Body knowledge and repetition: re-conceiving ability through students' visual narratives of sport, physical education and fitness

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Robert Elliott Owens (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Diane Gill

Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation study was to investigate how students enrolled in two different undergraduate core kinesiology courses conceived knowledge of the body through visual storytelling, a mode of writing that uses visual elements, like photographs, to tell a story. For the purposes of the study, body knowledge (Evans and Davies, 2004) was constrained to sport, physical education and fitness. This dissertation study had three research questions and one practical purpose. One, how did students chose to tell their stories, what images and storylines were included and which were left out? In other words, what repetitive or reoccurring themes about the body in the contexts of exercise, physical education and sport emerged from these visual narratives? Two, how did these repetitions (Kumashiro, 2003) construct knowledge of active body and what were the obstacles to addressing them? In other words, did the students select images or themes that overemphasized particular gender, racial, or economic groups, or body sizes, and if so what are potential road blocks to remedying them? Three, why are these repetitions of body knowledge needed? After addressing these three questions, this study aimed to provide kinesiology and HPE educators with practical pedagogical strategies for addressing (visual) repetitions of body knowledge within the curriculum. Following Norman Fairclough's (2005) critical discourse analysis (CDA) methodology, this study analyzed 18 visual narratives and found that gender and physical ability was an overarching theme in the students' narratives.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2011
Keywords
Ability, Body knowledge, Gender, Repetition, Visual studies
Subjects
Physical education and training $x Research
Physical education for college students $x Research
Body image $x Psychological aspects
Visual communication $x Research

Email this document to