![]() ![]() Seeking to remedy this deficiency, the purpose of this case study is to explore whether inclusive, egalitarian, and unifying positioning within a grassroots project can help build cohesive multiethnic communities and thereby challenge dominant ethnonational narratives in postviolence settings. This is surprising noting the sport’s recognized ability to build cohesive communities ( Belger, 2012 Brogan, Benson, & Bruner, 2017 Dawson, 2015 Pickett, Goldsmith, Damon, & Walker, 2016 Whiteman-Sandland, Hawkins, & Clayton, 2016 Woolf & Lawrence, 2017). This is almost certainly the case for CrossFit, whose impact in postviolence settings remains, to date, uncharted. However, no other studies seem to have explored the impact of such organizations through the lens of PT. In the Sport for Development and Peace sector, many studies have explored how grassroots sporting organizations can contribute to conflict transformation in postviolence settings ( Darnell, 2012 Giulianotti, 2011 Parry, 2012 Svensson & Woods, 2017). This article initially explains the present divisions in BiH through PT before exploring whether sport can activate inclusive, egalitarian, and unifying positions, which can result in reduced conflict between belligerents embedded in mutually accepted storylines ( Louis, 2008). PT also acknowledges that conflicts may evolve over generations while being nourished by beliefs, customs, and habits. 3-4) to explore how conflict is sustained through context-specific rights and responsibilities. This has left the country in a perpetual state of conflict among the various groups, continuing their fight for survival ( Woodward, 1997).Ī novel approach to understanding the dynamics of prolonged conflicts is through Positioning Theory (hereafter PT), which seeks to broaden our understanding of conflict from one merely confined to the battle between the “good guys” and the “bad guys” ( Moghaddam, Harré, & Lee, 2008, pp. That BiH is such a society, beset foremost by ethnic divisions exploited by powerful elites for their own ends, has been well documented ( Belloni, 2001 Fearon & Laitin, 2000 Leonard, Damjanovic, Simic, & Aldikacti Marshall, 2016 Sekulić, Massey, & Hodson, 2006). As the first licensed CrossFit venue in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereafter BiH), it sought to unite those otherwise divided and thereby contribute to community development in a postviolence setting. INTRODUCTIONĮstablished as a social enterprise in 2014, CrossFit Sarajevo (hereafter CFS) brought together individuals on a quest for a healthier lifestyle while seeking to offer a hub for bridging imposed ethnic, but also gender, vocation, age, and ability barriers ( CrossFit Sarajevo, 2013). Ultimately, this project highlights the important role grassroots organizations can play in postviolence settings and suggests further exploration into the influence and permeability of such initiatives in the broader society. These have manifested in humanitarian projects undertaken by the club that seek to help some of the most disadvantaged in the broader community. Embracing egalitarian and inclusive positions appears to have established a common code of conduct within the club’s members, contributing to the creation of a distinct sense of belonging and social trust. According to its findings, this paper suggests that such organizations indeed have significant potential challenging divisive narratives. Relying on interviews with 13 of its members, the paper explores what impact positions, actions/acts, and storylines can have on the creation of a cohesive and respectful multiethnic community. This paper relies on Positioning Theory to explore whether CrossFit Sarajevo, a grassroots initiative, created necessary conditions to challenge these ethnocentric narratives within the club. Sustained by the country’s leaders who rely on ethnocentric narratives fuelled by “memory politics,” they distort historical events for the benefit of their ethnic group. More than 20 years since its bloody war, Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to suffer under structurally imposed ethnic divisions. ![]() Journal of Sport for Development, 7(12), 59–77. ![]() CrossFit Sarajevo: Positioning against dominant ethnonational narratives. ![]()
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