policy and praxis cacophony, how could any sociologist, or team of sociologists begin to fathom, let alone help measure, these legacy processes? In the remainder of this chapter, we examine existing measurement strategies, review their findings, and present a theoretical detour via the past for consideration in future sociological contributions to the legacy measurement process. Our goal is not to move toward the creation of a more sociologically informed, methodologically robust “report card” measurement device for legacy evaluation. Rather, we contend that if sociologists of sport and others remain committed to keeping their seats, as public intellectuals, applied researchers or participatory activists on the sport-for-development/ legacy building train, those involved might do so with a greater attention to sociological theories informing how social engineering might work in practice, and to measuring those legacies both on and off the event organizing committee radar screen.
THE REALITIES OF MEGA-EVENTS AND THEIR MEASUREMENT To date, the most developed and internationally accepted measurement “scorecard” for documenting the impact of a mega-event on a host region is The Olympic Games Impact (OGI) tool. The OGI was developed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to measure and assign attribution to the potential effects of the Olympic and Paralympic Games on the host city, region and country, their environment and their citizens. Standardized data for 126 environmental, sociocultural, and economic indicators are to be collected in each OGI exercise. The IOC’s Technical Manual on OGI describes the purpose and scope of each indicator as well as its recommended calculation methods and measurement procedures. These 126 sustainability indicators compose of 80 indicators that assess the context within which the Games are being held, and 46 indicators geared to provide assessment of the Olympic event itself. Depending on the indicators’ characteristics, data are requested for different geographic scales, ranging from the municipal level to the national level.
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The OGI study covers a period of twelve years and involves a series of four reports for any Olympic Games. The first is a Baseline Report which provides “contextual data” (region specific demographic, and census-like data) to serve as a baseline for the subsequent reports, and it is focused on the indicators data for the reference year (i.e., two years prior to the host city election). The Baseline Report is followed by a Pre-Games Report, which analyzes updated contextual data. Next, a Games-Time Report (to examine Olympic-event data) and a Post-Games Report (to assess updated data, summarize findings from previous reports, and provide final conclusion about the impact of the Olympic Games) conclude the OGI Study. While the OGI is a definitive step forward for pre-planning a legacy evaluation strategy, it suffers from the same ill as so many other of the more local or one-off host region evaluation strategy. Emphasis is given to creating a veritable legacy census, with conceiving and measuring the outcomes of legacy taking precedence over building a tool that allows people to interpretively envision the sociological process of socio-genesis through a major event.
What Impact? The Results are In … and Out Based on the legacy evaluation literature, it is clear that as convoluted and contested as the discussion of legacy leveraging strategies and their measurement for mega-event host communities has become, the results are quite simply understandable. Getz (1989) was one of the first to define, theorize, and assess the impact of a mega-event on urban and social regeneration. His work is relevant now in that he emphasized the need to avoid a universal definition or even, transferable impact, for an event at the local scale: “Accordingly, any definition of special events [as legacy initiatives] should be designed to meet particular planning needs a universal definition is probably not practical” (Getz, 1989, p. 125). In planning for an event, leveraging strategies must depend on the local context whatever resource is available and whatever need is needed to be addressed. In relation to the evaluation of such strategies, these too need to be adjusted to suit the particular objective of those interested in determining an impact. The host context is fluid, unstable, and unpredictable. Data collection must allow for contingencies rather than strict standardization. While the evaluation of leveraging strategies often does call for a fixed [methodological, conceptual, theoretical] framework on an unfixed context, care should be taken to recognize the contradictory and fragmented nature of event hosting. Overall, leveraging strategies continually fail to create the impact initially
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intended (Malfas, Houlihan, & Theodoraki, 2004; McCartney et al., 2010; Shipway, 2007; Veal, 2003; Veal, Toohey, & Frawley, 2012), and of more importance to us, those legacies not measured by existing strategies teach us, once more, about the need for more in-depth sociological contributions to the measurement process. Socioeconomic Legacies Measuring the socioeconomic legacies of major Games predominates in global legacy evaluation policy and strategy. The results of macro-structural economic analysis are promising for sports evangelists. For example, in Atlanta, in preparation for 1996 Olympic Games, an investment of $2 billion was made in Olympic-related projects. As a result, over 580,000 new jobs were created in the region between 1991 and 1997 (Malfas, Houlihan, & Theodoraki, 2004). Research commissioned by the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated that the cumulative economic impact of the Olympic Games between 1991 and 1997 was $5.1 billion (Stevens & Bevan, 1999). Barcelona, host of the 1992 Olympic Games, had a similar experience, in that from October 1986 to July 1992, the general rate of unemployment fell from 18.4 to 9.6% (Brunet, 1995). While this research does help to illuminate the rise in job creation as aspects of economic growth, there is alternative evidence to critique the quality and duration of these opportunities. For example, Schimmel (1995) has argued that career opportunities associated to such an event often offer part-time, low-paying salaries while Hiller (2000) has added that the vast majority of these anticipated opportunities are also short-lived. Adding further to this evidence, Migue´lez and Carrasquer (1995) report that the Olympics in Barcelona created a limited number of new permanent jobs since most of the Olympic-related jobs were temporary. In the context of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, Olympic “momentum” was used to promote policies that shifted public responsibilities to the private sector. For example, one such initiative worked to address social inclusion through market-based intervention. In an attempt to socially leverage 2010, local parties in power created, “Building Opportunities with Business” (BOB), in order to mend the downgraded labor opportunities experienced by those living in the Downtown Eastside. The program was intended to support local business development and increase job opportunities for the inner-city population. According to the website: BOB is a connector, a resource and facilitator working to: strengthen the inner city’s community capacity; identify and build on untapped business opportunity; improve employment opportunities and retention; and increase investment in Vancouver’s innercity. (http://www.bobics.org/)
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Surborg, and Wyly (2012) systematically examined the effect of this (socalled) social inclusion commitment on local host communities: The products for sale are the traditional duties and responsibilities of government and civil society. The clients are already powerful politicians, bureaucrats, consultants and business leaders who are accorded even greater special powers in the name of an “once-in-a-lifetime” mega-event and its planning needs. (p. 4)
Local governments (municipal and provincial) within Vancouver, when hit with the transnational corporatist force of an international (sporting) federation such as the International Olympic Committee, were found to corporatize social welfare policies (through the creation of intern and volunteer opportunities) and entrepreneurialize the most vulnerable population within the Greater Vancouver Area. The nature of this effort caused the local Olympic growth machine to act as a “neoliberal social trustee” (p. 16) creating a quasi-private organization, with the intent to tackle structural inequalities of inclusion in an era of real estate capitalization and landmarket speculation. Land originally allocated for affordable social housing, desperately needed in the Downtown Eastside, was sold for private development and provincial legislation (i.e., “Assistance to Shelter Act”) was passed to award police new power to remove homeless and transient people from the street into city shelters. Marginalized communities in Vancouver were encouraged to intern, volunteer or work for minimum wage on constructing Olympic-related infrastructure. Similarly, with respect to employment opportunities related to London 2012 Olympic Park construction, it is still unknown as to which local firms and organizations stemmed from host boroughs (Gold & Gold, 2013). If social and economic sustainability are key aspects of event hosting, it is difficult to determine how these broad terms are operationalized to enhance local realities or work to address deficiencies relevant to those living in host communities. The socioeconomic strategies introduced in the staging of an internationally recognized (sport) mega-event will reflect the dominant ideologies of local parties in power. It is not that capitalism or corporatization created the crisis or event; it is more that this economic and political framework has continued to fuel the response. Measuring these processes, quite predictably, has largely fallen out of the agendas or off the scorecards of legacy evaluators. Sociocultural Legacies If contemporary mega-event host cities offer a context to measure the perpetual negotiations by various individuals and organizations over what can be done and by whom and to what end within the city, the consequences
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of event-led urbanization and their attendant legacies is written all over the built environment. Research documenting the sociocultural impact of eventled urbanization such as the review of housing rights violations conducted the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) has uncovered some of the devastating inequalities exacerbated in former host cities (see www.cohre.org). COHRE is an independent, international, nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland that has (since Seoul, 1988) worked to document the eviction, displacement and subsequent violation of civil liberties in mega-event host cities. Evidence from the organization has informed a series of critical studies which have illustrated the impact of event-led development on land use. The popularized rhetoric for which is one of improved, affordable housing stock but that is often not the case. For example, in Barcelona, Spain, the housing complexes intended for low-income families were demolished to make room for further Olympic-esque construction in 1990 (see Hughes, 1992; Va´zquez Montalba´n, 1990/1992). The slum settlements in Aspropyrgos and Ano Liosia were demolished under this law, leaving families with no homes and a mere 100,000 drachmas (US $266) as compensation. New facilities were never built on either site nor were the old restored (COHRE, 2007). Even if properties are left untouched in the construction of new facilities, the influx of people into an urban environment on the brink of a mega-event will pose an additional threat to low-income, rental communities. Increases in tourism cause a fluctuation in the demand for single room occupancies (SRO), which increases the likelihood that those of a lower-income status, unable to compete in a more competitive market, will be forced from their current residences. Sydney, Australia, also suffered a drastic increase to rent in the low-income properties situated next to the constructed Olympic Park following the 2000 Olympics (Lenskyj, 2002). Like the initiation of quasipublic agencies, the commonness of such rapid urbanization, and the forced evacuation that has been shown to follow, has made the displacement of local communities a foreknown outcome or “unknown known” (Horne, 2007) for former host cities. Quite simply, grand scale measurement systems such as the OGI, or small-scale monitoring and evaluation “toolkits” fashioned in host cities to examine very specific legacy programs (such as the “Neighborhood Games” in the city of Toronto for Pan Am 2015; http://www.toronto2015.org/culture-events). The heightened amount of displacement experienced within host cities has also been continually cited in the mega-event literature as it is said to lend to the induction of new “civil liberties” policies which act to securitize the area and, in doing so, offer a sense of surveillance and safety for
