Sport and Physical Culture in Global Pandemic Times : COVID Assemblages

This book provides a definitive and comprehensive contribution to the expanding body of research related to sport/physical culture and the COVID-19 global pandemic. By examining the generative complexities that simultaneously link and shape sport/physical culture and COVID, the book develops a collection of multi-faceted readings. The anthology is framed by an ontological understanding prefigured on relationality, liminality, and perpetual becoming. The contributions theoretically, methodologically and representationally explore COVID-sport assemblages as a dynamic and diverse “ad hoc grouping”of interpenetrating affecting elements, encompassing material and expressive forms, human and non-human, animate and inanimate matter. The book will be of interest to advanced undergraduate and students and scholars of kinesiology, sociology of sport, critical studies of the body, physical education, sport and social issues, public health, physical cultural studies, sociology, foreign policy studies, and international studies. Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures List of Tables 1: Introduction: Assembling COVID/COVID Assemblages Assembling Sport-COVID Moving Bodily Boundaries Affective Contagion Sport SpaceTimeMattering Vital and Viral Matter Connection and Convergence Re-Turning the Sociology of Sport in Pandemic Times References 2: The Political Physics of an Unkicked Ball: On Diffractive No-Bodies and Pandemic Non-Matter in Footballing China Ascendancy and Anxiety: The State of/and Chinese Football ‘At What Cost’?: Framing China, and Football, in a State of Exception Diffractions from Draconia: Being Chinese, Living China Speculative Diffractions: Footballing No-Bodies and Pandemic Non-Matter References 3: Sporting Coronapolitics: Politics, Ideology and U.S. Nationalism in Pandemic Times Proem Ethno-nationalism, U.S. Fascism, & Sport How Fascism Works Methodology Method Sport, Nationalism, & Fascist Political Stratagem The Mythic Past Anti-intellectual Unreality Hierarchy Sodom and Gomorrah Arbeit Macht Frei Implications & Conclusion References 4: Lockdown Cartographies: Active Bodies, Public Spaces and Pandemic Atmospheres in Italy Introduction The First Sars-Cov2 Wave in Italy Pandemic Genealogies Cartographies of Differential Vulnerability and Pandemic Atmospheres Atmospheres of Decorum/Decay and (Infectious) Urban Bodies From Bio-politics to Cosmopolitics? Pandemic Atmospheres and the Intrusion of Gaia Is There a World to Come? For a Physical Cultural (Cosmo)Politics of the Ruins References 5: Women Sport and Fitness Professionals in Pandemic Times: Feminist Ethics, Digital Connection and Becoming Community Context: The Gendered Pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand Re-Turning with the Literature: COVID-19, New Materialisms and Sport Towards Feminist Relational Methods in Pandemic Women Sport and Fitness Professionals Respondings in Pandemic Times Initial Affective Respondings: From Individualized Fear to Collective Care Digital Technologies and Communities of Care Re-Turning: Post-Lockdown Respondings Conclusion References 6: Meeting the Physical Online: Thinking with Agential Realism About Digitally Entangled Becoming in the Time of Corona Prelude Meeting the Physical Online Life in the Time of Corona Beginning Anew: Tardy Introductory Remarks Becoming and Thinking with Agential Realism Readingwriting a-Part-Together Escape Room with a Digital View Becoming Together-Apart Discussion: Beginning Over and Over Again Postlude References 7: Dreaming of “Level Free”: Lockdown and the Cultural Politics of Surfing during the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Africa Introduction: Surfing with COVID-19 South African Politics and Society during Lockdown Surf Frothing: Towards a Politics of Refusal Framing the Beach Protest The Making of the Beach Protest Surfing in the Interregnum Conclusion: Masking Surfing References 8: Proximity to Precarity: Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic as Graduate Apprentices in Physical Cultural Studies Part I: Introduction Part II: Vignettes Part III: Conclusion, or Together, Apart, and Together Again References 9: Black Bodies and Green Spaces: Remembering the Eminence of Nature During a Pandemic 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Unnaturally Enslaved 9.2.1 Sun, Stars and Moss 9.2.2 Nature Retreat and Revolt 