ABSTRACT

This research critically examines Sport for Development (SFD) policies targeting Indigenous Australians. While previous studies have sought to compare the impact of SFD policies on First Nations people in Canada and Australia, no research to date has provided a detailed investigation of the specific policy approaches underpinning SFD programmes, that target Indigenous Australians. Utilising thematic discourse analysis and Bacchi’s (2009) What’s the problem represented to be? (WPR) theoretical framework, this study seeks to expose the dominant representations within the policy approaches underpinning the use of SFD to achieve Closing the Gap (CTG) outcomes. Furthermore, this research seeks to question the policy ‘problems’ upon which these representations are based. Drawing on policy documents produced by the Australian Government between 2013 and 2019, the findings highlight a range of policy ‘problems’ associated with the use of sport to achieve CTG outcomes. Utilising a WPR approach, this study considers the impacts of these dominant representations and presents an argument for how these ‘problems’ may be considered differently. In doing so, this analysis reveals a policy approach underpinned by the ‘power of sport’ narrative, which draws its roots from the colonial era. Additionally, this research questions how sport may be understood for Indigenous Australians, and whether policy ‘problems’ such as the lack of participation in formalised sport by Indigenous Australians represents a new form of resistance. Finally, this paper calls for more Indigenous-led research to continue to disrupt potentially destructive narratives surrounding SFD for Indigenous Australians.

摘要

这项研究批判性地审查了针对澳大利亚土著人的体育促进发展 (SFD) 政策。虽然之前的研究试图比较 SFD 政策对加拿大和澳大利亚原住民的影响，但迄今为止没有任何研究对支持 SFD 计划的具体政策方法进行详细调查，这些政策针对的是澳大利亚土著人。利用主题话语分析和 Bacchi (2009)所代表的问题是什么？(WPR) 理论框架，本研究旨在揭示支持使用 SFD 实现缩小差距 (CTG) 结果的政策方法中的主要代表。此外，这项研究试图质疑这些表述所基于的政策“问题”。根据澳大利亚政府在 2013 年至 2019 年期间制定的政策文件，调查结果突出了与利用体育实现 CTG 成果相关的一系列政策“问题”。本研究采用 WPR 方法，考虑了这些主要表征的影响，并就如何以不同方式考虑这些“问题”提出了论据。在这样做的过程中，这种分析揭示了一种以“体育的力量”叙事为基础的政策方法，这种叙事源于殖民时代。此外，这项研究质疑土著澳大利亚人如何理解体育运动，以及澳大利亚土著人缺乏参与正规体育运动等政策“问题”是否代表了一种新的抵抗形式。最后，本文呼吁进行更多以土著为主导的研究，以继续打破围绕 SFD 对土著澳大利亚人的潜在破坏性叙述。