Prelims

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Towards a Pacific Island Sociology of Sport

Series Title Page

Research in the Sociology of Sport

Series Editor: Kevin Young

Recent Volumes:

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Research in the Sociology of Sport Volume 22

Towards a Pacific Island Sociology of Sport: Seeking New Horizons

Edited By

Yoko Kanemasu

The University of the South Pacific, Fiji

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL

First edition 2024

Editorial matter and selection © 2024 Yoko Kanemasu.

Individual chapters © 2024 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83753-087-8 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83753-086-1 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83753-088-5 (Epub)

ISSN: 1476-2854 (Series)

About the Editor

Yoko Kanemasu is a Japanese woman who considers Fiji her home. She is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of the South Pacific interested in gender, sexuality, identity, sport and migration, with a focus on the sociopolitical agency of women and non-heteronormative persons in the Pacific. She is the author of Pacific Island Women and Contested Sporting Spaces: Staking their Claim (2023, Routledge).

About the Contributors

Rohini Balram is an arts-based researcher at Western Sydney University (Australia) with the School of Education and the School of Social Sciences. Rohini's research projects centre on gender, ethnicity, race, class and other sociocultural issues surrounding sporting platforms, CALD communities, ageing citizens, people with disabilities, refugees and other minority and marginalised groups. Rohini completed a doctoral dissertation at Western Sydney University in 2022, titled ‘Indo-Fijian women as subversive bodies in Fiji are sporting arenas: An arts based study’.

Niko Besnier is a sociocultural and linguistic anthropologist who has conducted many years of long-term ethnographic fieldwork in the Pacific, particularly in Tuvalu, Tonga and Fiji. He is the author or editor of a dozen books, including The anthropology of sport: Bodies, borders, biopolitics (co-authored with Susan Brownell and Thomas Carter), published in 2018 by the University of California Press and translated in four languages. In 2012–2017, with funding from the European Research Council, he directed a large-scale comparative project entitled ‘Globalisation, Sport, and the Precarity of Masculinity’. He has been employed at numerous institutions in North and South America, Europe, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at La Trobe University.

Tania Cassidy is a Professor in the area of Sport Pedagogy, in the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Tania views sports coaching as a social and educational enterprise as well as one which is culturally bound. She is interested in coach and athlete development, as well as understanding the development of coaching practices which are ethical, inclusive of all ages, abilities and developmental levels. Tania has presented at numerous international conferences and has published in scholarly and professional books and journals. She is the first author of two co-authored texts: Understanding Sports Coaching: The Pedagogical, Social, and Cultural Foundations of Coaching Practice (fourth ed; 2023) and Understanding Strength and Conditioning as Sport Coaching: Bridging the Biophysical, Pedagogical and Sociocultural Foundations of Practice (2020).

Jeremy Dorovolomo is an Associate Professor at the School of Pacific Arts, Communication, and Education, at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. His research interests are in physical education, sports, sport for development and education issues. He had coached soccer at school, college and Solomon Islands senior league levels. He now concentrates on table tennis coaching for national games, the Oceania Championships, the Pacific Games and the Commonwealth Games. He holds a Doctor of Education from Southern Cross University, Australia.

Billy Fitoó is the Director of the Solomon Islands Campus of the University of the South Pacific. Dr Fitoó has vast experience in teaching and leadership at primary, secondary and tertiary education levels. Besides his teaching career, he was the Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Administration and Management in Solomon Islands. His research interests include leadership and citizenship education. He has a PhD in Education from the University of the South Pacific.

Jeremy Hapeta is an Associate Professor of Māori Sport and Oranga (Well-being) at the University of Canterbury's Faculty of Health. Previously, he also held various roles including at the University of Otago as a Senior Lecturer in Māori Physical Education and as Research Development Advisor – Māori, at Massey University's Research and Enterprise Office. Jeremy has a background in rugby both as a professional athlete (in NZ, Japan and France) and coach (Italy and NZ). However, before he embarked on a career in academia, he was also a fully registered teacher and taught at primary school, intermediate and high school level as a classroom Health and PE teacher.

Jorge Knijnik is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Western Sydney University (Australia). He holds a PhD in Social Psychology by Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil). Dr Knijnik's most recent books are: Tales of South American Football: Passion, Revolution and Glory (Fair Play Publishing); Historias Australianas: Cultura, Educação e Esporte do outro lado do mundo (Fontoura); Women's Football in Latin America: Social Challenges and Historical Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan) and The World Cup Chronicles: 31 Days that Rocked Brazil (Fair Play Publishing).

Deacon Manu is an ex-professional rugby player and current international coach. He was born in New Zealand and played for the NZ Māori All Blacks and captained Fiji to a Rugby World Cup. After retiring from playing, he became a coach and worked with various teams, at both club and international levels. He has degrees in Science, Business and Sports Management. Deacon currently continues his academic career at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He has been honoured with two University Blues Awards, prestigious and longstanding accolades in New Zealand. These accolades were bestowed upon him during his time at the University of Waikato and Massey University. Deacon has presented at numerous international conferences across the globe and is also known for his work off the field, advocating for mental health awareness and community development initiatives in his role as Chairman for Pacific Rugby Players.

