Moving toward trust and partnership: an example of sport-related community-based participatory action research with Aboriginal people and mainstream academics
Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research
ISSN: 1759-6599
Article publication date: 30 September 2013
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the authors own assumptions made as academics using two examples from a research project with an Aboriginal community. The first attempt features a project that silenced the community. Later work engaged the community through tenets of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and a sport development project (SDP).
Design/methodology/approach
This project explores a shift from a mainstream qualitative approach steeped in post-positivism to a de-colonizing methodology which opened up a space for a SDP.
Findings
Mainstream research methodologies tend to silence marginalized communities and overlook local cultural practices. Effective community programming requires extensive consultation, and an approach that centralizes local voices.
Research limitations/implications
Current understandings are limited to one Aboriginal Reserve.
Practical implications
Recommendations are proposed concerning how researchers might embark on practices that support the reversal of colonization and improve relations among people from two cultures previously in conflict. SDP initiatives and applied sport research grounded in CBPR are proposed as conduits to bettering relations among cultures in conflict.
Originality/value
The reader is provided with an example of how to attain goals of SDP at the local level through cultural praxis and a CBPR methodology.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The first author wishes to acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for their ongoing support of his work pertaining to cultural diversity and sport for development.
Citation
J. Schinke, R., R. McGannon, K., Watson, J. and Busanich, R. (2013), "Moving toward trust and partnership: an example of sport-related community-based participatory action research with Aboriginal people and mainstream academics", Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 201-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-11-2012-0012
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited