Wendy Frisby - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Wendy Frisby
Sport in Society, 2015
HIV/AIDS prevention is often described as one way that sport for development and peace (SDP) orga... more HIV/AIDS prevention is often described as one way that sport for development and peace (SDP) organizations can contribute to international development, particularly through the empowerment of girls and young women. However, there has been little research examining how SDP organizations (re)produce gendered identities in educational texts for those identified as being at-risk for contracting HIV/AIDS, particularly girls, to justify appropriate prevention strategies. The purpose of this study was to conduct a feminist critical discourse analysis of a manual that an SDP organization uses for its HIV/AIDS prevention programme. The findings illustrate how gender was represented in static and heteronormative terms. Girls were constructed as deficient because of their minds and bodies, yet were also positioned as being responsible for preventing HIV/AIDS by becoming more self-interested and assertive. The educational texts designed to empower girls were decontextualized and reproduced neoliberal notions of development and self-governance. The implications of the findings are discussed.
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 2012
Previous research has shown that the organization of the Olympic Games has had a negative impact ... more Previous research has shown that the organization of the Olympic Games has had a negative impact on the civil liberties of host communities, including the suppression of the right to peaceful protest (Lenskyj 2002: The best Olympics ever? Social impacts of Sydney 2000. Albany: State University of New York Press). The purpose of this research was to examine how individuals participating in anti-Olympic events (re)framed the right to public protest during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. The theoretical framework drew on the concepts of institutional logics and framing processes from the organizational studies and the social movement theory literatures (McAdam and Scott 2005: Organizations and movements. In: G.F. Davis, D. McAdam, W.R. Scott, and M.N. Zald, eds. Social movements and organization theory. Cambridge University Press, 4-40). The first step involved a document analysis to determine how Olympic organizers were officially framing the right to public protest. The findings revealed they were operating under three major logics of Olympism, security and sport and nationalism, which framed protestors in ways to limit their influence. In addition, one-on-one interviews were conducted with Olympic protestors along with an analysis of their related documents. Protest participants reframed dominant logics by utilizing civil liberties and corporatization as counter-logics. The findings suggest that the dominant logics of the Olympic Games maintained long-term power and control and effectively delegitimized the voices of Olympic protestors, but protestors exerted their agency through reframing processes. The policy implications for future Olympic bid and host city organizers are to consider how civil liberties and the right to peaceful protest can be fostered in nonadversarial ways.
A postcolonial feminist approach to gender, development and EduSport
Routledge Handbook of Sports Development, 2012
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 2011
We gratefully acknowledge the funding received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research C... more We gratefully acknowledge the funding received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (828-1999-1045) for this research project.
Factors affecting the uptake of community recreation as health promotion for women on low incomes
Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de santé publique
There have been repeated calls for research on the factors that promote the spread of successful ... more There have been repeated calls for research on the factors that promote the spread of successful local health promotion initiatives from one community to another. We examined the factors that affected the uptake of an initiative designed in one community to improve the health of women living below the poverty line through increased access to community recreation. Workshops were held in three other communities and uptake efforts were tracked for one year through follow-up site visits and telephone interviews with workshop participants. Making the issue a priority, actively involving the women in planning, pooling resources, sharing responsibility through partnerships, and addressing the structural dimensions of poverty were factors that enabled uptake. Factors that inhibited uptake included an emphasis on revenue generation, professionally led planning, inadequate attention to structural barriers, the undervaluing of certain resources, and an over-reliance on one idea champion. A shi...
Qualitative health research, 2010
Community-based health promoters often aim to facilitate "inclusion" when working with ... more Community-based health promoters often aim to facilitate "inclusion" when working with marginalized women to address their exclusion and related health issues. Yet the notion of inclusion has not been critically interrogated within this field, resulting in the perpetuation of assumptions that oversimplify it. We provide qualitative evidence on inclusion as a health-promotion strategy from the perspectives of women living in poverty. We collected data with women engaged in a 6-year community-based health promotion and feminist participatory action research project. Participants' experiences illustrated that inclusion was a multidimensional process that involved a dynamic interplay between structural determinants and individual agency. The women named multiple elements of inclusion across psychosocial, relational, organizational, and participatory dimensions. This knowledge interrupts assumptions that inclusion is achievable and desirable for so-called recipients of such...
