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Papers by Signe Højbjerre Larsen
Forum for idræt, Dec 1, 2015
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 2022
Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 2020
ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that parkour can be understood as a way to recapture moments of... more ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that parkour can be understood as a way to recapture moments of non-alienated human experience in urban space. I draw on Hartmut Rosa’s theory of temporally caused alienation and Edward Casey´s phenomenological study of place and space. Based on empirical data I describe how the practitioners aren’t indifferent to urban space, but they carry a unique material curiousness and a concrete physical presence wherever they go, thereby enabling an experience of resonance. Even though parkour, as well as other informal sports, is subjected to societal patterns of sportification, acceleration and alienation, it is a good example proving that human beings can transform, for a moment, the most alienated environment, into a place of play.
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 2020
In 2017, Jeffrey Kidder from Department of Sociology at Northern Illinois University published Pa... more In 2017, Jeffrey Kidder from Department of Sociology at Northern Illinois University published Parkour and the City. The book gives a comprehensive and in-depth insight into the discipline of parkour as it is practice and has evolved in the United States. Kidder ́s book thereby fills a need for studies in parkour to be sensitive to the local context. Furthermore, Kidder uses parkour as a sociological lens to zoom in on the conditions of postmodern urban life and the potential (bodily) responses to them, and thereby shows how sport always has broader social connections and significance. To show my respect for and appreciation of the book, I have chosen to do devote a full article to discuss and evaluate the book. The review is structured after the chapters in the book and rounded off with a call for culturally sensitive and comparative studies in parkour as well in lifestyle sports in general.
Forum for Idræt, 2013
Parkour – a placemaking practiceParkour is a relatively new movement-culture that has evolved rap... more Parkour – a placemaking practiceParkour is a relatively new movement-culture that has evolved rapidly in Denmark since 2005. In the academic field of scholarly work on parkour the movement-culture has been interpreted as a subversive bodily strategy for the subject to handle architecture, space and power. The movements of the traceurs are being ”read” for their cultural significance on a discursive level. The traceurs does not follow the social norms for how to move in public places, but balances on the back of benches, jumps over rails and crawls down stairs. In Denmark the interpretation of the movements of parkour as a critical practice meets oppositions. The first specialized facility for parkour was built in 2007 in cooperation with both the peoples academy ”Gerlev Idrætshøjskole” and practitioners of parkour. Today over 47 facilities for parkour exist. A problem lies within present studies’ point of departure which stems from abstract ideas about the city and political resista...
Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 2018
A Danish fitness chain recently introduced a new concept called Bubbles & Squat. Here, fitness tr... more A Danish fitness chain recently introduced a new concept called Bubbles & Squat. Here, fitness training is combined with free Champagne and music. In this paper, we examine this new way of bringing parties, alcohol and physical culture together by exploring the possible meaning of it through existential philosophical analysis. We draw in particular on Nietzsche's distinction between the Apolline and the Dionysiac, as well as his account of great health. On this basis, we analyse Bubbles & Squat as a case of Dionysiac intoxication, excess and ecstasy sneaking into contemporary Apolline fitness culture. In the last part of the paper, we raise the question if adding parties and bubbles to fitness training may, perhaps paradoxically, be healthy for the participants in an existential sense because it contributes to existential balance between the Dionysiac and the Apolline. We conclude that the philosophical framework presented in this paper can contribute to a new understanding of a general physical cultural phenomenon that the case of Bubbles & Squat represents.
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 2017
Bodily movement has a deeper meaning than modern sport science might recognize. It can have relig... more Bodily movement has a deeper meaning than modern sport science might recognize. It can have religious undertones, and in modern societies, it is sometimes related to the building of national identity. In the study, two cases of bodily practice are compared. Norwegian ski has a relation to friluftsliv (outdoor activities) and is highly significant for modern Norwegian identity. Indian yoga is related to the traditional ayurveda medicine and to Hindu spirituality, and obtained an important place in the process of anti-colonial nationalism. The aim is to demonstrate how Norwegian skiing and Indian yoga as national body and movement cultures in different ways, show a complex connection between 'ancient roots' and modern transformations of cultural identity. Gliding on skis, sitting, and breathing in yoga make up the basis on which people have built identities of their collective 'we' .
