| 1. |
- Bjärsholm, Daniel
(författare)
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Idrott som medel – inte som mål : Förutsättningar för socialt entreprenörskap inom idrotten
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In sport management research, little attention has been paid to the relatively new concept of social entrepreneurship. In short, the concept refers to innovative methods of creating and satisfying social values through sport. However, research has shown that social entrepreneurs in sporting contexts are having difficulties in creating sustainable businesses. In addition to that the economic preconditions for social entreprenurial undertakings are uncertain, more research is needed on the general preconditions for conducting social entrepreneurship in sport. Hence, the aim of this compilation thesis, which consists of five papers, is to examine and analyse the preconditions for conducting social entrepreneurship in sport. The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part, the subject of research (i.e., social entreprenurship in sport) is presented and defined. This is done by contextualising social entrepreneurship, analysing previous research on social entrepreneurship in sport, theoretically defining the concept and describing some research ethical issues that might arise in studies of social entrepreneurship. The second part of the thesis consists of three empirical studies of organisational, economic and political preconditions for conducting social entrepreneurship in sport. The findings from this thesis are based on an extensive literature review and five case studies in which multiple methods of data collection were used (interviews, documents and observations). The first paper, Sport and social entrepreneurship: a review of a concept in progress, shows that research on social entrepreneurship in sport is limited, the concept is seldom defined and sometimes used in ways more similar to philanthropy or corporate social responsibility. Also, sport only plays a minor role in the reviewed literature. The second paper, Ethical considerations in researching sport and social entrepreneurship, discusses some of the ethical dilemmas that have occurred when researching social entrepreneurship in sport. These dilemmas can, for example, be related to the principle of confidentiality. The third paper, Social entrepreneurship, sport and democracy development, offers an explanation of how to understand the “social” dimension in the concept of social entrepreneurship in sport. The social is ultimately about democracy in the sense that the participants are recognised, are given influence and are included in the organisation and in its community. The fourth paper, Networking as a cornerstone within the practice of social entrepreneurship in sport, focuses on how social entrepreneurial sport organisations can achieve economic sustainability by using their networks. The analysis shows, for instance, that the network of a social entrepreneurial sport organisation encompasses many actors from all sectors of society, and that the networks themselves assume many forms. The fifth and final paper, Swedish sport policy in an era of neoliberalism: An expression of social entrepreneurship?, provides an analysis of political preconditions for conducting social entrepreneurship in sport in Sweden. The paper, for example, argues that some political initiatives in the Swedish sport policy can be regarded as social innovations, since these aim to both solve certain identified social problems in society in general (e.g., social inclusion), or in sport in particular (e.g., making sport activities more accessible by lowering costs). In sum, this thesis contributes with: (a) empirical examples of social entrepreneurial sport organisations; (b) a theoretical understanding of the “social” dimension of social entrepreneurship in sport; (c) an ethical discussion on the role of researchers; and (d) a starting point when discussing the Swedish government support for sport.
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| 2. |
- Bladh, Greta, 1984-
(författare)
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Moving thresholds : body narratives within the vicinity of gym and fitness culture
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis investigates thresholds that impede bodies from moving to, and within, gym and fitness sites. Thresholds are here understood as gendered social constructs and norms, which direct bodies in certain ways, and thus circumscribing potential movements and capabilities. The study’s initial entry point was at a gym, here referred to as The Club which had in its statutes proclaimed to work in a norm critical way. This was an attempt to promote a more inclusive environment, and thus lowering certain thresholds for movement, in that members otherwise discouraged to enter other general gyms, found this particular gym open and “chill”. By conducting participatory observations, interviews, and collective memory exercises, this study is an effort to identify experiences otherwise seen as mundane and ordinary, such as working out at the gym, as conditioned under certain power relations.Aided by a theoretical framework combining poststructuralism and phenomenology, a narrative and deconstructive approach directed the analysis of the empirical material. The results showed that the specific case of the Club entailed how the work for inclusiveness, and thus lowering certain thresholds, entailed other forms of thresholding, in that in order to insure an inclusive environment, a certain amount of emotional work from the members of the Club was required. This meant that the cost of an inclusive and open environment is a balancing act on an emotional tightrope, which in turn indicated that the work to be norm critical entailed vulnerable inclusiveness. Further, even though participants were critically aware of repressive gender norms circumscribing their range of movement, the possibility of other movements were still at a threshold. This was due to their corporeal historic background of experiences of hierarchical binary gender norms, which still lingered under the skin. In this thesis, this corporeal background is referred to as body narrative, an attempt to displace a binary gendered framing of the perception of bodies. However, despite the participants’ reflexive stance towards repressive gender norms, their range of motion were still at a threshold, colored by past experiences, which in turn binds our eyes to what is perceivable, signifying how emancipation can never reach an end, but is rather a continuous process, always aiming, little by little, to displace thresholds of movement.
