The puliti affair and the 1924 Paris Olympics: Geo-Political issues,National pride and fencing traditions

During the Paris Olympic Games of July 1924, there were a series of ‘incidents’ in the fencing competition that became known as the Puliti affair. At the centre of the troubles was the Italian Oreste Puliti. The ‘affair’ had to be discussed by the ‘jury d'honneur’ recently set up by the IOC. Both the IOC and the International Federation were concerned with this issue for four more years. This article uses the Puliti affair to discuss several aspects of nationalism in the mid-1920s: the growing tensions between Fascist Italy and democracies such as Hungary and France, the specific Olympic status of fencing challenged in Paris after three centuries of confrontation between the French and Italian schools of fencing, and ongoing tensions between the IOC and the international federations. Finally, the press perceptions of the incident in various countries are briefly discussed.     

Strength Peddlers: Eddie O’Callaghan and the selling of Irish strength

Building on Geraldine Biddle-Perry's 2014 discussion of Gamage's department store, and seeking to address the still existent historical dearth on sporting retail, the following article highlights the case of Eddie O’Callaghan, an Irish bicycle and physical culture retailer operating in fin de siècle Ireland. Focused exclusively on O’Callaghan's trade in ‘Sandow Developers’, an elastic workout device sold by famed physical culturist Eugen Sandow, the article examines three distinct marketing approaches taken by O’Callaghan's company from 1898 to roughly 1906. To do so, the article begins with a brief discussion of cycling and physical culture in Ireland, so as to provide a background to O’Callaghan's situation. Following this, the article explores three distinct marketing approaches taken by O’Callaghan and his associates at the dawn of the twentieth-century. The article concludes by exploring the possible reasons for O’Callaghan's retreat from physical culture commerce by 1906. In doing so, it is argued that O’Callaghan and his affiliates called upon ideas of gender, strength and health in their bid to attract Irish consumers. The article thus sheds light on the then nascent physical culture market alongside larger questions of gender and sporting retail in the Irish sphere.     

1982 FIFA World Cup: from Spain’s struggle for democratic legitimacy to Italy’s rediscovery of football nationalism

ABSTRACT

One of the most memorable moments in the World Cups history is Marco Tardelli’s second goal in Italy’s win over Germany in the 1982 World Cup finals. Better known as Tardelli’s scream, it is thus a perfect object to analyse in order to understand football’s deeper social meanings and its political and cultural undertones, in this case both for the World Cup champions, Italy, and for the host country, Spain. In the Spanish case, organizing the World Cup was a huge political opportunity for the just restored democracy to showcase to the world a modern and pluralistic society leaving behind the authoritarian and outdated dictatorship. As for Italy, their first World Cup winning since World War II was heavily politically used by actors across the political spectrum. Such nationalistic approach constituted a novelty after decades of a low profile national discourse.     

Sport physiology research and governing gender in sport—a power–knowledge relation?

This article sets out to show how physiological knowledge about sex/gender relates to power issues within sport. The sport physiology research at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (Swedish acronym: GIH) during the twentieth century is analysed in relation to the political rationality concerning gender at GIH and within the Swedish Sports Confederation during the same period. The analysis is constituted by Michel Foucault's notion of power–knowledge relations and regimes oftruth. The construction of sex/gender in the physiological research changes over time. Comparative studies on the function of ‘sexual difference’ during strenuous work, which, in hindsight, might be seen to restrict women's sport participation, was gradually displaced by a lack of interest in sexual difference, and later by a growing fascination with sexual difference from a ‘gender perspective’ in terms of women being ‘different but equal’ to men. This displacement goes hand in hand with a displacement of the political rationality concerning gender at GIH and within the Swedish Sports Confederation, where a pre-World War II strategy of excluding women's competitive sport participation, restricting women's physical exercise to gymnastics, was after 1945 followed by a strategy of including women. This was at first in the name of ‘women's right to do sport’—where the physiological research advocated this endeavour—and later in the name of ‘women's right to do sport on their own terms’. However, the research was still being conducted based on the male physiology as the norm.     