9.3 Dirt on Our Hands 9.3.1 Neoslavery and Strange Fruit 9.3.2 The Warmth of Other Suns 9.3.3 Separate But Unequal from Nature 9.4 Pandemic and Park Inequities 9.4.1 Health of Nature 9.4.2 Proximity of Nature References 10: Experimenting with Research Creation During a Pandemic: Making Time Capsules with Girls in Sport Introduction Pandemic Sport and Gender Girls, Covid-19 and Creative Research Methods Reconceptualising the Time Capsule Conceiving (and doing) the Time Capsule Methodology as a Feminist Research-Creation Re-Turning to the Method Re-turning with the Time Capsule Method Learnings: What Can This Method Do References 11: Access & Crisis: Disrupting Ableist Definitions of Physical Activity & Culture Ableism as Cultural Norm Ableism in Physical Culture COVID-19 Reinforces Ableist Constructs COVID-19 vs. the Social Model of Disability COVID-19 Disruptions to Activity Norms Using COVID-19 to Disrupt Ableist Norms in Physical Culture Every-body Is Welcome Here Progress is Important but Not Enough—Using Inertia to Motivate Change Conclusion: Building Back Better? References 12: A Community of Athletic Pariahs?: Guilt, Shame, and Social Control in the COVID-19 Pandemic Introduction A Growing Threat: Comparing Reagan and the AIDS Epidemic with Trump and the COVID-19 Pandemic The Limits of Freedom: COVID-19, Stigma, and Social Control “I Got the Pfizer”: Vaccines and Shifting Narratives of COVID-19 Conclusion References 13: On the Subject of Race and Sport: Covid-19, Zoom, and the Necessity of Antiracist Dialogic Pedagogy Introduction: Covid-19, Sport, and Black Lives Matter Centering Critical Race Pedagogy Facilitating Critical Thinking and Self-reflexivity Talking “race” and Sport in the Pre-Covid Classroom: Embodied Acts of Civil Dialogue and Trust The Articulations of White Backlash Politics, Covid-19 Culture Wars, and the Shift to Zoom Conclusion: Towards More Inclusive and Productive Dialogue on Race References 14: Sport-for-Development and Peace and COVID-19: Technologies, the Body, and Virtual Forms of Programming Introduction Feminist New Materialisms New Materialism in the Sociology of Sport, Leisure, and Physical Culture Feminist New Materialism and Studies of Sport, Leisure, and Physical Cultures SDP in Times of COVID-19: Online and Virtual Forms of Delivery Impact of COVID-19 on the Sport for Development Sector Report Conclusion: Feminist New Materialism, SDP, and COVID-19 References 15: Reorienting the Cartography of Coaching to Pandemic Times Actor-Network Theory Governing the Body of Sport during the COVID Crisis Contain Phase Delay Phase Research Phase Mitigate Phase Reorienting the Cartography of Coaching Moving from the Game towards a Field of Practice Delegation The Quasi-Object Interruptions Manufacturing Conclusion References 16: Virat over Virus, Cricket over Covid: IPL during a Global Pandemic Introduction BCCI: From A Board To A Behemoth Virats Before Kholi Where is the Money? A Media Company Called BCCI IPL, Not Cricket Public Resources, Pandemic, & Private Spectacle IPL: Marker of Good Governance and Savior of Indian Economy Quasi-Governmental Institution References 17: From Football Nation to COVID 19-Land: Cultural Pedagogies and Political Protests during Syndemic Times in Brazil The Cultural Pedagogies of the Torcidas Organizadas The Syndemic Political Context in Brazil “History is Full of Contradictions”: The TOs Initial Battle against Bolsonaro The Torcidas Organizadas met the Antifascists Delivery Workers The Middle Class Backlash Emerson Osasco: The Voice of the TOs ‘I Want to be Paulo Freire’: Protests and Street Cultural Pedagogies Hope and Courage: Lessons from the TOs Cultural Pedagogies References 18: Parenting in Pandemic Times: Notes on the Emotional Geography of Youth Sport Culture Proem COVID-19, Neoliberalism, and Public Health in the United States Michael Ryan Discussion Coda References 19: Te Mana Whakahaere: COVID-19 And Resetting Sport in Aotearoa New Zealand Introduction Background Context Kaupapa Maˉori Methodology Participant’s Pūraˉkau: Maˉori National Sporting Organisations’ Stories Data Collection: Past Practices, Present Policies, Future Resiliencies Data Analysis: A Principled Kaupapa Maˉori Prism Ata—The Principle of Growing Respectful Relationships Whaˉnau—The Principle of Extended Family Structure Kia piki ake i ngaˉ raruraru o te kainga—The Principle of Socio-Economic Mediation Results and findings Past relationships—Ata—and