Everyday bordering. Theoretical perspectives on national ‘others’ in sport and leisure time physical activity

Agergaard, Sine; Lenneis, Verena

doi:10.1080/17430437.2021.1904904

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These temporary permits expire six months after high school education is completed, and the youth then can apply for permanent residency, but only if they have secured employment (Swedish Code of Statuses, 2018: 756). This shift in discourse and policy has meant that the need of the young refugee(d)s has been replaced by what is argued to be a crisis for the state, which in turn has legitimised the prosecution and deportation of the youth (Agergaard et al, 2016;Agergaard & Lenneis, 2021;Djampour, 2018). Academic researchers have also been complicit in reproducing such skewed narratives; that is despite an increasing interest in researching the refugee(d)s youth, majority of research has been deficit-oriented and preoccupied with the youth's psychopathology and developmental concerns (Djampour, 2018;Wernesjö, 2011).…”

Section: Reclaiming the Borderlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This civilising/managing mission is also extended to sport for integration discussions that are taking place in various global North institutions in response to an increase in migration from the global South (Agergaard et al, 2016;Spaaij et al, 2019). As briefly discussed before, these debates and the consequent academic interest in the topic reflect border management and ethno-nationalistic policies that are flourishing in Europe and beyond (Agergaard & Lenneis, 2021;De Martini Ugolotti & Caudwell, 2022). Schinkel (2018) argued that measuring integration is a neo-colonial practice that is grounded in the legacy of raced 23 work and cultural/ethnic classification of earlier modern/colonial era.…”

Section: Sports and (De)colonialitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aside from notable exceptions, scholarship within integration theme have rarely problematised these assimilatory tendencies of integration policies; nor have they critically discussed how such policies transform societal problems such as economic inequalities and unemployment onto the migrants. Furthermore, this body of research has often ignored the role that migration management and bordering policies play in shaping the experiences, needs and accessibility to sports and physical activity for the refugee(d)s (Agergaard & Lenneis, 2021;De Martini Ugolotti & Caudwell, 2022;Spaaij et al, 2019). As a result, similar to youth and children's studies, scholarship on sports, physical activity and (forced) migration, for the most part, have consistently contributed to creation of deficit-centred and problematic narratives in relation to refugee(d)s and migrants.…”

Section: Sports and (De)colonialitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Decolonial re-existence and sports: the stories of Afghan youth in Sweden

Mashreghi¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract