Sport and Incarceration: Theoretical Considerations for Sport for Development Research

Abstract

Despite a rapid expansion in research on Sport for Development (SfD), there remain numerous untapped veins of exploration. This article makes a novel argument for increasing the theoretical and substantive depth of SfD research by linking it to the relatively small, yet developing, body of literature on sport and incarceration. Drawing from the emergent field of carceral geography and the literature on prison sport, this article provides critical theoretical considerations for SfD programs that occur in ‘compact’ sites of confinement, such as prisons or refugee camps, or are enmeshed in ‘diffuse’ manifestations of carcerality. Given the structures of inequality that have led to the confinement of more than 13 million people in prisons, refugee camps, and migrant detention centres across the globe, as well as the multitude of ways that groups and individuals are criminalized and stigmatized in community settings, there are compelling reasons for SfD research to more deeply engage with concerns of space and carcerality as they relate to sport. As such, this article provides an important foundation for future analyses of SfD and carcerality, and signposts some potential ways forward for a deepening of theoretical perspectives in SfD research.

Boundary Spanning in Sport for Development: Opening Transdisciplinary and Intersectoral Perspectives

“…In his article, Mark Norman develops some initial theoretical connections between the literatures on sport for development, leisure studies, prison sport, criminology, and human (carceral) geography (Norman, 2020). Norman (2020) argues that since millions of people are held in sites of confinement such as prisons, (asylum) detention centers, and refugee camps, sport for development research needs to connect with this emerging body of literature on sport and incarceration. This will allow for increasing the theoretical depth of sport for development and social inclusion research.…”