Robert J. Schinke

In Indigenous Words: Exploring Vignettes as a Narrative Strategy for Presenting the Research Voices of Aboriginal Community Members

Recently, awareness within academia has grown regarding the incompatibilities of mainstream research with indigenous cultures as well as the historical injustices that have accrued through colonizing practices. Accordingly, support for alternative (non-Westernized) research approaches has been increasing. Participatory action research (PAR) and cultural praxis reflect two approaches where researchers advocate for a movement toward cultural inclusivity. Both approaches have been integrated within the current work amongst mainstream academics and Aboriginal community members in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The purpose of the current project was to empower Aboriginal coresearchers to share their voices regarding research, grounded within their lived experiences and the surrounding cultural context. Vignettes were developed as a method for presenting each Aboriginal coresearcher’s story in their “own words.” In this article, vignettes are explored as a potential method for centralizing indigenous voices and ultimately enabling PAR and praxis.

ISSP Position Stand: Culturally competent research and practice in sport and exercise psychology

The multicultural landscape of contemporary sport sets a challenge to rethink sport and exercise psychology research and practice through a culturally reflexive lens. This ISSP Position Stand provides a rigorous synthesis and engagement with existing scholarship to outline a roadmap for future work in the field. The shift to culturally competent sport and exercise psychology implies: (a) recognizing hidden ethnocentric philosophical assumptions permeating much of the current theory, research, and practice; (b) transitioning to professional ethics in which difference is seen as not inherent and fixed but as relational and fluid; and (c) focusing on meaning (instead of cause) in cross-cultural and cultural research projects, and cultural praxis work. In the paper, we first provide an overview of the concepts of cultural competence and ethics of difference. Second, we present a step-by-step approach for developing a culturally competent project rooted either within cross-cultural or cultural research. Third, we focus on cultural praxis as a project that blends theory, research, and lived culture of practice. Finally, we summarize main points in nine postulates and provide recommendations for enhancing cultural competence in the field of sport and exercise psychology.

Toward Cultural Praxis and Cultural Sensitivity: Strategies for Self-Reflexive Sport Psychology Practice

Sport psychology researchers have recently focused their attention onto the topic of culture. Their recent findings have begun to be utilized by sport psychology practitioners to increase cross-cultural understandings and deliver culturally sensitized sport services. However, such practices are on the fringes of applied sport psychology. Our intent is to show how reflective practices and self-reflexivity (i.e., forms of introspection) of sport psychology consultants can contribute toward understanding cultural diversity issues in sport. An example in the form of a confessional tale from one of the authors consulting experiences with an Indigenous athlete will then be presented to illustrate non-reflective vs. reflective practices, and how each constrains vs. augments cultural sensitivity. We conclude with future considerations for sport psychology consultants.

Acculturation in elite sport: a thematic analysis of immigrant athletes and coaches

Abstract To identify key issues concerning the acculturation of immigrant athletes in sport psychology, a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was conducted on focus group interview data from immigrant elite athletes relocated to Canada (n = 13) and coaches working with such athletes (n = 10). Two central themes were identified: (a) navigating two world views which referred to acculturation as a fluid process where athletes navigated between cultural norms of the home community and the host community, and (b) acculturation loads, which referred to whether immigrants and those in the host country shared acculturation (i.e., acculturation as a two-way process) or managed the load with or without support from others (i.e., acculturation as one-directional). Each of these central themes comprised sub-themes, which provided further insight into the experiences of acculturation for immigrant elite athletes. From the project, the authors recommend further research utilising case studies to provide a holistic description of the acculturation process from the vantage of various people within the sport context.

Methodology as a ritualized Eurocentrism: Introduction to the special issue

As we revise this introduction, a wave of backlash against migrant workers is spreading in Europe. Daily news of (illegal) immigration and increasing incidents of xenophobia, racism, and violence make BBC World News. The need for understanding cultural difference and tackling discrimination in all forms cannot be greater than at the time when our “global village” is spiraling down the economic recession. Academic scholarship is one of the venues to stimulate interest in challenging issues of shifting identities, competing belongingnesss, and contested cultures that have forcefully emerged as the result of geopolitical remapping of the world. This special issue examines questions of difference in relation to our research practices as a means of promoting ethical and moral engagement with those who are not part of the privileged sociocultural space.

