Holly Collison

Finding the missing voices of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP): using a ‘Participatory Social Interaction Research’ methodology and anthropological perspectives within African developing countries

Abstract Whilst the SDP sector has in recent years continued to gain momentum, academic enquiry has largely continued to question its place within development agendas from the outside looking in, examining SDP at the operational and policy levels using methods that advocate the formal guises of research. Through extensive fieldwork experiences in Rwanda and Liberia, the authors propose a form of participatory research methodology for the purpose of empowerment, cultural understanding and insight beyond policy, practice and evaluation. Participatory social interaction research (PSIR) methodology is thus introduced and developed as an approach that looks beyond interventions, deconstructs SDP rhetoric, conceptualizes according to culturally specific contexts and allows narratives and qualitative data to drive theorization and academic discussion. We believe that an embodied, thorough and thoughtful PSIR methodology locates not only diversity within an ill-defined ‘African’ context, but empowers local voices to construct detailed accounts of culture within and outside of SDP.

Contested states and the politics of sport: the case of Kosovo - division, development, and recognition.

ABSTRACT This paper provides the first detailed analysis of the politics of sport in the small, post-conflict, contested state of Kosovo, located in the Western Balkan region of Europe. A former province of Yugoslavia, Kosovo endured a bloody civil war in the late 1990s between Serbian-led Yugoslav forces and Kosovo Liberation Army. In the post-conflict context, Kosovo has undergone a long period of reconstruction with major Western support; has been partially recognised by the international community since declaring independence from Serbia in 2008; and, has experienced significant regional ethno-national divisions and tensions, primarily between the Albanian majority and Serbian minority. We examine how sport in Kosovo influences and is influenced by these wider political processes. Our discussion is organised into three main parts. First, we set out our analytical approach, and then outline the main historical, social, and political features of Kosovo. Second, we examine the key political aspects of sport in Kosovo, with respect to development, the struggle for recognition, and social conflicts and divisions. Third, we address the cultural politics of sport in Kosovo with reference to issues of national and transnational identification, symbolic conflicts involving different national groups, and the role of the sport for development and peace (SDP) sector in building better cross-community ties. Our analysis is underpinned by international relations theories, notably a mix of critical and constructivist approaches; and draws on fieldwork and many interviews with key stakeholders in the sport, development, government, and education sectors in Kosovo.

The methodological dance: critical reflections on conducting a cross-cultural comparative research project on ‘Sport for Development and Peace’

Abstract Social scientific research requires engagement with individuals, groups and or organisations embedded within specific sectors and locations. The ‘Sport for a Better World?’ project aimed to examine the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector within multiple international locations through fieldwork conducted by a four-person research team. This paper discusses the methodological benefits and challenges of this methodological approach, with a particular focus on working with individuals and groups as gatekeepers, encultured informants, translators and volunteers. In turn, we describe and contextualise the levels of exchange expected by stakeholder partners as well as the implications of our identity as white, international researchers. Overall, we argue for the importance of understanding: the agency and needs of local actors amidst transnational networks; the extent to which history and politics inform everyday experiences and contemporary research encounters; and the likelihood that unequal power relations, particularly along lines of race, class and geography will affect data collection and interpretation. We also discuss various methodological strategies we negotiated in-the-field, and how these insights inform our understandings of the social, political and cultural environment in which SDP programmes operate in different locations.

Sport for Social Change and Development: Sustaining Transnational Partnerships and Adapting International Curriculums to Local Contexts in Rwanda

Abstract Local Non-Governmental Organisations and sports organizations have been recognized as important and well positioned strategic implementing bodies by the ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ (SDP) sector. Whilst they may be experienced and knowledgeable of the historical and local sociocultural landscape, many seek to form transnational partnerships, for the purpose of expanding their capacity, sustainability, and expertise. Rwanda’s history of genocide frames much of its development objectives, and sport has been an integral method for implementing programmes that speak to social impact and reconciliation aims. This paper examines a transnational partnership active in Rwanda, that uses football as a tool to achieve its shared development goals. We conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Rwanda, by volunteering with the organizations as they delivered SDP programmes across the country. In doing so we were able to deconstruct the management and intricacies of this partnership and contextualize the important negotiations, management and style of approach when tackling difficult issues. This paper contributes to both expanding our knowledge of transnational partnerships and provides unique commentary that aligns the complexities of engaging with local populations in post-genocide Rwanda with ‘Sport for Social Development’ programming.

