Negotiating participation: African refugee and migrant women’s experiences of football

Abstract

This study sought to better understand the ways in which African women negotiate and navigate multilevel contexts and social forces throughout their migration and resettlement, in the pursuit of their football passion. The research utilized a narrative design to interview eleven women, aged between 18 and 24 years old, living in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia (SA). Bronfenbrenner’s Person-Process-Context-Time Social Ecological model was employed to identify the interrelated personal and environmental layers that influence the women’s experiences of football over time. The experiences of the women in the study highlight the cultural, religious and gendered intersections that influenced their football participation throughout pre-migration and post-migration. The women in the study demonstrated that although they were subject to varying degrees of socio-cultural pressure and experienced bi-cultural tension, they were able to draw on resources and skills to successfully negotiate their football participation.