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(certain) people. Since the beginning of the millennium there has been an upsurge of research on terrorism and the sport mega-event. As Atkinson and Young (2012) illustrated: Concerns about security at the Olympics closely paralleled American fears about terrorism and the degree to which systems of civil protection could be breached by “foreigners.” (p. 287)
Equally important to include in this notion of “foreigners” are those less celebrated host communities often criminalized and policed via eventrelated risk management strategies. For example, Lenskyj (2000) has demonstrated quite admirably that activities otherwise asserted as a basic human right, such as sitting, sleeping and bathing, are banned from host cities in the wake of a mega-event. Furthermore, her work has also drawn attention to the newly implemented anti-homelessness policies erected around events such as the Olympic Games that suddenly place homeless people at an increasing risk of harassment and unfair arrest. There is also an intensified investment in surveillance technologies and personnel, while urban architecture (even in space deemed public) can be used to reinforce the law park benches are shortened to hinder excessive loitering, retail doorways are gated, and public toilets are removed (Mitchell, 1997). In Atlanta, for example, over 9,000 homeless people, most of who were of African-American descent, were arrested for activities such as sleeping in parks or on the street and entering a parking lot without owning a car. All these kinds of behaviors became criminal in 1996, directly before the Summer Olympic event. In Athens, Greece, local authorities established a law that would allow land to be seized from host communities for Olympicrelated construction. Unfortunately, these outcomes from event-led urbanization are difficult to reverse once written into the legal system and physically rendered in stone, steel, and glass. However temporary the event itself is, the impact on the urban landscape has, as demonstrated above, created a permanent effect. Despite the omission of these legacies from the bid document, for those (ab)used in the process, these legacies are impossible to avoid; and rarely are they measured. Physical Cultural Legacies With the Olympic Movement ascending upon the “developing” world, starting in 1968 with the Mexico City Games, local civic opposition started to protest event-related investment in the face of mounting socioeconomic inequalities. As Gold and Gold (2008) illustrate, the unproblematic approach of coupling a (sport) mega-event with urban renewal started to
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complicate disparities emanating from the political spectrum. Loosely defined “social” legacies emerged as a mechanism to pacify host communities and were soon likened to health and wellness strategies, which targeted the lifestyle choices of those always-already privileged in event development. For example, in the context of the 1996 Olympic Games, the Georgia-state Ministry of Health started to plan for event-related health legacies immediately after Atlanta won the bid in 1990. One eventual action taken was the creation of a health promotion brochure that was mailed with ticket information to those who participated in the Olympic ticket lottery. Information covered in the brochure included physical fitness, injury prevention, health care and insurance and tobacco use (Meehan et al., 1998). In the case of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, a non-smoking policy was enforced in all premises related to the Organizing Committee while condoms were distributed, free of charge, in the Olympic Village. Atlanta and Athens relied predominantly on information-based health strategies (i.e., brochures, public health campaigns) while Vancouver, host of the 2010 Winter Olympics and London, host of the 2012 Summer Olympics, focused on behavior-based health strategies (i.e., programs and policies). In Vancouver, the quest to garner health legacies for 2010 host communities led to the inception of ActNow BC, a cross-ministerial, intersectoral umbrella organization with the intention to make British Columbia “the healthiest jurisdiction ever to host an Olympic and Paralympic Games” (BC Healthy Living Alliance, 2005, p. 28). As an organization, ActNow BC maintained two distinctive funding strategies. First, it provided a onetime endowment to the Union of BC Municipalities, the BC Health Living Alliance (BCHLA), and 2010 Legacies Now. The endowment given to BCHLA and 2010 Legacies Now marked the largest transfer of financial support ($30 million) from a provincial government to a non-government, health promotion organization (Geneau, Fraser, Legowski, & Stachenko, 2009). Second, in order to leverage government ministries (e.g., Ministry of Transport, Education, Community Services, etc.), ActNow BC retained an incentive fund in the amount of $15 million payable over a three-year period. The incentive fund supported policies/programming that worked to accomplish their Olympic-related objective via strategies, which tackled physical activity, healthy eating, tobacco use, overweight/obesity, and healthy choices in pregnancy. Between 2005 and 2008, the incentive fund supported 30 different strategies from ten ministries (Geneau et al., 2009). The Ministry of Education, for instance, received classroom-based support from ActNow BC in implementing a number of school health policies such
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as “Daily Physical Activity” (DPA), which mandated youth in the province to participate in moderate to vigorous physical activities and record this participation online in order to graduate. For London, the attention directed at promoting sustainable health legacies with an emphasis on mass participation in sport, exercise and physical activity created the impetus for the Department of Health to launch “Active Celebration,” a London-wide database for sporting agencies and facilities (http://www.getactivelondon. com/). Sport England also implemented “Places to Play” which focused on providing facilities, coaches, and opportunities for local communities to participate in sport. Despite the absence of evidence to demonstrate even one health outcome from these previous leveraging strategies (McCartney et al., 2010), the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia also claimed to incite the “popularization of a healthy way of living” (http://www.sochi2014.com) while the 2014 Commonwealth Games is said “to inspire more Scots to get active” (http://www.glasgow2014.com). The belief advanced (without critique) is that an increased exposure (for some) to elite athletic competition, coupled with the improved access to state-of-the-art facilities (for fewer) will transfer into a renewed commitment to health and physical activity for all (Hindson, Gidlow, & Peebles, 1994; Hogan & Norton, 2000; McCartney et al., 2010; Shipway, 2007; Veal, 2003; Veal et al., 2012).
Environmental Legacies In 1992, the International Olympic Committee adopted an environmental pillar to their framework in which sustainable development became a subbranch. This was done in reaction to the revolt against the insensitive treatment of the vulnerable alpine ecosystem in Albertville, France. The protest garnered a substantial amount of negative media attention and provoked the International Olympic Committee to take written action. Nevertheless, as McKee (2008) remarks, this commitment to sustainability has continually failed to halt environmental devastation: Sustainable development or sustainable cities is understood as a question of aesthetic quality rather than, the equitable allocation of environmental risk, spatial resources, and political power. (p. 91)
Hayes and Horne (2011) argue that for all the environmental technologies offered by sports mega-events, their dominant model remains one of a hollowed-out form of sustainable development. Similarly, Flyvbjerg,
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Skamris-Holm, and Buhl (2003) conclude that civil society “does not have the same say in [mega-event] arena of public life as it does in others; citizens are typically kept at substantial distance from megaproject decision making” (p. 5). Building from this work, it is clear that a mega-event is positioned as an agent to develop, test, and disseminate environmental best practice and sustainable technologies, facilitating the creation and growth of new markets. Yet, it does not address one of the fundamental aspects of sustainable development: the inclusion of civil societies in deliberative or participatory forms of decision-making. This inherent contradiction has thus created a paradox between the desire to reveal elite, state-of-the-art, mega-infrastructure and the promise to develop the urban environment in a sustainable manner. These studies have demonstrated that a mega-event is fundamentally unsustainable not because of the tension between a de-carbonization agenda, promotion of individual mobility and consumption-based lifestyles, massive infrastructural schemes and associated high-carbon expenditure required to stage the event but rather, because the Games functions temporally to engineer a crisis of deliberative structures: the immutability of the deadlines, the stakes of the reputations, the primacy of delivery, and the scale of the watching audience engendered within a systemic violence to/on existing or potential participatory democratic structures and civil liberties. Such an argument is further supported in the work of Agyeman, Bullard, and Evans (2003) who add that the effort to develop in a more sustainable manner must entertain not just the needs of the environment but also consider wider questions of social and economic equity both within and between nations. Event-led urbanization will envision cities as global cosmopolitan communities in which sport and its attendant consumer culture is a coveted requirement. Like Scherer and Davidson (2011) note in relation to (alleged) legacies associated to a professional hockey franchise: The ideological work that these socially inclusive representations accomplish contributes a new chapter to a long-standing tradition of sport and urban boosterism, in a city often more concerned with supporting their team and world-class arenas and entertainment districts, than with more pressing socio-political concerns and disparities. (p. 174)
Within such a context, it has become more fashionable for cities to demonstrate an increased awareness for the importance of environmentally sustainable development. The uncritical adherence to policies, which act to paint the picture of sustainable development, will lead to a “gentrified notion of sustainable urban revitalization that will most likely occur at the expense of social equity concerns [ … ] and in opposition to a social justice-
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oriented interpretation of sustainability and planning in the city (Bunce, 2009, p. 663).