Session 23,10:45 AM -12:00 PM,Abstract 180 The sport management literature has echoed and reinfor... more Session 23,10:45 AM -12:00 PM,Abstract 180 The sport management literature has echoed and reinforced calls for a critical approach to management (Amis & Silk, 2005; Frisby, 2005). Within the critical paradigm, management is analyzed as an influential social construction, which has been produced and reproduced through the largely uncontested mantra of business schools and managers. For example,management decisions are often
Finding the ‘action’ in feminist participatory action research
Action Research, 2006
Although feminist researchers have increasingly called for participatory and action-oriented rese... more Although feminist researchers have increasingly called for participatory and action-oriented research, there have been few analyses of the diverse actions that can occur. We theorized the actions considered and implemented in a feminist participatory action research project (FPAR). For three years we collaborated intensively with a group of diverse women on low income who were involved in a FPAR project
6 Continuing the Journey: Articulating Dimensions of Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR)
The SAGE Handbook of Action Research, 2008
Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de santé publique
Health promotion is a set of strategies for positively influencing health through a range of indi... more Health promotion is a set of strategies for positively influencing health through a range of individual, community-based, and population interventions. Despite international recognition that gender is a primary determinant of health and that gender roles can negatively affect health, the health promotion field has not yet articulated how to integrate gender theoretically or practically into its vision. For example, interventions often fail to critically consider women's or men's diverse social locations, gender-based power relations, or sex-based differences in health status. Yet without such analyses, interventions can result in the accommodation or exploitation of gender relations that disadvantage women and compromise their health. In this paper, we seek to ignite an agenda for health promotion for women. We discuss the need for a conceptual framework that includes a sex-gender-diversity analysis and critically considers 'what counts' as health promotion to guide ...
Sport Management Review, 2015
IJSMM, 2008
Researchers have identified the stages of inter-organisational relationships (IOR) (i.e., formati... more Researchers have identified the stages of inter-organisational relationships (IOR) (i.e., formation, management, and evaluation), however, few have examined how these stages are enacted over time from the partners' perspectives. We conducted a case study of a dyadic IOR between a non-profit provincial sport organisation (Tennis PSO) and a public sector sport and recreation department over three years. Our analysis revealed that partner motives for forming the alliance differed as one partner focused on determinants of necessity, efficiency, and reciprocity, while the other partner sought increased legitimacy . Both partners were satisfied with the management approach because expertise and resources were shared, clear lines of responsibility and communication were established, and power struggles were avoided. Achieving a mutually desired outcome early helped sustained the IOR, even though only marginal increases in tennis participation occurred. Links between the stages of IOR and the implications of the findings are discussed.
The Health Benefits of Physical Activity for Girls and Women
FEMINIST ORGANIZING AS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: A STRATEGY FOR DELIVERING ACCESSIBLE RECREATION TO WOMEN LIVING IN POVERTY
Cultivating the power of partnerships in feminist participatory action research in women’s health
Nursing Inquiry, 2010
Feminist participatory action research integrates feminist theories and participatory action rese... more Feminist participatory action research integrates feminist theories and participatory action research methods, often with the explicit intention of building community-academic partnerships to create new forms of knowledge to inform women's health. Despite the current pro-partnership agenda in health research and policy settings, a lack of attention has been paid to how to cultivate effective partnerships given limited resources, competing agendas, and inherent power differences. Based on our 10+ years individually and collectively conducting women's health and feminist participatory action research, we suggest that it is imperative to intentionally develop power-with strategies in order to avoid replicating the power imbalances that such projects seek to redress. By drawing on examples from three of our recent feminist participatory action projects we reflect on some of the tensions and complexities of attempting to cultivate power-with research partnerships. We then offer skills and resources needed by academic researchers to effectively harness the collective resources, agendas, and knowledge that each partner brings to the table. We suggest that investing in the process of cultivating power-with research partnerships ultimately improves our collective ability to understand and address women's health issues.
Managing Leisure, 1999
Due to the complex and dynamic economic, political, and social pressures in their environment, lo... more Due to the complex and dynamic economic, political, and social pressures in their environment, local governments are having to change the way they do business. According to a number of organizational theorists, organizations are increasingly developing linkages with other organizations in order to deal with environmental pressures. The purpose of this research is to examine how senior managers of local government leisure services interpret economic, political, and social pressures in their environment and how these pressures are leading to the development of interorganizational linkages with other public, nonpro t, and commercial organizations. Interviews with key individuals working in three leisure services departments of local governments located in a large metropolitan area in Canada were conducted and relevant documents (i.e. local government reports, newspaper clippings) were analysed. The results revealed that environmental pressures (economic, political, social) are forcing local governments to develop new partnerships in order to acquire important resources aimed at maintaining or enhancing the quality of service delivery to the public.
