Young People, Physical Activity and the Everyday

Despite society's current preoccupation with interrelated issues such as obesity, increasingly sedentary lifestyles and children's health, there has until now been little published research that directly addresses the place and meaning of physical activity in young people's lives. In this important new collection, leading international scholars address that deficit by exploring the differences in young people's experiences and meanings of physical activity as these are related to their social, cultural and geographical locations, to their abilities and their social and personal biographies. The book places young people's everyday lives at the centre of the study, arguing that it this 'everydayness' (school, work, friendships, ethnicity, family routines, interests, finances, location) that is key to shaping the engagement of young people in physical activity. By allowing the voices of young people to be heard through these pages, the book helps the reader to make sense of how young people see physical activity in their lives. Drawing on a breadth of theoretical frameworks, and challenging the orthodox assumptions that underpin contemporary physical activity policy, interventions and curricula, this book powerfully refutes the argument that young people are 'the problem' and instead demonstrates the complex social constructions of physical activity in the lives of young people. Young People, Physical Activity and the Everyday is essential reading for both students and researchers with a particular interest physical activity, physical education, health, youth work and social policy.

Jan Wright is currently Professorial Research Fellow in the Faculty of Education, at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Doune Macdonald is Professor (Health and Physical Education) and Head of the School of Human Movement Studies at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Introduction: Theorising Youth and Physical Activity Part 1: Physical Activity and Geographical Locations 1. The Place of Physical Activity in the Lives of Rural Young People: Stories From the 'Outback' 2.'The Police be Comin' so That's Why I Didn't go Over There': Young People's use of Neighborhood Spaces in a US City 3. Young People, Cities and Physical Activity Part 2: Social and Cultural Location and Physical Activity 4. Social Class, Schooling and Young People's Meanings of Physical Activity and Health 5. Physical Activity and Indigenous Young People 6. Physical Activity and Confucianism: the Relations Between Hong Kong Children and Their Parents 7. 'Our Prophet Said We Should Play Sport': Young Muslim Women Negotiating Islam, Popular Culture and Physical Activity Part 3: Physical Activity and Constitution of Selves: Health, Fitness and Bodies 8: Eating Well, Being Active and the Production of the "Good Citizen" 9: Young People, Transitions and Physical Activity 10. 'Pump Weights, Eat Right': Young People's Engagements with Health Discourses 11. 'Making Castles in the Sand': Community Contexts and Physical Culture 12. Diversity, Subjectivity and Constructions of Fitness and Health by Young Canadians Part 4: Methodological Issues and Future Directions 13. Reflections on Methodological Issues and Lessons Learned From the Life Activity Project