Robert C Townsend
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 249065 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Robert C Townsend |
| PRENOMES | Robert C |
| SOBRENOME | Townsend |
| ASSINATURA | TOWNSEND R C |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Waikato |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7343-5329 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 23 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 28 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 23 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2004 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
Tackling Ableism in Sport and Active Recreation to Ensure Participation Parity for Disabled Young People in Aotearoa New Zealand
Significant barriers limit disabled young people’s opportunities in sport and active recreation. This is both a health and human rights issue: physical activity is vital for well-being, and equitable access to sport and active recreation is mandated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). Using Q methodology, a participatory mixed-methods approach that uncovers shared viewpoints through statistical anal…
Examining the legacy of the ‘old boys club’ in high performance coaching
Sport is a breeding ground for exclusionary gendered discourses and this trend is evident within the coaching cultures of numerous national sports organisations in New Zealand. Drawing on an organisational case study of a New Zealand national sports organisation (NSO) data were collected through thirteen semi-structured interviews and observations with coaches and staff in the NSO. Engaging in a critical feminist approach, this paper explores the…
Awareness, facilitators, barriers, and behaviours surrounding brain health
Understanding of brain health and dementia risk reduction was variable in this large sample of UK and Irish citizens. There were identified gaps in awareness of risk factors relating to cardiometabolic health, hearing loss, and air pollution. These findings highlight the need for credible sources of accessible and relevant information to improve awareness and behaviours surrounding brain health
Non-disabled privilege in sports and active recreation
Despite inclusionary policies in New Zealand, the existing socio-cultural and political systems continue to reinforce non-disabled privilege in the sports and physical activity environment. Bolstered by neoliberal ableist attitudes, concepts and practices, this non-disabled privilege excludes individuals whose bodily capabilities do not fit hypothetical able-bodied norms and standards. This paper explores neoliberal ableist attitudes and practice…
Beyond the boundaries of humour
Normalised within the social fabric of cricket, sledging is a form of gamesship where players aim verbal jousts at one another in order to gain a competitive advantage. Both intimidatory and humorous, existing research into sledging has focused on non-disabled cricketers without considering the experiences of those that do not match this corporeal norm. Accordingly, in this paper we offer the first exploration of sledging as experienced by disabl…
Promoting adapted physical activity within kinesiology undergraduate programs
Disabled persons face an array of barriers to quality physical activity programming. Nonetheless, kinesiology undergraduate programs have historically neglected to focus on disability. Hence, it is unsurprising that ableist norms permeate throughout many kinesiology professions. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the RE-AIM approach as conceptual framework for the implementation of introductory adapted physical activity college courses wit…
Articulations of Ableism in Sport and Physical Activity
Disabled people continue to experience ableism in sport and physical activity in many forms. Operating as a form of privilege, ableism encompasses a complex and enduring network of beliefs, processes, and practices that place value on nondisabled embodiment and shape our collective understandings of the self, our bodies, and our relationships, and how we perceive, and are perceived by, others. However, the breadth of ableist tendencies, attitudes…
The Dis/appearing Sporting Body
This article critically explores how disability appears and disappears in high-performance sporting environments. Drawing upon symbolic interactionism and embodiment theory, we specifically focus upon disabled athletes' lived experiences of competing in a pan-disability setting and interrogate the interplay between corporeality and social interaction in the materialising of ability, disability and impairment. In this study, 22 (21 male and one fe…
Participant observation
As a method, observation has its roots in a particular branch of anthropology – that of ethnology – and, at its core, involves the immersion of the researcher in a social setting. In turn, observation involves the ‘systematic recording’ of cultural and human behaviour, inclusive of activities, rituals, and relationships. This makes observation well-suited to produce detailed context-specific accounts of coaching practice that move beyond overly r…
Disentangling assistive technology
The use of assistive technology (AT) in sport raises critical questions about disability, access, equity, and embodiment in culture and society. In this paper, we seek to provide some clarity on the various ways that disabled people use, interact with, and experience AT through engagement in disability sport. Using semi-structured interviews, this paper centralises the experiences of twelve athletes with different physical impairments as they use…
Infusing disability into coach education and development
Background: The training of coaches is considered central to sustaining and improving the quality of sports provision. In Parasport, coaches are recognised at the highest level of international sport policy as performing a central role in achieving important sporting and social outcomes related to disabled people. However, an emerging body of evidence suggests that formal coach education plays only a minor role in Parasport coaches’ development. …
‘Cripping’ care in disability sport
In this article we combine the fields of critical disability studies and the sociology of sport to disrupt and extend current understandings of athlete welfare and care. A focus on athlete welfare is producing heightened awareness of the need for institutional, structural and personal support for athletes. Notions of ‘care’ are proliferating in sport discourse, with sport organisations routinely described as having a ‘duty of care’ towards athlet…
Understanding Disability and Cultural (Re)production
This ethnographic study draws on the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu to illustrate the production and reproduction of disability through the social practices of high performance disability sport. We illustrate how, through the pedagogic action of the coaches, disability was continually inscribed in the habitus of the athletes through a focus on structure and routine. As such, social differentiation was ever-present as a way of ordering t…
Moving Beyond Models
In this paper we explore current theoretical approaches available from the discipline of critical disability studies (CDS) for conceptualizing physical disability and advocate how these understandings can advance sociological research on disability sport. After reviewing a dominant “models” approach that has historically been employed, we illuminate how theoretical architecture provided by selected sociological theorists (Pierre Bourdieu, Michel …
Put that in your fucking research
Reflexivity is continually called for as a marker of quality ethnographic research. In this paper we put reflexivity to 'work', providing a critical commentary on data generated through ethnographic fieldwork in high-performance disability sport. Drawing on Bourdieu's reflexive sociology, we situate the ethnographer in the field of disability sport, turning a reflexive lens onto the practices that are associated with occupying the role of coach a…
Investigating the alignment between coaches’ ideological beliefs and academy philosophy in professional youth football
The impacts of professional sporting culture and institutional discourse on coaching practices and ideologies have largely been unconsidered and undiscussed. Understanding coaching practice from a social perspective can provide insights into the prevailing culture that coaches are immersed within, pointing to patterns of discourse, norms and values that govern coaches’ actions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential for (mis)a…
It's not about disability, I want to win as many medals as possible
This article draws on the theoretical concepts of Pierre Bourdieu to provide a critical analysis of the social construction of disability in high-performance sport coaching. Data were generated using a qualitative cross-case comparative methodology, comprising 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in high-performance disability sport, and interviews with coaches and athletes from a cross-section of Paralympic sports. We discuss how in both cases 'd…
A social relational analysis of an impairment-specific mode of disability coach education
The purpose of this research was to analyse a mode of coach education provided by a major disability charity. The course was designed for sports coaches and physical activity professionals and focused on coaching people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The subsequent analysis drew on data obtained over two years, including participation observation, qualitative survey data and follow-up case study interviews. The research process was scaffol…
University students’ perceptions of social networking sites (SNSs) in their educational experiences at a regional Australian university
Higher education institutions, and the way education is delivered and supported, are being transformed by digital technologies. Internationally, institutions are increasingly incorporating online technologies into delivery frameworks and administration – both through internal learning management systems (LMS) and external social networking sites (SNSs). This study aims to explore how higher education students in a regional Australian dual-sector …
Elite cricket coach education
The social structures within coach education have been largely unexplored, undiscussed, and treated as unproblematic in contributing to coach learning, both in research and practice. The study used semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 11 elite cricket coaches to gather their perceptions of an elite coach education programme. In particular, this research attempted a more nuanced critical inquiry into the impact of culture on coach learning, h…
Barriers to Household Risk Management
