Anthropology of Sport

"All play means something" (Johan Huizinga, 1938) In recent decades, sport as a social practice has become relevant in many different spheres: in health, economy, politics, education, work and leisure. The importance of sport transcends beyond the confines of the sport field. Sport is, in essence, is about organization and organizing.

Au Québec, plusieurs activités traditionnelles amérindiennes sont devenus des sports : canot de rivière et canot à glace, crosse, courses de traîneaux à chiens, pêche sur glace et raquettes à neige. L’évolution de ce dernier emprunt culturel aux Amérindiens témoigne du passage d'une pratique essentielle à la survie à une activité de loisir. En effet, les raquettes étaient indissociables d’activités de subsistance comme la chasse et les transports, autant pour les autochtones que pour les immigrants européens qui les ont immédiatement adoptées en s’établissant en Nouvelle-France, au début du XVIIe siècle. Presque 300 ans plus tard, à la fin du XIXe siècle, les randonnées en raquettes étaient devenues un divertissement extrêmement populaire donnant lieu à la formation de centaines de clubs de raquetteurs. De nos jours, après une période de déclin de quelques décennies, la raquette à neige améliorée, faite de nouveaux matériaux synthétiques et souvent dotée de crampons, effectue un retour en force comme activité de randonnée et sport de haut niveau.

Social and visual anthropologist Olatz González Abrisketa, a professor at the University of the Basque Country, has produced an ethnographic and philosophical account of the highly ritualized Basque ball game, pelota, in which she argues that the traditional contest reveals important insights into the “Basque cultural imaginary.” Abrisketa conducted fieldwork (1998-2002) in the Basque country of northern Spain, where she interviewed numerous pelota athletes—generally always men—and observed their games on the public courts (frontons) centrally located in the plaza of any Basque village.

Examines the place of rugby as an idiom of distress or normality in the lives of men with haemophilia and as a symbol for and a practice of a hegemonic form of masculinity in New Zealand. The author argues that this historically produced gender order creates particular difficulties for some men with haemophilia in several areas of life: sport and recreation, development of a respected masculine identity, acceptance of haemophilia treatment in line with best practice, and recognition that men, too, carry haemophilia. Haemophilia is a coagulation disorder, and it is an X-chromosome-linked, recessive hereditary disorder where men are the "people with haemophilia" and women are the "carriers." The author discusses a research design involving a postal questionnaire completed by 193 people with haemophilia to assess attitudes towards its role in family relationships because it is a family tradition in New Zealand. Playing rugby there is part of a "normal" boyhood to the point where masculinity and citizenship may be suspect if a boy does not play, however, boys with haemophilia are instructed not to participate in rough sports, which reflects the problem of a failed sense of masculinity for fathers and sons in families with haemophilia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Men of Pacific Island descent in Australian sports have gone from a near invisible minority to making up nearly half of all players across junior and senior rugby football codes. Despite their prominent position, exploitation, misunderstandings and stereotypes remain rife. Drawing on my work with rugby-engaged Pasifika men in Sydney, I look at how 'hypermasculinity' discourse is used to both degrade and commercialise Pasifika rugby players, and I discuss the different ways Pasifika men and their communities engage with these stereotypes. By drawing on the recent and increasing body of literature on indigenous masculinities, I argue that the 'noble savage' stereotype persists in the commercialised 'hypermasculinity' of rugby football in Australia but that it is manipulated by Pasifika peoples in creative and diverse ways.

يمكن زيادة النشاط البدني للأطفال من خلال دمج الأنشطة القائمة على الألعاب مثل الألعاب التقليدية خلال جلسات التربية البدنية. ولكن، مستوى النشاط البدني لهذه الألعاب لم يتم تحديد كميته. وتهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تحديد كمية مستوى القوة للألعاب الماليزية التقليدية الشائعة (بمعنى آخر، غالاه بانجانج، بولا بيراكون، بوليس سينتري، بلالانج بيلاتوك، ايام مسانغ وبالات تن) بين أطفال المدارس الابتدائية الذين أعمارهم ٩-١١ عاما (العدد=٣٠).