Statistics,gymnastics and the origins of sport science in Belgium (and Europe)

Abstract

This paper analyses the introduction of statistics in the field of gymnastics and its effect on the institutionalisation of physical education as a fully fledged academic discipline. Soon after Belgian independence, Adolphe Quetelet's research already resulted in large-scale anthropometric statistics – indeed, he developed an index that is still being used and is better known under the name of the body mass index. His insights were applied by promoters of gymnastics who wanted to make physical education more scientific. Thus, Clément Lefébure, director of the Ecole Normale de Gymnastique et d'Escrime in Brussels, set up a comparative experiment (with pre- and post-test measurements) by which he intended to show that the ‘rational’ method of Swedish gymnastics produced much better results than the ‘empirical’ method of Belgian/German Turnen. Lefébure's experiment, which was cited internationally but which was also strongly contested by opponents, was one of the factors that led to Swedish gymnastics being officially institutionalised in 1908 at the newly founded Higher Institute of Physical Education of the State University of Ghent, the first institute in the world where students could obtain a doctoral degree in physical education. Although it rested actually on very weak scientific foundations, the bastion of Swedish gymnastics built in Belgium in that pre-war period collapsed only in the 1960s. From then on, sport science could develop fully within the institutes for physical education.     

The Validity of the Sit-and-Reach Test and the Modified Sit-and-Reach Test in Middle-Aged to Older Men and Women

Abstract

A growing concern for the establishment of a national system of education was clearly evident in France during the last decades of the eighteenth century. Physical education was afforded an important role in the educational projections of the period. Beginning with La Chalotais' Essai d'éducation nationale (1763) authors began to express more and more support for the inclusion of a comprehensive program of physical education. Gabriel Coyer's De l'éducation publique (1770), Louis Philipon de la Madelaine's Vues patriotiques sur l'education du peuple (1783) and De l'éducation des collèges (1784), and Jean Ver dier's Maison d'éducation physique et morale (1772) and Cours d'éducation à l'usage des eleves (1777) all contributed significantly to the concept that physical education must constitute an important and integral part of any comprehensive and viable plan for national education. Among the most important deliberations of the various French revolutionary assemblies between 1789 and 1795 were those dealing with education as a concern of the state. Legislators tried valiantly to establish a sound national plan for education. The educational reports and projects presented to the various revolutionary assemblies by Talleyrand, Condorcet, Lepelitier, Lakanal, Romme, and Daunou are usually considered by educational historians to be the most significant. Each of these specified that due attention must be devoted to physical education for children and youth. The proposals, the decrees and the debates which they precipitated did much to attract attention to the importance of the subject. It seems most likely that the period from 1763 to 1795 in France witnessed the establishment of a precedent in modem times for the concept of state concern and support for physical education.     

The neutrality myth: why international sporting associations and politics cannot be separated

International sporting associations (ISAs) like the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) have throughout the twentieth century promoted political neutrality as a source of autonomy. With FIFA and the IOC’s official adherence to the United Nations’ human rights conventions in 2017, FIA remains one of the few large ISAs where neutrality is not underpinned by a corrective on human rights. However, this position is in conflict with the ethical obligations FIA contracted when it was given full recognition by the IOC in 2013. To discuss this problematic, this paper draws upon J.S. Mill’s On Liberty and the concept of ‘inaction’ as a source for ways in which the FIA might reconsider its current stance.

Abbreviations: IOC (International Olympic Committee); FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile); FIFA (International Federation of Football Associations); ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross); ISA (International Sporting Associations); UEFA (Union of European Football Associations)     

Taiwan and the 2001 Baseball World Cup: The National Impact of a World Sporting Event

National identity is one of the most contentious issues in Taiwan. This paper examines the relationship between the staging of the 2001 Baseball World Cup (BWC) and wider issues such as that of Taiwanese nationalism and broader sociopolitical values in Taiwan. It attempts to explain the impact on Taiwanese nationalism of hosting such a sports mega-event. The paper argues that baseball in general, and the 2001 BWC in particular, was a political vehicle utilised by the ‘new’ government to promote social integration/national identity; and it evaluates the responses of the Taiwanese to baseball used for this purpose.

Taiwan et la Coupe du Monde de baseball de 2001 : l'impact national d'un événement sportif mondial

L'identité nationale est l'un des questions les plus litigieuses à Taïwan. Cet article examine les relations entre l'accueil de la Coupe du monde de base-ball 2001 (BWC) et d'autres aspects plus généraux comme ceux du nationalisme taïwanais et plus largement des valeurs sociopolitiques à Taïwan. Il tente d'expliquer l'impact de l'accueil d'un tel méga-événement sportif sur le nationalisme taïwanais; L'article soutient que le base-ball en général et la coupe du monde de 2001 en particulier furent un véhicule politique utilisé par ‘le nouveau’ gouvernement pour promouvoir l'intégration sociale et l'identité nationale et il évalue les réponses des Taïwanais dans le base-ball à cette fin.

Taiwan y el Mundial de Béisbol de 2001: impacto nacional de un acontecimiento deportivo mundial

Una de las cuestiones más controvertidas en Taiwan es la de la identidad nacional. Este artículo examina las relaciones entre la celebración del Mundial de Béisbol de 2001 y otros aspectos más generales como el nacionalismo taiwanés y los valores sociopolíticos en Taiwán. Intenta explicar el impacto que tuvo sobre el nacionalismo taiwanés el hecho de albergar un acontecimiento deportivo de este nivel. El artículo postula que el béisbol en general, y el Mundial de 2001 en concreto, fueron un instrumento político utilizado por el “nuevo” gobierno para promover la integración social y la identidad nacional, y valora las respuestas de los taiwaneses al uso del béisbol con este propósito.

Taiwan und die Baseball Weltmeisterschaft 2001: Der nationale Einfluss einer Weltsportveranstaltung

Die nationale Identität ist eine der umstrittensten Angelegenheiten in Taiwan. Diese Arbeit untersucht die Beziehung zwischen der Ausrichtung der Baseball Weltmeisterschaft (BWC) im Jahre 2001 und weitreichenderen Problemfeldern wie dem des Nationalismus und allgemeineren soziopolitischen Werten in Taiwan. Es wird versucht, den Einfluss eines derartigen sportlichen Großereignisses auf den taiwanesischen Nationalismus zu erklären. Die Abhandlung zeigt, dass Baseball allgemein, besonders aber die Weltmeisterschaft 2001 als politisches Werkzeug von der ?neuen” Regierung benutzt wurde, um die soziale Integration/nationale Identitätsstiftung voranzutreiben. Darüberhinaus werden die Reaktionen der Taiwanesen auf den zu diesem Zweck verwendeten Baseballsport untersucht.

     

Projecting the ‘Chineseness’: Nationalism,Identity and Chinese Martial Arts Films

Wushu, also known as Kung Fu, is a traditional Chinese martial art. It also symbolises the strength of the Chinese and their pride in their history. Wushu came to be associated with Chinese nationalism after China's various defeats at the hands of foreign imperialist powers at the turn of the twentieth century. This relationship has been further strengthened through martial arts films. In the first half of the twentieth century, martial arts films helped to construct national identity among the Chinese. They also facilitated the development of Wushu, making it a symbol of indigenous virtue and strength. From the late 1960s, influenced by a defensive strain of nationalism, Chinese film-makers began to adopt a new approach to the portrayal of Wushu. Martial arts films were endowed with political and cultural significance, and evolved as a unique representation of Chinese nationalism. Several decades later, martial arts films still retain at their core a sense of ‘Chineseness'. From Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury to Donnie Yen's IP Man, Chinese martial arts films have demonstrated not only the important place of Wushu in Chinese nationalism, but also the influence of nationalism on Chinese cinema.     

