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Jumping is not just about height: Biosocial becomings as an integrative approach in understanding contextualized jump performance in Maasai society

Studies focused on jumping performance in humans have so far investigated either its biological or sociocultural significance, with very little attentions paid to the inseparable relations of these two aspects in daily life of people. Integrating both ethnographic and biomechanical methods, this res...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tian, Xiaojie, Yanohara, Yushi, Mwangi, Francis M., Sado, Natsuki
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9714807/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36454993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278547
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author Tian, Xiaojie
Yanohara, Yushi
Mwangi, Francis M.
Sado, Natsuki
author_facet Tian, Xiaojie
Yanohara, Yushi
Mwangi, Francis M.
Sado, Natsuki
author_sort Tian, Xiaojie
collection PubMed
description Studies focused on jumping performance in humans have so far investigated either its biological or sociocultural significance, with very little attentions paid to the inseparable relations of these two aspects in daily life of people. Integrating both ethnographic and biomechanical methods, this research investigated the biosocial features of the jump performance of Maasai youth in its most well observed context, the wedding ceremony. Ethnographic data were used to explain the social status of participants, the physical movements and singing tempo of performers, and their interactions. Biomechanical methods were applied to assess the heights and frequencies of identified repetitive double-legged vertical jumps (n = 160, from 15 male youths). All youth performers followed a certain posture pattern, paying specific attention to their final landing. Large variations exist in their jumping heights [coefficient of variation (CV) = 0.237]; however, the frequency in jump repetitions were maintained with the least variations (CV = 0.084). Cheering interactions were confirmed, but with no significant difference in height between the cheered and non-cheered groups. These results indicate that the Maasai youths did not compete for jump height during local ceremonies. Rather, they emphasized the rhythmical retention of jumps, corresponding to other youth mates who were singing alongside. In the broader context of human behaviors, the analysis addresses the diverse meanings of motor performances in different daily contexts that reject the generalized sports regime of “higher/faster-the-better”.
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spelling pubmed-97148072022-12-02 Jumping is not just about height: Biosocial becomings as an integrative approach in understanding contextualized jump performance in Maasai society Tian, Xiaojie Yanohara, Yushi Mwangi, Francis M. Sado, Natsuki PLoS One Research Article Studies focused on jumping performance in humans have so far investigated either its biological or sociocultural significance, with very little attentions paid to the inseparable relations of these two aspects in daily life of people. Integrating both ethnographic and biomechanical methods, this research investigated the biosocial features of the jump performance of Maasai youth in its most well observed context, the wedding ceremony. Ethnographic data were used to explain the social status of participants, the physical movements and singing tempo of performers, and their interactions. Biomechanical methods were applied to assess the heights and frequencies of identified repetitive double-legged vertical jumps (n = 160, from 15 male youths). All youth performers followed a certain posture pattern, paying specific attention to their final landing. Large variations exist in their jumping heights [coefficient of variation (CV) = 0.237]; however, the frequency in jump repetitions were maintained with the least variations (CV = 0.084). Cheering interactions were confirmed, but with no significant difference in height between the cheered and non-cheered groups. These results indicate that the Maasai youths did not compete for jump height during local ceremonies. Rather, they emphasized the rhythmical retention of jumps, corresponding to other youth mates who were singing alongside. In the broader context of human behaviors, the analysis addresses the diverse meanings of motor performances in different daily contexts that reject the generalized sports regime of “higher/faster-the-better”. Public Library of Science 2022-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC9714807/ /pubmed/36454993 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278547 Text en © 2022 Tian et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Tian, Xiaojie
Yanohara, Yushi
Mwangi, Francis M.
Sado, Natsuki
Jumping is not just about height: Biosocial becomings as an integrative approach in understanding contextualized jump performance in Maasai society
title Jumping is not just about height: Biosocial becomings as an integrative approach in understanding contextualized jump performance in Maasai society
title_full Jumping is not just about height: Biosocial becomings as an integrative approach in understanding contextualized jump performance in Maasai society
title_fullStr Jumping is not just about height: Biosocial becomings as an integrative approach in understanding contextualized jump performance in Maasai society
title_full_unstemmed Jumping is not just about height: Biosocial becomings as an integrative approach in understanding contextualized jump performance in Maasai society
title_short Jumping is not just about height: Biosocial becomings as an integrative approach in understanding contextualized jump performance in Maasai society
title_sort jumping is not just about height: biosocial becomings as an integrative approach in understanding contextualized jump performance in maasai society
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9714807/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36454993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278547
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