After the collapse of the socialist states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, the Cuban state faced its greatest crisis. How the state managed to maintain sufficient legitimacy in light of the growing economic hardships and class restructuring Cuban society underwent in these initial post-Soviet years remains somewhat mysterious. A crucial element of the legitimating discourse of the Cuban state, domestically and internationally, has been the relative success of its sports teams in international competition. As symbols of the strength of the state and one of the few remaining “successes” of the Revolution, Cuban sports performances remain vital symbolic capital for current and future administrations. The problem that state officials continue to face is how to transform that symbolic capital into economic capital without sacrificing ideological principles. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Havana during the late 1990s and on interviews with sports officials, athletes, and coaches since then, this article examines Cuban officials’ efforts to transform Cuban sport from a modern, centralized bureaucratic institution to a revenue generating industry within the neoliberal, capitalist, competitive, and post-Soviet world. In particular, I concentrate on the strategies pursued by Cuban sports officials in their efforts to maintain world-class sporting excellence and the ramifications of the emergence of Cuban sport as an export industry to provide a small suggestion of how legitimacy of the state was maintained and what the future of Cuban sport may hold.

Alcohol consumption at sporting events is a male dominated contextual act that speaks more to the communal nature of men than to any specific masculine tendency. By examining how the interactions of men occur at UK sporting events, several themes of community emerge and show that the present man is a more group oriented individual than perhaps previously thought.

Esta tesis investiga el papel que juega el fútbol en la construcción de identidades sociales, tanto individuales como colectivas. Este deporte se ha convertido en un elemento estructural en buena parte del mundo occidental, por lo que resulta un actor relevante a la hora de interpretar posibles transformaciones en estas sociedades. Asimismo, se ha visto atravesado por un proceso de comercialización mediante el que los tradicionales valores humanísticos asociados a su práctica han dado paso a propósitos financieros como su principal razón de ser. Además, el balompié se encuentra actualmente inmerso en un contexto de globalización en el que los vínculos entre los clubes y sus ubicaciones territoriales se erosionan, cada vez más, debido a la búsqueda de nuevos mercados (nuevos aficionados, nuevas técnicas de merchandising, jugadores internacionales, futbolistas vistos como celebridades mundiales y, por lo tanto, activos…).

En este marco, el Athletic Bilbao (equipo de fútbol del País Vasco) representa una suerte de excepción debido a su singular política de jugadores, conocida como “filosofía” por sus miembros e hinchas. Según esta, sólo incorpora jugadores “locales”, definiendo “local” como aquellos futbolistas nacidos o formados en alguna de las siete provincias que componen Euskal Herria (literalmente, el país de la lengua vasca): Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Araba, Navarra, Lapurdi, Zuberoa y Nafarroa Behera. Por esta razón hemos utilizado a este conjunto como caso de estudio de nuestra pesquisa.

Esta tesis doctoral se centra en tres categorías principales de análisis: a) Identificación con el equipo; b) Relación entre lo “local” y lo “global”; y c) Performatividad de la identidad vasca. Para su desarrollo hemos dividido la disertación en seis grandes áreas: introducción y justificación; metodología; marco teórico; contexto sociohistórico; resultados y conclusiones.

La metodología empleada se basa en una triangulación. Así, por un lado, hemos usado el método etnográfico consistente en trabajo de campo, observación participante y una serie de entrevistas semiestructuradas. Concretamente, hemos entrevistado a 25 hinchas del Athletic Bilbao tanto vizcaínos como castellanoleoneses, residentes todos ellos en Castilla y León. Este resulta ser un punto importante, ya que esta es la primera investigación que compara a aficionados vascos y no vascos del Athletic Bilbao. Por otro lado, hemos realizado un análisis de contenido de prensa generalista y deportiva de difusión vasca y española. Igualmente, hemos desarrollado una revisión literaria de textos de distinta procedencia geográfica, especialmente debido a la divergencia de perspectivas entre las academias latinoamericana y anglosajona. 

Los principales hallazgos se presentan en dos apartados diferentes. El primero se centra en las conclusiones generales. Estas apuntan a cómo el fútbol demuestra que las identidades socioculturales no tienen unos límites estrictos. Consecuentemente, se adaptan a las transformaciones experimentadas en su entorno y contexto correspondiente. Además, este deporte, y concretamente el Athletic Bilbao, conforman constructos culturales mediante los que hinchas y medios de comunicación crean narrativas y representaciones con las que repensar y redefinir interpretaciones prefijadas sobre asuntos abstractos como el género, la diversidad cultural o el territorio. Igualmente, consideramos la lógica de acumulación capitalista que hay detrás de las actuales dinámicas que mueven el fútbol implica intereses financieros ocultos bajo una presunta búsqueda por la igualdad de género o la promoción de la diversidad cultural.

