Tag: Erkki Vettenniemi

Michael Crawley’s new book To the Limit: The Meaning of Endurance from Mexico to the Himalayas (Bloomsbury) sets out to rediscover the joy of moving together as a group – whether it's running the length of the Lake District in a day, or navigating the descents of the Sindhupalchok International Trail Race in Nepal. And let’s not forget the Rarámuris! Erkki Vettenniemi, who really enjoyed Crawley’s last book, is decidedly less enchanted with his latest effort, struggling – and only partly succeeding – in finding its raison d’être. Thumbs up, though, for the Tintin’ish cover.

Katrin Bromber’s Sports and Modernity in Late Imperial Ethiopia (James Curry) studies the history of modern sports in Ethiopia during the imperial rule of the twentieth century. Drawing on written and oral sources in Amharic, Tigrinya, English, French, German and Italian, Bromber provides an in-depth analysis of the role of sports in modern educational institutions, volunteer organizations and urbanization processes. Erkki Vettenniemi has some points of criticism but states plainly that Bromber’s book is groundbreaking and a solid contribution th the field.

Michael Crawley spent fifteen months in Ethiopia training alongside runners at all levels of the sport. He gained a Ph.D. for his efforts, and the dissertation was eventually turned into Out of Thin Air: Running Wisdom and Magic from Above the Clouds in Ethiopia (Bloomsbury). Our reviewer is Erkki Vettenniemi, who has vast first-hand knowledge of Ethiopia and the nation’s runners. He is quite impressed by Crawley’s narration; even so, his knowledgeable review offers a few alternative interpretations.

SSSF, a multidisciplinary social sciences sport study journal, welcomes articles that deal with sport and social change and social stability in a wide sense, articles about the profound and comprehensive processes affecting sports such as professionalization, globalization, commercialization, urbanization, technologization, medicalization and juridification.