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Sport and Development Volunteerism: A Phenomenological Inquiry of Volunteers' Experiences in a Salvadorian Program

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2019, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Curriculum and Instruction (Education).
Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) is implemented around the world as a tool to achieve various developmental outcomes. Despite its popularity, a growing body of researchers suggest that SDP is ineffective in achieving the developmental goals these programs purport. Furthermore, such programs can also enhance injustice and further perpetuate inequality. While there are a number of research-based positions on these issues, few studies have been conducted in exploring the volunteer experience in such programming and how the narrative of the volunteers themselves may shed new light on this discussion. This qualitative study attempts to capture the volunteer experience of participants in an El Salvadorian SDP program. These voices help to understand the volunteer experience, including the motivations to volunteer as well as the impact that volunteering has had on the participants’ own lives. Three theoretical frameworks (critical theory, cultural studies theory and critical pedagogy) guided this study in examining the lived experiences of ten volunteers. Hermeneutical phenomenology served as the research design to collect and analyze the data gathered from a combination of interviews and observations from the field as a participant-researcher. This phenomenological study revealed the volunteer experience to be a transformational journey through time. This journey was experienced through three distinct phases labelled the investment, connection and commitment phases. While the discovery of the volunteer journey emerged as a unique finding, other similarities were drawn with the existing literature base on volunteer motivations and impacts. The critical theoretical lens adopted by this study also revealed some contradictions including dependency, deficit, privilege and discrimination from the field. The implications of these findings suggest that SDP has an opportunity to reinvent itself as both a transformational and transformative vehicle for change. However, SDP organizations should implement volunteer vetting procedures and mandatory trainings to adequately prepare volunteers for their roles and responsibilities as well as guidance on cultural awareness raising. This study concludes with the recommendation that the SDP movement must adopt curriculum in critical pedagogy if it is to achieve its potential as a meaningful transformative tool.
David Carr (Advisor)
Eugene Geist (Committee Chair)
Michael Kopish (Committee Co-Chair)
Theodore Hutchinson (Committee Member)
Dwan Robinson (Committee Member)
284 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sup, M. J. (2019). Sport and Development Volunteerism: A Phenomenological Inquiry of Volunteers' Experiences in a Salvadorian Program [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1554021247702464

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sup, Michael. Sport and Development Volunteerism: A Phenomenological Inquiry of Volunteers' Experiences in a Salvadorian Program. 2019. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1554021247702464.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sup, Michael. "Sport and Development Volunteerism: A Phenomenological Inquiry of Volunteers' Experiences in a Salvadorian Program." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1554021247702464

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)