These are the stories of our physical activities: Decolonial re-existence and poetry

Abstract

In this paper, I aim to disseminate the knowledge that was generated during participatory art-based action research on which I collaborated with a group of young Afghan asylum seekers in Sweden. The focus of the research was the lived experiences of the youth in relation to sport and physical activity. I have chosen a narrative poem that I crafted using vox participare (voices of participants) (Norton & Sliep, 2019) to do this work. In this way, I have grounded the dissemination of our research in the shared epistemology of our peoples, the Khorasani peoples of central/western Asia. By adopting the persona of شاعر (the poet) (Olszewska, 2015), and by writing in a reflective manner that does not obscure my own privilege, I work towards decolonising the process of research and knowledge generation as it relates to sport. I attempt to show how Afghan youth re-make sport (and physical activity) in ways that re-create conditions of dignity for themselves and their community in their everyday living. In this way, I aim to disrupt the dominant understandings about what sport is, what it is supposed to do, and how it can be utilised by those who are living with social injustices.