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Our paper illustrates how males of Chinese descent in British Columbia (BC) have historically been victims of overt and subtle forms of discrimination, and describes how racism is and was integrally linked to notions of class, gender and the body. Highlighted in our historical overview are issues around race and masculinity for Chinese males as they existed (and still exist) in the BC educational system, especially in sport-related and physical education (PE) contexts. We examine how some of these issues continue to impact Vancouver's schools through Millington's (2006) study of masculinities in secondary PE which showed how that environment, while offering the potential for various masculinities to flourish, tended to promote hegemonic gender identities as "normal". In particular, we show how Chinese-Canadian boys, both Canadian born as well as more recent immigrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China, continue to be subject to subtle racist understandings of Chinese masculinities--understandings that are often camouflaged by the dominant national rhetoric of multiculturalism. We conclude the paper by arguing that if indeed schools' curricula exacerbate problematic understandings of race and masculinity that underlie discriminatory behaviours and attitudes, then physical educators need the tools to develop strategies for change. (Contains 14 notes.)

Ecological modernization refers to the idea that capitalist-driven scientific and technological advancements can not only attend to the world's pending environmental crises, but even lead to ecological improvement, thus allowing sustainability and consumption to continue in concert. In this paper, we examine ecological modernization at the confluence of environmentalism, international development and global sport. Through an analysis of golf and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, we argue that golf's return to the Olympic programis illustrative of a post-political approach to environmentalism, whereby ecological modernization is posited as a common-sense response to addressing matters of global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the articulations of sport and 'Big Data'—an important though to date understudied topic. That we have arrived at an 'Age of Big Data' is an increasingly accepted premise: the proliferation of tracking technologies, combined with the desire to record/monitor human activity, has radically amplified the volume and variety of data in circulation, as well as the velocity at which data move. Herein, we take initial steps toward addressing the implications of Big Data for sport (and vice versa), first by historicizing the relationship between sport and quantification and second by charting its contemporary manifestations. We then present four overlapping postulates on sport in the Age of Big Data. These go toward both showing and questioning the logic of 'progress' said to lie at the core of sport's nascent statistical turn. We conclude with reflections on how a robust sociology of sport and Big Data might be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on an empirical study of 'Bicycles for Development' (BFD) – a nascent movement whereby used bicycles are collected (often in the global North) and distributed in development contexts (often in the global South) with the aim of achieving a range of positive social outcomes (e.g. access to education). Drawing from interviews (n = 32) with participants from 19 BFD organizations, and informed by actor-network theory (ANT), the analysis presented herein specifically highlights three key factors that facilitate and/or hinder BFD work: (a) government regulations that potentially stem or ease the flow of bicycles into development contexts; (b) the bicycle's material constitution, and specifically its sturdiness (or lack thereof); and (c) environmental conditions that impact how bicycles are made, distributed and used. A key theme that cuts across these findings is the potential for non-humans to cause 'frictions' that potentially disrupt, divert, but also help in realizing the programmes of action of BFD organizations. We consider the relevance of these findings for both the BFD movement in particular and the wider Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) movement in general. Based on study findings, we argue for ANT as a useful framework for achieving a widened analytical focus and thus for delivering more robust accounts of development contexts under study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we argue that sport media research would be enhanced by: (a) engagement with the audience research tradition, including "third generation" audience studies that emphasize relationships between viewer interpretations of media and everyday social practices; and (b) the adoption of multimethod research approaches that are sensitive to contradictions and complexities that exist in media consumption. To support this argument, we reflect on the benefits of a multimethod research design used in a recent audience study conducted by the authors on youth interpretations of media and performances of masculinity in physical education (Millington & Wilson, in press). These benefits include: enriching researcher understandings of social/cultural contexts; illuminating social hierarchies; and revealing lived contradictions. We conclude with reflections on epistemological issues and suggestions for future audience projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby won five Academy Awards but also came under attack from female boxers and disability activists. Ostensibly a drama about a tenacious woman's quest to become a professional fighter and the male coach who assists her, Million Dollar Baby appears to insert a radical portrayal of femininity, female athleticism, and power into the male-dominated genre of boxing films and, more generally, a media that has been largely hostile to female boxing. We explore the extent to which the female lead can be viewed as a transgressive figure along with the discourses of containment that reduce her threat to longstanding cultural myths about boxing as a male preserve. Our analyses of the film's racial, gender, class, and disability politics contend that its focus is not women's boxing, disability, or the right to die; rather, like boxing, this film is about the male struggle to protect masculinity in a sporting world deeply shaken by the increasing presence of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]