Indigenous studies and race relations in Australian sports

Abstract

The relatively young area of Indigenous sports studies in Australia has developed from some key foundational studies and expanded through a variety of approaches conducted primarily by non-Indigenous academics and journalists. More recently, the release of publications by Indigenous authors has unlocked a much-needed reflexive scholarship in which the collective and individual experiences of Indigenous people become a central feature of the research. We highlight some of the stages, the shift in methodologies and blossoming of a viable Indigenous Sports Studies field to the extent that an entire volume of current work can be called on. Such a volume draws on a wide group of academics all housed within Indigenous Studies units at universities across Australia.

Notes

¹ Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies, 1–2.

² Broome, ‘Aboriginal Boxers and Social Control in Australia’.

³ Godwell, ‘Playing the Game’.

⁴ Rigney, ‘Sport, Indigenous Australians and Invader Dreaming’.

⁵ Hallinan, Bruce and Coram, ‘Up Front and Beyond the Centre Line’.

⁶ Bruce and Hallinan, ‘Cathy Freeman’.

⁷ These included Hallinan, Bruce and Burke, ‘Fresh Prince of Colonial Dome’; and Coram, ‘Race Formations’.

⁸ Gorman, BrotherBoys.

⁹ Judd, On the Boundary Line and Rigney, ‘Sport, Indigenous Australians and Invader Dreaming’.

¹⁰ Whitestream is a purposeful choice to shift the readers' attention to the idea that ‘mainstreaming’ in Australia is more accurately termed as ‘whitestream.’ Whiteness refers to the invisibility of Anglo-Australian narratives that are construed as ‘standard’ or ‘normal’ alongside non-Anglo and Indigenous narratives. The normalizing of everyday narratives serves to prevent many Anglo-Australians from detecting the embedded racisms and racialized practices. See Tascón, ‘Narratives of Race and Nation’ for an in-depth analysis. ‘Whitestream’ was coined in the USA (see Johnson, ‘From the Tomahawk Chop to the Road Block’).