The Amy Morris Homans Cotillion and Pre-Cotillion created unique and liberatory spaces for many lesbian and allied women attending the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) convention between 1982 and 2014. In this article, we draw on feminist and queer theories to consider the multiple meanings embedded in Cotillion goers’ lived experiences. Memories of planning and participating in these events linger for attendees decades later. The impact of attending ranged from lighthearted appreciation to profound gratitude. The Cotillion events disrupted the oppressive status quo at the AAHPERD convention and within kinesiology in favor of community building, joy, and the celebration of lesbian identities. We explore the disruption of heteropatriarchal norms and the creation of alternative community spaces to learn better from the past and to help create liberatory futures for practitioners and scholars in kinesiology.
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From the Closet to the Center
Diane L. Williams, Maria J. Veri, and Jackie Hudson
Volume 13 (2024): Issue 3 (Aug 2024)
Prologue: Have You Heard About the Cotillion?
Maria J. Veri and Diane L. Williams
“A Secret in Plain Sight”: Origin Stories From the Amy Morris Homans Cotillion
Maria J. Veri, Diane L. Williams, Jackie Hudson, Roberta S. Bennett, Karen P. DePauw, Emily H. Wughalter, and Linda Zwiren
The story of the Amy Morris Homans Cotillion is little known outside the circles of those who founded and attended the event. In this article, we detail the origins of the Cotillion from its inception in 1982 to its final iteration in 2014. This underground social event provided a safe space for women to connect and create a lesbian community of joyful sisterhood with long-lasting professional and personal relationships. At its peak, the Cotillion gathered hundreds of women, inviting them to drink, dance, and dream of a better world. We place the Cotillion in the context of the historical development of women’s physical education and the field of kinesiology and use oral-history interviews with women who founded, organized, and regularly attended the Cotillion to create a narrative of the origins of this event.
Unpacking Ableism: Perspectives From the Chilean Physical Education Discourse
Fabián Arroyo-Rojas
In this article, I reflect on the presence of ableism in the discourse surrounding physical education in Chile. The purpose of this article was to highlight three areas where ableism is ingrained. First, I examined historical actions within the Chilean physical education system that prioritize White ideals and able-bodied individuals. Second, I examined curriculum and evaluation recommendations that overlook the unique needs of disabled students. Finally, I critique pedagogical practices that, under the guise of inclusion, implicitly strive to meet normative levels of functionality. In conclusion, ableism intersects with colonialism in the Global South, specifically Latin America, leading to unreasonable expectations for all students, including disabled students, in the realm of physical education.
The 2022 Janus 2.0 Conference Papers: Introduction to the Special Issue
Kevin Andrew Richards, Kim C. Graber, and Amelia Mays Woods
From the Past and Into the Future: Lessons From Janus 2.0
Kim C. Graber, Amelia Mays Woods, Christopher J. Kinder, and Kevin Andrew Richards
Volume 13 (2024): Issue 2 (May 2024): Special Issue: The Janus 2.0 Conference: Revisiting the Future of Physical Education in Contemporary Education
Strengthening Whole-of-School Physical Activity Models to Promote Physical Literacy: Moving Beyond a Component Approach
Paul Rukavina and Patricia Gremillion-Burdge
Whole-of-school approaches to physical activity and health promotion have the potential to promote physical literacy. However, for a variety of reasons there has not been widespread adoption of component whole-of-school frameworks to guide schools, such as the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program. We argue that component frameworks have shortcomings and do not necessarily assist or support schools to take an approach that is consistent with how successful whole-of-school models or programs are created and built over time. In this paper, we argue that we need to apply guidance that resonates with stakeholders and stimulates schools to design their own unique whole-of-school physical activity model to provide equitable programming opportunities. We also present an argument on the need to incorporate improvement science and the use of social–ecological models to investigate the efficacy of this guidance model.
Using Social Learning Spaces to Think Beyond and Innovate Conventional Conferencing Formats
Fernando Santos, Martin Camiré, Scott Pierce, Dany J. MacDonald, Leisha Strachan, Tarkington Newman, Stewart Vella, and Michel Milistetd
Across the academic landscape, scientific organizations host conferences that enable researchers to come together to foster learning, stimulate innovation, and promote change. Within the diverse field of kinesiology, conferences can help develop and disseminate knowledge on a range of issues such as athlete development and coach education. The purpose of the present article is to discuss the possibilities of thinking beyond conventional conferencing formats by creating dynamic social learning spaces that promote networking, critical thinking, and reflexivity. The theory underpinning social learning spaces is explained, followed by a narrative chronology of the three phases of evolution of the blue room group, an interdisciplinary collaboration of youth sport scholars who aim to foster innovation across subdisciplines of kinesiology. An interpretative summary of the blue room group as a social learning space is presented, in accordance with the principles of caring to make a difference, engaging uncertainty, and paying attention. The perceived benefits of kinesiology, as well as the challenges and limitations of the blue room, are discussed based on the authors’ experiences operating within a continuously evolving and shifting social learning space.