STRANGE CURRENCIES: SOCIOLOGICAL EVALUATIONS OF MEGA-EVENTS, SOCIO-GENESIS AND SPORT LEGACY Following extended bouts of reflexivity and introspection after our initial involvement with the “Raising the Bar” legacy group and our eventual withdrawal from them, we felt somewhat vexed as sociologists since accounting for social change is the lingua franca of sociology. Certainly, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Parsons, Spencer, and practically the classical school of sociology instructs as to the importance of understanding the process of social change within, across, and through social institutions. But from these very classics, every neophyte sociologist learns that accounting for social change involves close and careful inspection of both proximal and distal social processes spanning great periods of time. Further, all of their separate and collective works instruct that change is gradual, multidimensional, processual, fraught with tensions and conflicts, and must be interpreted as a complex interplay between historical-material conditions inherited from the past and the emergent sociopolitical realities of the present. Further still, and Marx’s own praxis-driven legacy is haunted by this fact, predicting or planning/directing large-scale social change mainly proves to be folly. As Weber (1930), Merton (1936) and Elias (1939) so eloquently and importantly add, social change occurs in largely unanticipated and unforeseen manners. Quite simply, planning grand scale change (qua sports legacies) through sport mega-event infrastructures and policies smacks with both organizational hubris and complete sociological amnesia. As a result of our experiences (as briefly summarized as they are in the forefront of this chapter), our sociological “guts” taught us that researchers encounter at least seven major sociological problems in measuring the real legacy impact(s) of sport mega-events: (1) The mega-event as a social intervention itself is poorly conceived as both having the structural and cultural capacity to create social change, as an understanding of how societies change historically/processually is predominantly absent in legacy planning and policy (Lindsey, 2008); (2) As a result of the above, creating the legacy “wish lists” through megaevent bid processes is a sociocultural “shotgun” approach in which the
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broadest range of social problems are targeted. Determining which problems take precedence, how they will be addressed through concrete mega-event related programming, why sport itself is a catalyst for change beyond the playing fields, and how concepts in the wish lists (i.e., health, well-being, sense of community, social capital etc.) are to be properly operationalized remains unclear (see Surborg & Wyly, 2012); Related to the previous point, teasing out any confounding, indirect, coterminous or otherwise related social processes not related to the mega-event but nonetheless potentially impacting measures (positively or negatively) of legacy studied both pre- and post-event (i.e., crime rates, sport participation, investment in the arts, population health, etc.) is arduous. Chen et al. (2013), for example, describe how “real effects” can be muddied by “deadweight,” “leakage,” “displacement,” “substitution” and “multiplier effect” processes. Thus many causal connections between any Games and specific social outcomes may be entirely spurious; Legacy evaluation strategies tend to be conducted in ad hoc fashions in relatively short periods before or after the events. Legacy is normally articulated and promised first in the bidding process, with sport policy or social scientific “technicians” later charged with determining a set of strategies in host cities for facilitating, monitoring, and evaluating event-related change. Further still, given that most legacy reports are presented 12 24 months post event, many of the social, cultural, economic or sport-related programs intended to create legacies may not have time to “breathe”; Social problem-solving through sport, now billed and templated as mega-event “legacy planning” tends to theoretically and tactically ignore the historical-social-cultural-ideological-political contexts of the host regions (including the meaning of sport, the nature of civic participation, or even collective resistance to the event making it difficult to know the proper empirical measurement or meaning of a mega-event legacy in a host region and whom should be involved in that evaluation. Furthermore, measurement systems focus solely on pre-, during and post-event measures that privilege easily standardized and gathered forms of impact indication (i.e., participation rates in sport, feelings of civic pride, numbers of arrests in a community, diagnoses of asthma in a region) Legacy planners and evaluators tend to either dismiss or ignore the bulk of evidence on mega-event legacy impacts illustrating, for
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example, the relatively ineffectual nature of mega-events on social redevelopment when engaged without a sensitivity to how legacy planning and monitoring is tied to other social processes in a host region leading to the problems ostensibly targeted by sport legacy initiatives (Girginov & Hills, 2008) (7) Legacy planners and evaluators have become neo-modernist social engineers without understandings of the sociological constitution of macro-structural, institutional, or everyday life aspects of host regions. Compounding this, those sociologists of sport, sport management educators, sports policy experts and research methodologists increasingly interested in and charged with aiding in sport-mega event legacy evaluation may possess keen social scientific insight on how societies work (and specifically, how sport in society operates institutionally), but are similarly unqualified as social engineers. Measuring, then, the real or imagined legacy of a sports mega-event along sociological lines demands first an awareness of such legacy planning as empirically sensitive but theoretically uniformed attempts at social engineering. As such, our emerging understanding of the perils of legacy measurement is grounded in Popper’s (1961, 1966) articulation of social engineering processes and their realities. In The Poverty of Historicism (1961), and again in The Open Society and Its Enemies (1966) Karl Popper used the phrases social engineering and social technology when writing about social and political reform. In the former book, he coins the terms piecemeal social engineering and Utopian social engineering to denote two different approaches to broad scale reform. The first refers to fixing or amending one or more small scale aspects of social life deemed problematic, that if addressed could “cure” a social ill (e.g., changing federal investment in sport in Canada to facilitate sport participation). The second refers to massive and sweeping (usually multiinstitutional and ideological) social reform (e.g., altering the economy, the educational system, family life, etc. to facilitative a sport-based society). Although Popper did not coin the term social engineering, the terms piecemeal engineering and utopian engineering, and the distinction between the two, are his. Popper argued passionately for the former and equally strongly against the latter as an ideology for social policy and change. In The Poverty of Historicism Popper describes the “social technologist” (e.g., policy maker, moral entrepreneur, social reformer, government official, social movement group) as one who does not merely tell citizens to adjust to coming events that we can do nothing to prevent. Rather, the
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technologist tells a citizenry what people need to know if progressive social engineering is to result. He writes: In opposition to the historicist methodology, we could conceive of a methodology [of piecemeal engineering] which aims at a technological social science. Such a methodology would lead to the study of the general laws of social life with the aim of finding all those facts which would be indispensable as a basis for the work of everyone seeking to reform social institutions. (1961, p. 45)
There are, Popper contended, two basically different ways in which social engineers can use the results of a technological social science to reform social institutions, and this led him to a distinction between two kinds of social engineering. Popper (1961, p. 64) writes, “Just as the main task of the physical engineer is to design machines and to remodel and service them, the task of the piecemeal social engineer is to design social institutions and to reconstruct and run those already in existence.” In The Open Society and Its Enemies (1966), Popper elaborates on the distinction between piecemeal and Utopian social engineering. According to him, the Utopian approach flows from an insistence on determining one’s ultimate political goal, one’s ideal state, before taking any practical action. Here, the tone, content and thrust behind sport mega-event legacy planning (and its ad hoc measurement) resonates as Utopian social engineering programs. On the other hand, the piecemeal approach flows from the insistence on attempting to locate and eradicate the greatest and most urgent social evils. Utopian social engineering, Popper claims, requires the centralized rule of a few, the suppression of dissent and, ultimately, the use of violence instead of reason to settle the disputes that arise in the pursuit of the ultimate goals of the engineers. Piecemeal social engineering, if both well reasoned and inclusive, allows for democratic action, the tolerance of dissent, and the use of compromise to settle political disputes. Especially odious to Popper were the culturally insensitive, and potentially barbaric, methods often associated with Utopian engineering. The “canvas cleaning” approach to the reconstruction of society represents an attempt to wipe the sociocultural slate clean and redraw an entire society from scratch based on a blueprint drawn up by self-appointed visionaries. As Eichberg’s (2010) stinging critique of the utopian-esque State-based “sport for all” ideologies similarly describes: Sport for all needs a philosophy on its own. Such a philosophy cannot be derived from what has been developed on the basis of competitive elite sport … As soon as sport is understood as the duty of all individuals, this promotes compulsory sport. [Sport for all] would rather be something like state sport for the population … and it
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could even be sport against the people. The “all” of civil society are others than the all of the State logic.
Like Popper and Eichberg, we remain theoretically and methodologically suspect of Utopian social engineering plans (involving sport or other social forms of interaction). Throughout our reflections on the legacy measurement processes associated with Pan Am 2015, we could not help interpret the current sports legacy oeuvre as a rebirth of structural functionalist thinking in both social policy and academic spheres. While structural functionalist paradigms have been eschewed by sociologists of sport for decades as overtly modernist, grand theoretical, conservative, and patriarchal, our implicit involvement in functionalist themed (and we might add economically neo-conservative) attempts at socially re-engineering institutional life through sport is more than curious, it borders on the ironic. Rejecting the idea that sport-for-development (including mega-event leveraging for social rebuilding) policies and programs are laced with Parsonian (1949) systems theory themes, particularly his “AGIL” (adaptation, goal attainment, integration, latency) model of social system growth and survival, becomes difficult over time. Parsons (1949) argued that in order to survive, any broad social system must perform four functions. Adaptation refers to a system’s need to transform within environment in order to meet the needs of the system. Goal attainment refers to a system’s need to create and achieve goals for its members, while integration refers to the need of a system to coordinate the interrelationships among its component parts. Latency, or pattern maintenance, refers to the need of a system to provide and renew the motivation of individuals and the patterns of culture that motivate people. Parsons (1949) linked the four functional imperatives to four subsystems in society. The economy performs the adaptation function through labor, production, and allocation. The polity, or political system, performs the function of goal-attainment by determining social goals and mobilizing resources for the achievement of these goals. The fiduciary system (which Parsons construes as such institutions as the family and education) performs the function of latency by conveying norms and values and socializing people. Lastly, the societal community (e.g., law) regulates the relationship between the other parts of society. Even a surface level sociological reflection encourages one to view the global sports mega-event legacy movement, and attempts to measure legacy
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through macro-structural indicators of institutional reshaping (e.g., economic, social, cultural, etc.), as an attempted policy marriage between Popper’s (1961, 1966) description of social engineering with a Parsonian (1949) view on the need to develop policy strategies for pattern maintenance and cultural transmission across functionally interdependent social units. Clearly, the sport mega event’s role (though typically conceived and measured in piecemeal fashion) is presented as a sport-related conduit for structural reintegration, goal attainment, cultural harmonizing, and collective consciousness-raising; in the case of Pan Am 2015, its description as a prized tool for generating social capital in the city is especially telling in this regard. While not, by any means, the only way to theoretically analyze the sport legacy process, a more sociologically informed approach to planning, mapping, devising, implementing and evaluating systems-based social engineering attempts through sport might begin by revisiting “grand” theories of how and why systems fit together; and, how these systems organically change over the course of time. Although this line of thinking is likely to be unpopular at a time when post-structuralist, postmodern, critical, postcolonial, and intersectional theories abound in sport-for-development academic circles, revisiting the squarely neo-functionalist assumptions in (and through) sport-for-development might help to better inform how and why (or not) sport could functionally work as means of ameliorating problematic social conditions. In future, sport legacy report cards, toolkits, meta-reviews, and evaluation agendas should be dialogical with a greater range of sociological theories articulating how institutional components in a society “hang together,” how social change unfolds within and across institutions, and how concerted policy attempts at changing institutional behavior unfold in both intended and unintended manners. These understandings, we argue, are the truly unique contributions of the social sciences to the legacy evaluation process. Rather than focusing on the refinement of outcomeoriented measurement tools and critiques of legacy programming’s failure to achieve desired goals, the true sociological graft in the mega-event analysis process is accounting for and explaining the structural-cultural roots of social problems, the topographical and “everyday life” analyses of integrated social systems, and the specific conceptual/mechanical links between sport and civic engineering. Such contributions likely need to be heard, negotiated, and reconciled at the forefront of legacy planning and measuring process, rather than after mega-event bids have been secured or the Games have left town.
