From Foucault to Latour: Gymnastics Training as a Socio-Technical Network

Abstract

When fourteen-year-old Nadia Comaneci won gold at the 1976 Olympic Games, her youthful appearance inspired concerns about the hard training of young gymnasts. These concerns frequently centered around the coach as a figure of authority with the power to potentially exploit young girls. This paper both confirms and questions this assumption through using an Actor Network Theory (ANT) perspective. It is argued that what has been missing from previous accounts of sports training and competition is the role that nonhumans play. It is shown how existing Foucauldian work examining gymnastics can be extended through demonstrating the Latourian notion that power is enacted through nonhumans. It is further suggested that the inclusion of nonhumans such as video cameras into the gymnastics network can potentially generate different power arrangements from the traditional authoritarian coach/athlete relationship. Latour's concepts of mediators and intermediaries are used to show how nonhumans can have agency and affect gymnastics performance, demonstrating that power is shared among both human and nonhuman actants.Quand Nadia Comaneci a remporté l'or aux Jeux Olympiques de 1976 à l'âge de quatorze ans, son apparence juvénile a soulevé des inquiétudes à propos de l'entrainement rigoureux des jeunes gymnastes. Ces inquiétudes ont fréquemment tourné autour de l'entraineur comme figure d'autorité avec le pouvoir d'exploiter les jeunes filles. Cet article à la fois confirme et questionne cette supposition par l'utilisation d'une perspective de la théorie de l'acteur-réseau. Nous suggérons que ce qui manquait aux études antérieures sur l'entrainement et les compétitions sportives est le rôle que les non-humains jouent. Nous montrons comment les études foucaldiennes sur la gymnastique peuvent être élargies en démontrant l'idée latourienne que le pouvoir est exercé par les non-humains. Nous avançons également l'idée que l'inclusion des non-humains tels que les caméras vidéo dans le réseau de la gymnastique a le potentiel de générer différents arrangements de pouvoir à partir de la relation traditionnelle entraineur autoritaire/athlète. Les concepts de Latour de médiateurs et d'intermédiaires sont employés pour montrer comment les non-humains peuvent posséder une puissance d'agir et affecter la performance en gymnastique, démontrant donc que le pouvoir est partagé entre les acteurs humains et non-humains.

Analytical attractions and the techno-continuum: Conceptualising data obsessions and consequences in elite sport

“…Essentially, there is the creation of a space in which the lack of data-driven measurement for data's sake by some sports workers may be perceived as jarring with the organisational imperatives and, most significantly, athletes' own wishes (Taylor & Garrett, 2010). With technology taking on a stronger role within coach-athlete relations (and, as Kerr (2014) argues later, for athletes to afford great(er) significance to the material aspects of their work), there exists potential for some coaches' beliefs and training strategies to be perceived (by athletes and, at times, management) as not providing 'sufficient' surveillance of athletes. Essentially, there are possibilities for assumptions to emerge about whether or not there is 'enough' sport science, and, that more science (e.g.…”

“…The consideration in this paper build upon Butryn and Masucci's (2009) call for scholars to contribute to the discourses surrounding sport, the body, technology and the ways in which these discourses affect conceptualisations of various sporting practices. A persistent theme within sport literature with respect to the future of (athlete/sporting) bodies has been the 'dehumanisation' of sport processes, the impact upon coach-athlete relations, the roles technology plays in crafting, sustaining and challenging power relations, and the ways technology contributes to the centrality of material forms in athletes' lives (Butryn & Mascucci, 2009;Kerr, 2014). Drawing on an interplay between Foucault and Latour, Kerr's (2014) work within gymnastics, for example, urges us to consider that the material aspects of sport (in Kerr's case women's gymnastic paraphernalia and in our case data producing technologies) have consequences on athletes' and coaches' relationships, work and performance.…”

“…Drawing on an interplay between Foucault and Latour, Kerr's (2014) work within gymnastics, for example, urges us to consider that the material aspects of sport (in Kerr's case women's gymnastic paraphernalia and in our case data producing technologies) have consequences on athletes' and coaches' relationships, work and performance. Conceptualised by Kerr (2014) as a 'nonhuman constituent', material aspects of sport assume significance within the sporting context and should be recognised for their capacity in exerting discernible power over training and performance regimes. The danger in recognising nonhuman power constructions with sport coaching, Kerr asserts, is that therein lies a potential for the material aspects to replace (or act in place of -however temporarily) human actors.…”

“…To reiterate, there is an inherently close relationship between coaching practice, technology usage and surveillance practices (Denison & Mills, 2014;Kerr, 2014). By its very nature sport coaching necessitates intricately managing athletes' progress to meet performative agendas (Denison & Mills, 2014).…”

‘Ladies present!’: an auto/ethnographic study of women amateur golfers at an English provincial golf club

“…(Autoethnographic reflection 24) 20 | P a g e The practice of video recording and then critically evaluating the 'subject' reflects elements of the Foucauldian-feminist conceptualisation of power relations. As Kerr (2014) argues in relation to the videoing of female gymnasts, the dominant, male 'regulating' coaches discipline and 'correct' the female subject-recipient to (re)create the embodied techniques of the sport. Male as well as female golf-players were subjected to the critical gaze of the male coaches of course, but interviewees highlighted they felt judged as women, in terms of conformity to gender norms regarding body size and shape.…”