Background: Within physical education (PE) research in England, the focus on gender issues has predominantly been concerned with White, middle class, non-disabled girls' experiences, marginalizing girls falling outside these parameters. Purpose: Drawing on 'middle ground' thinking, using Hill Collins' matrix of domination and intersectionality, this paper reports on part of a larger study exploring how South Asian, Muslim girls experience, give meaning to, and negotiate physical activity in their daily lives. Specifically, this paper focuses on what the girls have to say about school-based PE and how this relates to their involvement in physical activity away from school. Research setting: The study is situated in one large, urban, co-educational, local authority school in Yorkshire, England. The school caters for 1850 11-18-year-old students; 95% of students are from minority ethnic communities; 76% classed as British Asian of Pakistani origin; 91% are Muslim; and 63% live in the top 10% most deprived neighborhoods in England. Data generation: Data were generated in three phases over two years including (a) indepth observations of all girls in PE lessons, (b) the creation of research artifacts with 23 girls within four focus groups and (c) in-depth individual and paired interviews with 14 girls.
This article focuses on young people with disabilities and mainstream physical education in England. Within this context there have been unprecedented levels of funding and resources directed towards physical education in order to support more inclusive physical education experiences for all young people, including those with disabilities. Physical education holds a unique place within the school curriculum; it is a subject area where the physicality of students is publicly exposed to others (including teachers, classmates, and support staff). There are likely to be some tensions around physical education and its relationship with students with disabilities. In particular, it is claimed that physical education was conceived of, and continues to be practiced, in a normative way. By drawing on interview data from three young people with disabilities, non-fictional narratives are used to re-present their identities at the intersections of schooling, physical education and disability. These narratives offer insights about how physical education impacts on various aspects of social life including home, family, friends and other school subjects.
1This paper explores the PE and physical activity experiences of a group of South Asian, Muslim girls, 2 a group typically marginalised in PE and physical activity research. The study responds to on going of domination and the notion of intersectionality. These concepts offer the possibility to explore the 6 kinds of settings (physical, social, cultural) in which girls undertake PE and physical activity; how 7 these spaces influence experience; and how the girls navigate these spaces. The study is based in a 8 large, urban, co-educational, secondary school in Yorkshire, England (95% of the students are from 9 minority ethnic communities, 91% are Muslim, and 63% live in the top 10% most deprived 10 neighbourhoods in the country). Data generation involved three phases: observations, creating 11 research artefacts in focus groups, and in-depth interviews. The findings reveal the diverse ways the 12 girls are physically active. They also demonstrate a complexity to their involvement which is 13 contingent upon space, discourses and people. For example, discourses of competition, ability, and 14 peers, are more significant within PE; whilst family, religion and culture feature beyond this context.
15The paper concludes by acknowledging the girls' heterogeneity and agency in the ways they 16 strategically navigate spaces in their quest to be physically active on their terms.
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