Ice Can Look like Glass: A Phenomenological Investigation of Movement Meaning in One Fifth-Grade Class during a Creative Dance Unit

Abstract

The movement meanings of students (n = 19) in one fifth-grade class during a creative dance unit focusing on effort (force, time, space, flow) are investigated using a perspective grounded in transcendental phenomenology (Husserl, 1931). Data were collected via videotape, journal, and homework documents and semistructured interviews. Analytical induction (Patton, 2002) structured a four-step analysis process that reduced meaning to its essential essence. Movement meaning was found to be a multifaceted construct that varied among students within and across five dimensions. To enhance meaningful learning educators are encouraged to consider reflexively (a) their philosophical orientation relative to knowledge making and curriculum values, (b) instructional techniques that help students' access meaning and (c) the contribution of dance as a source of meaning.     

‘You look like a machito!’: a decolonial analysis of the social in/exclusion of female participants in a Colombian sport for development and peace organization

Abstract

This article critically explores the relationship between the gendered nature of sport in Colombia and girls and young women’s social in/exclusion in football (soccer) through the lived experiences of female participants involved in a local Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) organization. Building on 6 months of ethnographic fieldwork and Lave and Wenger’s theory of Community of Practice (CoP), I explore the complex and connected gendered social elements that constrain girls and young women’s participation. Analyzing these processes and mechanisms through a decolonial lens, I reveal the existence of colonial residues that perpetuate and reinforce females positioning as peripheral actors in sport. The findings demonstrate how female participants are required to negotiate spaces with contradictory gendered meanings and confirm that social transformation within masculine structures is difficult to achieve. This research encourages SDP researchers to further engage with decolonial theory.     

The champion boxer Les Darcy: a victim of class conflict and sectarian bitterness in Australia during the First World War

The humanities in higher education are under attack. There may not be a deliberate and concerted effort to undermine their provision and development within universities but the direction of current policy is certainly undermining their stability and well being as an intellectual pursuit. Using the example of sports history, this paper considers whether public expenditure on academic history is justified and it explores some of the ways the subdiscipline might develop in response to the shifting sands of both public policy and public interest.