Women's Softball in Iran: an Autoethnographic Journey
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2010 Women's Softball in Iran: An Autoethnographic Journey Sarah J Hillyer University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Sports Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Hillyer, Sarah J, "Women's Softball in Iran: An Autoethnographic Journey. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2010. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/702 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Sarah J Hillyer entitled "Women's Softball in Iran: An Autoethnographic Journey." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Exercise and Sport Sciences. Joy T. DeSensi, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Dulcie Peccolo, Ronald Taylor, Lars Dzikus Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Sarah J. Hillyer entitled “Women’s Softball in Iran: An Autoethnographic Journey.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Exercise and Sport Sciences. Joy DeSensi, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Dulcie Peccolo Ronald Taylor Lars Dzikus Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original Signatures are on file with official student records.) Women’s Softball in Iran: An Autoethnographic Journey A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Sarah J. Hillyer May 2010 ii Copyright © 2010 by Sarah J. Hillyer All rights reserved. iii In loving memory and in honor of my grandmother Betty J. Hall iv Acknowledgments I would like to thank my family, friends, fellow doctoral students, and GSP colleagues for your loving support and constant encouragement. I would also like to recognize my committee members: Dr. Joy DeSensi, Dr. Dulcie Peccolo, Dr. Ronald Taylor, and Dr. Lars Dzikus. I appreciate your support and patience, and most of all I thank you for the ways you genuinely invested in me as a human being. To Mrs. Frankie, thank you for all the airport runs and your kind and encouraging words. Mrs. Jane, thank you for always being there to help me through each semester as a graduate teaching assistant. Lastly, I would like to sincerely thank Faezeh Hashemi, Zahra Yoosefi, the Islamic Federation of Women’s Sports, and all of my fellow Iranian sportswomen and friends. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your lives and for the ways you have challenged me to see the world differently. v Abstract This autoethnographic dissertation recounts numerous untold stories about my journeys into the Islamic Republic of Iran as a sports consultant and women’s softball coach for Global Sports Partners (GSP). Autoethnography as defined by Ellis & Bochner (2000), is “an autobiographical genre of writing and research that displays multiple layers of consciousness, connecting the personal to the cultural…Autoethnographers vary in their emphasis on the research process (graphy), on culture (ethnos), and on self (auto)” (pp. 739-740). Autoethnographers, writing within a branch of narrative inquiry (Ellis & Bochner, 2000), believe in the power of story and that humans learn through stories lived and told (Ellis, 2004). To date, the majority of the literature devoted to Iranian women in sports has been written from a critical feminist perspective, detailing the “oppressive” societal structures associated with sport in an Islamic Republic (Hargreaves, 2000; Pfister, 2003; Pfister, 2006). While understanding the structure in which Iranian women compete is important, it does not closely reflect my experiences with the way Iranian women define their own sport participation. The purpose of this autoethnography is (1) to confront my previously held stereotypes and reveal my personal transformation, (2) to provide a counternarrative that “extends sociological understanding” (Sparkes, 2002), (3) to demonstrate the use of sport in fostering cross-cultural respect, appreciation, and dialogue, and (4) to offer new ways of knowing and telling (Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Richardson, 2000b). vi Table of Contents Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Abstract............................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents............................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................... 1 Purpose............................................................................................................................ 4 Chapter 2: Autoethnography Defined................................................................................. 6 Expectations: The Reader-Writer Relationship .............................................................. 8 Judgment: Safe or Out?................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 3: The Beginning................................................................................................. 12 Searching for Answers.................................................................................................. 15 Healing and Searching .................................................................................................. 20 Questioning the Value of Sport..................................................................................... 21 Global Sports Partners .................................................................................................. 22 Traveling to China ........................................................................................................ 22 About Global Sports Partners ....................................................................................... 23 Beyond East Asia.......................................................................................................... 28 The Question of Iran ..................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 4: The Journey Begins......................................................................................... 32 Recording my Experiences ........................................................................................... 42 Chapter 5: How I Came to Autoethnography ................................................................... 54 Comprehensive Exams.................................................................................................. 60 Professor Paul the Philosopher ..................................................................................... 61 Unexpected turns .......................................................................................................... 62 Benefits of autoethnography......................................................................................... 65 Our Dream, My Promise............................................................................................... 68 Chapter 6: The Method: Autoethnography....................................................................... 72 Chapter 7: Autoethnography and Truth ............................................................................ 87 Situational Truths.......................................................................................................... 90 Scenario one: Zahra. ................................................................................................. 91 Scenario two: Robert................................................................................................. 93 Scenario three: “Persian Culture Night.”.................................................................. 94 Truth or truthS............................................................................................................... 96 Freedom or Claustrophobia? Tehran, February 2000................................................. 102 Privileging Truth......................................................................................................... 106 Chapter 8: A Brief History of Women’s Sports in Iran.................................................. 109 Chapter 9: Women’s Softball in Iran - Three Narratives................................................ 126 Field Number 4 ..........................................................................................................