Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Physical Education as a Site of Critical Inquiry: Intersectionality and Ethnically Diverse Young People’s Issues of Embodiment

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sport & Gender – (inter)nationale sportsoziologische Geschlechterforschung

Part of the book series: Geschlecht und Gesellschaft ((GUG,volume 59))

Abstract

Current scholars involved in the study of critical issues in physical education (PE) have acknowledged how gender must not be viewed in isolation from the many other socio-cultural and economic dimensions of life that impact young people’s embodied identities (Carrington and Wood, Sociology of Leisure: A reader, E & FN Spon, London 1995; Fleming, Leisure Studies 13:159–177, 1994; Flintoff et al., International Studies in Sociology of Education, 13:159–177, 2008). Using intersectionality as a theoretical framework, young people’s ways of performing, constructing, and expressing masculinities and femininities are viewed as plural and fluid, informed by race and social class relations, as produced by and negotiated in specific sport contexts. Early critical work in PE that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, however, focused on gender as a single and unitary social category, treating “girls” and “boys” as homogeneous groups.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Azzarito, Laura. 2009. The panopticon of physical education: Pretty, active and ideally White. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 14:19–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azzarito, Laura. 2010. Future girls, transcendent femininities and new pedagogies: Toward girl’s hybrid bodies? Sport, Education and Society 15:261–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azzarito, Laura. 2013. “Speaking for themselves” through digital photography: The re-making of South Asian girlhood in home-made physical culture. In Pedagogies, Physical Culture and Visual Methods, eds. L. Azzarito and D. Kirk. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azzarito, Laura and Louis Harrison. 2008. ‘White men can’t jump’. Race, gender and natural athleticism. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 43:347–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azzarito, Laura and Joanne Hill. 2012. Girls looking for a ‘second home’: Bodies, difference and places of inclusion. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy 14 (2): 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azzarito, Laura and Adriana Katzew. 2010. Performing identities in physical education: (En)gendering fluid selves. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 81:25–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azzarito, Laura and Melinda Solmon. 2005. A reconceptualization of physical education: The intersection of gender/race/social class. Sport, Education and Society 10:25–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azzarito, Laura and Melinda Solmon. 2006. A poststructural analysis of high school students’ gender and racialized bodily meanings. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 25:75–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bimper, A.Y. and L. Harrison. 2011. Meet me at the crossroads: African American athletic and racial identity. Quest 63:275–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cahn, Susan. 1998. From the ‘muscle moll’ to the ‘butch’ ballplayer: Mannishness, lesbianism, and homophobia in US women’s sports. In The politics of women’s bodies: Sexuality, appearance, and behavior, eds. R. Weitz, 67–81. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrington, Bruce and Edward Wood. 1995. Body talk: Images of sport in a multi-racial school. In Sociology of Leisure: A reader, eds. C. Critcher, P. Bramham and A. Tomlinson, 143–151. London: E & FN Spon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrington, Bruce, Terry Chivers and Trevor Williams. 1987. Gender, leisure and sport: A case-study of young people of South Asian descent. Leisure Studies 6:265–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drummond, Murray. 2003. The meaning of boys’ bodies in physical education. The Journal of Men’s Studies 11:131–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, John, Emma Rich, Brian Davies and Rachel Allwood. 2008. Education, disordered eating and obesity discourse: Fat fabrication. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisette, Jennifer. 2011. Exploring how girls navigate their embodied identities in physical education. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 16:179–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, Hayley. 2006. Disability and physical education. In Handbook of Physical Education, eds. D. Kirk, D. Macdonald and M. O’Sullivan, 752–766. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, Scott. 1994. Sport and South Asian youth: The perils of ‘false universalism’ and stereotyping. Leisure Studies 13:159–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flintoff, Anne, Hayley Fitzgerald and Sheila Scraton. 2008. The challenges of intersectionality: Researching difference in physical education. International Studies in Sociology of Education 18:73–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, Robyne. 2004. Gendered bodies and physical identities. In Body knowledge and control. Studies in the sociology of physical education and health, eds. J. Evans, B. Davies and J. Wright, 53–64. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin, Donna and Danielle Peers. 2012. Disability, sport and inclusion. In Inclusion and exclusion through youth sport, eds. S. Dagkas and K. Armour, 186–202. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorely, Trish, Rachel Holroyd and David Kirk. 2003. Muscularity, the habitus and the social construction of gender. Toward a gender relevant physical education. British Journal of Sociology of Education 24:429–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, Pat. 1983. ‘Gymnastics is a girl’s thing’: Student participation and interaction pattern in a middle school gymnastics unit. In Teaching in physical education, eds. T. Templin and J. Olson. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, Pat. 1984. Girls’ participation in a middle school team sports unit. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 4:30–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, Louis, Laura Azzarito and Joe Burden. 2004. Perceptions of athletic superiority: a view from the other side. Race Ethnicity and Education 7:149–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, Louis, Gary Sailes, Willy Rotich and Albert Bimper. 2011. Living the dream or awakening from the nightmare: Race and athletic identity. Race Ethnicity and Education 14:91–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haywood, Chris and Mairtin Mac an Ghaill. 2003. Men and masculinities. Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, Joanne. 2013. Rejecting the weak Asian body: Boys visualizing strong masculinities. In Pedagogies, Physical Culture and Visual Methods, eds. L. Azzarito and D. Kirk. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, Joanne and Laura Azzarito. 2013. Researching valued bodies in PE: A visual inquiry with young people. Special Edition, Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 17 (3): 263–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martino, Wayne and Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli. 2003. So what’s a boy? Addressing issues of masculinity and schooling. Philadelphia: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millington, Brad, Patricia Vertinsky, Ellexis Boyle and Wilson Brad. 2008. Making Chinese-Canadian masculinities in Vancouver’s physical education curriculum. Sport, Education and Society 13:195–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, Kim. 2001. Images of the body from popular culture: Engaging adolescent girls in critical inquiry. Sport, Education and Society 6:143–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, Kim and Rose Lalik. 2001. The body as curriculum: Learning with adolescent girls. The Journal of Curriculum Studies 33:303–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, Kim and Rose Lalik. 2004. “The beauty walk”: Interrogating whiteness as the norm for beauty within one school’s hidden curriculum. In Body knowledge and control. Studies in the sociology of physical education and health, eds. J. Evans, B. Davies and J. Wright. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rich, Emma, Rachel Holroyd and John Evans. 2004. ‘Hungry to be noticed’: Young women, anorexia and schooling. In Body knowledge and control. Studies in the sociology of physical education and health, eds. J. Evans, B. Davies and J. Wright. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidler, Victor Jeleniewski. 2010. Embodying identities: Culture, differences and social theory. Bristol: The Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Stenkenburg, Jacco and Annelies Knoppers. 2004. Dominant discourses about race/ethnicity and gender in sport practice and performance. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 39:301–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Columbia University, New York, USA

    Laura Azzarito

Authors
  1. Laura Azzarito
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura Azzarito .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Soziologie, Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg Institut für Soziologie, Freiburg, Germany

    Gabriele Sobiech

  2. Institut für Sportwissenschaft, Leibniz Universität Hannover , Hannover, Germany

    Sandra Günter

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Azzarito, L. (2017). Physical Education as a Site of Critical Inquiry: Intersectionality and Ethnically Diverse Young People’s Issues of Embodiment. In: Sobiech, G., Günter, S. (eds) Sport & Gender – (inter)nationale sportsoziologische Geschlechterforschung. Geschlecht und Gesellschaft, vol 59. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-13098-5_18

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-13098-5_18

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-13097-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-13098-5

  • eBook Packages: Social Science and Law (German Language)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation