CSS affiliates gathered in Seoul, South Korea in July for the 60th anniversary of the World Congress of the Sociology of Sport.
Two UBC Kinesiology MA students presented at the conference! Joseph Silva presented a paper entitled “Cool Poses, Sanitized Portrayals: Promotional Media Recontextualizations of Breaking during the 2024 Olympic Games”, and Kailan Tan presented a paper entitled “Experiences and Perceptions of Youth with Spinal Cord Injury and Parents on Physical Activity Participation.”
CSS Associates Lyndsay Hayhurst (Associate Professor and York Research Chair in Sport, Gender, Development and Digital Participatory Research), Mitchell McSweeney (Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota), Janet Otte (Lead Community Researcher with Union of Hope Foundation in Uganda), Jeanette Steinmann (UBC PhD Candidate and Research and Information Coordinator for the CSS!) and Professor and CSS Director Brian Wilson spoke on a panel entitled “Sustainability Communication, Mobility Justice & Climate Action in the Sociology of Sport.”
As described on the ISSA website, the panel explored “the intersections of sustainability communication, mobility justice, and climate action within and through the sociology of sport, using the short documentary film Changing Gears as both a catalyst and a case study in sustainability communication. Through storytelling and digital media, Changing Gears will serve as a key departure point for stimulating critical discussion(s) about how sport and physical culture can engage with gendered, environmental, and mobility-related injustices.”
Building on the film’s focus on sport for development and bicycle-focused mobility justice initiatives in a variety of contexts – with a specific focus on Canada, Nicaragua, Uganda – the panelists examined how cycling is being mobilized to challenge gender norms, address climate and social inequities, and strengthen community resilience. They also reflected on the tensions and limitations that arise in contexts shaped by socio-economic inequalities, political precarities, and gendered violence.
In turn, the panel highlighted a range of sustainability communication strategies, including environmental sport journalism, podcasts, digital museums, and participatory research methods – that are re-imagining how sustainability is framed and pursued in and through sport and physical culture.
Overall, this session was designed to foreground the power of sustainability communication to challenge dominant narratives of sport, development, and climate action, and to advance more inclusive, intersectional, and community-driven approaches to climate justice and social transformation.
Congratulations and well done to all involved!