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FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Chen, S., Henry, I., & Ko, L.-M. (2013). Meta-evaluation, analytic logic models and the assessment of impacts of sport policies. In I. Henry & L. M. Ko (Eds.), Handbook of sport policy analysis. London: Routledge. This chapter identifies the logic and structure of an integrated legacy evaluation framework. Important is that the authors identify how to conduct a systematic review of both existing legacy effects research, and how to conceive separate evaluation efforts on legacy in an integrated fashion. 2. Girginov, V., & Hills, L. (2008). The 2012 London Olympic Games and participation in sport: Understanding the link. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 25(14), 2091 2116. This article stresses the importance of conceptualizing the social and processual links between sport mega events and civic participation. The article is an example of the increased sensibility of venturing beyond outcome measures of legacy (only), and attending to the complex mechanisms of social change inherently involved in sport as legacy social programming. 3. Popper, K. (1966). The open society and its enemies. London: Routledge. While unpopular in contemporary theory (or sport policy) circles, Popper’s classic statement on the means by which policy makers and their agendas attempt to structurally and culturally reo-organized society is a must read for sport-for-development researchers. Here, Popper centrally challenges the logic of Utopian visions of revolutionaries, suggesting more modest and conservative approaches to fostering progressive social change. 4. McCartney, G., Thomas, S., Thomson, H., Scott, J., Hamilton, V., Hanlon, P., Morrison, D., & Bond, L. (2010). The health and socioeconomic impacts of major multi-sport events: Systematic review (1978 2008). British Medical Journal, 340(c2369). Among all of the extant meta-reviews of sport mega-event legacy, this article is one of the most comprehensive and informative. The authors review the logic of legacy planning, discuss issues in measurement, and review international evidence on the central legacy promises made in and around major Games.
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5. Vanwynsberghe, R., Surborg, B., & Wyly, E. (2012). When the Games come to town: Neoliberalism, mega-events and social inclusion in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(6), 2074 2093. This article is one of the first to systematically review and build on data gleaned from a study of mega-event legacies using the OGI tool. The authors are leading figures in the legacy measurement field, and illustrate a first-rate understanding of the politics of what is, and what is not, typically measured by sports legacy evaluators.
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CHAPTER 12 INSIGHTS AND INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SOCIAL LEGACIES IN THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES: THE OLYMPIC GAMES IMPACT (OGI) STUDY Robert VanWynsberghe and Caitlin Pentifallo ABSTRACT Purpose This chapter coins the term Development through MegaEvents (DME) in order to propose a next step for developing social legacies in accordance with the principle of social development. Design/methodology/approach This chapter’s argument for DME is developed using quantitative, indicator-based data from the Olympic Games Impact (OGI) study as well as relevant literature from the sub-fields of Sport for Development and Peace and Sport Mega-Events. Findings We discuss the absence of a baseline understanding of the properties of sport mega-events. Also absent are progressive efforts to achieve sustainability by means other than competition among prospective bidders. We recommend that hosts tie social legacies to public policy
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objectives that are concomitant with the properties of the sport mega-events. Retrospectively applied, OGI data from 2010 reveals social inclusion as one potential social legacy that reflects the nature of the Olympics and the policy realm in the host region. Originality/value This chapter is original work. It would be of interest to potential host communities, policymakers, and researchers. Keywords: Sport mega-events; social development; Olympic Games impacts; development through sport mega-events
INTRODUCTION Sport mega-events, despite the recurring critiques surrounding their elitedriven, top-down nature and execution (Hayes & Horne, 2011), offer intersections for engagement, inclusion, and social development. Increasing calls for accountability in the sport mega-event planning process have placed increased pressure on mega-event organizing bodies to deliver long-term, sustainable benefits to host communities. This pressure has led to mixed results with progressive if not authentic forays into the lacunae of engagement, inclusion, and development. Yet, as Hiller (1998) writes: “in their haste to justify public expenditures, governments and organisers marshal evidence of economic and other benefits many of which it turns out are incalculable” (p. 47). This chapter will demonstrate how the seemingly incalculable realms of engagement, inclusion, and development facing the greatest amount of difficulty in their implementation and assessment can be better understood through a framework adopted from the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) literature. We coin this term Development through Mega-Events (DME) as a means of highlighting the potential and existing role of this unique phenomena in sponsoring legacies of social development. Quantitative, indicator-based data from the Olympic Games Impact (OGI) study will be applied to explore the oft-cited, yet largely unsubstantiated social legacies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games hosted by Vancouver. For the purposes of this chapter, we bracket the idea that sport megaevents can make a contribution to the global social movement of sustainability in favor of DME. We claim here that points of articulation between movement and event are too sparse and there is too much to traverse before this can be realized to be a reasonable goal. We would argue that the IOC’s beleaguered and extensive history of signaling the importance of
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sustainability (e.g., in the form of rewarding host city bids) has devolved into a dated, if not solely rhetorical, proposition (Minnaert, 2012; Pentifallo & VanWynsberghe, 2012). In addition, we must concede that Sydney’s “Green Games,” Beijing’s “Green Olympics,” Vancouver “First Sustainable Olympic Games” and London’s “One planet Olympics” have not aided the sustainability movement. We modestly propose foregoing sustainability for a research-based focus on social legacies, especially those that signal a commitment to the social objectives of engagement, inclusion, and development in the host. The evidence-based skepticism we express is based on our overall assessment of an intensive examination of the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. More cause for reflection emanates from a recent paper, in which we examined the previous nine winning bids to host the Olympic Games. Each of the bids asserts their hosts’ increasing ability to bring about sustainability legacies (Pentifallo & VanWynsberghe, 2012). However, the bids are weak in regards to community-based social legacies and the IOC has not advanced their involvement (e.g., recourse) to pressure change.
NAVIGATING THE DISCOURSE OF SPORT MEGA-EVENTS: TERMS, CONTENTIONS AND CONTRADICTIONS The current rhetoric associated with sport mega-events has increasingly relied upon the concepts of “legacy” to justify what are massive investments in projects that may not be politically feasible in normal contexts (Burbank, Andranovich, & Heying, 2002; Smith, 2009). In a form of “legacy gigantism” (Bloyce & Smith, 2012), Olympic organizers are motivated to not only match, but to exceed their predecessors (and competitors) in terms of legacy promises (Pentifallo & VanWynsberghe, 2012). Ambiguous claims surround the deployment of the concept in documentation from the IOC itself as well as Olympic organizing committees. In MacAloon’s (2008) exploration of the semantics and pragmatics of the legacy discourse reveals the multiplicity of meanings the term carries. An emphasis on legacy, imparted by the IOC and faithfully proselytized by organizing committees around the world, is intended to be read as a progressive stance encouraging a perception of a “common and laudable purpose” (MacAloon, 2008, p. 2060). This, MacAloon (2008) explains, has given root to the “magical” properties of the
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word. Legacy, in its ongoing formation, is a largely discursive practice whereby sport mega-event bid and organizing bodies attach “legacy” to a range of projects and policies in a strategic, if not opportunistic, manner. Attempts at defining legacy have thus reached an unproductive impasse. Such definitions include highly pragmatic assertions, as Preuss (2007) extols: “… legacy is all planned and unplanned, positive and negative, tangible and intangible structures created for and by a sport event that remain longer than the event itself” (p. 211). Despite attempts that have further distinguished between “hard” (indicating physical, infrastructure based projects) and “soft” (indicating image, knowledge, or cultural exchanges) legacies (Gratton & Preuss, 2008; Preuss, 2007), no consensus on its meaning has ever been reached. As Gold and Gold (2009) write, despite this lack of agreement on legacy’s definition, it remains “an ever-present element in current debate about cities staging the Olympics and is the touchstone for measuring their worth” (p. 9). Olympic organizing committees continue to rely ever more heavily upon the presumed existence of positive legacies to justify and rationalize hosting and the massive expenditures of scarce public resources required (Burbank et al., 2002). Pentifallo and VanWynsberghe (2012) trace and theorize the trajectory of legacy promises, which increasingly have infused Olympic bids. Their critique focuses on an IOC that does little to elicit said promises with any form of recourse. Perhaps this same critique informs Cashman’s (2002) assertion that legacy remains an “elusive, problematic, and even dangerous word” (p. 33). Impacts, outcomes, consequences, and catalytic effects are among the terms that are frequently conflated with meanings and interpretations of legacy. A number of attempts have been made to separate impacts into categories: socioeconomic, sociocultural, physical, and political (Malfas, Theodoraki, & Houlihan, 2004); economic, tourism/commercial, physical, sociocultural, psychological, political (Ritchie, 1984). Compartmentalizing impacts in this way suggests that isolating pieces of a sport mega-event’s impact will allow for accurate measurement of impacts, yet these strategies have proven an elusive task. While discussions of economic impact (Billings & Holladay, 2010; Gratton, Shibli, & Coleman, 2006; Kasimati, 2003) and environmental impact (Chappelet, 2008; Collins, Flynn, Munday, & Roberts, 2007; Collins, Jones, & Munday, 2009; Mallen, Adams, Stevens, & Thompson, 2010) abound, assessment of sport megaevents has historically neglected the social dimension (Minnaert, 2012; Smith, 2009). Most crucially, such studies of social impacts tend to rely on retrospective, historical information from a range of sport mega-events to develop their categorizations. As Minnaert (2012) explains, part of
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the explanation for why social impacts are seldom discussed in the literature relates to the difficulty in assessing and quantifying such social impacts and a resultant scarcity of empirical evidence. Investigations into social legacies of the Olympic Games have discussed a sense of increased enthusiasm (Lenskyj, 2002), cultivating a sense of citizenship and volunteering (Eley & Kirk, 2002), building social capital (Misener & Mason, 2006), social transformation (Burnett, 2009), the cultivation of cosmopolitan identity (Ritchie & Smith, 1991), and increasing civic community (Glynn, 2008). A growing level of skepticism, writes Pillay, Tomlinson, and Bass (2009), accompanies such discussion over social legacies and impacts, questioning the degree to which such espoused promises are ever delivered. While intensified critique, skepticism and a lack of definitional consensus persist, efforts to construct and deliver social legacies addressing public policy objectives continue to be incorporated into the delivery of sport mega-events (Black, 2010).
