A Consideration of Why Active Participation in Sport and Leisure Might Reduce Criminal Behaviour

This paper contributes to sport, sociology and the body literature by exploring the ‘exposure and effect’ of culture, in particular bodily practices placed on three adolescent swimmers immersed in the Australian swimming culture using an ethnographic framework. The research reported is particularly notable as it addresses two distinct time points in the swimmers’ lives. The first section explores the adolescent experiences of three female swimmers within the cultural context of Australian swimming by articulating some of the specific body practices and ‘memes’ (ideas, symbols and practices) that they were exposed to and/or engaged within relation to the body. The second section of this paper focuses on the same three swimmers in the ‘present day’, some 10–30 years after being immersed in the Australian swimming culture as adolescents. It excavates their body practices and the relationships they now have with their body, and thus pursues the sustained impact of the body practices and ‘memes’ they were exposed to as adolescents. Analysis employs concepts drawn mainly from Foucault, particularly his thesis in regard to ‘disciplinary power’, ‘regulation’ ‘classification’ and ‘surveillance’. At a club (amateur) and National level, Australian swimming is revealed as an institution, a site and culture where particular techniques of power have become concentrated and have been brought to bear on individuals in systematic ways, with sometimes damaging effects arising for athletes’ long-term health and well-being, particularly if the individuals concerned continue to engage with cultural practices in regard to the body post-career.     

Changing personas and evolving identities: the contestation and renegotiation of researcher roles in fieldwork

The aim of this paper is to discuss the development and evolution of particular personas adopted by researchers in the quest for rich exchanges within the social field. It analyses my role (the principal author) as a female ethnographer (and the sole female) in the world of elite male rowing. Data are drawn from personal notes, reflections and observations during a five-month-long training camp. My experiences are located within dramaturgical social theory and, in particular, Goffman's work on face and impression management. The significance of the work is twofold. Firstly, it lies in recognising the strategies we use and the identities we construct as researchers in negotiating the social field towards desired ends. Secondly, it raises awareness of the implications performances have for the nature of the data gathered and the conclusions drawn from them.     

Problematizing the construct of ‘the Chinese learner’: insights from ethnographic research

Large numbers of students from the Chinese‐speaking world are nowadays enrolled in Western universities, prompting the need for awareness of their educational beliefs and practices. Although an established literature seeks to characterize ‘the Chinese learner’, much of this research results in stereotypical representations of a ‘reduced Other’: passive, uncritical and over‐reliant on the instructor. This paper, which is based on ethnographic research conducted in universities in the People’s Republic of China, aims to illuminate some of the common misperceptions of Chinese educational cultures.     

Identity Challenges in Field Research: Three Stories

We tell of our struggles in completing ethnographic field research by showing the hurdles and difficult interactions we faced on our different projects. We interpret the obstacles as threats to our identities and show how we responded to them. Our conclusion shows how we preserved the independence of our interpretations while completing the data collection and interpretation.     

Challenging Assumptions Underlying the Metamorphosis Phase: Ethnographic Analysis of Metamorphosis Within an Unemployment Organization

Organizational communication scholars have grappled with assimilation processes and expanded the theoretical conceptualization of each phase. This article joins in conversation with organizational communication scholars by identifying and problematizing the assumption that reaching metamorphosis is always a positive experience. Through the ethnographic analysis of empirical data collected from an unemployment support organization, the author argues that being an established organizational member is sometimes counter to organizational objectives. While traditional organizations attempt to maintain and grow their membership, some alternative organizational formats aim to minimize membership. This premise challenges the assumption that achieving metamorphosis is always a desirable state of organizational membership. Furthermore, this study reveals how communication changes when it is undesirable for service recipients to reach metamorphosis.     

Doing “indigenous” ethnography as a cultural outsider: Lessons from the Four Seasons

This piece narrates the author's experience with González's Four Seasons of Ethnography framework as an ethnographer-in-training in an advanced field research methods course conducted in a small Rarámuri village in the Copper Canyon of Mexico. Three core elements emerged as the narrative's focal interest: the nature-based logic of the Four Seasons framework, the tensions between indigenous child-rearing practices and modernizing influences among the Rarámuri, and the problematic of conducting indigenously grounded research in a community not one's own. Learnings highlight the unique oeuvre lent by the “Four Seasons” framework and its potential for transforming knowledge production about the “other” within the academy and beyond.     

从经典民族志看功能学派内研究取向的异同——读《西太平洋的航海者》和《安达曼岛人》

马林诺夫斯基和拉德克利夫-布朗均为功能学派的创始人,他们的经典民族志《西太平洋的航海者》和《安达曼岛人》在人类学的发展史上有着不可磨灭的作用。从他们的经典民族志来看功能学派内研究取向的异同,会发现他们都运用科学的田野调查方法以整体观来分析研究对象的功能,也会发现他们在研究方法上的细微差别以及对象的不同。     

Mucking in and mucking out: Vocational learning in Animal Care

The paper draws upon empirical material from a two year qualitative research project. The paper briefly outlines the key research questions, research design and data collection strategies. The following sections draw on observational, interview and journal data from the learning sites and the teachers and students who work and learn in them are used to show how college-based learning (CBL) is also work-based learning (WBL). We argue that to differentiate between CBL and WBL in this particular case is unhelpful and three separate contexts are identified to show where learning typically occurs for students of animal care. The discussion draws upon Lave and Wenger's ‘communities of practice’ and Fuller and Unwin's notion of ‘expansive learning environments’ to illustrate the ways in which full time students of animal care undertake valuable real work (albeit mostly unwaged) on farms, in stables and in reptile houses. Characteristics of communities of practice, namely, recognition of distributed expertise, inclusive language and interactions, ways of communicating about animals and nurturing teacher–student and student–student relations are identified.     

Roda Boa, Roda Boa: Legitimate peripheral participation in diasporic capoeira

Capoeira, the Brazilian dance and martial art, is taught across the world. Learners acquire vital knowledge and are socialised as capoeiristas through legitimate peripheral participation, in particular when watching games in the roda. The roda, the circle within which the capoeira game is played, is a classic place for learning by legitimate peripheral participation to occur. Watching, listening, and feeling the energy of the roda are central to the acquisition of capoeira abilities and capabilities, especially the tacit, indeterminate knowledge and skills.     

Soccer’s Small Worlds

Abstract

In this autobiographical article about my academic career I explain how I developed my approach to sport and soccer in particular, drawing on sociology, linguistics, and cultural history. This career has been and continues to be characterized by interdisciplinary work and intercultural perspectives and by a variety of working relationships that they generate. In a way I turned into a sports scholar by accident. I am convinced, however, that sport, and soccer most of all, lends itself ideally to a comparative analysis of cultural practices which suggests case studies – both on and off the field – that are open to interpretation from historical, sociological, or linguistic perspectives.