Book reviews

Paul Goldman, Sporting Life: An Anthology of British Sporting Prints. (London, British Museum Publications, 1983). Pp. 136. £7.95.

Donald J. Mrozek, Sport and American Mentality, 1880–1910. (Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press, 1983). Pp.xx + 284. NP.

Christopher Dodd, The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. (London, Stanley Paul, 1983). Pp.405. £14.95.

Ian T. Henderson and David I. Stirk, The Compleat Golfer: An Illustrated History of the Royal and Ancient Game. (London: Victor Gollancz, 1982). Pp.96. £5.95.

Jean‐Marie Brohm, Sport—A Prison of Measured Time. Essays. (Translated by Ian Fraser). (London: Ink Links, 1978). Pp. ix+ 185. NP.

Robert J. Higgs, Sports: A Reference Guide. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982). Pp.317. NP.

Gary Firth, James Hagerty, Keith Laybourn (eds.), Yorkshire at Play: A Guide to Historical Sources and their Uses. (Leeds: University of Leeds School of Education, 1982). Pp.x + 54. NP.

Sir Walter Gilbey, Sport in the Olden Time. (Liss, Hants: Spur Publications Company, 1975). Pp.[xi] + 117. £7.50.

Capt. L. Fitz‐Barnard, Fighting Sports. (Hindhead, Surrey: Triplegate Ltd. (Learnex), 1983). Pp.viii + 292. £15.00.

David B. Smith, Curling: An Illustrated History. (Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, 1981). Pp.vii + 232. £12.00.     

‘Glittering Guangzhou’: The 2010 Asian Games – Local Rivalries,National Motives,Geopolitical Gestures

The Guangzhou Asian Games of 2010 was the deliberate outcome of an intense regional rivalry, a careful national balancing act and a geopolitical marketing momentum embedded in a provincial and civil reconstruction that mirrored a wider national reconstruction: Guangdong and Guangzhou – ‘the city’, the Games City and Chinese performances were statements about the controlled advance of the ‘Middle Kingdom’ to a regained hegemonic status in the western Pacific. This is a verbal and visual depiction of the cosmopolitanism and confidence of the New China: word and picture meshed to demonstrate vividly the modern ascendancy of the ‘Middle Kingdom’.     

Exploring alternative perspectives in educational research

This paper advocates the use ofsocial constructionist perspectives in the development of collaborative educational research studies. The perspectives described were developed during our project work in Canada on “Curriculum and Context in the Use of Computers for Classroom Learning” (Ontario Ministry of Education Grant, 1989–1993). The paper explores the interrelated epistemological and ethical implications of such perspectives. These include the requirement that participants be treated as sense-making agents in the construction of the social reality, and the recognition of inequities in the production and distribution of knowledge. Social scientists must recognize their own roles within the structures of power and prestige which condition educational research, and design research strategies which take them into account. An example of the difficulties encountered in applying an alternative model of research is related, and some lingering ethical dilemmas are raised.