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| 3. |
- Lidström, Isak, 1988-
(författare)
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På skidor i kulturella gränsland : Samiska spår i skidsportens historia
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this compilation thesis is to shed light on the Sámi history of ski sport in Sweden from an organizational and cultural history perspective where concepts like nation and ethnicity fill an important function. The Sámi are an indigenous people living in Sápmi, a land area extending across the North Calotte region and including parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. The thesis contains six separate articles which together comprise a research period extending between 1879 and 1990. The articles have been studied from different points of view with the focus on how skis as sport equipment have been historically charged with cultural expressions created by the individual skiers as well as by the general public’s interest in skiing. These cultural expressions have also been internalized as collective identification objects positioning the mutual relations between groups and collectives. By historical links to kings, heroic myths and polar expeditions, the sport of skiing has, for example, become associated with a national Swedish identity. By pinpointing its Sámi origins in the light of history, the ski sport is in this thesis instead viewed as a culturally heterogeneous phenomenon. In three of the articles of the thesis, the Sámi history of Swedish ski sport is studied. The focus of these studies lies on how ”Sáminess” and ”Swedishness”, viewed as cultural identities, were constructed in connection with the early rise and development of ski sport from the late 19th century to the interwar period (Articles I and II) as well as with the sporting career of downhill skier Bengt-Erik Grahn in the 1960s (Article V). The studies illustrate that, at its rise and early development, cross-country skiing in Sweden was regarded as a Sámi sport. In the early 20th century, however, an ethnic borderline was created between what was Sámi and what was Swedish, which gradually invisibilized the Sámi link to ski sport. Instead, cross-country skiing acquired the inofficial character of being the Swedish national sport. The three remaining studies investigate the separately organized Sámi sport movement from its rise in 1948 through the year 1990 (Articles III, IV and VI). The origin of this movement derives from the Sámi Championships, a winter event whose original contests include skiing and other sports with a background in reindeer husbandry. The articles clarify the importance of ski sport in creating contrastive ethnic identities between Sáminess and Swedishness (Articles I–V). Similarly, these constructed cultural markers of Sáminess and Swedishness have been interwoven to symbolize an overarching ethnic national identity (Articles IV–V). In addition, the way ski sport has been operated within the separately organized Sámi sport movement has carried weight in the creation of Sápmi as a crossborder nation (Article VI).
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| 4. |
- Mashreghi, Sepandarmaz
(författare)
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Decolonial re-existence and sports : stories of Afghan youth in Sweden
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the context of sports and migration, research within policy-driven themes (i.e., integration) have consistently flattened out the migrants’ experiences, meanings and understandings of sports and physical activity to make sense for and from Euro-centric perspectives and framings. Thus, muting other relevant, alternative and already existing ways of living sports and physical activity. Critical sports studies, on the other hand, have demonstrated that sports (and physical activity) remain a contested domain where various human experiences are negotiated and remade along the intersecting lines of class, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, legal status and (dis)ability. The aim in this study has been to work within a decolonial framework to demonstrate how migrant youth in Sweden navigate, experience, challenge and generate knowledge in relation to physical activity and sports.Doing decolonial research in sports studies means delinking from Eurocentric thought and epistemology in order to uncover alternative forms of physical culture and practice that generate different meanings to that of the (Western) hegemonic discourse. To do this, we, the youth and I, have worked and researched together within the framework of participatory art-based action research and our shared Khorasani epistemology. This means that the coresearchers have been active participants in generating research material, analysing the material and disseminating the generated knowledge. Grounded in Indigenous, borderland, Chicana and Black feminist knowldeges as well decolonial thought, this thesis contributes both theoretically and methodologically to the field of sport and exercise in relation to young asylum seekers and migration research. The participatory analysis demonstrates that for the Afghan youth in this study sport and physical activity was not a distinct entity, rather it was intertwined with various aspects of their lives, such as their experiences of child labour, pleasures, hopes for the future, leisure, social and mental aspects, and migration experiences. Furthermore, the youth revealed that despite various forms of oppression, trauma and hardship, they constantly returned, or rather, reclaimed life and future in their acts of self-reflection, friendship, love and hope within the context of sport and life. They, thus, moved beyond the mere resistance of the precarities in their lives to bring about a re-existence. The findings of this thesis also highlight the affordances and limitations of participatory methods, art-based research and decolonising work. Although the participatory methods grounded in the epistemology of the youth (and myself), allowed us to reclaim and tell our stories in our ways, they fell short in making lasting systemic transformations. These limitations also give rise to new questions and possibilities for future research in relation to how change and transformation are defined and researched; and whether these definitions are somewhat limiting and influenced by the colonial rhetoric of salvation underlining participatory action research basic principles of empowerment and critical consciousness.