The progressive integration of Canadian indigenous culture within a sport psychology bicultural research team

Abstract Within the sport psychology community there is a growing interest regarding how to engage in culturally sensitive (and also relevant) research. A research collaboration among Laurentian University and Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve is reflected through indigenous strategies relevant in the intended community, including negotiation and consensus building, talking circles, culturally relevant analyses, active co‐authoring, and overarching considerations that support de‐colonization. Within this report we have shared our progressive integration of Wikwemikongs cultural practices in successive multicultural projects. We have also proposed how, from our regional experiences in Near Northern Ontario (Canada), collaborators from other marginalized and mainstream communities might begin engaging in reflective bicultural sport psychology research while developing long‐standing positive relations

Informal roles on sport teams

Informal roles evolve as a result of the interactions that take place among members of a group. To date, limited research has focused on these types of roles in sport. The objectives of the present study were three-fold. The first objective was to identify and describe informal roles in a sport setting, as determined by a content analysis of Sports Illustrated magazine. Initial support was found for 10 informal roles and input from an expert in group dynamics and 10 team sport athletes contributed two additional roles. The second objective was to examine the context in which these informal roles were described. It was found that the informal roles were discussed in reference to individual (e.g., satisfaction) and group (e.g., cohesion) contexts. The final objective was to query athletes regarding the validity, comprehensiveness, and utility of the identified roles. On average, three informal roles were perceived as having a detrimental effect to team functioning while nine were perceived as beneficial for sport teams.

Moving beyond words: exploring the use of an arts-based method in Aboriginal community sport research

In recognising the limitations of verbally based research methods for understanding and capturing the multidimensionality of lived experience, arts-based methods have been gaining ground within the social sciences. These methods embrace emotional, sensory, embodied and imaginative ways of knowing that lend to richer knowledge production and communication processes. Yet, these methods are rarely used in sport research. The purpose of the current project was to explore an arts-based method as a tool to facilitate participatory action research (PAR) and generate locally resonant knowledge about the sport experiences of Aboriginal community members in north-eastern Ontario, Canada. Mandala drawings were used to embrace an Indigenous epistemology and open up a culturally affirming space for Aboriginal athletes to share their experiences of sport relocation. Conversational interviews were then used to facilitate deeper understandings of the athletes’ mandalas. The images contributed towards community action on two levels: (1) they affirmed a need for athletes to feel connected to their cultural community during relocation, therein reinforcing local efforts to support relocated athletes; and (2) they served as a resource for educating and inspiring other aspiring young athletes. The strengths and challenges of arts-based methods are discussed in relation to PAR. It is concluded that arts-based methods offer potential for community-based sport research, as these methods open up a diversity of art forms which can be adopted to reflect localised PAR processes and ways of knowing.

Pathways for community research in sport and physical activity: criteria for consideration

This paper focuses on how researchers might approach judging community scholarship and what criteria might be used to evaluate this work. It is suggested that rather than adopting a criteriologist approach that proposes pre-established, permanent and universal criteria, a relativist approach is more suitable for making fair and informed judgments about the quality of research. This approach proposes that criteria should be viewed as lists of characterising traits that are open to reinterpretation as times, conditions and purposes change. Informed by a relativist approach to validity, a list of criteria to evaluate community scholarship coupled with recommendations for application is offered for consideration.

Praxis and community‐level sport programming strategies in a Canadian aboriginal reserve

Abstract From national statistics, it has been indicated that Canadian Aboriginal youth are overrepresented in lower health demographics than the rest of the national population, suffering from higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart problems. When Schinke, Michel, and colleagues (2006) engaged in preliminary research with elite Aboriginal athletes, the participants expressed a cultural struggle related to retaining Aboriginal youth in sport programming. The athletes proposed modifying programming strategies to account for attrition. Herein, mainstream academics partnered with Aboriginal community members to address this concern. Talking circles and a decision‐making consensus were employed. Emergent themes included integrating elders, promoting Aboriginal role models, and developing a broader volunteer base. This manuscript is authored to elucidate, from the words of the Wikwemikong, how culturally relevant sport programming will be reconsidered in their Reserve