Sport as opportunity for community development and peace building in South Africa

This paper addresses if and under what conditions sport can play an important role in South Africa. In the struggle against the system of apartheid in South Africa, sport played a crucial role as a dynamic part of civil society. While popular culture reinforces the belief in the positive potential of sport, research has articulated corresponding factors and conditions that must be met if the positive value of sport is to be enjoyed.

This paper considers four aspects of sport that are often emphasised as favouring its use as a tool for social integration and peace building processes between parties of different cultural backgrounds including sport as so-called non-verbal means of communication; sports programmes as occasions of collective experience and direct physical contact; sport as a medium which transcends divisions of class; and sport as an instrument of culture.

[Abstract adapted from the author]