Handling of medical knowledge in sport: Athletes' medical opinions,information seeking behaviours and knowledge sources

Medical care in sport comprises a variety of treatments, from scientifically proven biomedicine to complementary and alternative medicine. Information and knowledge about these diverse treatment options is spread by different sources. Thus, athletes encounter information of varying content, quality and background. This exploratory pilot study addresses athletes' medical opinions, their health-related information seeking behaviour and the knowledge sources they utilise. Questionnaires were used to examine n = 110 German athletes (n_male = 69, n_female = 41; mean_age = 24.28 ± 4.97 years) at high performance levels (national team and/or European championship and/or World championship n = 22; first national league and/or German championship n = 51, second national league and/or State championship n = 37) from various Olympic sports. A cluster analysis regarding the athletes' attitudes towards sport medicine exhibited four different types of athletes: ‘the autonomous athlete’, ‘the open-minded athlete’, ‘the functionalistic athlete’ and ‘the conservative athlete’. In general, our findings show that the most used and trusted information sources are physicians and physiotherapists. However, medical information is trusted the most if it is experience- and field-tested, and comes from the athletes' sport-specific network. Our findings also suggest that professional medical knowledge management in competitive sport is needed.     

Caffeine lowers perceptual response and increases power output during high-intensity cycling

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of caffeine ingestion on a ‘preloaded’ protocol that involved cycling for 2?min at a constant rate of 100% maximal power output immediately followed by a 1-min ‘all-out’ effort. Eleven male cyclists completed a ramp test to measure maximal power output. On two other occasions, the participants ingested caffeine (5?mg?·?kg^?1) or placebo in a randomized, double-blind procedure. All tests were conducted on the participants' own bicycles using a Kingcycle? test rig. Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE; 6–20 Borg scale) were lower in the caffeine trial by approximately 1 RPE point at 30, 60 and 120?s during the constant rate phase of the preloaded test (P?<0.05). The mean power output during the all-out effort was increased following caffeine ingestion compared with placebo (794±164 vs 750±163?W; P?=?0.05). Blood lactate concentration 4, 5 and 6?min after exercise was also significantly higher by approximately 1?mmol?·?l^?1 in the caffeine trial (P?<0.05). These results suggest that high-intensity cycling performance can be increased following moderate caffeine ingestion and that this improvement may be related to a reduction in RPE and an elevation in blood lactate concentration.     

Future Girls,transcendent femininities and new pedagogies: toward girls' hybrid bodies?

Media provides a material site for girls' identity formation and presents conflicting images of femininity, which challenge young women's self-expression and physicality development. The ‘problem’ with girls' physicality has not been resolved, but rather complicated by discourses of new femininities in sport, fitness and health promoted by the new economies. Girls' conscious and unconscious consumption of messages of new powerful femininities might be troubling for some girls, especially ‘Other’ girls and/or girls ‘at risk,’ whose physicality collides with the emerging image of the new girls. Therefore, in this paper, I contend that an investment in the third-wave feminist agenda is still necessary to engage scholars, educators and girls in critical conversations about media, genders, the body and identity. To this end, first I discuss the feminist reappraisal of Foucault's analysis of the body as an emancipatory socio-educational and political project for (en)gendering research on the feminine ‘docile body’ in society. Second, I highlight emerging contemporary monocultural discourses of the ‘Alpha Girl’ and the ‘Future Girl,’ powerful sporty, fit and healthy femininities that contradict discourses of the traditional feminine docile body, and I analyze the ways these new images subsume race, class, religion and disability. Finally, I conclude this article by advocating the adoption of critical media pedagogies as a potential strategy for schooling girls' hybrid bodies.     

