Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

Gotland, the largest island in the Baltic Sea, has historically had an ambivalent relationship with mainland Sweden. While political autonomy has never been demanded in modern times, Gotland has shown strong regionalism, not least reflected in its domestic sports culture. Among these sports, pärk - a local variant of the medieval ball game jeu de paume - stands out as a key element in shaping Gotlandic identity. Despite uncertainties about its origins, pärk is presented in local history-writing as a remnant of Gotland's medieval heydays. Over time, the game has served various functions: as a rural sport at parish festivals, as an urban bourgeois pastime in the mid-nineteenth century, as a Gothicist symbol of Norse strength at the turn of the twentieth century, and as the centrepiece of contemporary regional sporting events such as the Stånga Games in Gotland. When analyzing the changing social and cultural functions of pärk over historical periods, pärk appears as a traditional sport in the sense of a 'temporally adaptive sport'. Such a concept highlights how long-lived sports adapt to societal changes, illustrating their enduring relevance and ability to shape and reshape collective identities in changing historical contexts.