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Moving toward trust and partnership: an example of sport-related community-based participatory action research with Aboriginal people and mainstream academics

Robert J. Schinke (Canada Research Chair in Multicultural Sport and Physical Activity based at Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada)
Kerry R. McGannon (Based at Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada)
Jack Watson (Based at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA)
Rebecca Busanich (Based at Plymouth State University, Plymouth, New Hampshire, USA)

Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research

ISSN: 1759-6599

Article publication date: 30 September 2013

1972

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

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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