Guangzhou: The Asian Games and the Chinese ‘Gold-Fest’ – Geopolitical Issues for Australia

At the Guangzhou Asian Games, the performances of China's athletes, the officials and the host city of Guangzhou were outstanding. China's journey to the Asian Games in Guangzhou and the accompanying political and sporting machinations throughout are considered in the initial discussion of this essay. The analysis subsequently focuses on Australia's metamorphosis as an ‘Asian’ nation and the sporting, cultural and diplomatic implications this could have for Australia and China. Would this signal Australia's egress from the Commonwealth Games and the Commonwealth per se, thus cutting the British Imperial umbilicus? The presence of Australia at the Asian Games may also enhance the soft power ambitions China has for its engagement in the Asian Games; succeeding in competitions that include a global sports ‘heavyweight’ like Australia would add kudos to the performances of Chinese athletes. How would Australia benefit from this shift? Considering Australia's geopolitical and economic ties with East Asia would an increased level of sporting engagement with China concomitantly produce cultural, economic and political successes? In the long term, Australia may inevitably become part of the post-colonial East Asian world: the future world of power, wealth and geopolitical influence.     

Guangzhou 2010: Singapore at a Global Crossroads

This essay is an analysis of the reality of Singapore's Asian Games' aspirations and achievements and the responses to the challenges it faced in Guangzhou in 2010. How did ‘Team Singapore’ respond to the challenges that they met at what represented a crossroad in their sporting history at which they met the vehicle carrying China's sporting and soft power products. How did they react and were the effort, industry, hyperbole and not insignificant government financial outlay and policy initiatives worth it? The analysis constitutes a critique of articles relating to the Guangzhou Asian Games of 2010 that appeared in the three major English language newspapers in Singapore, The Straits Times, The Sunday Times and The New Paper before, during and after the Games. From the analysis, major themes emerged which characterised the environment of elite sport in Singapore and revealed that it is very much part of the nation's inimitable social, political and diplomatic schema; sport, as with all other socio-cultural institutions in Singapore, has not and does not evolve accidentally.     

‘Race’ talk! Tensions and contradictions in sport and PE

Background: The universal sport discourses of meritocracy and equality are so engrained that few challenge them. The most cursory interest in sport, Physical Education (PE), and society will reveal that the lived reality is quite different. Racial disparities in the leadership and administration of sport are commonplace worldwide; yet, from research into ‘race’ in sport and PE, awareness of these issues is widespread, where many know that racism takes place it is generally claimed to be somewhere else or someone else. For many, this racism is part of the game and something to manipulate to steal an advantage; for others, it is trivial. This paper explores the contradictions and tensions of the author’s experience of how sport and PE students talk about ‘race’ and racism. ‘Race’ talk is considered here in the context of passive everyday ‘race’ talk, dominant discourses in sporting cultures, and colour blindness.

Theoretical framework: Drawing on Guinier and Torres’ [2003. The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy. London: Harvard University Press] ideas of resistance through political race consciousness and Bonilla-Silva’s [2010. Racism Without Racists: Colour-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States. Plymouth: Rowan and Littlefield] notion of colour blindness, the semantics of ‘race’ and racialisation in sport and PE are interrogated through the prism of critical race theory (CRT). CRT is used here to centre ‘race’ and racialised relations where disciplines have consciously or otherwise excluded them. Importantly, the centring of ‘race’ by critical race scholars has advanced a strategic and pragmatic engagement with this slippery concept that recognises its paradoxical but symbolic location in society.

Discussion: Before exploring ‘race’ talk in the classroom, using images from the sport media as a pedagogical tool, the paper considers how ‘race’ is recreated and renewed. The paper then turns to explore how the effortless turn to everyday ‘race’ talk in the classroom can be viewed as an opportunity to disrupt racialised assumptions with the potential to implicate those that passively do so. Further, the diagnostic, aspirational, and activist goals of political race consciousness are established as vehicles for a positive sociological experience in the classroom.

