Metropolitics

Major Events: The Olympics of Digital Urban Safety?

Myrtille Picaud & translated by Oliver Waine — 2023-06-02T05:00:00Z

Major international events are increasingly witnessing the deployment of digital security policies and technologies, from facial recognition to anti-drone systems. Myrtille Picaud shows how the 2023 men's Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Olympics will accelerate their development.
After hosting the men's European Football (Soccer) Championship in 2016, France will host two major sporting events during the next presidential term: the men's Rugby World Cup in 2023 and the Olympic and Paralympic

- From the Field / Jeux olympiques, sécurité, technologie, sport

Girls-Only Sport

Antoine Bréau & translated by Oliver Waine — 2023-05-26T05:00:00Z

Against a backdrop of gender inequalities at school, an experiment in the field of physical education shows that sports classes in single-sex groups allows students room to maneuver in relation to gender norms, albeit without completely eliminating them.
Internationally, in the face of continuing gender inequalities in schools, co-education in schools is once again being debated. In various countries (Canada, South Korea, Australia, United States), the return of single-sex schools is

- From the Field / Switzerland, sport, inequalities, gender segregation, gender, youth, non-mixity, school

Masculine Sports and “Respectable” Men in Working-Class Neighborhoods

Carine Guérandel & translated by Oliver Waine — 2019-03-12T06:00:00Z

In a work rich in ethnographic material, Akim Oualhaci questions how socialization through sports contributes to the reconfiguration of masculinities in working-class neighborhoods in France and the United States.
Studies on the social construction of masculinities—a quite recent but very productive field of research—often focuses on the world of sports, considered an effective space for gender-based socialization. Akim Oualhaci's book is a continuation of this work and specifically analyzes

- Debates / sport, working classes, working-class identity, working-class neighborhoods, social class, ethnography, youth, masculinity, gender, socialization, suburbs, banlieue, ghetto, Paris region, New York, France, United States

Photography, Ethnography and Exhibitions in the Projects

Camilo León-Quijano & translated by Oliver Waine — 2019-01-11T20:56:26Z

Pictures taken by photographer and sociologist Camilo León-Quijano with the initial aim of understanding the sporting experience of a female rugby team in a Paris suburb led to a broader project and exhibition called The Rugbywomen. In light of this, we consider the heuristic advantages of photographic practices for ethnographic research.
How can photography be used to study the social world, and in particular the experiences of residents of a suburban town? This is the question that led me

- From the Field / banlieue, suburbs, Sarcelles, Paris region, Île-de-France, sport, photography

The Everyday Activism of Chicago's Public High-School Football Coaches

Lawrence Johnson — 2018-03-13T06:00:00Z

For several generations, high-school football programs have been an important part of the social fabric in economically challenged Chicago neighborhoods. Sociologist Lawrence Johnson, himself a former player in the Chicago Public League, draws on in-depth interviews with coaches and players to conclude that policies being pursued by city officials in the name of educational choice and reform are ripping this fabric apart.
A tearing social fabric
Ebony Magazine published an article in 1963

- From the Field / Chicago, sport, education, school, education reform, social networks, high-school football, football coaches, school restructuring

Beyond the stadium: how “ultra” supporters fit into the urban space

Bérangère Ginhoux & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-12-11T05:55:00Z

Based on an ethnographic survey conducted in Saint-Étienne, in south-eastern France, Bérangère Ginhoux shows how the activities of “ultras” groups extend beyond the stadium and are very much present in the urban space. She describes their quest for visibility in the public space and reveals how the city becomes the object of a symbolic competition between different groups.
Claiming to be part of a movement that emerged in Italian football stadiums in the 1960s and present in France since the

- From the Field / France, public space, local attachment, territory, sport, use of space, supporters, football, ultras, Saint-Étienne, social group

Paying to Play in the Mission District

Naomi Adiv — 2015-02-16T05:50:00Z

Naomi Adiv unpacks a viral video showing an argument between longtime San Francisco residents and “dot-commers” over a soccer (futbol) field in the city, raising questions about how public spaces are allocated, who gets to use them, and who counts as “the public.”
The video appears
On October 9, 2014 the details surfaced of the latest battle in the San Francisco gentrification wars: a face-off between longtime residents and newcomer tech industry employees over the use of a soccer field in

- From the Field / gentrification, public space, United States, sport, football, fees, recreation, San Francisco