Sport in liminal spaces: The meaning of sport activities for refugees living in a reception centre

Abstract

This article focuses on the meaning of sport activities for refugees living in a reception centre. We conceptualise the reception centre as a liminal space and analyse how this liminal space affects the meanings of sport activities for refugees. Based on interviews with refugees living in a reception centre we show how sport in this liminal space is to a large extent experienced as a way to overcome the boredom experienced at the centre, to forget about their daily struggles, but also has a large social function as it is an easy opportunity to meet with others. We argue that liminal spaces constrain the organisation of sport activities and its possibilities for realising sport’s ascribed positive spill-overs, such as increasing feelings of belonging. We call for future research, including creative social research approaches, that focus on refugees’ own narratives in order to better understand the role social space plays for the meaning of sport activities for this particular vulnerable group.

Social roles of sport organisations: developments, contexts and challenges

“…She highlights how, in her case study, inclusion only seemed to be reached to a partial degree, and only if the refugees' performance level matched the club's level of competitiveness and their involvement went beyond sports participation. The study shows that simply participating in sport alone may not generate feelings of belonging among refugees (see also Spaaij, 2015;Waardenburg, Visschers, Deelen, & Liempt, 2018), and that sport organisers should be aware of multiple affects that processes of marginalisation and assimilation in sport activities can have when targeted at refugees.…”

Investigating Grassroots Sports’ Engagement for Refugees: Evidence From Voluntary Sports Clubs in Germany

“…In the European sports context, subsidized programs for refugees-such as Welcoming through sports (DOSB, 2017)-primarily aim to introduce refugees to sporting and leisure activities (Federal Ministry of the Interior, 2016) and are mostly implemented by VSCs (Waardenburg et al, 2018). According to public policy rhetoric, such activities lead to social contacts that are favorable for more connectivity with the host country (Waardenburg et al, 2018).…”

“…VSCs are characteristically nonprofit and member-based organizations that traditionally form the “grassroots” of mass sport participation in many European and overseas countries, such as Canada and Australia (Feiler, Wicker, & Breuer, 2018; Misener & Misener, 2017; Skille & Stenling, 2018). Even though the willingness and capacity of VSCs to act as policy implementers is critically discussed in the academic literature (e.g., Garrett, 2004; Skille, 2008), governments continue to attempt to compel VSCs to provide social goods—including inclusionary efforts toward refugees (Coalter, 2007; Stenling & Fahlén, 2016; Vos et al, 2011; Waardenburg, Visschers, Deelen, & van Liempt, 2018).…”

“…This participation is a supposedly open social activity where people can develop networks in an environment characterized by equal opportunities and racial equality (Hatzigeorgiadis, Morela, Elbe, Kouli, & Sanchez, 2013). Refugees, in particular, were reported to profit from a range of physical and social-psychological benefits that are likely to foster health and well-being by satisfying essential emotional needs through gaining confidence and resilience skills (Anderson et al, 2019; Pizzolati & Sterchele, 2016; Spaaij, 2015; Waardenburg et al, 2018). Participation in organized sports may help refugees forget about daily struggles as this activity enables an easy opportunity to meet others (Waardenburg et al, 2018) and serves as “a distraction, a way of avoiding the endless tedium of empty days with little to do as asylum seekers are prevented from (legally) taking an integral role in the local and national economy” (Stone, 2018, p. 179).…”

A critical discourse analysis of a local enactment of sport for integration policy: Helping young refugees or self-help for voluntary sports clubs?

“…Policy makers continue to assert that sports clubs represent an important arena for assisting young refugees to integrate into their new host societies despite growing evidence to the contrary (Coalter, 2007; Jeanes et al, 2015; Spaaij, 2015; Waardenburg et al, 2019). This article contributes to the body of work that argues that politicians’ ill-defined policies of sport for integration are difficult to realize and, paradoxically, can lead to a sense of alterity and exclusion by paying close attention to the ways in which policy has been interpreted and translated at a local level.…”