DME: SOCIAL INCLUSION AS SOCIAL LEGACY The concept of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) refers to a social movement that seeks to improve lives through the use sport and physical activity, to “advance sport and broad social development in disadvantaged communities” (Kidd, 2008, p. 370). SDP is not limited to low- and middleincome countries; SDP initiatives have become a “rapidly mushrooming phenomenon” deployed in a range of communities around the world (Kidd, 2008, p. 370). The word “development” itself is contentious, and as Cornelissen (2009) adds, is not uniformly understood in SDP scholarship. In discussing SDP, Black (2010) recommends Pieterse’s definition of development: “the organised intervention in collective affairs according to standard of improvement” (Pieterse, 2001, p. 3 as cited Black, 2010, p 122). Among its numerous actors involved: recipient communities, governments, aid agencies, sport federations, academics, and the United Nations, Black (2010) reminds us not to forget sport mega-events, or DME. DME reflects the growing acclaim for the promised “development” through the vehicle of sport mega-events continues; bids are increasingly laced with explanations of how hosting will advance all forms of social, economic, and environmental development. Minnaert’s (2012) exploration of the social legacies claimed by sport mega-event bid committees shows that it was not until Atlanta’s bid to host the 1996 Summer Olympic
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Games that explicit objectives for advancing social development were officially incorporated. However, this trend has largely continued sporadically and in rhetorical, rather than practical, fashion. At present, no real standard or model for implementation exists across modern hosts of the Olympic Games, and the social impacts of sport mega-events on socially excluded groups is an under-researched area of study (Minnaert, 2012). Like SDP proper, DME emphasizes sport as an intervention. The DME arrives as a distinct, yet itinerant international athletic event with an immense potential to generate and maximize local benefits. The host, however, is a particular setting that is carefully managed with diverse economic, sociopolitical, and other interests in mind. The event as an entity demands large venues, short timelines, and quick decision-making. At the same time, the hosts are aiming to carefully craft an attractive international image (Hall, 2005; Smith, 2005; Waitt, 2001). Exercising this tension productively offers the host the use of an organized intervention to potentially mobilize positive social change. Hence there are increasing calls to use sport megaevents to achieve policy priorities in the host jurisdictions (Cornelissen, 2009; VanWynsberghe, Derom, & Maurer, 2012). Yet, as Cornelissen (2009) reminds us, the field lacks a cogent hypothesis and clearly delineated understanding of how hosting sport mega-events translates into development: “the debate on the impacts of major events lacks a cogent discussion of how these impacts articulate with broader processes of development” (p. 77) In summary, DME refers to recent and ambitious promises among organizers and governments to achieve positive social legacies in the host jurisdiction of an event. The novel quality of this undertaking is exacerbated by the absence of a baseline on the phenomena itself and a seeming aversion to any logic, lest it unsettle a faith in sport. Important and positive, then, is a commitment (International Olympic Committee, 2007) to authentic change through sport. While improvement, Black (2010) writes, can range from grand and idealistic visions for societal good to localized and contextualized objectives, it nonetheless is a central and pragmatically driven core theoretical concept emanating from the SDP (and DME) literature and agenda. One particular aspect of DME as outline here, social inclusion, will be explored as a form of social legacy attempted, and enacted, by Vancouver as host of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Social inclusion, writes Coalter (2007), is not merely about broadened avenues into participation and strengthening communities; emphasis on accountability and both personal and civic responsibility are also part of such an understanding. Skinner, Zakus, and Cowell (2008) explain social inclusion as the accomplishment
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of social participation and integration whereby “participants might achieve power over their lives in the present and into the future” (Coalter, Allison, & Taylor, 2000, p. 256). Such forms of social development, be it through avenues pursuing social regeneration, social inclusion, or social capital, are no longer discussed solely through the use of sporting activities, but also through the mega-event itself. While SDP is instructive in its commitment to improving lives through sport, DME is an interventive approach to enacting social legacies within the host jurisdiction, using the mega-event as both instrument and impetus for delivering public policy objectives. While we do not mean to suggest that DME is superlative, or even an alternative, to existing formations of SDP as it exists in the literature, it does not diminish the fact that DME is unequivocally, if not universally, assumed to be a positive and proactive course of action on behalf of host organizing committees and governments. Our interests and efforts here are in demonstrating how empirical data from the OGI study can be used not only to demonstrate that evidence of social legacies exists, but that empirically driven indicator-based assessment can be used to evaluate the formation and progress of public policy objectives tied to, or associated with, the sport mega-event itself.
“HOSTING INCLUSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE GAMES”1: VANOC’S PROMISE FOR A SOCIAL LEGACY As the discussion above would predict, equivocal efforts at categorizing and assessing impacts as well as identifying social legacies have certainly not led to the abandonment of the concepts. Sport mega-event bid and organizing committees such as VANOC have instead responded with increasing fervor and attention to social legacies. The IOC, as exemplified in the language of the Candidature Acceptance Procedure and Questionnaire and official documents, greatly favors the deployment of “sustainability” and “legacy” in reference to social development objectives (International Olympic Committee, 2011a, 2012a). VANOC’s response, and organizational strategy, was definitively imbued with such language, alongside the adoption of its own sustainability standard: For VANOC, Sustainability means managing the social, economic and environmental impacts and opportunities of our Games to produce lasting benefits, locally and globally. (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 2010a, p. 200)
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In this excerpt it becomes clear that conceptions of impact and legacy are decidedly intertwined with the notion of sustainability. VanWynsberghe, Derom, et al. (2012, p. 190) explain why such a semantic shift, while rather ambiguous in its origins and operationalization, has become part of an articulated strategy: The shift to sustainability has also provided the logic for levels of government to increasingly comprise bid committees and add ambitious social objectives to help frame the bid in winning terms. (p. 12)
In promising to stage the first sustainable Winter Olympic Games (Holden, MacKenzie, & VanWynsberghe, 2008), VANOC created a sixpoint plan on sustainability featuring Accountability, Environmental Stewardship and Impact Reduction, Social Inclusion and Responsibility, Aboriginal Participation and Collaboration, Economic Benefits, and Sport for Sustainable Living (Vancouver Bid Corporation, 2002). Social inclusion was defined by VANOC: Social Inclusion and responsibility means convening accessible Games that have a positive impact on socially and economically disadvantaged groups, and caring for our workforce, protecting human rights and ensuring health and safety. (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 2010a, p. 9)
Further to this definition, VANOC explained the role of social inclusion: Being socially inclusive and responsible meant that VANOC considered the needs and interests of its workforce, contractors, athletes and members of the Olympic and Paralympic Families, as well as our Games sponsors and partners (including government, First Nations and sport partners). It also meant we considered the needs and interests of external groups affected by our activities. We were particularly aware of the possible impact of our activities on socially or economically disadvantaged communities, that often, do not typically benefit from mega events such as Olympics and Paralympic Games. Consequently, we sought input on our social inclusion programs and activities from a wide range of stakeholders. Where appropriate or possible we included groups affected by our activities in our decision-making processes. (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 2010a, p. 61)
In this section, we will evaluate OGI as both a tool and methodology, briefly discussing its content and origins before exploring the ways in which social inclusion can be assessed as a legacy of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The explanation provided by VANOC (2010a) in its final Sustainability Report, shown above, will serve as a template for how our assessment will proceed, evaluating social inclusion through avenues as shown in Table 1.
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Table 1.
Evaluating Social Inclusion through Indicator-Based Impact Assessment.
Inclusion: Representation, multiculturalism, diversity, and accessibility Consultation and involvement of socially So26 Deferment and abandonment of public and economically disadvantaged policies groups So28 Consultation with specific groups So30 Participation of minorities in Olympic and Paralympic games Minority hiring practices and promotion So41 Promotion of minorities and indigenous of minorities and Aboriginal population (people with disabilities, youth, seniors, equity seeking groups) communities Paralympic effect on awareness of Ec44 Employability of people with disabilities people with disabilities So45 Support network for disabled people So46 Professional sport education for people with disabilities So48 Accessibility of public services Engagement: Blue jackets, red mittens Volunteering and civic capacity Canadian sport and Canadian support
So38 So16 So18 So19
Volunteers Top-level sportsmen and women World and continental championships Results at the Olympic and Paralympics and world championships
OGI: EVALUATING SOCIAL INCLUSION THROUGH INDICATOR-BASED IMPACT ASSESSMENT Cornelissen (2009) explains, growing pressure on sport mega-event organizing bodies to demonstrate greater levels of accountability has provided a critical impetus for organizations such as the IOC to take on a broadened attention to the developmental aspects of hosting (pp. 88 89). In response to such a demand for accountability frameworks, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) created the OGI study, formalizing its creation in 2003. According to the IOC, the principle objectives of OGI are: … to measure the overall impact of the Olympic Games; to assist the bidding cities and future Olympic Games organisers through the transfer of strategic directions obtained from past and present Olympic Games; and to identify potential legacies, thereby maximizing the benefits of their Olympic Games. (International Olympic Committee, 2012b, p. 3)
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The OGI study is prescribed through a Technical Manual mandated through the contractually binding Host City Contract. The Host City Contract, a legal document signed upon the election of the host city, details the legal, commercial, and financial rights and obligations of staging the Games. Thirty-one technical manuals have been published on a range of subjects, and were designed to provide key information on a specific subject, function, or theme of the Olympic Games (Pentifallo & VanWynsberghe, 2012). In the Technical Manual detailing the orchestration and delivery of the OGI study, the IOC explains the origins and motivations of the study: … the idea for the OGI study was born from the IOC’s desire to develop an objective and scientific analysis of this impact for each edition of the Olympic Games. By this means, the IOC will build up a powerful and accurate knowledge base of the tangible effects and legacy of the Olympic Games. (International Olympic Committee, 2007, p. 11)
Three “spheres” of impact economic, environmental, and sociocultural are attended to through the use of indicators. The OGI study must be conducted through an arms-length research partner, such as a university, and spans a 12-year reporting period. This span is punctuated by four reports: the baseline report, taking assessment two years prior to host city selection; the pre-games report, containing information from 2002 to +2006 and released four years prior to the start of the Games; the Gamestime report, containing information from 2007 to 2010 and released 12 months after the Games’ conclusion, and the post-Games report, speaking to changes experienced in the host city in the three years following the conclusion of the Games and released three years post Games. While this structure has undergone dramatic revision in 2011,2 the aforementioned reporting framework was in use for the duration of the OGI study delivered for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games executed by a research team organized at the University of British Columbia (referred to as OGIUBC) under the direction of this chapter’s lead author. Originally spanning 160 indicators and more than 30 themes, the OGI study was reduced to 126 indicators in 2006 (Van Griethuysen & Hug, 2001). All four reports bear a combination of “event” and “context” indicators; however, this distinction is not absolute and some indicators are classified as “both.” The OGI indicator data presented here is largely from the Games-time report. The third of four reports, it was completed in June 2011. It reports on the Olympic and Paralympic events themselves, making it largely about indicators that are unique to the event. These indicators demand extensive
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data collection by the organizing committee and its research partner, OGIUBC. Data were collected from various sources, depending on the requirements for each indicator. For the Games-time Report, VANOC was an important source of data for event indicators (e.g., So28: Consultation with Specific Groups; So30: Participation of Minorities in Olympic and Paralympic Games). For these indicators, the OGI-UBC team first sought to obtain data from the organizing committee, and when data were not available, sought “alternative” data that as closely matched the purpose of the indicator as possible. For indicators that required data from sources other than the organizing committee, the research team sought reliable sources such as statistical agencies, etc. In the case of Paralympic Games data, primary data had to be secured because no data relating to public perceptions of athletes with disabilities existed.
INCLUSION: REPRESENTATION, MULTICULTURALISM, DIVERSITY AND ACCESSIBILITY Consultation and Involvement of Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups Attempts at creating a socially inclusive Winter Olympic Games originated prior to Vancouver securing its bid. In 2002 the Vancouver Bid Corporation created the 2010 Winter Games Inner-City Inclusive Commitment Statement (ICICS), a document which sought “participation and equity for all British Columbians, including low and moderate-income people” (Vancouver Bid Corporation, 2002). Organized around development an “inclusive” approach to planning for the Olympic Games, the ICICS endeavored to “create a strong foundation for sustainable socioeconomic development in Vancouver’s inner-city neighborhoods, particularly in the Downtown Eastside, Downtown South and Mount Pleasant” (Vancouver Bid Corporation, 2002, p. 1). The ICICS was partially a result of discussion with community organizers, nonprofit organizations, and activist groups concerned with affording some degree of protection for low-income innercity residents and disadvantaged communities. Thirty-seven commitments were made across 14 categories, intended to “ensure the wide distribution of Games benefits while protecting vulnerable people and communities from negative impacts” (VanWynsberghe, Surborg, & Wyly, 2013, p. 2).
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The ICICS would prove to be a point of contention as the Games approached. The Impact on Communities Coalition (IOCC) issued a grade of a D- in its interim report card (2009) and VANOC was unwilling to fund an independent organization to monitor the Games and the extent to which the ICICS were kept (Edelson, 2011). While the community consultation process involved in generating the ICICS was remarkable and innovative in its aspirations (Eby, 2007), it became clear before the Games had even started that at least 18 of the 37 commitments made were not going to be implemented (Impact on Communities Coalition, 2009). Using the OGI Games-Time Report, with specific attention to indicators So28 Consultation with Specific Groups (see inset), we can see that in the years 2008, 2009, and 2010 VANOC consulted with six groups at the regional level:3 Environmental Non-Government Organisation (ENGO) Dialogue Group;4 Sustainability Practitioners; VANOC Workforce; the Four Host First Nations (FHFN);5 National Aboriginal Groups;6 and Aboriginal Employment and Training Organizations (AETO).7 At the city level, VANOC consulted with the Inner-city Working Group (ICWG), composed of AccessWORKS, Building Opportunities with Business, Fast-Track to Employment Coalition, The Tradeworks Training Society, and ACCESS. VANOC consulted with the ICWG 25 times between 2008 and 2010, with only one meeting in 2010. At the Metro Vancouver, or regional, level, there were 107 consultation meetings with these groups in 2008 (46% of them with AETO, and about a quarter each with FHFN and the National Aboriginal Groups). In 2009, there were 69 consultations, again the largest number with AETO (about 40%). In 2010, there were 104 consultation meetings, of which the largest number was with the National Aboriginal Groups (nearly half of all meetings) and about 40% with AETO (see Table 2). Two event-specific government-initiated policies can be shown to demonstrate a quantifiable post-games result. Data from So26 Abandonment and Deferment of Public Policies shows that 44 projects of the governments of British Columbia, Vancouver, and Whistler were explicitly stated as being new created in order to take advantage of the 2010 Winter Games, five of which were partnerships between one or more of these governments. Two event-specific policies in particular can be shown to have a quantifiable post-Games result: the South East False Creek Community Benefits (CBA) and the Shared Legacies agreement. The CBA was a joint initiative launched between Millennium Southeast False Creek Properties Ltd.,8 Building Opportunities with Business (BOB), and the City of Vancouver. Its purpose was to create opportunities for both inner-city residents and
Group
So28, Consultation with Specific Groups by Subject and Frequency, 2008 2010.
Level of Government
2008
2009
Number of consultations
Subjects covered
Number of consultations
Subjects covered
13
Recruitment and economic opportunities for priority populations Feedback on sustainability reporting Climate change, waste, biodiversity Feedback on sustainability reporting Feedback on sustainability reporting Feedback on sustainability reporting Feedback on sustainability reporting (1) Regular meetings with FHFN Society (biweekly) (26)
11
Recruitment and economic opportunities for priority populations Feedback on Sustainability reporting Climate change, waste, biodiversity Feedback on sustainability reporting Feedback on sustainability reporting Feedback on sustainability reporting Feedback on sustainability reporting (1) Regular meetings with FHFN Society (biweekly) (26)
Inner City Working Group
Vancouver
ENGO Dialogue Group (22 ENGOs)
Metro Vancouver
4
Sustainability Practitioners
Metro Vancouver
1
VANOC Workforce
Metro Vancouver
1
Four Host First Nations
Metro Vancouver
27
4
1
1
27
2010 Number of consultations
Subjects covered
Feedback on sustainability reporting from one inner-city representative
1
Feedback on sustainability reporting from one ENGO representative
1
Feedback on sustainability reporting from two SUS practitioners Feedback on sustainability reporting from one workforce member Feedback on sustainability reporting from one FHFN representative (1) Regular meetings with FHFN Society (biweekly) ended December 2009 (10)
1
11
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Table 2.
Group
Total
2008
2009
2010
Number of consultations
Subjects covered
Number of consultations
Subjects covered
Number of consultations
Metro Vancouver
25
14
Aboriginal participation in the games
49
Aboriginal participation in the games Aboriginal participation in the games
50
Metro Vancouver
Aboriginal participation in the games Aboriginal participation in the games
40
Aboriginal participation in the games
107
22
69
104
Subjects covered
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National Aboriginal Groups Aboriginal employment and training organizations
Level of Government
(Continued )
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Table 2.
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businesses. The CBA pledged to hire a minimum of 100 inner-city residents in entry-level positions, a $750,000 contribution from Millennium to provide inner-city residents with job training, and a procurement stipulation between Millennium and BOB for $15 million worth of goods, products, equipment, and services from registered businesses located in the inner-city (Peachy, 2009). Seventy-seven inner-city residents were trained and hired through the CBA. So28 and So26 are both relevant to the development and implementation of the Shared Legacies Agreement. Pre-bid consultations in November 2002 secured the partnership, which promised land for economic development opportunities, skills training, funding for constructing the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, and legacy housing. The Squamish First Nations and Lil’wat Nation secured of 300 acres of land, $2.3 million for a skills and legacy training project, and $3 million toward the construction of the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre.
Minority Hiring Practices and Promotion of Minorities and Aboriginal Communities Vancouver has a diverse and growing multicultural population, as visible minorities accounted for 41.7% of Metro Vancouver’s population according to 2006 Census Data. Data from the Games-time report on indicator So30 Participation of Minorities in Olympic and Paralympic Games can be applied to show the opportunities provided by the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This indicator refers to operations-related plans (e.g., VANOC hiring practices, procurement, etc.), venue development plans (e.g., accessibility), and sport participation and other skills-based programs for minorities and indigenous populations. For the Games-time report, data were available only for the participation of minorities as paid employees of VANOC based on self-identification in a voluntary survey; only percentages were provided in the VANOC Sustainability Reports and percentages were not broken down by Olympic activities and Paralympic activities. No data were available on the participation of minorities on the Board of Directors of VANOC, nor as volunteers for the 2010 Winter Games (Table 3). The percentage of women occupying jobs inside VANOC has been relatively stable from 2006 to 2010, on par with that of men, with the exception in 2008 2009 when women occupied only 43% of such jobs. The percentage of Aboriginal participation in VANOC jobs decreased rapidly in 2008 2009, from 11% to 13% in the first two years, to 1% to 3% in the last two periods. The percentage of jobs occupied by members of a visible
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Table 3.
So30, Participation of Minorities in Olympic and Paralympic Games, 2006 2010 (Paid Employees Only).
Year
2006 2007 2008 2009
Percentage of Jobs Occupied by Minority Members
2007 2008 2009 2010
Women (%)
Aboriginal (%)
Visible minority (%)
Persons with a disability (%)
50.0 53.0 43.0 50.0
13.0 11.0 11.0 1.0
8.1 3.0 10.8 9.0
0.4 9.3 0.6 0.8
Source: VANOC Annual Sustainability Reports.
minority increased by the end of the reporting periods to about 10%. The proportion of VANOC jobs occupied by people with disabilities was less than 1% for the better part of the four-year period under study, with the exception of 2007 2008 when persons with disabilities occupied more than 9% of such jobs. The increase in the percentage of jobs occupied by persons with disabilities in 2007 2008 coincided with a comparable decrease in the percentage of jobs occupied by members of a visible minority in 2007 2008; which was then boosted in the following year to its highest level (possibly at the expense of participation by Aboriginals and persons with disabilities). Indicator So41 Promotion of Minorities and Indigenous Population (People with Disabilities, Youth, Seniors, Equity Seeking Groups) called for data to be collected information on a variety of community outreach programs created in conjunction with hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games. These initiatives were as varied as building playgrounds and hosting art exhibitions to ensuring event tickets were kept at affordable prices (Table 4).
