Sport, Identity and Social Division in Canada
Issue #
35 2007
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Courtney W. Mason - The Glengarry Highland Games, 1948-2003: Problematizing the Role of Tourism, Scottish Cultural Institutions, and the Cultivation of Nostalgia in the Construction of Identities
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Heather Mair - Curling in Canada: From Gathering Place to International Spectacle
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Russell Field - Manufacturing Memories and Directing Dreams: Commemoration, Community, and the Closing of Maple Leaf Gardens
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Janice Forsyth - The Indian Act and the (Re)Shaping of Canadian Aboriginal Sport Practices
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Dawn E. Trussell - Children’s Sport Participation in Canada: Is it a Level Playing Field?
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P. David Howe - Integration of Paralympic Athletes into Athletics Canada
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Judy Davidson - Homophobia, Fundamentalism, and Canadian Tolerance: Enabling Gay Games III in Vancouver
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William Bridel - Considering Gender in Canadian Sport and Physical Activity
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Jack Jedwabv - Giving Hockey’s Past a Future: When Identity Meets Demography in Canadian Sports
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Trevor W. Harrison - Anti-Canadianism: Explaining the Deep Roots of a Shallow Phenomenon
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This paper explores the integration of Paralympic athletes into Athletics Canada. Highlighting the charitable foundation of sport for the disabled as well as the issue of classification, this paper offers insight into the habitus of Paralympic athletics as a key factor influencing this integration process. Integration is conceptualized on a continuum of compliance where true integration is the goal and segregation is frowned upon. Using ethnographic data collected in participant observation roles as an athlete, administrator, and journalist, the paper illuminates the success of the Paralympics in capturing the imagination of the Canadian public. At the same time, the process of integration within Athletics Canada has been less than successful because the achievement of athletes with disabilities is not as valued, by those who administer the sport, as those of their “able” counterparts. To this end the integration process within Athletic Canada appears to be stuck at the uncomfortable point of accommodation, which means that a truly integrated sport system is still a goal to be achieved.Hide -