El segundo grupo de hallazgos se presentan de una manera más específica. Uno de estos tiene que ver con cómo un incentivo de lo “local” ha dado pie a un posicionamiento dentro de lo “global” en el caso del Athletic Bilbao. Su política de jugadores ha jugado un papel relevante en la construcción de un Nosotros percibido como único y diferente, así como resistente frente al rumbo comercial adoptado por el fútbol mundial. Además, el apoyo a este club se ha convertido en un elemento identitario individual entre sus hinchas, de igual modo que puedan serlo la nacionalidad, el género, la religión o el origen étnico. Asimismo, la filosofía empleada por el club ha construido una aproximación tan transversal que representa una fuerza de doble sentido. En este sentido, permita la regulación (en el plano positivo) y el camuflaje (en el plano negativo) de interacciones sociales en asuntos como el género o la diversidad cultural.

This volume presents a wide-reaching overview of contemporary research and scholarship on women's engagement in a range of combat sports across the world. Including chapters on boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts, and various other fighting disciplines, the collection provides readers with a comprehensive analysis of the current significance of women's involvement in these sports, as well as charting many of the problems and opportunities they face in establishing and developing careers within them.

With contributions drawing from anthropology, phenomenology, philosophy, sociology, and sport psychology, this book will appeal to readers interested in the development of women's sport; the relationship between sport and gender; and the wider, contemporary social significance of combat sports around the world.

To view the table of contents and read a sample chapter online, please click here: http://www.palgrave.com/resources/sample-chapters/9781137439352_sample.pdf

This volume presents a wide-reaching overview of contemporary research and scholarship on women's engagement in a range of combat sports across the world. Including chapters on boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts, and various other fighting disciplines, the collection provides readers with a comprehensive analysis of the current significance of women's involvement in these sports, as well as charting many of the problems and opportunities they face in establishing and developing careers within them. With contributions drawing from anthropology, phenomenology, philosophy, sociology, and sport psychology, this book will appeal to readers interested in the development of women's sport; the relationship between sport and gender; and the wider, contemporary social significance of combat sports around the world.

This paper examines the confluence of global, regional, and national politics in the lead up to the 1991 Pan-American Games
hosted by Cuba. Cuba’s contentious selection as host was wholly underpinned by the international politics of the time. Once selected, the preparations for the Games in Havana were surrounded by an unprecedented domestic economic crisis fueled by shifts in global politics. This paper analyzes how international politics informed the hosting of the 1991 Pan-American Games and shaped the political challenge the Cuban government faced in hosting such an event. The Revolution’s use of sport domestically and internationally came to the forefront in its efforts as host and the results of those efforts proved to be providential given the emerging political economic contexts during and in the ensuing years after the Games.

In the 1920s, Jagannath G. Gune adopted the title Swami Kuvalayananda and established a research centre for the scientific analysis of yoga in Lonavala, a hill station near Pune. Gune's training under Rajratna Manikrao had been in 'traditional' athletics and gymnastics, as these were understood to be the means by which to promote a form of strong, masculine, assertive anti-colonial nationalism. However, once Gune became the disciple of the sage Madhavadasji, and received training in āsana and prāṇ āyāma, he began to reconceptualise the logic of physical education and physical fitness. For Kuvalayananda, yoga was inherently scientific, but also in need of scientific analysis to prove its relevance in the context of modernity. Based on laboratory research on the physiological effects of āsana and prāṇ āyāma, and by virtue of his appointment as the director of physical education and sports in the Bombay Presidency, Kuvalayananda developed a 'scientific' regimen of both individual and mass drill āsana. In this article, I examine the logic of Kuvalayananda's reconceptualisation of physical education by means of yoga with special reference to questions of gender and nationalism in the discourse of science and in the embodiment of that discourse in practice.

Sports in South Africa, from the very first recorded game, have been imbued with racial associations. Historical literature on South African sport, when not overt celebration of sporting achievements of those racially classified as white, often depicts the racial divides and struggles over recognition.1 Thus, the socially and politically constructed racial labels referred to in this paper are particular to South Africa's past and present. Although an historical construction, identification with race continues to have a "real" meaning and consequences in the everyday experiences and conversations among South Africans.2 The historical geography and contemporary organization of sports reflects racial, class, gender, and rural-urban divides, configuring access to sports in diverse yet particular ways. This paper locates sociopolitical processes and experiences, bounded in a particular time and place, as access to sports and spaces for sports were negotiated. Situated right next to each other in the rural town of Rawsonville, in Western Cape Province, the conditions and clientele of the two fields illustrate how past and present social divides shape sporting experiences of the town's inhabitants and meanings these spaces have come to symbolize.

