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Date Permissions Signed

11-1-2011

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Stevenson, Joan C.

Second Advisor

Sylvester, Charles Davis

Third Advisor

Loucky, James

Abstract

Parkour is a sport that developed in France in the late 1980s that is described as "the art of movement." The objective of the participant is to choose a route of their own making, from an arbitrary Point A to Point B, and move through that route as efficiently as possible, overcoming any obstacles that are along the way. As of 2011, Parkour has become an international pastime, with practitioners, called "traceurs," participating all over the world. This thesis proposes that Parkour is a form of play, specifically locomotor play. The movements that make up this type of play are universal as to be identifiable cross-species in all primates. Several researchers are beginning to discuss an "evolutionary" or innate set of play behaviors, particularly movements seen in locomotor play. Qualitative ethnographic data was collected on traceurs and compared with previous studies of play performed on children and primates. The qualitative data indicates that Parkour fits well into the descriptions and definitions of play as discussed in previous studies. No quantitative analysis or analysis of movement has previously been performed on Parkour to analyze the behavior of traceurs and to see if it fits in with play research. Using publicly available videos, new quantitative data is introduced that demonstrates that traceurs are using the same locomotor movements seen in all other primates, and it is proposed that Parkour is a good fit with innate free-form locomotor play. Findings are discussed, as well as what other applications this research may have.

Type

Text

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25710/3akg-yw62

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

761318096

Subject – LCSH

Parkour; Parkour--Physiological aspects; Play; Play--Physiological aspects; Human locomotion

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this thesis for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.

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