RE-CREATION AND CONNECTIONS IN AND WITH NATURE

Abstract

This article explores the politics of nature and sport. Despite the impact of feminisms on sociology of sport discourses, feminist perspectives have been all but silent on environmental issues, drawing attention to nature merely as signifier but rarely as substance. In view of the environmental crisis, this article critiques feminist approaches to sport for disregarding ecological feminist discourses and argues that only a synthesis of ecological and feminist theories can be transformative. The socio-ecological ethical approach to sport is critiqued for its androcentricity and failure to recognize the significance of the double oppression of women and nature. Further, it is argued that nature-based sports may provide space not only for the reaffirmation of hegemonic masculinities but also for alternative gender identities and counter-cultures which may benefit nature. Evidence is presented to suggest that forms of nature-based sports and alternative movements may act as catalysts for both an individual and collective rethinking of human relations with nature (human and non-human). Finally the article calls for a linking of ecological and feminist approaches, which acknowledges plurivocal discourses and is grounded in interpretative research.