Middle-Walkers: Negotiating Middle Ground on the Shifting Terrain of Sport, Peace and Development
Sport, Social Development and Peace
ISBN: 978-1-78350-885-3, eISBN: 978-1-78350-886-0
Publication date: 17 July 2014
Abstract
Purpose
To outline strategies for balancing a critical approach to sport for development and peace (SDP) interventions with approaches that highlight the potentially positive outcomes of SDP. Two examples of attempts to balance these approaches are highlighted. One is a critical analysis of responses to sport-related environmental problems. The other is a study of how a sport-related reconciliation event led by celebrity athletes was successfully organized.
Design/methodology/approach
In the first part of the chapter, the complexity of the SDP concept (and the terms sport, peace, and development) is discussed along with the challenges of negotiating critical and more optimistic stances on SDP. In the second part, two approaches to navigating between “extremely critical” and “unwaveringly optimistic” stances on SDP are outlined through two case studies.
Findings
The two case studies are described along with preliminary findings from studies that were conducted. Each case study is accompanied by a discussion of how the author “middle-walked” between “extremely critical” and “unwaveringly optimistic” positions on SDP. A focus in this section is on how theory, methods, and strategies for reporting findings were accounted for in the process of balancing these distinct positions.
Research limitations/implications
The difficulties attempting to balance critical and optimistic positions are discussed. The difficulties connecting critical analysis with practical suggestions for improving SDP-related work were also outlined.
Keywords
Citation
Wilson, B. (2014), "Middle-Walkers: Negotiating Middle Ground on the Shifting Terrain of Sport, Peace and Development", Sport, Social Development and Peace (Research in the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 19-43. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1476-285420140000008000
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited