Adolescent girls and the martial arts: Potentials for strength, power and agency
Item
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Title
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Adolescent girls and the martial arts: Potentials for strength, power and agency
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:729587891898:10660
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identifier
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10926
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Creator
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Rybacki, Kim E.,
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Contributor
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Anna Stetsenko
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Date
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2010
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Developmental psychology | Womens studies | embodied | gender | identity | martial arts | sociocultural
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Abstract
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Although strength related activities such as the martial arts can serve as arenas for girls and women to enact identities that challenge traditional gender roles and dichotomies, this is not necessarily the case. Using an activity theory framework that emphasizes the interrelated symbolic and material aspects of culture and identity, this research involves 5 adolescent female martial artists (in addition to the author) in the process of analyzing the Tae Kwon Do school where they train. This analysis used the reading, watching, writing, sharing and discussion of life stories, both of the girls and published by others, in order to develop a list of suggestions to help the school better serve female students and staff. A discussion of the institutional, group, and individual processes of development are included. While the participants valued their martial arts training as a space for the development of character and relationships, they did not necessarily see their training as a space where traditional gender stereotypes (regarding strength, power, and physical agency) were challenged. The analysis suggests that in order for martial arts schools to better realize their potential for challenging traditional gender dichotomies, gender must become an explicit object of martial arts activity.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
