The Role of Sport in Natural Disaster Recovery: The Case of Christchurch, N...

by New Zealand Fulbright Scholar, Holly Thorpe, PhD

In this presentation, Dr Thorpe will present findings from one of the first in-depth studies to examine the role of sport and physical activity in the resilience and recovery of individuals and communities affected by a natural disaster. Drawing upon interviews conducted with residents living in Christchurch (New Zealand) before, during and after the devastating February 2011 earthquake, she explains how this event forced many to rethink the importance of sport and physical activity in their everyday lives, and for their connections to space, place, family and community. Engaging French sociologist and philosopher Henri Lefebvre’s theory of ‘rhythmanalysis’ and particularly the concept of ‘arrhythmia’, she describes how some committed action sport participants adopted highly creative practices in-order to continue their participation in sports such as surfing, skateboarding, mountain-biking and climbing. In so doing, the familiar rhythms of sport helped some cope with the many stresses of daily life, and contributed to the rebuilding of personal and collective identities, and a sense of belonging.

About our speaker - Dr. Thorpe, from the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand, is teaching a course this semester at Georgetown entitled Sport and National Identity. Dr Thorpe is a sport sociologist and leading authority on extreme sports, youth culture, and the changing roles of young women in sport. She has published widely on these topics. In 2011, she published a book titled Snowboarding Bodies in Theory and Practice by Palgrave Macmillan. She is also co-editor (with Douglas Booth) of the Berkshire Encyclopedia of Extreme Sports, published in 2007. Dr. Thorpe is co-editor (with Professor Booth) of a series on extreme sports with ABC-Clio/Greenwood Publishing. Her research has also appeared in a number of scholarly peer-refereed journals including Sociology, Mobilities, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Sociology of Sport Journal, Sport and Society, and the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. She serves on the Editorial Board for the Sociology of Sport Journal.