Why do many households remain exposed to large exogenous sources of nonsystematic income risk? We use a series of randomized field experiments in rural India to test the importance of price and nonprice factors in the adoption of an innovative rainfall insurance product. Demand is significantly price sensitive, but widespread take-up would not be achieved even if the product offered a payout ratio comparable to US insurance contracts. We present …
Patterns of Rainfall Insurance Participation in Rural India
Take-up of an innovative rainfall insurance policy offered to smallholder farmers in rural India decreases with basis risk between insurance payouts and income fluctuations, increases with household wealth, and decreases with binding credit constraints. These results are consistent with the predictions of a simple neoclassical model with borrowing constraints. Other patterns are less consistent with the benchmark model. For example, participation…
Supplier relationships and small business use of trade credit
Put that in your fucking research
Reflexivity is continually called for as a marker of quality ethnographic research. In this paper we put reflexivity to 'work', providing a critical commentary on data generated through ethnographic fieldwork in high-performance disability sport. Drawing on Bourdieu's reflexive sociology, we situate the ethnographer in the field of disability sport, turning a reflexive lens onto the practices that are associated with occupying the role of coach a…
Elite cricket coach education
The social structures within coach education have been largely unexplored, undiscussed, and treated as unproblematic in contributing to coach learning, both in research and practice. The study used semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 11 elite cricket coaches to gather their perceptions of an elite coach education programme. In particular, this research attempted a more nuanced critical inquiry into the impact of culture on coach learning, h…
Moving Beyond Models
In this paper we explore current theoretical approaches available from the discipline of critical disability studies (CDS) for conceptualizing physical disability and advocate how these understandings can advance sociological research on disability sport. After reviewing a dominant “models” approach that has historically been employed, we illuminate how theoretical architecture provided by selected sociological theorists (Pierre Bourdieu, Michel …
Understanding Disability and Cultural (Re)production
This ethnographic study draws on the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu to illustrate the production and reproduction of disability through the social practices of high performance disability sport. We illustrate how, through the pedagogic action of the coaches, disability was continually inscribed in the habitus of the athletes through a focus on structure and routine. As such, social differentiation was ever-present as a way of ordering t…
Investigating the alignment between coaches’ ideological beliefs and academy philosophy in professional youth football
The impacts of professional sporting culture and institutional discourse on coaching practices and ideologies have largely been unconsidered and undiscussed. Understanding coaching practice from a social perspective can provide insights into the prevailing culture that coaches are immersed within, pointing to patterns of discourse, norms and values that govern coaches’ actions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential for (mis)a…
The Dis/appearing Sporting Body
This article critically explores how disability appears and disappears in high-performance sporting environments. Drawing upon symbolic interactionism and embodiment theory, we specifically focus upon disabled athletes' lived experiences of competing in a pan-disability setting and interrogate the interplay between corporeality and social interaction in the materialising of ability, disability and impairment. In this study, 22 (21 male and one fe…
It's not about disability, I want to win as many medals as possible
This article draws on the theoretical concepts of Pierre Bourdieu to provide a critical analysis of the social construction of disability in high-performance sport coaching. Data were generated using a qualitative cross-case comparative methodology, comprising 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in high-performance disability sport, and interviews with coaches and athletes from a cross-section of Paralympic sports. We discuss how in both cases 'd…
Articulations of Ableism in Sport and Physical Activity
Disabled people continue to experience ableism in sport and physical activity in many forms. Operating as a form of privilege, ableism encompasses a complex and enduring network of beliefs, processes, and practices that place value on nondisabled embodiment and shape our collective understandings of the self, our bodies, and our relationships, and how we perceive, and are perceived by, others. However, the breadth of ableist tendencies, attitudes…
Supplier relationships and small business use of trade credit
Supplier relationships and small business use of trade credit
Patterns of Rainfall Insurance Participation in Rural India
Take-up of an innovative rainfall insurance policy offered to smallholder farmers in rural India decreases with basis risk between insurance payouts and income fluctuations, increases with household wealth, and decreases with binding credit constraints. These results are consistent with the predictions of a simple neoclassical model with borrowing constraints. Other patterns are less consistent with the benchmark model. For example, participation…
