Mermaiding – Results of the Quantitative Study Interpreted on the Basis of Different Forms of Knowledge and Media Analysis

Author(s):

Maud Hietzge(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

18. Research in Sports Pedagogy

Format:

Paper

Session Information

18 SES 06, Utilising Effective Pedagogies in Physical Education

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-09

15:30-17:00

Room:

326.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Mark Griffiths

Contribution

The mermaid symbol is spread all over Europe. At ECER Meeting in Porto 2014 the Mermaid Project of University of Education, Freiburg had been introduced as suitable way to activate less active girls. Even some boys enjoy the practice which is originally connected to TV series and formerly tragic fairy-tails with ambivalent female role models. Since a German company started selling a fabric affordable for a mass public, mermaiding began to spread out globally. Imaginations are the key to understand the development of the desire to swim with a fish tail what comes out as much more demanding than regular swimming techniques and functional for transition processes.

Swimming with a tail that includes a mono fluke has become a worldwide trendy sport since 2010 and is now established in the south of Germany as in the state of culture-industrial penetration (Schwier). Meanwhile, first attempts to use it in therapeutic settings have been launched in Cham and Bremen (Adipositas, Anorexia; Hemiparalysis) recently.

The related body concept nowadays is built up in difference to the predominantly female archetype of the mythological tradition, which follows certain discursive changes in gender constructions. This enacted variation of the archetype becomes a condensed and empractical symbol typical for post-modern subjectivation as "being special". Sorts of body knowing will be figured out: discursive knowledge, imaginary knowing, reflected experience, knowing-in-doing. Our thesis that a girly activity might activate newcomers has to be differentiated.

Method

In 2014, a questionnaire had been utilized so that the primordial findings of the qualitative study can now be put in concrete form. The results of the questionnaire for the 2014 Mermaid meeting in Freiburg i. B. will be presented in relation to the already existing qualitative data. The phenomena will be discussed in depth on the theoretical background of ritual studies, carnal sociology, feminist materialism, subjectivation and discourse theory. Additional film analysis allows for a deeper insight into the conscious-unconscious relationships in embodiment processes. For presentation new videos and pictures will be included in the presentation.

Expected Outcomes

As one result of the study we have to comment critically on the ignorance of PE concerning media influences. Interestingly, media consumption can be analyzed in close relationship to body practice. Even pupils who don't have a mermaid tail use the technique. Others stick to the styling without having any access to practice. Overall, the girls made clear that they enjoy this different kind of swimming and that they love it much more than traditional swimming lessons. When asked for the reasons they often claim superficial ‘fun’ arguments leading to common imaginations, seen with the goggles of hermeneutic social research additional possibilities come up in interpretation. As a second important outcome of the study the aesthetic and cultural dimensions of movement are to be assessed as important for the activity itself and some conclusions will be drawn to argument for more creative approaches (e. g. Neuber) to physical education in late modernity. The imaginative aspects are a possible key to therapeutic use and processes of self-initiation.

References

Caysa, V., 2010. Über empraktische Könnerschaft. Zeitschrift für Kulturphilosophie. Sonderheft Brot und Spiele. 4 (1), 65-72. Crossley, N. (2007). Researching embodiment by way of ‘body techniques’. Sociological Review. 55 (1), 80-94. 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. Neuber, N. (2009). Kreative Bewegungserziehung. Aachen: M & M. 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)

University of Education Freiburg

Sports

Freiburg

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