How is the relationship between social identities and movement among children in the 5th to the 7th grade in two Danish schools?
Physical activity is seen as part of the answer to the obesity epidemic. The intervention project SPACE – Space for Physical Activity (http://www.cirhp.dk/side.asp?side=8&id=17&ver=uk) attempts to raise the level of physical activity among the eldest pupils in school through organizational and physical interventions to prevent inactivity and obesity among the eldest pupils in school.
The anthropological part of SPACE explores everyday life among pupils from a phenomenological perspective. The development – both biological and social – from childhood to teenager is a central theme. This theme is linked to the institutionalized life in school, the social identities and relations among the pupils, the interventions from the project as well as the patterns of movements that characterize the pupils.
Fieldwork has been done at two Danish public schools in the Southern Region of Denmark (2010-2011). At each school I followed the pupils from one class from the 5th to the 7th grade. The fieldwork at school is supplemented by visits at the pupils’ homes, participant observation during after school activities, in depth interviews and results from other parts of the SPACE study.
