Browsing by Author "Stowe, Lisa Roxanne"

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    Equity-Deserving Groups, Sport, and Recreation in Calgary: An Analysis of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility-Related Policies
    (2024-06-10) To, Andy; Bridel, William; Din, Cari Susanne Read; Barrick, Simon John; Clark, Marty; Stowe, Lisa Roxanne
    Equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) policies play a crucial role in addressing the many reported barriers equity-deserving groups experience in relation to Canadian sport and recreation. Recognizing this, I examined the publicly available EDIA-related policies and statements of 76 multi-sport facilities across Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Drawing on Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, an intersectional anti-oppression framework, and relevant empirical literature, I conducted a critical discourse analysis on the statements and policies found. My analysis led to the creation of three themes for statements: (1) all are welcome, (2) some are welcome, and (3) land acknowledgements, and four themes for policies: (1) codes of conducts, (2) zero tolerance policies, (3) targeted policies, and (4) bylaws. Most statements and policies fell far short of being effective or impactful for equity-deserving groups, particularly (but not only) because they were often absent of specificity and actionable items while also failing to address intersecting systems of oppression. My findings underscore the need for more comprehensive and intersectional anti-oppression EDIA policies in sport and recreational facilities to address systemic inequities and foster true inclusivity.
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    Local Media and the Olympic Bidding Process: A political economic analysis of Calgary’s 1988 and 2026 Olympic pursuits
    (2024-05-14) Halajian, Matthew; Taylor, Gregory; Hiller, Harry; Stowe, Lisa Roxanne
    This research project explores how changes to the political economy of the local media industry impact public opinion by analyzing two case studies: Calgary’s successful bid for the 1988 Olympic Winter Games and the city’s failed bid exploration for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The Olympic Games embody a melange of social, cultural, political, and economic elements alongside distinct urban, sporting, and media dimensions. I focused on scholarly literature pertaining to 1) the sports-media complex and changes to specific media industries, 2) relevant aspects of the Olympic Games and the Olympic bidding process, and 3) Calgary’s Olympic bid pursuits and how they are situated in the contemporary bidding environment. In this, the sports-media complex encompasses the fundamentally inseparable relationship between the sports and media commercial capitalist industries and their prime commodity: the audience. This study employed qualitative methods, highlighted by the 14 semi- structured one-on-one interviews I conducted with individuals involved in, or experts on, one or both of these case studies; I then performed a thematic analysis and identified five themes. In this paper, I emphasize the second theme: the role of the changing local media industry. This analysis demonstrates that the political economy of the local media in Calgary, particularly the newspaper industry, has decayed dramatically since the late 1970s. With this knowledge, I argue that this decay presents tangible and worrying consequences for the contemporary information landscape and concretely harms the ability of citizens to be adequately informed on matters of public policy.