Leisure Studies, 2004
The formation of partnerships with the public, non-profit and commercial sectors is becoming an i... more The formation of partnerships with the public, non-profit and commercial sectors is becoming an increasingly common way for leisure service departments in local government to fulfil their mandate under conditions of economic restraint, political pressures and increased demand for services. However, these departments often lack the capacity to successfully manage the number and complexity of partnerships initiated. While under-managed partnerships have been identified as a significant problem in the literature, little attention has been devoted to understanding the organizational dynamics that underpin them. Interviews with leisure service managers and staff in ten Canadian cities were conducted, revealing a lack of guidelines, insufficient training, poor coordination and a number of other problems contributing to under-managed partnerships. This warrants further research and attention because it can lead to unsuccessful partnerships and negative consequences for all partners involved.
Journal of Travel Research, 1988
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 2011
Internet platforms are increasingly becoming strategic tools for non-governmental organizations (... more Internet platforms are increasingly becoming strategic tools for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in international development to collaborate, share information, and gain legitimacy. Drawing on the literature on neoliberalism, sport for development, globalization and networking through communication technologies, this article examines the interpretations of staff working in Canadian and Swiss sport for development and peace (SDP) NGOs on the role of the Platform, while also exploring the challenges and benefits of the Platform for each NGO. Qualitative research methods were utilized, including a content analysis of documents on the Platform and the two NGO websites, along with interviews with staff from both NGOs. The findings revealed, on one hand, that staff for both NGOs were concerned about the Platform's potential to support collaboration amongst organizations that: a) are frequently in competition with one another -a feature of NGO culture in a neoliberal political environment; and b) commonly adopt divergent approaches to SDP work. On the other hand, both NGOs acknowledged that the Platform and the UN-endorsed International Year of Sport and Physical Education were at times useful for disseminating and legitimizing SDP globally, although the potential of new media technologies has not been realized because of inequalities within and around the NGO community. Implications of the findings along with ideas for future research are discussed.
Sport in Society, 2015
HIV/AIDS prevention is often described as one way that sport for development and peace (SDP) orga... more HIV/AIDS prevention is often described as one way that sport for development and peace (SDP) organizations can contribute to international development, particularly through the empowerment of girls and young women. However, there has been little research examining how SDP organizations (re)produce gendered identities in educational texts for those identified as being at-risk for contracting HIV/AIDS, particularly girls, to justify appropriate prevention strategies. The purpose of this study was to conduct a feminist critical discourse analysis of a manual that an SDP organization uses for its HIV/AIDS prevention programme. The findings illustrate how gender was represented in static and heteronormative terms. Girls were constructed as deficient because of their minds and bodies, yet were also positioned as being responsible for preventing HIV/AIDS by becoming more self-interested and assertive. The educational texts designed to empower girls were decontextualized and reproduced neoliberal notions of development and self-governance. The implications of the findings are discussed.
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 2012
Previous research has shown that the organization of the Olympic Games has had a negative impact ... more Previous research has shown that the organization of the Olympic Games has had a negative impact on the civil liberties of host communities, including the suppression of the right to peaceful protest (Lenskyj 2002: The best Olympics ever? Social impacts of Sydney 2000. Albany: State University of New York Press). The purpose of this research was to examine how individuals participating in anti-Olympic events (re)framed the right to public protest during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. The theoretical framework drew on the concepts of institutional logics and framing processes from the organizational studies and the social movement theory literatures (McAdam and Scott 2005: Organizations and movements. In: G.F. Davis, D. McAdam, W.R. Scott, and M.N. Zald, eds. Social movements and organization theory. Cambridge University Press, 4-40). The first step involved a document analysis to determine how Olympic organizers were officially framing the right to public protest. The findings revealed they were operating under three major logics of Olympism, security and sport and nationalism, which framed protestors in ways to limit their influence. In addition, one-on-one interviews were conducted with Olympic protestors along with an analysis of their related documents. Protest participants reframed dominant logics by utilizing civil liberties and corporatization as counter-logics. The findings suggest that the dominant logics of the Olympic Games maintained long-term power and control and effectively delegitimized the voices of Olympic protestors, but protestors exerted their agency through reframing processes. The policy implications for future Olympic bid and host city organizers are to consider how civil liberties and the right to peaceful protest can be fostered in nonadversarial ways.