Barriers to Household Risk Management
Why do many households remain exposed to large exogenous sources of nonsystematic income risk? We use a series of randomized field experiments in rural India to test the importance of price and nonprice factors in the adoption of an innovative rainfall insurance product. Demand is significantly price sensitive, but widespread take-up would not be achieved even if the product offered a payout ratio comparable to US insurance contracts. We present …
Elite cricket coach education
The social structures within coach education have been largely unexplored, undiscussed, and treated as unproblematic in contributing to coach learning, both in research and practice. The study used semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 11 elite cricket coaches to gather their perceptions of an elite coach education programme. In particular, this research attempted a more nuanced critical inquiry into the impact of culture on coach learning, h…
University students’ perceptions of social networking sites (SNSs) in their educational experiences at a regional Australian university
Higher education institutions, and the way education is delivered and supported, are being transformed by digital technologies. Internationally, institutions are increasingly incorporating online technologies into delivery frameworks and administration – both through internal learning management systems (LMS) and external social networking sites (SNSs). This study aims to explore how higher education students in a regional Australian dual-sector …
A social relational analysis of an impairment-specific mode of disability coach education
The purpose of this research was to analyse a mode of coach education provided by a major disability charity. The course was designed for sports coaches and physical activity professionals and focused on coaching people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The subsequent analysis drew on data obtained over two years, including participation observation, qualitative survey data and follow-up case study interviews. The research process was scaffol…
Investigating the alignment between coaches’ ideological beliefs and academy philosophy in professional youth football
The impacts of professional sporting culture and institutional discourse on coaching practices and ideologies have largely been unconsidered and undiscussed. Understanding coaching practice from a social perspective can provide insights into the prevailing culture that coaches are immersed within, pointing to patterns of discourse, norms and values that govern coaches’ actions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential for (mis)a…
It's not about disability, I want to win as many medals as possible
This article draws on the theoretical concepts of Pierre Bourdieu to provide a critical analysis of the social construction of disability in high-performance sport coaching. Data were generated using a qualitative cross-case comparative methodology, comprising 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in high-performance disability sport, and interviews with coaches and athletes from a cross-section of Paralympic sports. We discuss how in both cases 'd…
Moving Beyond Models
In this paper we explore current theoretical approaches available from the discipline of critical disability studies (CDS) for conceptualizing physical disability and advocate how these understandings can advance sociological research on disability sport. After reviewing a dominant “models” approach that has historically been employed, we illuminate how theoretical architecture provided by selected sociological theorists (Pierre Bourdieu, Michel …
Put that in your fucking research
Reflexivity is continually called for as a marker of quality ethnographic research. In this paper we put reflexivity to 'work', providing a critical commentary on data generated through ethnographic fieldwork in high-performance disability sport. Drawing on Bourdieu's reflexive sociology, we situate the ethnographer in the field of disability sport, turning a reflexive lens onto the practices that are associated with occupying the role of coach a…
Infusing disability into coach education and development
Background: The training of coaches is considered central to sustaining and improving the quality of sports provision. In Parasport, coaches are recognised at the highest level of international sport policy as performing a central role in achieving important sporting and social outcomes related to disabled people. However, an emerging body of evidence suggests that formal coach education plays only a minor role in Parasport coaches’ development. …
‘Cripping’ care in disability sport
In this article we combine the fields of critical disability studies and the sociology of sport to disrupt and extend current understandings of athlete welfare and care. A focus on athlete welfare is producing heightened awareness of the need for institutional, structural and personal support for athletes. Notions of ‘care’ are proliferating in sport discourse, with sport organisations routinely described as having a ‘duty of care’ towards athlet…
Understanding Disability and Cultural (Re)production
This ethnographic study draws on the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu to illustrate the production and reproduction of disability through the social practices of high performance disability sport. We illustrate how, through the pedagogic action of the coaches, disability was continually inscribed in the habitus of the athletes through a focus on structure and routine. As such, social differentiation was ever-present as a way of ordering t…