Religion has been a central object of anthropological inquiry since its earliest days. In contrast, sport has remained an ancillary object of interest at best. Nonetheless, anthropologists have written some provocative analyses that challenge other disciplinary approaches to sport. Principally, those analyses emerged out of anthropological approaches to religion. Concerned with the ways in which anthropology theorizes and analyzes both religion and sport, this article begins by assessing the modern-day myth that ‘sport is a religion’. It then compares subject-specific approaches to the relationships between sport and religion. The article then moves to the anthropological focus on ritual as it developed in the study of religion and how those ideas were then applied to analyses of sport. The article concludes with an examination of how the anthropology of sport has moved beyond those initial efforts before discussing various anthropological approaches to sport and religion.

The learner's guide reflects the tendencies of modernization of educational space and the adoption of the Third Generation Federal State Education Standard of the Higher Professional Education.
The system concept of the youth healthy life style presupposes the necessity of its adequate value and meaning orientation, the substantial analysis of such aspects, as the regime of life-sustaining activity, food hygiene, pernicious habits prevention, and motion activity. Considerable attention has been given to health-improving physical training. Techniques, exercises, forms of trainings are under consideration. Various kinds of physical training, innovative technologies of health-improvement, training analysis with special medical group are presented. To gain a better perception of the material it is illustrated by tables and drawings. Theoretical aspects are combined with practical recommendations, fragments of scientific researches. The learner's guide will be useful for teachers of physical training, instructors, students, and also for everybody who wants to be healthy.
Учебное пособие отражает тенденции модернизации образовательного пространства, перехода к ФГОС ВПО третьего поколения. Системный взгляд на здоровый образ жизни молодежи предполагает необходимость ее адекватной ценностно-смысловой ориентации, содержательного анализа таких аспектов, как режим жизнедеятельности, гигиена питания, профилактика вредных привычек, двигательная активность. Большое внимание уделяется оздоровительной физической культуре. Рассматриваются методики, упражнения, формы организации занятий. Представлены разнообразные виды физической культуры, инновационные технологии оздоровления, особенности работы со специальной медицинской группой. Для лучшего восприятия материал иллюстрирован таблицами и рисунками. Теоретические аспекты сочетаются с практическими рекомендациями, фрагментами научных исследований. Учебное пособие будет полезно преподавателям физической культуры, инструкторам, студентам, а также всем, кто хочет быть здоровым.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. This content downloaded from 137.132.123.69 on Sat, 02 Jan 2016 06:09:59 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the sannyasi and the Indian wrestler: the anatomy of a relationship JOSEPH S. ALTER-Goshen College

This chapter examines the contexts and conflicts involved in the production of the world’s newest global sport spectacle, the World Baseball Classic (WBC). First held in 2006, this unusual spectacle takes place simultaneously in four different countries before culminating in a final contest in the United States. What makes this particular spectacle unique is that it is not organized and run by an International Sport Federation (ISF) (global governing body), or an international non-governmental organization (INGO), such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC); instead it is the product of a transnational corporation. The circumstances of the WBC’s conception, its initial production, and the international politics between its organizer, a transnational corporation, and various governments raises a series of questions regarding the sovereignty of states, the power of corporations, and the ethos behind the production of global sport.  The struggles in the production of this international tournament involved competing worldviews regarding the value and ethos of baseball, inter-corporate struggles, and governmental controls over citizenship and mobility. By focusing on the negotiations between these various agents, this chapter considers the ebb and flow of power within global sport. In particular it examines the apparent conflict of interests over the participation of a ‘Cuban national team’ in the WBC from different perspectives, including the American government, the Cuban government, the International Olympic Committee, and the Creators of the WBC itself, Major League Baseball International, Inc.  While not the only complicated international negotiations conducted in order to organize such a tournament, the complicated international politics between the US and Cuba illustrates the multiple levels of diplomacy, discourse, and discord underpinning any global sport spectacle involving governments and corporations.