Conclusion: The work concludes with a consideration of the uses and dangers of passive ‘race’ talk and the value of a political race consciousness in sport and PE. Part of the explanation for the perpetuation of ‘race’ talk and the relative lack of concern with its impact on education and wider society is focused on how the sovereignty of sport and PE trumps wider social concerns of ‘race’ and racism because of at least four factors: (1) the liberal left discourses of sporting utopianism, (2) the ‘race’ logic that pervades sport, based upon the perceived equal access and fairness of sport as it coalesces with the (3) ‘incontrovertible facts’ of black and white superiority (and inferiority) in certain sports, ergo the racial justifications for patterns of activity in sport and PE, and (4) the racist logic of the Right perpetuated through a biological reductionism in sport and PE discourses.     

Moving into and out of high-performance sport: the cultural learning of an artistic gymnast

Background: High-performance sport has been described as a formative environment through which athletes learn sporting skills but also develop athletic selves. Within this process, career movements related to selection for and de-selection from representative teams constitute critical moments. Further, retirement from sport can be problematic as the athletic self becomes ‘obsolete’. This dilemma is acute in sports that demand an early entry, extreme time investments and a high risk of retirement before adulthood. Women's artistic gymnastics (WAG) is such a sport.

Purpose and scope: This article considers an artistic gymnast's (Marie) experiences of movement into and out of this sport. Marie's construction and reconstruction of her athletic self when she entered gymnastics at the age of six, relocated to a different city in order to train with the national team at the age of 15, and retired from the sport one year later receives particular attention.

Method and theoretical perspective: An in-depth biographical interview was conducted with Marie. Further, the first author's personal knowledge of this gymnast's career experiences was used for contextualisation. The analysis of data involved the identification of learning outcomes during her time in high-performance WAG and post-retirement. Storied accounts surrounding the key learning experiences were compiled. In order to understand Marie's learning, cultural perspective of learning developed by education scholars and the respective metaphors of ‘learning as becoming’ and ‘horizons for action’ and ‘horizons of learning’ are employed.

Findings: Marie's choice of relocating to train with the national team involved her assuming a temporary orientation towards the requirements of the high-performance WAG context she entered. To achieve this, Marie suppressed the dispositions she had brought to this setting and adjusted her training philosophy, relationship with her coach, diet and socialising. Further, despite Marie intending to only momentarily adjust to the practices of the high-performance context, her learning was deep. Upon retiring from gymnastics, she could not leave the high-performance gymnastics self behind. The subsequent process to adjust to life without gymnastics was difficult and testing, and could only be realised with professional treatment.

Conclusion: Learning in sport is not limited to athletic skills. Athletes’ selves are formed in interaction with sporting contexts and actors. This embodiment can become durable and cause significant conflict when moving out of sport. To handle life without sport, adjustment may be challenging and lengthy.

Recommendations: Sporting cultures should allow for more interactive learning and athlete diversity. Coaching practices that allow athletes to voice difficulties should be provided. Athletes should be encouraged to reflect upon their sporting experiences and upon leaving high-performance sport, should be (professionally) supported.     

The Chinese Government and the Globalization of Table Tennis: A Case Study in Local Responses to the Globalization of Sport

This study aims to explore the relationship between the Chinese government and the globalization of sport. The analysis looks at how the Chinese government has developed and managed its national sport, table tennis, as the sport became more and more globalized. This research developed a theoretical framework and an analytical tool based on Houlihan's model for analyzing ‘global reach and local response in sport’ and adopted a qualitative approach of content analysis and semi-structured interviews. A total of 16 interviewees contributed to this study, consisting of officials from Chinese sports administrations and Chinese scholars specializing in sports studies. This study found that the Chinese government has responded to the challenges associated with the globalization of table tennis in the dimensions of ‘participating in international organizations’ and ‘commercialization’ in two and five different ways, respectively. As this case study of China shows, a country's response to the globalization of sport is not limited to just one of the three types of responses described by Houlihan: passive, participative, or conflictual. In fact, a combination of two types is also possible. In China's case, the response has been both participativeand conflictual, but never passive. This study concludes that since the Chinese government habitually prioritizes the interests of the state ahead of everything else, it has never loosened its grip on the development of table tennis. It has so far demonstrated its ability to control resources when dealing with the impacts associated with the globalization of table tennis. China's socialist market economy model, which features a ‘dual-track system’ and ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’, has generated a unique set of values that serves to rationalize whatever conflicts arise between capitalism and socialism. Although the Chinese government currently handles its relationship with globalization effectively and flexibly, the reform and opening up policies in China are expanding and may expose conflicts of interest between the Communist regime, enterprises, and professional players in the foreseeable future.     

