'Just open your eyes a bit more': The methodological challenges of researching black and minority ethnic students' experiences of physical education teacher education

In this paper we discuss some of the challenges of centralising 'race' and ethnicity in Physical Education (PE) research, through reflecting on the design and implementation of a study exploring Black and minority ethnic students' experiences of their teacher education. Our aim in the paper is to contribute to ongoing theoretical and methodological debates about intersectionality, and specifically about difference and power in the research process. As McCorkel and Myers notes, the 'researchers' backstage'-the assumptions, motivations, narratives and relations-that underpin any research are not always made visible and yet are highly significant in judging the quality and substance of the resulting project. As feminists, we argue that the invisibility of 'race' and ethnicity within Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE), and PE research more widely, is untenable; however, we also show how centralising 'race' and ethnicity raised significant methodological and epistemological questions, particularly given our position as White researchers and lecturers. In this paper, we reflect on a number of aspects of our research 'journey': the theoretical and methodological challenges of operationalising concepts of 'race' and ethnicity, the practical issues and dilemmas involved in recruiting participants for the study, the difficulties of 'talking race' personally and professionally and challenges of representing the experiences of 'others'. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Lab-cultured Biofilm Stabilization of Non-cohesive Sediments: Quantifying the Elastic Constant, k

A monoculture of cyanobacterium (Phormidium sp.) was grown for up to 10 weeks on spherical glass beads (d50 = 1.09 mm) under constant unidirectional flow conditions. Using a 0.3 m × 15m flume facility, the strength of biofilm-sediments adhesion was tested at the threshold of entrainment. High speed videographic analysis focussed on biofilm entrainment at two different scales (small = 4.5 cm × 3.4 cm; large =20cm × 20 cm) and image post processing employed the software ImageJ. Results indicated a 23-77% increase in the threshold of entrainment of biostabilized sediment, compared with that of abiotic sediment. The biofilm was sufficiently strong that tensile testing could be employed to elucidate its material properties and those of the composite of biofilm and sediment. Both exhibited elastic behaviour which could be characterized by Hooke's Law. Describing the strength of biofilm in this manner will allow modification of traditional abiotic models of sediment transport to incorporate the binding effects of an elastic biofilm

Governmentalities of Gov 2.0

Web 2.0 technologies, denoted by their formation of social networks and the co-production of web content by users, have rapidly entered social and economic activities. Internationally, governments are racing to identify ways to utilize Web 2.0 in government. In addition to government reports and taskforces, there is a proliferation of business advice and academic papers variously conceptualizing what so-called ‘Gov 2.0’ might look like. Such deliberations seek to mobilize a range of different political and economic agendas, and as such view government's use of Web 2.0 and associated objectives differently. This paper utilizes a Foucaultian-inspired governmentality analysis to identify the main political discourses and rationalities embedded within government reports, as evidenced in Australia, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand, the UK and the United States. The paper concludes by critically analyzing this Gov 2.0 governmentality and suggesting alternative governmentalities that might be mobilized