A postcolonial feminist approach to gender, development and EduSport
Routledge Handbook of Sports Development, 2012
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 2011
We gratefully acknowledge the funding received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research C... more We gratefully acknowledge the funding received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (828-1999-1045) for this research project.
Factors affecting the uptake of community recreation as health promotion for women on low incomes
Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de santé publique
There have been repeated calls for research on the factors that promote the spread of successful ... more There have been repeated calls for research on the factors that promote the spread of successful local health promotion initiatives from one community to another. We examined the factors that affected the uptake of an initiative designed in one community to improve the health of women living below the poverty line through increased access to community recreation. Workshops were held in three other communities and uptake efforts were tracked for one year through follow-up site visits and telephone interviews with workshop participants. Making the issue a priority, actively involving the women in planning, pooling resources, sharing responsibility through partnerships, and addressing the structural dimensions of poverty were factors that enabled uptake. Factors that inhibited uptake included an emphasis on revenue generation, professionally led planning, inadequate attention to structural barriers, the undervaluing of certain resources, and an over-reliance on one idea champion. A shi...
Qualitative health research, 2010
Community-based health promoters often aim to facilitate "inclusion" when working with ... more Community-based health promoters often aim to facilitate "inclusion" when working with marginalized women to address their exclusion and related health issues. Yet the notion of inclusion has not been critically interrogated within this field, resulting in the perpetuation of assumptions that oversimplify it. We provide qualitative evidence on inclusion as a health-promotion strategy from the perspectives of women living in poverty. We collected data with women engaged in a 6-year community-based health promotion and feminist participatory action research project. Participants' experiences illustrated that inclusion was a multidimensional process that involved a dynamic interplay between structural determinants and individual agency. The women named multiple elements of inclusion across psychosocial, relational, organizational, and participatory dimensions. This knowledge interrupts assumptions that inclusion is achievable and desirable for so-called recipients of such...
Session 23,10:45 AM -12:00 PM,Abstract 180 The sport management literature has echoed and reinfor... more Session 23,10:45 AM -12:00 PM,Abstract 180 The sport management literature has echoed and reinforced calls for a critical approach to management (Amis & Silk, 2005; Frisby, 2005). Within the critical paradigm, management is analyzed as an influential social construction, which has been produced and reproduced through the largely uncontested mantra of business schools and managers. For example,management decisions are often
Finding the ‘action’ in feminist participatory action research
Action Research, 2006
Although feminist researchers have increasingly called for participatory and action-oriented rese... more Although feminist researchers have increasingly called for participatory and action-oriented research, there have been few analyses of the diverse actions that can occur. We theorized the actions considered and implemented in a feminist participatory action research project (FPAR). For three years we collaborated intensively with a group of diverse women on low income who were involved in a FPAR project
6 Continuing the Journey: Articulating Dimensions of Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR)
The SAGE Handbook of Action Research, 2008
Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de santé publique
Health promotion is a set of strategies for positively influencing health through a range of indi... more Health promotion is a set of strategies for positively influencing health through a range of individual, community-based, and population interventions. Despite international recognition that gender is a primary determinant of health and that gender roles can negatively affect health, the health promotion field has not yet articulated how to integrate gender theoretically or practically into its vision. For example, interventions often fail to critically consider women's or men's diverse social locations, gender-based power relations, or sex-based differences in health status. Yet without such analyses, interventions can result in the accommodation or exploitation of gender relations that disadvantage women and compromise their health. In this paper, we seek to ignite an agenda for health promotion for women. We discuss the need for a conceptual framework that includes a sex-gender-diversity analysis and critically considers 'what counts' as health promotion to guide ...
Sport Management Review, 2015
IJSMM, 2008
Researchers have identified the stages of inter-organisational relationships (IOR) (i.e., formati... more Researchers have identified the stages of inter-organisational relationships (IOR) (i.e., formation, management, and evaluation), however, few have examined how these stages are enacted over time from the partners' perspectives. We conducted a case study of a dyadic IOR between a non-profit provincial sport organisation (Tennis PSO) and a public sector sport and recreation department over three years. Our analysis revealed that partner motives for forming the alliance differed as one partner focused on determinants of necessity, efficiency, and reciprocity, while the other partner sought increased legitimacy . Both partners were satisfied with the management approach because expertise and resources were shared, clear lines of responsibility and communication were established, and power struggles were avoided. Achieving a mutually desired outcome early helped sustained the IOR, even though only marginal increases in tennis participation occurred. Links between the stages of IOR and the implications of the findings are discussed.
