94. Adventure sport gendered space
Tipo de comunicación
Comunicación. Feminismo(s) y perspectiva de género
Palabras clave (keywords)
Gender, refugees, adventure, social activism
Abstract
It has been argued adventure tourism spaces are strongly dominated by white male middle-class explorers and adventurers (Hall 2018; Fullagar and Pavlidies, 2018) and that thus women adventurers have to negotiate gender inequalities and the diversity of embodied knowledge that operate in these spaces. The little we know about these spaces of difference and how they are experienced and negotiated by women comes from research done in the field of adventure sports (Hall 2018; Fullagar and Pavlidies, 2018), which mostly focus on the most immediate social space where the sport is practiced.
However, these practices are performed embedded within larger social space, which in international travel can also play a relevant role in the way women experience and negotiate gender inequalities. Moreover, there are occasions, where the adventure sport is practiced with multiple purposes in mind: sport with a cause! Therefore, whether and to what extent these extended cultural space of the host community, and an extended purpose of the adventure sport, affect the way women experience gender inequalities and negotiate embodied knowledge in adventure sports settings, is not known.
The paper explores the role of these extensions in the particular case of the Sahara Marathon, held in the remote refugee camps of the displaced Sahrawi community, close to the Algerian – Western Sahara border. This adventure sports event is thus performed within the cultural context of a long-term displaced Muslim community in search of self-determination which welcomes the participants in that they may become ambassadors of the injustice they are living and let the world know about their silenced cause. By means of participant observation and phenomenological interviews to a group of participant women in the event, the paper outlines the role these extensions of the adventure space may play in the way women experience gender inequalities in adventure sports settings.
However, these practices are performed embedded within larger social space, which in international travel can also play a relevant role in the way women experience and negotiate gender inequalities. Moreover, there are occasions, where the adventure sport is practiced with multiple purposes in mind: sport with a cause! Therefore, whether and to what extent these extended cultural space of the host community, and an extended purpose of the adventure sport, affect the way women experience gender inequalities and negotiate embodied knowledge in adventure sports settings, is not known.
The paper explores the role of these extensions in the particular case of the Sahara Marathon, held in the remote refugee camps of the displaced Sahrawi community, close to the Algerian – Western Sahara border. This adventure sports event is thus performed within the cultural context of a long-term displaced Muslim community in search of self-determination which welcomes the participants in that they may become ambassadors of the injustice they are living and let the world know about their silenced cause. By means of participant observation and phenomenological interviews to a group of participant women in the event, the paper outlines the role these extensions of the adventure space may play in the way women experience gender inequalities in adventure sports settings.
Autores
- Ahmadi, Shima
University of Girona, ES - Guia, Jaume
University of Girona, ES - Sofield, Trevor
University of Girona, AU