Sport, Violence, and Peace Education

Transcription

1 Sport, Violence, and Peace Education Two weeks ago discussed Sport, Politics and Globalization Social change from above Including focus on problems associated with globalization and rise of corporate power Last Week discussed Sport, Social Movements, and Social Change Social Change from below Including question about the actual impacts of social movements

2 A problem that remains unresolved after these two weeks of reading & discussion is Forms of oppression in and around sport seem to persist and be perpetuated and efforts of social movements are only sometimes effective

3 Peace Education and Sport, Peace, and Conflict Leads to the Question: Can the efforts of social movements be linked with other forms of activism? Answer: Yes! In fact, social movements are commonly linked with forms of peace education, the topic of this class

4 With this background, the goal of this class is to: consider how forms of peace education (like this course?!) can lead to broader forms of (sportrelated) social change

5 Assumptions Underlying this Class to be effective in addressing social problems, it is crucial to understand these problems understand how inequalities persist and are perpetuated critically-oriented education can help us understand and address these problems show us links between theory/research & social action social movement entrepreneurs are key figures in this process

6 Structure of the class 1) Address question of how inequalities persist and are perpetuated How a social movement entrepreneur (a theorist-activist) explained this 2) Consider what peace education is, how it can help With a particular focus on critical pedagogy 3) Consider an example of sport-related peace education A form of male athlete violence 4) Discussion about peace education and Kinesiology Throughout this class reflect on your group projects for the ways they (will) bring together theory/research and social action

7 Theory meets social action and the work of Antonio Gramsci Gramsci( ) a theoristactivist best known for explaining how unequal power relations are perpetuated & maintained.. In early years, involved in organization & education for factory workers in Turin, Italy Imprisoned (in 1926) worked on papers that become Prison Notebooks His work is commonly used to inform writing on power relations and sport He may be best known to you for his use of the term

8 How are unequal power relations maintained & perpetuated? Hegemony (Gramsci, 1971) Means power or dominance of one social group over others the dominance is consensual, not coercive forms of culture used to manufacture consent consent is maintained because concessions made by dominant groups to subordinate groups e.g., historically, women have been granted concessions in sport provided traditional gender roles went undisturbed (Hall, 1999, p. 18 Creators of the lost and perfect game? Gender, history and Canadian sport )

9 Concessions --provided traditional roles go undisturbed in sport How much progress are we really making on sport-related social issues? Title IX progress, with complexity while requires equal funding and participation, men took the higher paying coaching and admin. jobs in women s programs (Wilson, 1994) Integration of sports and stacking in sport Historically, white-black stacking in football [and] baseball correspond closely with racist beliefs about skin colourand intelligence, leadership and decision making, dependability, motivation and emotion, running and jumping, and what many people call instincts (Coakley, 1990, p. 218)

10 And how about SDP organizations (see chapter 5, 7 from S & P) ironic activism When we try to solve a social problem, are we inadvertently making the problem worst and/or creating new problems? Next week, international development interventions

11 What else can be done? many argue that in order to create lasting change, must be a cultural shift and for a cultural shift to take place, people must be awareof social problems, aware of the reasons that problems/inequalities exist, andaware of howthings could be changed this is where peace education comes in

12 What is Peace Education? Peace Education refers to teachers teaching about peace: what it is, why it does not exist and how to achieve it. This includes teaching about the challenges of achieving peace, developing non-violent skills and promoting peaceful attitudes. (Harris, 2004, p. 6)

13 Key Term Praxis: reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it Paulo Friere (from Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1970, p. 36)

14 Some Features of Peace Education (from Harris, 2004) Peace education can focus around various topics, including: Conflict transformation (Sport & international development; Run for Peace) between countries, cultures interpersonal conflict (bullying) International Education Learn about different cultures as a way of developing empathy Environmental Education Promote holistic thinking about relationships between nature and humans Media literacy (Sport, Media, and Peace class) Consider how portrayals of race, class, gender, disability may reflect and reinforce unequal social relations Human Rights Education How Universal Declaration of Human Rights influenced strategies for peace (Donnelly & Kidd, 2000) Use of legal systems to promote peace Global Education Contemplate positive and negative impacts of globalization Critical Pedagogy or Development Education

15 Development Education or Critical Pedagogy Critical pedagogy is education that is focused on understanding how & why some groups are marginalized how society s institutions (e.g., schools, media, government) and our taken-for-granted belief systems (e.g., blaming people for problems that are systemic) may be perpetuating problems and to be empowered by this awareness is to act, interrupt the reproduction of the status quo (Garrett, 2006, p. 340; Giroux, 1988)

16 Paulo Freire ( ) and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed Early figure promoting education for impoverished workers Brazil Was concerned about lack of protest/critique from most oppressed (from Shaull, 1997, p. 12 introduction to Pedagogy of the Oppressed) rather than being encouraged and equipped to know and respond to the concrete realities of their world [Freirefelt that oppressed people] were kept submerged in a situation in which such critical awareness and response were practically impossible, where there was a culture of silence (Shaull, 1997, p. 12)

17 Developing critical consciousness is key to Freire s argument.. Examples of those working toward development of critical consciousness Wendy Frisby and action research (Chapter 6, S & P) barriers faced by low income women lack of funding for programmesto support unprofitable groups

18 Example Al Gore & An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore --An Inconvenient Truth --movie trailer Inconvenient Truth website and impacts It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it Upton Sinclair (Pulitzer Prize Winning author and activist)

19 Example DJ Spooky (aka Paul D. Miller) and Alternative Forms of Peace Education Let's Imagine Greater -- DJ Spooky Profile Short sample from Terra Nova

20 Connecting Peace Education with Sport- Related Violence: A Case Study Problem: Violence Committed by Male Athletes Against Women (Katz article and S & P chapter 6 ) Evidence that in certain all-male settings (in sport, military, fraternities) where a hyper-masculine form of identity is privileged, violence against women normalized or tolerated, or not challenged/reported (see S & P chapter 6, Engle Folchert(2008) and others) Connected to Broader Problem: Male Violence Tough Guise & Jackson Katz

21 Connecting Peace Education with Sport- Related Violence: A Case Study How literature/theoryhelps us understand develop a critical consciousness. 3 Points and a Response

22 (i) codes of masculinity develop in some all-male settings (McKay, 1997; Katz, 2005; Chapter 6) sometimes forms of violence/hazing unquestioned or tolerated groupthink refers to ways that members of closed, close-knit subcultures uncritically follow group norms as a way of reducing conflict & promoting cohesion(mckay, 1997)

23 (ii) recognize that males who successfully align selves with a particular form of masculinity strength, toughness, sexual prowess are revered and that value of these hegemonic features only maintained when those who don t benefit still consent e.g., bystanders and bullying (see Katz article in readings)

24 Connecting Peace Education with Sport- Related Violence: A Case Study (2) (iii) athletes on some teams and within cultures that are revered by those around them may develop a sense of privilege, or hubris (Atkinson and Young, 2008) Hubris-- an expression of uniqueness and accompanying sense of being separate from and above the rest of the community (Coakley, 2001)

25 Response: Mentors in Violence Prevention MVP Video

26 Discussion 1) Is peace education part of your Kinesiology experience, your university experience? If yes, how? If it is not, how could it be included? Can you think of unique ways or contexts where peace education could be utilized? 2) How might these experiences (and/or experiences from this class) lead to broader forms of social change? 3) Is your proposed initiative (for your group project) a form of peace education?