Disentangling assistive technology
The use of assistive technology (AT) in sport raises critical questions about disability, access, equity, and embodiment in culture and society. In this paper, we seek to provide some clarity on the various ways that disabled people use, interact with, and experience AT through engagement in disability sport. Using semi-structured interviews, this paper centralises the experiences of twelve athletes with different physical impairments as they use…
Participant observation
As a method, observation has its roots in a particular branch of anthropology – that of ethnology – and, at its core, involves the immersion of the researcher in a social setting. In turn, observation involves the ‘systematic recording’ of cultural and human behaviour, inclusive of activities, rituals, and relationships. This makes observation well-suited to produce detailed context-specific accounts of coaching practice that move beyond overly r…
Awareness, facilitators, barriers, and behaviours surrounding brain health
Understanding of brain health and dementia risk reduction was variable in this large sample of UK and Irish citizens. There were identified gaps in awareness of risk factors relating to cardiometabolic health, hearing loss, and air pollution. These findings highlight the need for credible sources of accessible and relevant information to improve awareness and behaviours surrounding brain health
Non-disabled privilege in sports and active recreation
Despite inclusionary policies in New Zealand, the existing socio-cultural and political systems continue to reinforce non-disabled privilege in the sports and physical activity environment. Bolstered by neoliberal ableist attitudes, concepts and practices, this non-disabled privilege excludes individuals whose bodily capabilities do not fit hypothetical able-bodied norms and standards. This paper explores neoliberal ableist attitudes and practice…
Beyond the boundaries of humour
Normalised within the social fabric of cricket, sledging is a form of gamesship where players aim verbal jousts at one another in order to gain a competitive advantage. Both intimidatory and humorous, existing research into sledging has focused on non-disabled cricketers without considering the experiences of those that do not match this corporeal norm. Accordingly, in this paper we offer the first exploration of sledging as experienced by disabl…
Promoting adapted physical activity within kinesiology undergraduate programs
Disabled persons face an array of barriers to quality physical activity programming. Nonetheless, kinesiology undergraduate programs have historically neglected to focus on disability. Hence, it is unsurprising that ableist norms permeate throughout many kinesiology professions. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the RE-AIM approach as conceptual framework for the implementation of introductory adapted physical activity college courses wit…
Articulations of Ableism in Sport and Physical Activity
Disabled people continue to experience ableism in sport and physical activity in many forms. Operating as a form of privilege, ableism encompasses a complex and enduring network of beliefs, processes, and practices that place value on nondisabled embodiment and shape our collective understandings of the self, our bodies, and our relationships, and how we perceive, and are perceived by, others. However, the breadth of ableist tendencies, attitudes…
The Dis/appearing Sporting Body
This article critically explores how disability appears and disappears in high-performance sporting environments. Drawing upon symbolic interactionism and embodiment theory, we specifically focus upon disabled athletes' lived experiences of competing in a pan-disability setting and interrogate the interplay between corporeality and social interaction in the materialising of ability, disability and impairment. In this study, 22 (21 male and one fe…
Tackling Ableism in Sport and Active Recreation to Ensure Participation Parity for Disabled Young People in Aotearoa New Zealand
Significant barriers limit disabled young people’s opportunities in sport and active recreation. This is both a health and human rights issue: physical activity is vital for well-being, and equitable access to sport and active recreation is mandated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). Using Q methodology, a participatory mixed-methods approach that uncovers shared viewpoints through statistical anal…
Examining the legacy of the ‘old boys club’ in high performance coaching
Sport is a breeding ground for exclusionary gendered discourses and this trend is evident within the coaching cultures of numerous national sports organisations in New Zealand. Drawing on an organisational case study of a New Zealand national sports organisation (NSO) data were collected through thirteen semi-structured interviews and observations with coaches and staff in the NSO. Engaging in a critical feminist approach, this paper explores the…
Psychology (14 obras) · Sociology (13 obras) · Disability Rights and Representation (10 obras) · Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport (10 obras) · Political science (9 obras) · Medicine (8 obras) · Coaching (7 obras) · Pedagogy (7 obras) · Politics (6 obras) · Social science (6 obras)