Kinesiology: Challenges of Multiple Agendas

Abstract

This paper addresses the challenge of how the fi eld of kinesiology can exploit the advantages of multiple agendas while minimizing the disadvantages. Agendas here are the scholarly themes that help organize the field of study explicitly or implicitly and that give emphases to it with respect to its content and impact in society. The issue of multiple agendas is discussed with respect to the core knowledge dimensions of physical activity: namely, lifespan development, interdisciplinary knowledge, and the professions of physical activity. The selection of programmatic emphases within dimensions and their interpretation are critical to determining the relative degrees of coherence and fragmentation of a department and the field of study at large.