Growing Respectful Relationships with Maˉori NSOs Present Policies: The ‘MAP’ and the ‘MOF’ Present Resourcing: Kia piki ake i ngā raruraru o te kainga—Socio-Economic Mediation Strengthening Resilience—Back to the Future Discussion Conclusions References 20: The Uptake of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Sport and Physical Culture Introduction Sport and Debt The COVID 19 Recession Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) MMT Policy Alternatives The 1967 Canadian Montreal Olympics The Case of the NRL Discussion Concluding Remarks References 21: Furlough, Food Banks and Vaccine Hesitancy: Sport in Britain During the COVID-19 Pandemic Introduction The Context Timeline Furlough Pay-per-view Football and Food Banks Athletes Supporting the Vaccination Programme Vaccine Hesitancy No Jab = No Job? Conclusion References 22: COVID-19, the Anthropocene, and the Need for Post-Sport Sport and the Anthropocene Post-Sport Physical Cultures Parting Vision: Towards Idleness as Post-Sport Physical Culture References 23: A Syndemics Approach to NCAA Collegiate Sport Participation During COVID-19 Introduction The Social Context of U.S. College Sport and the COVID-19 Pandemic Syndemics as a Theoretical Framework Methodology Syndemics in Action: NCAA U.S. Collegiate Sport Continuation and COVID-19 Bio-Bio Interactions Bio-Social Interactions: Sport Participation as the Social and Structural Factor Neoliberal U.S. Collegiate Sport as a Syndemic Social Factor Ethical Implications for Future Sport Participation from a Syndemics Framework Perspective Concussion Epidemic Informed Consent and Athletic Labor Exploitation Ethics of Care Conclusion References 24: On the Politics and Embodiments of Longing: Snapshots from a Digital Photo Diary Study of Australians’ Movement Experiences During Lockdown Keep Active and Get Outside! (Even During a Pandemic) Longing as Affective Force Methodological Details Procedures Analysis Findings Longing for the Sea, ‘wildness’, and Catharsis Longing for Others and for Things to Be Otherwise Conclusion References 25: Playing Through a Pandemic: Football Bodies, Racialized Violence, and Institutionalized Care Everyday Violence and Institutionalized Care in College Football Racialized Violence On and Off the Gridiron Conclusion References 26: Mapping the Geographies of Combat Sport during COVID-19: Dana White, Trumpism, and the Landscapes of the UFC Introduction Covid Geographies: Constructing Pandemic Combat Landscapes The Trumpian Bubble: Dana White and the Politics of the Venues Of Space and COVID-19: Theorizing the UFC’s Sporting Landscapes Eichberg and COVID-19 Sporting Spaces Conclusions References 27: Corona Games: The Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Celebration Capitalism, and COVID-19 Introduction Celebration Capitalism Olympic-Sized Problems and the Tokyo 2020 Games Coronavirus: State of Emergency and State of Exception References 28: “You realise you tick a lot of boxes”: Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on the Rehabilitating Body Through a Bourdieusian Lens Introduction What Is Rehabilitation? The Research Process Bourdieusian Theory and Rehabilitation in Pandemic Times Bodily Practices and Physicalities Space and Place What Might the Future Hold for Those with Long-term Health Conditions? In Conclusion References 29: Paradoxical Effects of the Health Crisis within the Esports Industry: How French Esports Organizations Illuminate the Perceived Revenue Growth Façade Context Esports Ecosystem and Major Stakeholders Gaming and Esports During the Pandemic Literature Gap and Research Questions Methodology and Data Collection Main Findings and Discussion of Results Sample demographics Estimation of the Health Crisis Effects on the French Esports Market Health Crisis Effects Based on Stakeholders’ Characteristics Limitations Conclusion References 30: Disaster Football: Billionaire Owners, Shock Therapy, and the Exploitation of the COVID-19 Pandemic in European Football Project Big Picture: An American Hustle The European Super League: American Splendor Football’s Endgame References 31: Interview(s) with the Vampire: Research Opportunism During a Global Catastrophe Restitution: Salvation Through a Robust Global Supply Chain Exercise as (Personal and Social) Medicine: The Birth of the (Not So) Critical Clinic We Ought Not To, Maybe Because We Ought Not To Epilogue: Letting Covid-19 Stories Breathe References Index