Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sport: Sporting Literacy, Attenuated Agency, and Survivance

Abstract

In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a long history of involvement in Western sports. Many of these physical activities emanated originally from Britain, Europe, and the United States of America, and some were distinctly Australian. In order to understand this involvement, the concept of sporting literacy is introduced as a way to capture their motivations, the decision-making processes involved, the attenuated agency they possessed, and how sport was a forum for resistance used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to mitigate the power imbalances of settler colonialism. Four examples are examined – written correspondence about sporting opportunities, a strike by Aboriginal footballers, the sport of marching girls, and a rugby league competition organized by Aboriginal people. These case studies are analyzed and understood as what Anishinaabe cultural theorist Gerald Vizenor describes as survivance stories.