Anna Kavoura

Anna Kavoura
University of Ioannina | UOI · Department of Psychology

PhD
Sport Psychologist 🏳️‍🌈 University Lecturer 🏳️‍🌈 Researching Gender, Sexuality, Culture and Identity in Sport

About

31
Publications
13,774
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409
Citations
Introduction
I am an interdisciplinary researcher, interested in issues around gender, sexuality, culture, and identity in sport. I seek to identify and promote practices which create more inclusive, ethical and safe sport cultures. I draw on qualitative and critical perspectives such as cultural praxis, feminist poststructuralist and queer theoretical theorizing, thematic and discourse analysis, and ethnography/autoethnography.
Additional affiliations
December 2022 - June 2023
University of Thessaly
Position
  • Researcher (Invited External Expert)
Description
  • • Subcontracted to work on the Culturally Informed Safe Sport Coach Education e-Toolbox (CICEE-T) project, funded by Erasmus+ • Conducting qualitative research that aims to inform the development of educational material for coaches on issues related to tackling abuse in sport
June 2020 - May 2022
University of Brighton
Position
  • Postdoctoral Fellow
Description
  • Secured personal funding from the Finnish Cultural Foundation to conduct a 2-year innovative research project titled ”Transforming Gender Boundaries in Sport: An Ethnographic and Participatory Action Research Study in Trans-Inclusive Sport Contexts”
August 2018 - May 2020
University of Jyväskylä
Position
  • Postdoctoral Researcher
Description
  • Research work at the PREACT project (Promoting Equal Access and Tackling Discrimination against Gender and Sexual Minorities in Sport and Physical Education).
Education
September 2020 - July 2023
University of Central Lancashire
Field of study
  • Psychology
November 2009 - July 2018
University of Jyväskylä
Field of study
  • Sport and Exercise Psychology
September 2007 - November 2009
University of Jyväskylä
Field of study
  • Sport and Exercise Psychology

