This study explores male students’ experiences in physical education in an urban secondary high school in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of body habitus, social, and physical capital, the purpose of this qualitative case study is to develop a better understanding of Saudi youth body dispositions that influence their experiences in physical education. The paper reports upon data generated by semi-structured interviews with 27 male students between the ages of 15 and 20, all of whom attended one public secondary school in Makkah during the fall of 2012. The PE teacher and the school director were also interviewed. The study emphasizes that the early childhood experiences in particular the socialization process within the family and among neighbourhood friends is important in shaping their body habitus. The study reveals that students coming to the PE class embodied different social practices and attitudes that reflect their family’s social and material conditions. In addition, family and peers influences on students’ PE participation intersected with other conditions such as institutional barriers (i.e. lack of funding, PE equipment, changing and showering rooms) and the PE teacher’s pedagogical approach. The study indicates that the more initial support students receive from their social networks in physical activity, the more they actively participate in the PE class. Students with high physical body skills have a high level of participation in PE while those with low physical body skills have a low level of participation, some then being marginalized. Hygiene is another issue that concerns some students in ways that prevents them from participation in PE. Surprisingly, the Saudi adult masculine identity associated with traditional clothing (thawb) is also a condition that influences student PE participation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/31483 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Majed, Alharbi |
| Contributors | Dallaire, Christine |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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