Innovation not Invention: A Reply to Peter Swain Regarding the Professionalization of Association Football in England and its Diffusion

This article is a response to the revisionist view of the history of the professionalization of association football in Lancashire as proposed by Peter Swain in a recent article in Sport in History. It expands on some of the arguments first proposed in my PhD thesis and subsequent articles during the 1990s, and suggests that Swain based his arguments on a number of misconceptions and misinterpretations of my original work. Apart from the flaws in Swain's reasoning and analysis, this article also criticizes his use of evidence in his attempted proof of this reinterpretation. It focuses particularly on his confusion of the concepts of ‘invention’ and ‘innovation’, and the idea of business innovation and its diffusion according to Rogers's classic theory. It also attempts to show the errors in Swain's ‘continuity’ concept as a theoretical structure. In conclusion, it is argued that Swain's ‘new direction’ is in fact a dead end, and that subsequent research should avoid these misinterpretations and misdirections.     

Media,digital technology and learning in sport: a critical response to Hodkinson,Biesta and James

Background: In their 2008 paper, Hodkinson, Biesta and James draw on the sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu to construct what they claim is a ‘holistic’ theoretical framework for understanding learning. While not an attempt to dissolve the long-standing opposition between ‘cognitive’ and ‘situated’ theories, the authors claim that thinking about learning and learners in ‘cultural’ terms via Bourdieu's theories allows us theoretically to integrate individuals and learning contexts. The result, they claim, is a ‘scalable’ theory of learning that overcomes the dualisms – such as structure/agency and individual/society – that dog learning theory. We welcome both Hodkinson et al.’s ideas and overall goal. However, we were struck by the absence of any mention of communications media or digital technology in their theoretical framework. Does this mean that media and digital technology can straightforwardly be mapped onto Hodkinson et al.’s theory? Or is this a serious oversight?

Purpose: Given the large amount of recent theorising about the transformative educational potential of media and digital technology – admittedly much of it speculative and hyperbolic – there appear to be some grounds for troubling some of Hodkinson et al.’s ideas by prioritising the effects of media and digital technology on learning.

Methods: We used two examples of learning in sports, one historical and the other contemporary, to consider the theoretical implications of media and digital technology's role in sports learning. The first explores the ways professional footballers learned to produce displays of emotion during the 1950s and 1960s. Our second example presents data from semi-structured interviews with downhill longboard skateboarders and focuses on how these young people use and think about digital technology as they learn their sport.

Findings: While not rejecting Hodkinson et al.’s preference for Bourdieu's sociological theories, we draw on other theories that do not see the relationship between the ‘individual’ and ‘society’ as their conceptual starting point. To this end, we touch on Actor Network Theory (ANT), ‘connectivism’ and the theoretical work of Deleuze and Guattari in order to at least question whether Bourdieu's ideas are sufficiently flexible or dynamic to account for learning in media- and technology-saturated environments. Most obviously, rather than the individual/society dualism which Hodkinson et al. simultaneously question but also rely on, are there advantages in using ‘flatter’ metaphors such as the ‘network’ to understand learning?

Conclusions: We agree with Hodkinson et al.’s point that theories are tools for thinking with and that their metaphorical power can and should be harnessed to improve the way we teach. It is for this reason that we question Hodkinson et al.’s claim to offer a ‘holistic’ theory of learning. All theories, like metaphors, have real-world limitations and this is why we should always be suspicious of theories that claim to be able to ‘see’ the world from all angles and, perhaps more fundamentally, to dissolve the dualisms that they are built on. Theories are always a partial view from somewhere and just as they help us to see some things, they do so by demanding that we not see others.