For Catalans, the most important aspect of their culture is the Catalan language, and those who use the language exclusively in the public sector do so with a specific ideology in mind: Catalan is the language of Catalonia, and it is a right and duty to know the language as a resident of the region. In 2010 the Spanish central government made alterations to the Catalan constitution, particularly relating to economic and linguistic rights, prompting over one million Catalans to take to the streets of Barcelona in protest. This historic manifestation took place the day before the FIFA World Cup final, and the media discourse surrounding these two seemingly unrelated events highlights the ongoing conflict between the Spanish government and Catalonia. While the Spanish press belittled the protest, grossly underestimating the turnout, Catalan newspaper headlines lauded the manifestation and ignored the pending World Cup match. After Spain’s victory in the final however, the Catalan-language press claimed ownership over the championship by highlighting the contributions of Futbol Club Barcelona to the team's success. The Catalan-language papers sought recognition for the region by invoking this long-standing symbol of Catalan nationalism while still giving ample front-page space to a continued discussion of the protest. Through an analysis of language ideology and front-page newspaper stories from the Spanish and Catalan press on the days before and after the World Cup final, this paper examines the politicization of the Spanish national team's victory. Furthermore, this paper argues that FC Barcelona is implicated in ongoing political debates and conflicts with the central government as Catalonia struggles to renegotiate its position in the country and gain greater autonomy.

Les imaginaires du « sport national » : les représentations du baseball entre Etat et société civile Mars 2008. La campagne présidentielle bat son plein. Sur l'une de ses grandes affiches électorales, Ma Ying-jeou, candidat du Parti nationaliste (Kuomintang, KMT), est photographié une balle de baseball dans la main droite, un gant sur la main gauche et vêtu du maillot rayé noir et blanc de la célèbre équipe des Yankees de New York. Au même moment, le président sortant, Chen Shuibian (Minjindang, PDP), mène campagne pour l'adhésion de son pays aux Nations unies, pour la première fois sous le nom « Taiwan ». Sur la façade du palais présidentiel est affiché le symbole choisi pour cette campagne : un globe terrestre brandi par une main droite comme on tient une balle de baseball et à l'intérieur duquel est inscrit en anglais « UN 1 for TAIWAN. Peace Forever ». A Taiwan, le baseball est plus qu'un sport. C'est une passion nationale où l'ensemble de la société puise quantité de symboles et de références dont la portée dépasse largement le cadre ludique et sportif, et dont les plus hautes sphères du pouvoir politique ne sauraient faire l'économie.

At the Georgian Weightlifting Federation in Tbilisi, Georgia, a mainstay of coaching is the training cue, a shouted word or phrase that coaches use to prompt weightlifters to perform in a certain psychological, physical, or technical way. In this practice, coaches cultivate and naturalize dimensions of physiology and psychology, aligning masculinity with animality, lack of restraint, and emotional surfeit, and femininity with gracefulness, control, and good technique. Although Olympic weightlifting remains stereotypically hypermasculine, coaches compliment female weightlifters’ technique as superior to men's and train their athletes to integrate masculine “nature” and feminine “culture” in the expression of physical strength. In doing so, coaches do not instill fully formed subjectivities but manage embodied forms, using exclamatory cues to disaggregate the athlete into action, affect, and anatomy. [post-Soviet sport, masculinity, coaching, weightlifting, strength, technique, Georgia]

""Baseball was introduced in Taiwan at the turn of the twentieth century, when the island was ruled by the Japanese. The practice meets a particularly favorable echo owing much to the affinities between its formal properties and local conceptions of space, time and individual and collective action. It is also associated with representations of modernity associated with the Japanese period. After WWII, Taiwan came under the control of the withdrawn Chinese Nationalists. Baseball became the flagship of a State isolated on the international scene, but also the manufacture and the showcase of a Confucian moral order promoted by the government and closely related to the bodies of individuals and Nation.
Keywords : Taiwan. Baseball. Anthropology. Diffusion. Sport.""

In 1988, a conflict between jai-alai players and fronton owners
turned into the longest strike in the history of any American professional sport. This paper addresses the ethnic tensions that characterized the political economy of the jai-alai in the US. On the one hand, it shows that the ethnic character of the sport was maintained due to the economic interests of the companies that managed it. On the other hand, it argues that the political changes in Spain and the Basque conflict influenced not only the mood and ideology of the players, but also their demands and forms of protest, which led to the strike of ‘88. These circumstances turned the conflict into a deep game, in which both parties risked what they most wanted, and both lost it.