Matadi: Structure and Power in a Post-Conflict Urban Community

The notion of community evokes many traits, meanings, presumptions and images of people cohabiting in harmony: ‘Community is tradition; society is change. Community is feeling; society is rationality. Community is female; society is male. Community is warm and wet and intimate; society is cold and dry and formal. Community is love; society is, well, business’ (Berger 1988, p. 324). Yet observations made in what people call the community of Matadi, a suburb of Monrovia, would suggest otherwise. Anthropologists such as Barth (1969), Goodenough (1971, 1976) and Hannerz (1969) questioned notions of homogeneity amongst collective cultures and focused on inequalities and the uneven distribution of power, knowledge and wealth within. Arising from their studies was a new theme of ‘individuals attempting to make the best of complex situations, jostling for position and denotation. And with this emphasis came an almost inevitable problematization of community’ (Amit and Rapport 2002, p. 16). This analysis appreciates the problems that any notion of community brings with it. At the same time it needs to be understood that the Matadi community—the primary research site—is a consequence of an enormously complex situation wherein contemporary issues of jostling and denotation are minor when one considers the history, traditions and circumstances that conceived the establishment of this Liberian community.

Land of the Free? The Origin of Conflict and Peace

The frame for any study of contemporary Liberia must be the 14-year civil conflict (1989–2003). This not only devastated millions and killed hundreds of thousands of men, women and children but left Liberia and its infrastructure in turmoil. Thousands of people were displaced without their loved ones and family and an entire generation who had experienced trauma were left without education, skills and guidance. Here I scrutinise the substantial presence of the UN peacekeeping forces and reconstruction, reconciliation and rehabilitation programmes put into place after the conflict to draw the reader to the realities of the position of youth in the present day.

Sport, Anthropology and Research Methodology

Play, games and sport are culturally constructed behaviours. The performance of such activities highlights traditions, customs and ways of acting and provides insights into the cultures of a group, how they relate, share boundaries and rules, deviate, punish and indeed draw attention to a whole host of social interactions. The point of studying sport and play here is not only to observe culturally constructed behaviours but to distinguish participants and the subcultural groups that they form. Anthropology has long considered the study of religion, kinship, economics and political and social institutions but, the consideration of sport and games remained peripheral until recently. As Sands argues, ‘Primitive play and games were rarely considered by anthropologists, it is only in the last 50 years that the study of sport and culture has emerged and this has been accomplished in academic fields other than anthropology’ (2002, p. 1).

Creating a New Community

In August 2013 the UN General Assembly approved by consensus a proclamation establishing an International Day of SDP. This confirmed the UN’s continued support and intention to promote sport within the development agenda. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge claimed:

In Pursuit of the Winners: SDP and Football Interventions

Development can be viewed as a powerful discourse within a set of institutions that gained momentum and was thrust into global politics post-World War II. Previous to this the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development were among a group of institutions established in response to growing financial uncertainties after the Great Depression and during the Cold War (Leys 1996). Escobar claimed that the emergence of development practices and development discourse in fact produced the ‘Third World’ (1995, p. 4). According to Escobar the less developed

The Seduction of Football

As a collective, ‘youth’ are an integral demographic of any civil society. Many Heads of State and International Development Organisations appreciate the connection between youth investment and engagement and building a peaceful society for the future. The UN declared 2010 as the International Year of Youth and informed its member states thus: ‘Failing to invest in children and youth triggers substantial economic, social, and political costs resulting from negative outcomes such as early school drop-out, poor labour market entry, risky sexual behaviours, substance abuse, and crime and violence’ (n.p). As previous discussion has illustrated, there is a disconnect between adults and youths in Liberia which has created what is termed the stagnation of ageing, alongside hierarchically determined relationships and ultimately tension between the generational categories. Due to these factors adults, state institutions and organisations have sought strategies to engage and access youth for numerical supremacy and personal promotion.