Publications

Publications (31)
Article
This study reviews UK news media discourses surrounding New Zealand’s weightlifter Laurel Hubbard’s participation in the 2020 Olympics as the first ever publicly open transgender woman to compete at the Olympic Games. Discourse Analysis of 94 news and opinion articles published in the UK press before and after the Olympics, reveals contradictory po...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives Earlier qualitative researchers studying athletes’ dual careers (DCs) have shown that sociocultural discourses on gender are ingrained in DC policies and practices, creating gender inequalities and hierarchies. In this study, we aimed to extend this body of research by examining how Finnish elite youth ski coaches discursively construct...
Article
Full-text available
The present study scrutinizes the role of societal culture in cases of sexual violence in Greek sport, as presented in the media after a two times Olympic medalist of Greece fired up the “‘me too’ Movement” in the country. Specifically, data for this study consisted of 36 media articles (14 international in the English language and 22 national in t...
Chapter
Traditionally, partner dances occur between a woman and a man, following rather conservative gender roles and rules. However, as a result of international lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual, allies and more (LGBTIQA+) activism, some social dancing events and competitions have made space for gender and sexual diversity. Th...
Article
This study focuses on transgender experiences in martial arts. Interviews with three Finnish and two British transgender martial artists were thematically analyzed, and findings were interpreted through the lens of queer theory. Two themes were identified related to the ways that transgender martial artists experience their sporting contexts, namel...
Conference Paper
Historically, LGBT+ sport initiatives (e.g. queer sport clubs and events) have been important sites of resistance to the heteronormative culture of sport, as well as spaces of community, belonging and advocacy for LGBT+ rights (Caudwell, 2007; Ravel & Rail, 2007; Travers & Deri, 2011). However, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought changes in the ways...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Traditionally, partner dances take place between a woman and a man, following conservative gender roles and rules. However, as a result of the international LGBTIQA+ activism, some social dancing events have made space for gender and sexual diversity. This presentation focuses on the Rainbow dancing scene in Finland and its potential and challenges...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
See the presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEHJ56jVQ6k&t=908s Contemporary understandings of the spiritual dimension in human life are diverse both in academic and popular discourses. While some consider spirituality as the private and personal aspect of religion, others view it more like existential meaning-making surrounding valu...
Chapter
This chapter focuses on what has been delineated as the underlying central tenet of cultural sport psychology, namely cultural praxis. Introduced in sport psychology by Ryba and Wright in 2005 , cultural praxis is a heuristic model for guiding culturally competent research and practice, and a new trajectory for sport psychology with an interest in...
Article
Scholarship on gender and sexual diversity in sport has advanced during the last decade and it is nowadays recognised that we need a better understanding of how to facilitate inclusive sport cultures that allow all people to participate as themselves. The purpose of this scoping review was to map research activity on the sporting experiences of gen...
Article
To date, few studies have explored how changes in the practices, policies, and politics of sport and education may be implicated in how young athletes think about and plan for the future. Drawing on cultural praxis and feminist poststructuralist frameworks, this paper explores whether and how dual career (DC) policies and practices in Finland guide...
Conference Paper
Scholarship on gender and sexuality in sport has advanced within the last two decades. Yet, there is a scarcity of research on the experiences of gender and sexual minorities (GSM) in martial arts and combat sports. This presentation draws on interview data with six Finnish martial artists, aged between 27 – 38 years old, who self-identified as GSM...
Conference Paper
It is well documented in the literature that sports and physical education (PE) serve as important cites for the reproduction of gender attitudes and beliefs. In the first part of this presentation, we draw on the extant gender literature to discuss burning issues related to children and youth’s participation in sports and PE. These issues include...
Article
Full-text available
Lektio published in Sukupuolentutkimus 2/2018
Conference Paper
Over the past two decades, a number of studies have focused on the everyday sporting experiences of gender and sexual minority (GSM) athletes. These studies have exposed persisting homophobia and heteronormativity in sport, leading to discrimination (including harassment) of GSM athletes. In the first part of this presentation, we present findings...
Article
Full-text available
Martial arts and combat sports have been traditionally associated with masculinity, and a range of contradictory meanings have been attached to women’s engagement and experiences. The present study draws on cultural praxis and feminist poststructuralist frameworks to explore how female martial artists are subjectified to dominant cultural discourse...
Chapter
Full-text available
This chapter examines how a female Greek judoka’s (judo athlete/practitioner) experiences are shaped by the Finnish judo cultural context. Based on field-notes constructed during a larger ethnographic research project, this research builds upon recent scholarship on women’s issues in martial arts (e.g. Channon & Jennings, 2013; Channon & Matthews,...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives The dominant role-based conceptualisations of athletic identity have recently been challenged in favour of theoretical perspectives that view identity as a complex cultural construction. In the present study, we analysed empirical studies on athletic identity positioned in narrative and discursive approaches to gain an insight into the...
Article
Full-text available
The aim of this meta-study is to provide a critical synthesis of qualitative research on athletic identity in sport psychology. A total of 108 empirical studies were identified, including 63 quantitative studies, 40 qualitative studies, and five mixed methods studies. Qualitative and mixed methods studies were reviewed with the meta-study method, w...
Chapter
Full-text available
Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ), a grappling system of combat, evolved from the teachings of a Japanese judoka who moved to Brazil in the 1920s. Focusing on ground fighting, BJJ is rapidly evolving into a combat sport with competitions taking place worldwide (Hogeveen and Hardes, 2014; Spencer, 2014). The present study explores strategies that can improv...
Article
Full-text available
In this article, we problematize sport psychology research on martial artists and offer some suggestions for advancing our knowledge in this area of research and practice. First, we review the previous research in the field. Then we introduce “cultural praxis” as a theoretical framework that will guide our analysis. Finally, we engage sociological...

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