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| 5. |
- Sebelius, Sofia, 1980-
(författare)
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Idrottsläraryrkets strävan efter mål och status
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Swedish school system has undergone a significant change and development during the last 180 years. The Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) has made its own development journey, from training gymnastics directors with a particular focus on floor gymnastics and fencing, to becoming a university education with its foundation in sports science.Despite the significant changes in the school's governance and the development of PETE, the same development does not seem to have taken place for the professional practice of Physical Education (PE) teachers. The PE teachers seem to have difficulties formulating what the knowledge objective of the PE subject is. There also seem to be difficulties in formulating how learning in the PE subject should take place. A certain reproduction of traditional values takes place, and the PE teaching profession is described and experienced as marginalised. Based on this, the dissertation's aim is to create an understanding of the PE teachers’ pursuit of purpose and status and what that pursuit entails. To achieve this aim, two studies have been conducted. Based on the perspective that PE teachers function as street-level bureaucrats, the first study aims to understand what governs their professional practice and how they manage it. The aim of the second study is to understand which continuities exist in the language used about the PE teaching profession and what it means for the professional claims of the PE teaching profession.By analysing the language within and about the PE teacher profession, the dissertation creates an understanding of PE teachers' pursuit of purpose and status and what that pursuit entails. The thesis shows that PE teachers in their professional practice are Problem Solvers, Comfort Creators and Organisers. It further identifies continuities in the language about the PE teacher profession gathered within the themes of Strength, Liveliness and Status. Finally, the dissertation describes how the PE teacher profession uses social closure in its professional claim.
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| 6. |
- Stub Nybelius, Marit, 1972-
(författare)
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Förhandling pågår : en studie av internationella skidförbundets (FIS) medialisering
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to problematise and illustrate mediatisation of the International Ski Federation (FIS). To fulfil this purpose, I based my work on the following questions:1. What perceptions do sport journalists and those within the FIS have of the relationship between the FIS and the media? 2. How, and in which case where, within the FIS is it apparent that the FIS has been mediatised? 3. How does the FIS view media in its internal and external communication? 4. What is felt to be the reason behind the introduction of new rules and changes to rules in ski jumping and cross-country skiing?5. What form does mediatisation take in relation to competitions at the international elite level? I have employed several methods of analysis because my aim is to respond to the question in a number of ways. The result of this is that the studies are characterised by triangulation on a number of levels in my pursuit of high reliability.To achieve the purpose of this thesis and to provide a picture of the research situation, I present former research on the process of mediatisation in this thesis, which also includes theories on news values and media logic.Based on the results and on prior research, I have developed a model with functions to make visible how much a sport has been mediatised and how strongly it has been mediatised. More interesting still is that the perception is that the media also at times has power. Yet it need not be media influence that leads to a sport organisation changing its rules; it may simply be the perception of media influence. The results of the thesis confirm that the FIS is in a process of mediatisation in which there are ongoing negotiations between the FIS and the media – negotiations that are different in character and in which there are situations whereby both the FIS and the media gain something from the negotiation as well as whereby one is parasitic on the other. The FIS appears to be a sport organisation that is familiar with the media, meaning that the media is important to its work and something it must constantly relate to. So that we in the future can continue to understand the development of sport and of what influences sport, I see the continuation of studying mediatisation in relation to sport as important.
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