The Health Benefits of Physical Activity for Girls and Women
FEMINIST ORGANIZING AS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: A STRATEGY FOR DELIVERING ACCESSIBLE RECREATION TO WOMEN LIVING IN POVERTY
Cultivating the power of partnerships in feminist participatory action research in women’s health
Nursing Inquiry, 2010
Feminist participatory action research integrates feminist theories and participatory action rese... more Feminist participatory action research integrates feminist theories and participatory action research methods, often with the explicit intention of building community-academic partnerships to create new forms of knowledge to inform women's health. Despite the current pro-partnership agenda in health research and policy settings, a lack of attention has been paid to how to cultivate effective partnerships given limited resources, competing agendas, and inherent power differences. Based on our 10+ years individually and collectively conducting women's health and feminist participatory action research, we suggest that it is imperative to intentionally develop power-with strategies in order to avoid replicating the power imbalances that such projects seek to redress. By drawing on examples from three of our recent feminist participatory action projects we reflect on some of the tensions and complexities of attempting to cultivate power-with research partnerships. We then offer skills and resources needed by academic researchers to effectively harness the collective resources, agendas, and knowledge that each partner brings to the table. We suggest that investing in the process of cultivating power-with research partnerships ultimately improves our collective ability to understand and address women's health issues.
Managing Leisure, 1999
Due to the complex and dynamic economic, political, and social pressures in their environment, lo... more Due to the complex and dynamic economic, political, and social pressures in their environment, local governments are having to change the way they do business. According to a number of organizational theorists, organizations are increasingly developing linkages with other organizations in order to deal with environmental pressures. The purpose of this research is to examine how senior managers of local government leisure services interpret economic, political, and social pressures in their environment and how these pressures are leading to the development of interorganizational linkages with other public, nonpro t, and commercial organizations. Interviews with key individuals working in three leisure services departments of local governments located in a large metropolitan area in Canada were conducted and relevant documents (i.e. local government reports, newspaper clippings) were analysed. The results revealed that environmental pressures (economic, political, social) are forcing local governments to develop new partnerships in order to acquire important resources aimed at maintaining or enhancing the quality of service delivery to the public.
Leisure Studies, 2004
The formation of partnerships with the public, non-profit and commercial sectors is becoming an i... more The formation of partnerships with the public, non-profit and commercial sectors is becoming an increasingly common way for leisure service departments in local government to fulfil their mandate under conditions of economic restraint, political pressures and increased demand for services. However, these departments often lack the capacity to successfully manage the number and complexity of partnerships initiated. While under-managed partnerships have been identified as a significant problem in the literature, little attention has been devoted to understanding the organizational dynamics that underpin them. Interviews with leisure service managers and staff in ten Canadian cities were conducted, revealing a lack of guidelines, insufficient training, poor coordination and a number of other problems contributing to under-managed partnerships. This warrants further research and attention because it can lead to unsuccessful partnerships and negative consequences for all partners involved.
Journal of Travel Research, 1988
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 2011
Internet platforms are increasingly becoming strategic tools for non-governmental organizations (... more Internet platforms are increasingly becoming strategic tools for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in international development to collaborate, share information, and gain legitimacy. Drawing on the literature on neoliberalism, sport for development, globalization and networking through communication technologies, this article examines the interpretations of staff working in Canadian and Swiss sport for development and peace (SDP) NGOs on the role of the Platform, while also exploring the challenges and benefits of the Platform for each NGO. Qualitative research methods were utilized, including a content analysis of documents on the Platform and the two NGO websites, along with interviews with staff from both NGOs. The findings revealed, on one hand, that staff for both NGOs were concerned about the Platform's potential to support collaboration amongst organizations that: a) are frequently in competition with one another -a feature of NGO culture in a neoliberal political environment; and b) commonly adopt divergent approaches to SDP work. On the other hand, both NGOs acknowledged that the Platform and the UN-endorsed International Year of Sport and Physical Education were at times useful for disseminating and legitimizing SDP globally, although the potential of new media technologies has not been realized because of inequalities within and around the NGO community. Implications of the findings along with ideas for future research are discussed.