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Layers of the Landscape: Representations and Perceptions of an Ordinary (Shared) Sports Landscape in a Haitian and Dominican Community
Author(s) -
WISE NICHOLAS
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geographical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.695
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-5871
pISSN - 1745-5863
DOI - 10.1111/1745-5871.12055
Subject(s) - identity (music) , geography , place identity , meaning (existential) , sense of place , participant observation , ethnography , perception , ethnic group , football , sociology , aesthetics , anthropology , psychology , art , engineering , archaeology , urban planning , civil engineering , economic geography , neuroscience , psychotherapist
Over the last decade, much research has assessed sport in relation to geographical perspectives of place, landscape, and identity. Using multiple qualitative methods, including mental maps, interviews and conversations, and participant observation, this inductive study attempts to better understand local perceptions of an everyday landscape. This work was conducted in Villa Ascension, a rural community in the D ominican R epublic consisting of H aitian and D ominican residents. Football is a strong component of H aitian identity, and baseball is likewise important to D ominicans. Currently, the community has one site where two sports are actively played. Given the community's heterogeneous ethnic composition, V illa A scension's sports landscape is recognised as having multiple layers of meaning. Knowledge produced in this case study revealed the emergent themes of perceived interpretations of ordinary landscapes, the forging of boundaries, communal relationships and support, and hazards and modification of limited spaces for play. The landscape being a layered one with multiple representations of place and identity, the Haitians' broader perceptions suggest that they view the site as a place of primary importance. Alternatively, the D ominicans are attempting to forge and maintain their sense of sporting identity in the landscape.