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Marianna Melenteva

PhD research fellow

children and youth researcher

Email: marianna.melenteva@inn.no
Phone number: +47 62 43 07 34

Faculty of Social and Health Sciences
Section for Public Health
Campus Elverum, Room 4L3322

Short description

Marianna Melenteva is a PhD candidate at the University of Inland Norway. Her current project uses the cultural sociology of performance and civil sphere theory to analyze exclusion/inclusion practices in children’s sports. Other research interests include the self and identity, belonging and group cohesion, multiculturalism, and sensory evocative ethnography.

PhD project: Transformative incorporative experiences of youth in organized sports activities in Norway

The project sheds light on whether and, if so, how local sports in Innlandet can serve as an arena for the inclusion of teenagers. I am exploring how organized sports activities contribute to the identity development of young people, and how this process influences their participation in social life outside of sports.

By methodically combining observations and interviews, I am constructing 'biographical narrative cases', where the stories of teenagers are juxtaposed with those of parents, coaches, and teachers about them. The aim is to investigate what inclusive measures are used by adults in local youth sports , and how young athletes experience their participation in youth sports. This approach provides insight into potential transformation processes, and when and how these are influenced by, and in turn influence, the social lives of teenage athletes outside of sports."

Broch, Trygve B & Melenteva, Marianna (2025). Making new sport cultures. In Girginov, Vassil & Girginova, Katerina (Ed.), Handbook on Sport and Culture. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781035339983. p. 51–63. doi: 10.4337/9781035339983.00012. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
As a cultural phenomenon, modern competitive sport seems quite predictable in its rule-governed practices. There is a strong hold of commercial interests on its play, and professionalization challenges sports’ foundations in voluntarism and creativity. It seems as if sport, as we know it today, has little in common with the traditional play and games of the community rituals or religious and spiritual practices from which it was conceived. Yet, at the same time, the institutionalization and standardization of sport and play, and the commodified mass-production of sports, do not appear to eradicate all chances for change nor exhaust its actors of creative potential. New sports emerge and styles of play fluctuate. The limits for representation and identification oscillates. Perhaps, it is our idea of sport that has petrified?

View all works in NVA

Melenteva, Marianna (2025). The sensory landscapes of incorporation: an exploratory ethnography of children sports in Norway. Full text in Research Archive
Melenteva, Marianna (2024). Belonging and Group Cohesion: The Power of Emplacement and Multisensory Experiences in Organized Youth Sports in Norway. Belong Blogg. Full text in Research Archive
Melenteva, Marianna (2024). Inclusive Practices: Exploring a Sense of Belonging among Youth in Local Sports and Physical Education. Full text in Research Archive
Melenteva, Marianna (2024). Basketball i Elverum: Spretter fremover mot en ny livsstil og ungdomskultur. Full text in Research Archive
Melenteva, Marianna (2024). Er det husrom for basket i Elverum? Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

Addresses

Visiting Address

Terningen Arena - L-blokk
Hamarveien 112, N-2406 Elverum
Room 4L3322
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Postal Address

University of Inland Norway
Postboks 400 Vestad
2418 Elverum
Norway