Forum for idræt, Dec 1, 2015
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 2022
Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 2020
ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that parkour can be understood as a way to recapture moments of... more ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that parkour can be understood as a way to recapture moments of non-alienated human experience in urban space. I draw on Hartmut Rosa’s theory of temporally caused alienation and Edward Casey´s phenomenological study of place and space. Based on empirical data I describe how the practitioners aren’t indifferent to urban space, but they carry a unique material curiousness and a concrete physical presence wherever they go, thereby enabling an experience of resonance. Even though parkour, as well as other informal sports, is subjected to societal patterns of sportification, acceleration and alienation, it is a good example proving that human beings can transform, for a moment, the most alienated environment, into a place of play.
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 2020
In 2017, Jeffrey Kidder from Department of Sociology at Northern Illinois University published Pa... more In 2017, Jeffrey Kidder from Department of Sociology at Northern Illinois University published Parkour and the City. The book gives a comprehensive and in-depth insight into the discipline of parkour as it is practice and has evolved in the United States. Kidder ́s book thereby fills a need for studies in parkour to be sensitive to the local context. Furthermore, Kidder uses parkour as a sociological lens to zoom in on the conditions of postmodern urban life and the potential (bodily) responses to them, and thereby shows how sport always has broader social connections and significance. To show my respect for and appreciation of the book, I have chosen to do devote a full article to discuss and evaluate the book. The review is structured after the chapters in the book and rounded off with a call for culturally sensitive and comparative studies in parkour as well in lifestyle sports in general.
Forum for Idræt, 2013
Parkour – a placemaking practiceParkour is a relatively new movement-culture that has evolved rap... more Parkour – a placemaking practiceParkour is a relatively new movement-culture that has evolved rapidly in Denmark since 2005. In the academic field of scholarly work on parkour the movement-culture has been interpreted as a subversive bodily strategy for the subject to handle architecture, space and power. The movements of the traceurs are being ”read” for their cultural significance on a discursive level. The traceurs does not follow the social norms for how to move in public places, but balances on the back of benches, jumps over rails and crawls down stairs. In Denmark the interpretation of the movements of parkour as a critical practice meets oppositions. The first specialized facility for parkour was built in 2007 in cooperation with both the peoples academy ”Gerlev Idrætshøjskole” and practitioners of parkour. Today over 47 facilities for parkour exist. A problem lies within present studies’ point of departure which stems from abstract ideas about the city and political resista...
Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 2018
A Danish fitness chain recently introduced a new concept called Bubbles & Squat. Here, fitness tr... more A Danish fitness chain recently introduced a new concept called Bubbles & Squat. Here, fitness training is combined with free Champagne and music. In this paper, we examine this new way of bringing parties, alcohol and physical culture together by exploring the possible meaning of it through existential philosophical analysis. We draw in particular on Nietzsche's distinction between the Apolline and the Dionysiac, as well as his account of great health. On this basis, we analyse Bubbles & Squat as a case of Dionysiac intoxication, excess and ecstasy sneaking into contemporary Apolline fitness culture. In the last part of the paper, we raise the question if adding parties and bubbles to fitness training may, perhaps paradoxically, be healthy for the participants in an existential sense because it contributes to existential balance between the Dionysiac and the Apolline. We conclude that the philosophical framework presented in this paper can contribute to a new understanding of a general physical cultural phenomenon that the case of Bubbles & Squat represents.
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 2017
Bodily movement has a deeper meaning than modern sport science might recognize. It can have relig... more Bodily movement has a deeper meaning than modern sport science might recognize. It can have religious undertones, and in modern societies, it is sometimes related to the building of national identity. In the study, two cases of bodily practice are compared. Norwegian ski has a relation to friluftsliv (outdoor activities) and is highly significant for modern Norwegian identity. Indian yoga is related to the traditional ayurveda medicine and to Hindu spirituality, and obtained an important place in the process of anti-colonial nationalism. The aim is to demonstrate how Norwegian skiing and Indian yoga as national body and movement cultures in different ways, show a complex connection between 'ancient roots' and modern transformations of cultural identity. Gliding on skis, sitting, and breathing in yoga make up the basis on which people have built identities of their collective 'we' .