Mermaiding - What does this trendy sport mean to boys and girls?

Author(s):

Maud Hietzge(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

30. Environmental and Sustainability Education Research (ESER)

Format:

Paper (Copy for Joint Session)

Session Information

30 SES 14 JS, Highlighting Different Voices in Physical Activity, Health and Sustainability Education: Teachers, Children and Youth Perspectives

Paper Session Joint Session NW 08, NW 18 and NW 30

Time:

2014-09-05

15:30-17:00

Room:

B215 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Per Sund

Discussant:

Venka Simovska

Contribution

Since 2000 Mermaiding, i. e. swimming with a tail that includes a mono fluke, has become a worldwide trendy sport. Not only girls but also boys enjoy this practice which is connected to TV series, movies, young peoples literature, and tragical fairy tails of romantic and classical period. Since a German company started selling a fabric affordable for a mass public, mermaiding began to spread out globally. According to trendy sports theory mermaiding is located at the threshold to culture-industrial penetration at the moment.

The related body concept is built up quite different to the mythological tradition, that is interesting in itself because we have to conceive of a universal - perdominantly but not only female - archetype. This archetype becomes a condensed and empractical symbol for personal development, subjectivation and simply "being different" - together with all the other mermaids. Even girls "play" with a demanding body technique and apnoe diving, practicing between media (H2O, Arielle, Mariella etc.) and contemplative underwater experience, between heroine and scapegoat, between passive posing and active coordinative training.

Method

The paper relies on a research and teaching project financed by PH Freiburg. First data from a group of girls educated by students were asked about their experiences as a 'mermaid", additionally an online questionaire will be on the web from March 2014 on. First results will be be presented, including video choreographies, qualitative and quantitative data. The background for interpretation has to deal with ritual studies, carnal sociology, feminist materialism, subjectivation, discourse theory etc.

Expected Outcomes

Interestingly, media consumption can be analyzed in close relationship to body practice. Even pupil who don't have a mermaid tail use the technique. The girls told us, that they enjoy this different kind of swimming and that they love it much more than traditional swimming lessons. Aesthetic dimensions and interests in stilization are to be assessed as important for the activity itself. The practice is acted out self consciously and in crude difference to the old pictures of a mermaid.

References

Alkemeyer, Th., 2010. Somatischer Eigensinn? Kritische Anmerkungen zu Diskurs- und Gouvernementalitätsforschung aus subjektivationstheoretischer und praxeologischer Perspektive. In: Angermüller, J. &. van Dyk, S. eds. Diskursanalyse meets Gouvernementalitätsforschung (pp. 315-335.). Frank-furt/M./New York: Campus. Alkemeyer, Th., Brümmer, K., Kodalla, R. & Pille, Th. eds., 2009. Ordnung in Bewegung. Choreo-graphien des Sozialen. Bielefeld: transcript. Bessler, G., 1995: Von Nixen und Wasserfrauen. Köln Caysa, V., 2010. Über empraktische Könnerschaft. Zeitschrift für Kulturphilosophie. Sonderheft Brot und Spiele. 4 (1), 65-72. Gugutzer, R., 2002. Leib, Körper und Identität. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag. Hietzge, M. (2012). Fundamental Corporal Competences. Practical Acquisition and Bodily Processes of Interaction and Subjectivation. In: A. Kraus (ed.), Tacit Dimensions of Pedagogical Practices. Münster: Waxmann. Hirschauer, S., 2008. Körper macht Wissen - Für eine Somatisierung des Wissensbegriffs. In: Wetterer, A. ed., 2008. Geschlechterwissen und soziale Praxis (pp. 82-95). Königstein: Helmer Keller, R. & Meuser, M. (2011). Körperwissen. Wiesbaden: VS. Otto, B., 2001. Unterwasser-Literatur. Von Wasserfrauen und Wassermännern. Würzburg Villa, P., 2008. Habe den Mut, dich deines Körpers zu bedienen! Thesen zur Körperarbeit in der Gegenwart zwischen Selbstermächtigung und Selbstunterwerfung. In: dies. ed, Schön normal. Manipulationen am Körper als Technologien des Selbst (pp. 245-272). Bielefeld: transcript. Waldenfels, B., 1980. Der Spielraum des Verhaltens. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.

Author Information

Maud Hietzge (presenting / submitting)

PH Freiburg, Germany

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