Paralympic Effect on Awareness of People with Disabilities Canada’s Winter Paralympians won a national record-breaking total of 19 medals (10 golds, 5 silvers, and 4 bronzes) in 2010, placing Canada in the third spot overall, trailing only the Russian Federation and Germany. Prior to the 2010 Games, the Canadian’s Paralympic team’s highest medal haul was 15 (at the 1998 Games in Nagano and the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City). While the medal totals are impressive, the OGI study offered five
Program Name
Agency
Paralympic School Day
VANOC
Ticket to Inspiration
VANOC
2010 Aboriginal Pavilion and Business Showcase Find Your Passion in Sport
VANOC
VANOC
Canadian Olympic School Program
VANOC
Cultural Olympiads 2008, 2009 and 2010
VANOC
So41, Promotional and Educational Activities. Description
Duration
May 2006 to Activities to create awareness November 10, and understanding in schools 2009 about persons with a disability March 15 to 19, Reduced price tickets ($5) for 2010 school groups to attend the Paralympic Games Showcase of First Nations, Inuit February 1 to 28, and Metis cultures 2010
Reach
Educational
73 schools, 7,500 students
Cost $60,000
Promotional 30,000 students & teachers attended
$181,000
Promotional >300,000 visitors
$2.5 million in programming ($3.5 for construction) $300,000
March 2007 and March 2009 (posters), online lessons March 2009 to 2010
Promotional
Ongoing (a Canadian Olympic Committee program)
Promotional >65,000 members as of $721,000 (2007 2010) March 2010, 25% of the 6 million page views during the Games were via VANOC’s webbased education portal
February 2008, February 2009, and January 22 to March 21, 2010
Promotional Visitors: 2008: 163,128 2009: 283,773 2010: 6,017,576
$84,970,829 (2008 2010)
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Poster series showcasing six young Aboriginal athletes, their sports and their languages, and online lesson starters over VANOC’s webbased education portal (vancouver2010.com/edu). Includes Olympic stories (e.g., Aboriginals and people with disabilities) for grades 2 to 12 promoted on VANOC’s web-based education portal (program also includes other activities) Festivals showcasing art and culture of Aboriginal peoples, persons with a disability, inner-city organizations, francophone organizations, and other cultures present with the Canadian population
Type
The Olympic Games Impact (OGI) Study
Table 4.
Program Name
Vancouver 2010 Indigenous Youth Gathering
Venues Aboriginal Art Program
Accessible Tourism Accessibility Rating
Accessible Playgrounds Project
Agency VANOC
Description
Physical collection and celebration of Aboriginal sport and athletes in B.C., including a travelling exhibit that toured communities across B.C. VANOC Hosting young adult Aboriginal role models and emerging leaders aged 19 to 29 years old from across Canada, including leadership development, Olympic Truce, sport, venues tours, interaction with athletes, and an opportunity to perform at the Olympic Opening Ceremonies VANOC Showcasing of First Nations, Inuit and Me´tis works of art during the 2010 Winter Games these works have been permanently installed in Olympic and Paralympic venues and will remain as a legacy of the games 2010LegaciesNow Tourism businesses can participate in an accessibility assessment and receive recommendations to improve accessibility 2010LegaciesNow To build three accessible playgrounds in Vancouver, Whistler, and Richmond
Duration
Type
Reach
Cost
June 2008 ongoing
Promotional ongoing exhibit
$140,000
January 30th to February 14th, 2010
Promotional >300 Aboriginal Youth participants, >3 billion viewers of the Opening Ceremonies
$4 million
June 2008 to March 2010, ongoing
Promotional >90 Aboriginal artists participated, visitors to games venues
$3.5 million
Ongoing
Educational
$343,000
2010 ongoing
Promotional DNAA
3,600 business assessed
$1,200,000
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Aboriginal Sport Gallery at B.C. Sports Hall of Fame
(Continued )
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Table 4.
Up to $25,000 per grant
$183,560
The Olympic Games Impact (OGI) Study
2006 ongoing Educational 88 communities 2010LegaciesNow Grants program to help communities assess and improve local accessibility and inclusion for persons with disabilities and others Promotional DNAA Virtual Voices Village 2010LegaciesNow Mentorship program for students Students’ work from Games with disabilities to develop time still writing and journalism skills, available on the with the students’ work posted online to the Virtual Voices Village community as of online community February 9, 2011 Measuring Up
263
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indicators explicitly contending with how hosting the Olympic Games can influence perceptions of people with disabilities: Ec44 Employability of People with Disabilities; So44 Perceptions about People with Disabilities in Society; So45 Support Network for People with Disabilities; So46 Professional Sport Education for People with Disabilities; and So48 Accessibility of Public Services. While we are not able to detail the host of methodological quandaries and issues a study of this scale and nature faces in the space of this chapter, one particular element worth mentioning is that prior to this assessment no such data on perceptions of the inclusion of people with disabilities into society at large existed. This meant that the OGI team had to commissioned a study conducted by a major survey firm in order to fulfill the requirements of these indicators as a means of collecting primary data (n = 2474). Overall, as indicator Ec44 Employability of People with Disabilities reveals, the survey demonstrated an increased willingness on behalf of employers to hire people with disabilities. Four out of ten Canadian employers (n = 383) claimed their willingness to hire people with disabilities increased as a result of the Games, compared to less than onequarter who did so prior to the Games. Much less, 35% of Canadians, believed there was an improvement in employment opportunities for people with disabilities or an increase in fairness of hiring policies and practices. Data collected for So44 Perceptions about People with Disabilities in Society revealed two-thirds (66%) of Canadians believe that Paralympic Games have led to more positive portrayals of people with disabilities in the media and 57% felt hosting likely had improved the social standing of people with disabilities. However, while a majority of Canadians survey believed there was an overall improvement in perception of people with disabilities as a result of Paralympic Games, they were also less likely to feel the Games have contributed to the social support and integration. Less than one half of Canadians believe there has been any improvement in governmental, community, or in recreational programs, products, or services. Findings from information collected for So45 Support Network for People with Disabilities and So46 Sport Education for People with Disabilities can largely be understood as inconclusive or as eliciting no change. Forty-one percent of Canadians surveyed in December 2009 believed the Games were likely to increase social support services for people with disabilities, and that percentage remained unchanged following the post-Games survey. Canadians with disabilities, and those who interact with them, are much more likely to regard the Games as having contributed to increased access to sport and recreational activities for people with disabilities.
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ENGAGEMENT: RED MITTENS, BLUE JACKETS Volunteering and Civic Capacity Data from indicator So38 Volunteers was collected to show the support of the population to the staging from the Games. VANOC benefited immensely from a Games-time workforce supported by 17,273 volunteers, making up 80% of VANOC’s total workforce (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 2010a; Table 5). Demographic data (organized by gender, function, origin, and people with disabilities and people without disabilities) on Games-time volunteers was unavailable from VANOC; however, data was available on applications submitted (for both pre-Games and Games-time volunteers). Of the 79,000 volunteer applications submitted, 84% of applicants were Canadian. Half of all applications came from the host province of British Columbia and one-quarter from Metro Vancouver. Approximately onefifth of applications were successful, leading to the additional VANOC workforce of 17,273 volunteers (Table 6). The extent to which the rate of volunteer participation can be expanded for consideration of a social legacy calls for greater research. Affectionately dubbed the “blue jackets” for their easily recognizable issued uniforms, the role of volunteers during the Games was frequently celebrated during the event and also much heralded in its aftermath. While this indicator can show that there was an exceptional proportion of the population interested in volunteering for the Games (by virtue of the number of applications received), what it does not show is how the Olympic experience may have encouraged former Games-time volunteers to seek posts in their communities after the Games were over. The correlations between civic capacity, Table 5.
Total Games-Time Workforce by Employment Type.
Contractor Co-op/intern Full-time Part-time/term Temp Secondee Volunteer
763 143 1,331 195 1,578 356 17,273
3% 1% 6% 1% 7% 2% 80%
Total
21,639
80%
Source: VANOC Sustainability Report (2009 2010).
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Table 6.
ROBERT VANWYNSBERGHE AND CAITLIN PENTIFALLO
So38, Volunteer Applications by Demographic and Geographic Breakdowns.
Demographic Female Male Visible minority Persons with a disability Inuit Metis First Nations
45,459 33,538 13,309 986 98 623 1,027
57.5% 42.5% 16.8% 1.2% 0.1% 0.8% 1.3%
Total
78,997
100%
Metro Vancouver British Columbia Canada International
20,894 41,003 66,476 12,521
26.4% 51.9% 84.2% 15.8%
Total
78,997
100%
Geographic
Source: VANOC.
social development, and creation of a legacy of volunteerism certainly call for more informed and detailed investigation.
Canadian Sport and Canadian Support OGI offers three indicators used to assess progress in elite sport in Canada: So19 Results at the Olympic/Paralympic Games and World Championships; So16 Top-level sportsmen and women; and So18 World and Continental Championships. Canada’s record setting finish at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games can be attested to through the use of these indicators, which in addition to medal counts show how funding and development of elite sport in Canada has progressed. Drastic changes, in both funding and outcomes, have ensued since Canada last hosted the Olympic Games in 1988 in Calgary. A finish of two silver medals and three bronzes at the Calgary Games at least partially motivated renewed investment in the elite Canadian sporting system. Two such initiatives are discussed in the consideration of So19 and So18, Own the Podium9 and Podium Canada. Both initiatives were launched in 2004, shortly after Vancouver was selected as host in 2003, with the shared intent of achieving excellence in Canadian
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sport in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. On the Podium 2010 was a five-year, $110 million dollar winter sport initiative implemented by a range of government partners with an overall objective of winning the most medals at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. In Turin in 2006, two years after the introduction of Own the Podium, Canada won 24 medals overall 7 more medals than were won in 2002 in Salt Lake City. The addition of several sports since Canada’s last experience as host in 1988 is another explanation partially contributing to a renewed success in the Winter Olympic Games. Each new sport and event added to the Games has proven to be a strength for Canada. Snowboarding was added to the Olympic Program in 1998, which has since produced three medals in men’s events and two in women’s events. Curling was added in 1998 and both men’s and women’s sides have won a medal in every ensuing Olympic Games. The addition of women’s hockey in 1998 has produced a medal in every Olympic competition since, and more recent addition of new events such as freestyle skiing and snowboard cross have also produced Canadian medalists. While Canada was not successful in winning the overall medal total at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and thus falling short of Own the Podium’s primary objective, it did not diminish from the celebration and euphoria over the Olympic triumphs of Canada’s Olympic Team. The United States (37 total medals) and Germany (30 medals) finished ahead of the Canadians; however, Canada’s 26 medals established a new Canadian record and also placed Canada a top the column of most gold medals won by any nation with 14. An accompanying seven silver medals and five bronze medals established the 2010 Winter Games as Canada’s most successful winter Games ever, by wide margin (Table 7). While these three OGI indicators seek to establish how hosting the Games has impacted the funding, progress, and development of elite sport in Canada, a more pressing investigation into the explanation of how Table 7. Team Canada Meal Totals at Olympic Games, 1988 2010. Host
Year
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
Calgary Albertville Lillehammer Nagano Salt Lake City Turin Vancouver
1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010
0 2 3 6 7 7 14
2 3 6 5 3 10 7
3 2 4 4 7 7 5
5 7 13 15 17 24 26
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_at_the_Olympics.