By the methods of literature study and logical induction, the paper reviews systematically the development of the national traditional sports and the status quo of the current theoretical research. The study reveals that the research of the national traditional sports is in a dilemma, including the main parts of the subject. The research on wushu and qigong is insufficient. The basic theories of the related research are weak. We lack the global overview and international exchanges concerning the theoretical researches of the national traditional sports. The paper holds that theoretical support and guide are indispensable to the development of the national traditional sports. The system of the national traditional sports needs urgent perfection. Analyzing the above-mentioned problems through the theoretical systems of history and anthropology, the paper suggests introducing sport anthropology as the basic theory of the national traditional sports. This will provide sufficient theoretical support and expansible space for the national traditional sports.

UPDATE:
Este artículo ha sido mejorado y se le ha agregado un nuevo eje de análisis, el institucional, para completar los ya enunciados. También se eliminan las categorías de "corporalidad" e "interioridad" y se las reemplaza por "Cuerpo-Sujeto".

Un resumen de estos cambios está en la ponencia:
Algunas reflexiones sobre el estudio de las artes marciales en clave antropológica

ABSTRACT:
Las artes marciales son un fenómeno presente en la actualidad tanto en el deporte, en la literatura popular, en practicas religiosas y espirituales, en los medios de difusión y en la industria del entretenimiento.  Las diferentes prácticas y manifestaciones culturales asociadas a las mismas proveen varios ejes conceptuales de análisis que son de interés para su estudio. En el presente trabajo ensayaremos una definición de las artes marciales que permita sintetizar los conceptos "corrientes" presentes en los practicantes y la sociedad contemporánea, algunas definiciones propuestas por diferentes teóricos y al mismo tiempo proveer elementos que permitan englobar las prácticas y manifestaciones consideradas como relevantes para su estudio.  La pluralidad de enfoques, prácticas y conceptos involucrados pone de relieve las dificultades analíticas de una definición. Claramente este ejercicio no puede producir un resultado definitivo ya que el concepto "arte marcial" es algo en continuo movimiento y los enfoques para su estudio muy diversos, pero desde el punto de vista metodológico al menos puede sentar las condiciones para exponer claramente de que se esta hablando al referirse a las artes marciales y bajo que criterios incluir o no una practica específica. Presentado en "Encuentro de Estudiantes IdAES 2014"

Enmarcada teóricamente en la Antropología del Deporte y del Cuerpo, en los Estudios Feministas y de Género y en los Estudios Sociales de la Discapacidad, y como resultado de una dilatada investigación sobre el Goalball (deporte para personas con discapacidad visual), la tesis doctoral sostiene que, en sentido contrario al reconocimiento y fomento de la diversidad, el deporte moderno institucionalizado o federado (re)produce tanto el sistema capacitista (capacidad/discapacidad) como el sistema androcéntrico de género (masculino/femenino) mediante la (re)construcción dicotómica, jerárquica y naturalizada de cuerpos con y sin capacidad y de cuerpos de hombre y de mujer. Como demuestra la etnografía del equipo de Goalball alavés ¿Itxaropena¿, la participación conjunta de jugadoras y jugadores con y sin discapacidad visual durante los entrenamientos se vuelve inviable para la competición en función de la mayor intervención de las estructuras federativas que, de un modo segregacionista, organizan, gestionan y regulan dicha modalidad deportiva. Consecuentemente, además de contribuir al debate sobre la idoneidad del deporte como herramienta para la integración socio-cultural y la igualdad entre las personas, la tesis ahonda en la reflexión sobre los aportes y límites del paradigma social de la discapacidad y en los diferentes usos y significados del concepto de inclusión que de él se derivan, los que en el contexto del deporte de la discapacidad parecen plegarse aún a los sistemas biopolíticos de ordenamiento social que impiden la mezcolanza de cuerpos y personas diversas en pro de la reproducción del sujeto moderno ideal hegemónico, este es, un varón capaz.

San Juan Ixtayopan is an ancient town in the rural area southwest of Mexico City. There, the practice of Basque pelota in the specialty of mano, is in addition to sports, sense of belonging and community representation of their identity, so it is very popular and is carried out at an early age in an organized manner. Its front is a space for meeting and socializing, where they dispute the supremacy sport with their peers from neighboring towns, which are much larger in population size and economy. Together they form a micro region whose manistas have achieved more world championships and Olympic medals for Mexico that all athletes in the country.