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This chapter offers a comparative description of the separatist development of mainstream sociology focusing on sport-related phenomena versus the sociology of sport located within Human Movement or Sport Science departments at public universities in South Africa. Key findings relate to the production of fragmented bodies of knowledge, individual research agendas, and national funding in alignment with national development priorities that guide current neo-colonial knowledge production practices. There is a domination of political themes (pre- and post-apartheid) with more recent foci on nation building and Sport for Development and Peace which only partly respond to the call for indigenous knowledge production and critical scholarly work. The increased publications and mainstream sociological inquiry of the 2010 FIFA World Cup were not maintained as scholars continue to work in isolation. Other main sociological themes for both sectors include gender, with only a few established scholars producing critical work in response to a national call for an ‘Africanization’, anti-colonial stance in knowledge production. There seems to be an increasing trend to bridge the theory–practice divide and serve the public sphere which further pushes critical sociological work to the margins of both fields. The chapter provides a comparative analysis and critical overview of the development and current sociology of sport practices at public South African universities. It articulates the most significant discourses with global and local manifestations, and as such communicates key critical findings to guide strategic synergies and future sociological research.

Purpose – The chapter reports on a national indigenous games research project and follows the socio-political construction of indigenous games as a sporting code and the post-colonial identity dynamics within South Africa.

Design/methodology/approach – Researchers from 11 tertiary institutions in South Africa collaborated to capture 536 ‘indigenous’ game and sporting activities from 170 communities. An inductive research approach informed an emic typology, with further analysis of the 20 most popular indigenous games (and their variations). This analysis demonstrated hegemonic gender and ethnic layering within the context of participation, as well as in the broader South African society. The institutionalisation of selected indigenous games by Sport and Recreation South Africa and the implementation thereof in the Siyadlala programme (community-based mass participation programme), afforded widespread participation to meet a human rights framework.

Findings – In accordance to the strategic outcomes of the national department, this initiative provided access to sport and recreation, especially for the previously ‘disadvantaged’ communities who experienced high levels of exclusion during the Apartheid years (1948–1994). This politically informed intervention followed a political agenda of national identity association in celebrating the African heritage and ‘unity through diversity’. Standardisation of rules and the re-invention of some games for local, national and international festivals along the line of competitive sport offered contradicting messages and practices.

Originality/value – The underlying discourses of post-colonial resistance, national identity formation and socio-political agendas are interrogated.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the contributions of women teachers to the war effort at home in Australia and New Zealand and in Egypt and Europe between 1914 and 1918.

Framed as a feminist transnational history, this research paper drew upon extensive primary and secondary source material in order to identify the women teachers. It provides comparative analyses using a thematic approach providing examples of women teachers war work at home and abroad.

Insights are offered into the opportunities provided by the First World War for channelling the abilities and leadership skills of women teachers at home and abroad. Canvassed also are the tensions for German heritage teachers; ideological differences concerning patriotism and pacifism and issues arising from government attitudes on both sides of the Tasman towards women’s war service.

This is likely the only research offering combined Australian–New Zealand analyses of women teacher’s war service, either in support at home in Australia and New Zealand or working as volunteers abroad. To date, the efforts of Australian and New Zealand women teachers have largely gone unrecognised.