Sport for development and Indigenous Australians: a critical research agenda for policy and practice

Sport for Reconciliation?

“…Likewise, in Australia, Sheppard et al (2019) pointed out that sport operates as a type of "cultural offsetting" through which sport supposedly offsets the trauma of colonization within Indigenous communities; however, "the current models of SFD serve to perpetuate damaging discourses and thwart opportunities for self-determination" (p. 13). Hence, while sport being used as a tool to separate Indigenous Peoples from their cultures is less apparent today, SFD efforts still have the potential to encourage forms of assimilation by reproducing neoliberal discourses relating to risk, individual responsibility, and development (Hayhurst et al, 2016;Rossi & Rynne, 2013;Lucas et al, 2021). Subsequently, scholars and Indigenous community leaders have emphasized the importance of Indigenous communities having control over the development and implementation of sports-based initiatives in their communities (Arellano & Downey, 2019;Essa et al, 2021;Giles & van Luijk, 2017;Hayhurst & Giles, 2013;Henhawk & Norman, 2019;Sheppard et al, 2019).…”

“…Effectively, this strips Indigeneity of its political underpinnings relating to Indigenous rights, self-determination, and claims to land (Tuck & Yang, 2012). Further, scholars have explained that framing marginalized groups as at-risk, or as risks, and presenting sport as a solution, aligns with neoliberal understandings of health and development that shift responsibility for social and systemic issues onto individuals (Hartmann, 2016;Hayhurst & Giles, 2013;Hokowhitu, 2014;Lucas et al, 2021).…”

A Critical Examination of Race and Antiracism in the Sport for Development Field: An Introduction

“…It is within this literature that something of a critical race analysis of SfD has emerged. This subset of SfD literature has tended to examine the production of whiteness within SfD experiences (Darnell, 2007), the ways in which knowledge production (including monitoring and evaluation) in SfD is produced through racialized encounters (Darnell, 2010b;Nicholls et al, 2011), and the political implications of targeting racialized or Indigenous groups in SfD (Arellano & Downey, 2019;Hayhurst et al, 2016;Lucas et al, 2021). This includes research published within the Sociology of Sport Journal (Darnell, 2010a;Darnell et al, 2018;Forde, 2014;Hayhurst et al, 2018;Seal & Sherry, 2018).…”

“Building Back Better”: Seeking an Equitable Return to Sport for Development in the Wake of COVID-19

“…We suggest, therefore, that the post-pandemic context offers a chance to address (finally) the long standing inequalities and hierarchies in sport, and to re-position SfD in a way that it might more effectively realize social development goals of equity, inclusion and antiracism. In this way, the paper contributes to the burgeoning but still largely under-examined concerns about race and racism within SfD scholarship (Darnell, 2007(Darnell, , 2014Lucas et al, 2021) through an examination of the lived SfD experiences of racialized persons. The findings, in turn, speak to the need for an intentional and sustained anti-racist praxis in SfD.…”