Abjection and alterity in the imagining of transgender in physical education and sport: a pedagogical approach in higher education

Abstract

In physical education (PE) and sports there is little theoretical and empirical knowledge about transgender people, and particularly, on how they are and can be imagined within this context. In this paper, we present and analyze a pedagogical activity based on the reading and discussion of a fictional representation of a transgender person within a group of undergraduate students of Sport Sciences. Our theoretical frame situates abjection and alterity as opposing concepts on a continuum. Results show several ways in which a transgender person is imagined by students, as well as constraints and possibilities for the pedagogical proposal to promote moral imagining of transgender. Students situated in abjection justify their rejection of transgender persons, bringing up compassion (such as pity), genitalization, symbolic violence and stigmatization of transgender persons. The realm between abjection and alterity is characterized by tolerance of different normalities, as well as linguistic constraints hindering the acceptance of transgender people. In alterity, students acknowledge their limited ability to totally imagine what it is like to be transgender, and also, their will to encounter transgender persons face-to-face. Although results of this experience should not be interpreted in a prescriptive way, they show different ways to imagine transgender people in the domain of PE and sports, as well as the importance of considering the ethics of alterity as a means to advance in the moral imagining of transgender persons and, in general, of the distant Other.

Keywords:

• Symbolic violence
• Thematization
• Compassion
• Acceptance
• Tolerance
• Dialogue

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the students who participated in this experience and the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and useful comments.

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Technology of Spain [grant number EDU2009-06815-E/EDUC] and [grant number DEP2011-28190], respectively.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Technology of Spain [grant number EDU2009-06815-E/EDUC] and [grant number DEP2011-28190], respectively.