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medal performance fits into social development persists. This raises questions surrounding the role of sport in nation-building and of the role that sporting success can play in raising levels of enthusiasm and support for the host nation. One particular campaign worth noting is the ubiquitous red mittens emblazoned with the maple leaf and Olympic rings. As VANOC’s Staging the Games Knowledge Report recounts, the red mitten campaign saw “Canadians (and out international friends) wear their hearts on their hands” (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 2010b, p. 44). Launched in 2009 and continued through the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, proceeds from 3.5 million pairs of mittens sold generated over $14 million in support for the Canadian Olympic Foundation10 in its first year. The red mittens were sold by the Hudson’s Bay Trading Company, an iconic, if not controversial (see Fresco, 2012) Canadian company that has been a premier national partner of the Canadian Olympic Committee since 2005. Hudson’s Bay CEO Bonnie Brooks demonstrates the implicit connections between the Games marketing, the financial support of Canada’s Olympic athletes, and the cultivation of national sentiment: “with the Red Mittens campaign, we are providing Canadians with the chance to take part in the success of our athletes while wearing our nation’s colors and demonstrating our national pride” (“New Red Mittens Unveiled: Helping Canadian Athletes Go For Gold in London 2012,” 2011). The revenue generated through the red mittens campaign was part of a larger licensing and merchandizing revenue totaling $54.6 million, and one of 48 other licensees (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 2010c). The linkages between marketing, the consumption and generation of national pride, and its relationship to an improvement in Olympic performance call for greater research. The red mitten campaign demonstrates an intangible, yet marketable, sense of national enthusiasm that was directly tied to supporting Canada’s athletes. Not only did thousands sport the mittens on the streets of Vancouver during the 2010 Games, but approximately $4 of every pair sold went toward programs funding Canadian athletes. While this represents a phenomenon not explicitly measurable, it nonetheless played a significant role in the narrative construction of Vancouver as host, and by extension, of a renewed sense of Canadian pride in the form of support of Olympic Athletes. As VANOC CEO John Furlong was quoted in VANOC’s Official Games Report: “The spirit and soul of all 33 million Canadians has been sewn into the fabric of these winter Games. This journey has not been about the few but rather the many” (as cited in International Olympic Committee, 2011b, p. 24).
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CONCLUSION It must be mentioned that the OGI data resides in a broader context of social inclusion in Canada that could be a significant factor in its realization. To begin, social inclusion takes on a particular significance in Canada because of a 40 year-old multiculturalism policy that promises rights and protections for all regardless of race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, disability, age, or income. As such, the Games are an opportunity for Canadians to promote multiculturalism as an important part of what makes its citizens proud. Perhaps more salient is the fact that the country as a whole is undergoing demographic changes and this is a significant resource for a social legacy. Using OGI data from 2010 we recommend that the standard of sustainability be delimited in its application to the Games. Our now extensive experience with the IOC OGI data leads us to assert that the complete absences of a systematic and rigorously developed baseline understanding of the event itself makes evaluation impossible and assessment groundless. In its stead we favor the promotion of incremental efforts to realize social development through sport mega-events (DME). Currently, there is no single word bearing greater weight in discourses surrounding sport mega-event today than “legacy.” MacAloon (2008) calls it magical, while Cashman (2002) calls it dangerous. Canada’s medal performance as traced by indicators So19, So16, and So 18, displays both. The medals generated a greater deal of national engagement through sport success and this is attested to by the popularity of red mittens. In addition, the success of the event is credited to the volunteers and OGI indicator So38 captures this. The danger, to adopt Cashman’s argument, is the prospect of community engagement, social justice, collective identity, and sport participation completely understood in relation to an elite athletic performance designed to represent but not constitute these vital aspects of social life. For its part, the International Olympic Committee has pledged in the Olympic Charter to “promote a positive legacy from the Olympic Games to the Host cities and Host countries.” In this paper, we are generally critical of the IOC’s recent efforts to implement this pledge but it also important to note where the OGI framework, as one example of implementation work. OGI’s astute recognition of the need for Paralympic data and it results in 2010 is encouraging. The 2010 Paralympic Game increased the entire countries access to athletes and therefore people with disabilities, raising the profile of this issue in Canadian society. So2 demonstrated that
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a sport mega-event, like the Olympic Games could be employed to improve physical accessibility in the host region. The survey data gathered for OGI also indicates a Games-related impact on national perceptions of people with disabilities and a favorable attitude toward the greater incorporation of people with disabilities into society, meaningful work and sport and athletic training. We coin DME as a means of highlighting the potential use of the sport mega-event as both an instrument and an impetus for delivering social legacies. Social legacy promotes the idea that hosting a sport mega-event can be a long-term, well-planned, and effectively managed vehicle for achieving the preferred futures of citizens of the host region. OGI data from 2010 documents a host jurisdiction that is increasingly diverse and, if organizing committee’s efforts are representative (So04), more prepared to accommodate both an Aboriginal past and future (So28 and So30). The backdrop of demographic changes and a Multiculturalism policy are significant here, because these are important factors in detailing how the Games can be attributed to these changes. The specific focus on social inclusion demonstrates that evidence of social legacies exist in regards to 2010. We arrive at this conclusion using an empirically driven indicator-based assessment that is accompanied by a keen understanding of the formation and progress of relevant public policies that can achieve social development objectives that are tied to, or associated with, the sport mega-event itself. This is what we mean by achieving a social legacy using the DME process. In the future we will propose a more streamlined approach for planning, implementing and evaluation social legacies. In doing so we must acknowledge the possibility that DME transcends indicator-based assessment because of some evidence that the event releases a collective power to reframe dominant narratives in ways that can be tied to neither policy nor prediction. We could say more but our red mittens make it hard to type.
FIVE KEY READINGS 1. Kidd. B. (2008). A new social movement: Sport for development and peace. Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, 11(4), 370 380. This paper conceptualizes sport for development and peace as a social movement.
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2. Black, D. (2010). The ambiguities of development: Implications for “development through sport”. Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, 13(1), 121 129. This paper broadens the notion of social development in relation to Sport for Development and Peace to include sport mega-events. 3. Cornelissen, S. (2009). A delicate balance: Major sport events and development. In R. Levermore & A. Beacom (Eds.), Sport and international development (pp. 76 97). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. This chapter persuasively argues for the importance of linking development in the context of sport mega-events to public policy priorities. 4. VanWynsberghe, R., Derom, I., & Maurer E. (2012). Social leveraging of the 2010 Olympic Games: “Sustainability” in a City of Vancouver initiative. International Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure & Events, 4(2): 185 205. This paper provides an example of the city of Vancouver’s ambitious efforts to promote sustainability policy using the vehicle of the 2010 Games. 5. Pentifallo, C., & VanWynsberghe, R. (2012). Blame it on Rio: Thinking through the Games’ impacts and legacies. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 4(3), 427 446. This paper analyzes Olympic Games’ bids and argues that prospective hosts are the main source of burgeoning sustainability rhetoric.
NOTES 1. Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (2009, p. 8). 2. In 2011 a new Technical Manual was released collapsing what was 126 separate indicators into 30. 3. Metro Vancouver is a regional level of government, or regional government, containing 22 municipalities, including the City of Vancouver, and one electoral area. Metro Vancouver holds three primary roles in governance: service delivery, planning, and political leadership. 4. The ENGO Dialogue Group is composed of 19 groups: Westcoast Environmental Law; CityGreen; David Suzuki Foundation; The Land Conservancy; Ecotrust Canada; AWARE; City Farmer; Sierra Club of Canada BC Chapter; Western Canada Wilderness Committee; BCSEA; SmartGrowth; Better Environmentally Sound Transportation; Georgia Strait Alliance; ForestEthics; Recycling
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Council of BC; Pembina Institute; WWF Canada; The Nature Conservancy of Canada BC Chapter; and ForEd BC. 5. The Four Host First Nations are the Lil’wat Nation, the Musqueam Nation, the Squamish Nation, and the Tsleil-waututh Nation. 6. The National Aboriginal Organizations group is made up of the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the Metis National Council/Metis Nation of BC. 7. In 2008, the AETO included the Province of BC Ministry of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development, the Aboriginal Human Resource Development Council, ACCESS, the First Nations Employment Society, the Metis Nation of BC, the 2010 Commerce Centre, the Osoyoos Indian Band Development Corporation, and the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. In 2009 and 2010, these organizations were joined also by 2010 Winter Games corporate sponsors and suppliers Coca-Cola, BC Hydro, Molson, Deloitte, GE, RBC, and Nike. 8. Millennium Southeast False Creek Properties Ltd. was the developer selected to design and build the 1,100 unit Olympic Athletes Village on the shores of Vancouver’s Southeast False Creek. 9. The Own the Podium (OTP) initiative supports Canada’s National Sport Organizations (NSOs) to increase medal counts by Canadian athletes at Olympic and Paralympic Summer and Winter Games. Since it was launched in January 2005 the cumulative budget has been $341,634,173 (as of February 1, 2013). The Canadian Olympic Committee’s Athlete Excellence Fund (AEF) provides Canadian athletes with performance awards on a four-year cycle: Year 1 top five in the world $5,000; Year 2 top five in the world $5,000; Year 3 top four in the world $5,000; and Year 4 (Olympic year) Olympic Games, Gold medal $20,000, Silver medal $15,000, Bronze medal $10,000. 10. The Canadian Olympic Foundation supports programs like Own the Podium, the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Athlete Excellence Fund, Olympic and Pan American Games preparation.
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