Vestigial history, culture and traditions in local processes: a figurational analysis of sport for development in Vietnam

Abstract

Considering the ongoing discussions to further nuance the theorization of Sport for Development (SfD) and the need to understand SfD through specific local contexts, this study introduces figurational sociology, inspired by Norbert Elias, to explore SfD in Vietnam. The study utilizes concepts of figurations, long-term social processes and power to illustrate how Vietnamese SfD works with and through nation-state history, culture and tradition. Data is drawn from an eleven-month ethnographic research project conducted with Football for All in Vietnam (FFAV) – a Norwegian supported SfD project located in Vietnam’s central province, Thừa Thiên Huế. Figurational analyses highlights how anti-colonial attitudes from the Vietnamese state and enduring culture is embedded in the contextualization and implementation of SfD. As a result, figurational sociology locates SfD within long-term nation-state processes and power relations that are influential to how Vietnamese actors engage with how SfD is understood and practiced.