Lee McGowan is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is a white Scot, a middle-aged cisgender man. His primary research interests are in the intersections of creative writing, sport and community storytelling. His publications include books, journal articles, book chapters, a digital history, fiction and creative non-fiction.

Patrick Miniti is a Lecturer in Physical Education at the Solomon Islands National University, Honiara, Solomon Islands. He has a Bachelor's degree in sports and leisure from the University of Waikato. Very passionate about soccer, he is involved in the development of young players as well as coaching at the senior Solomon Islands football league. He also coaches at the national level such as in the Solomon Islands under-16 women's team.

Gordon Leua Nanau is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Law and Social Sciences, the University of the South Pacific based in Suva, Fiji. Before joining the University of the South Pacific, he had worked for the Guadalcanal Provincial Government and the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education. He has research interests in globalisation, decentralisation, conflict and peacemaking, land tenure, rural development and constitutional development. Dr Nanau holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia, England.

Gary Osmond is an Associate Professor of sport history at the University of Queensland and a former president of the Australian Society for Sports History. He has a long-standing research interest in race and sport, including in the Pacific region, and currently focuses on collaborative community engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. He co-authored (with Matthew Klugman) the book Black and Proud: The Story of an Iconic AFL Photo (2013) and (with Lesley Williams and Murray G. Phillips), Marching with a Mission: Cherbourg's Marching Girls (2022).

Benjamin Sacks is a Lecturer at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia (Whadjuk boodjar). In his current role, he works to develop students' academic skills and conducts associated teaching-focused research. Separately, he draws on his disciplinary training as a historian to examine the social and cultural legacies of empire, processes of cultural adaptation and indigenisation and the history of sport – especially in Oceania and other locales seemingly at the periphery of empire. In particular, much of his research explores the past and present of Oceania's distinctive and varied cricketing cultures.

Dominik Schieder specialises in the anthropology of Fiji and the Fiji diaspora. His research focuses on mobility and migration, sociality, social institutions, politics and sport. He has conducted research in Fiji, Japan, the United Kingdom, India and Australia. Dominik is a researcher and scientific coordinator in the DFG Research Unit 5183 ‘Transborder Mobility and Institutional Dynamics’ and based at the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Siegen. He held postdoctoral positions at Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, and the Frobenius Institute at Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main. He was a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science and research affiliate in the School of Social Sciences at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. Dominik currently serves on the board of the European Society for Oceanists (ESFO).

Katja Siefken is a Professor of Physical Activity and Health at MSH Medical School Hamburg since 2019, focuses on promoting health through physical activity in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in the Pacific Islands. She co-founded the Journal of Sport for Development in 2012, serves as Senior Associate Editor for the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, and advises the WHO on physical activity. Her 2022 book, “Physical Activity in Low- and Middle-Income Countries” (Routledge), explores the link between physical activity, health, and sport-for-health initiatives, advocating for interdisciplinary collaboration. Her research emphasizes advancing global public health through physical activity policy development and implementation to foster sustainable global change, with a broader focus on planetary health and health equity. In her editorial titled “Calling out for Change Makers to Move Beyond Disciplinary Perspectives,” she emphasizes the necessity of bridging the gap between the research domains of physical activity and sport for development.

Jack Sugden is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Business and Law at Liverpool John Moores University. Jack has 11 years of experience working in the sport management and development field and has led, coordinated and researched sport for development and peace projects in Israel/Palestine, South Africa, West Africa, Jordan, Northern Ireland, Fiji and Colombia. Jack has a PhD from the University of Technology Sydney Business School, where his work on Sport and Integration in Fiji received the Sport Management for Australia and New Zealand (SMAANZ) research award. His research interests lie in sport, power and politics, and his ongoing work in sport for social change through Football for Peace International and the Fans Supporting Foodbanks movement. Jack is a regular speaker at international conferences on sport sociology, management and governance. He leads a transnational research team that is gathering data and advocacy in the push for reform in international sporting relations.

Kasey Symons is a Lecturer of Communication – Sports Media at Deakin University in Melbourne. Kasey also works in the media as a sports writer and is a co-founder of the women in sport collective, Siren Sport.

Chelsey Taylor is a PhD candidate at Swinburne University of Technology and works with sporting organisations for social impact and social change. As a White, New-Zealand/Australian, cis-gender woman whose research (and work) interests include decolonising sport with a particular focus on sport for women and girls. Taylor’s work has included bringing together insight and research with sport programmes across the Pacific.

Aue Te Ava is a Lecturer in Physical Education, Sport and Health at Massey University – Manawatu Campus in Palmerston North of New Zealand. Prior to moving to Palmerston North, Dr Aue was involved in the coordination and development of the Physical Education major at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. Dr Aue's research interests are Indigenous/Pasifika health and well-being, culturally responsive approaches to physical education, sport for development, teacher education and traditional sports and games.

Thomas Wanner is a Political Ecologist working in the field of international development. Dr Wanner is a Senior Lecturer in the department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. His research and teaching interests concentrate on the political economy of international environment and development issues with a particular focus on international environmental governance, Sustainable Development Goals, gender and development, climate change adaptation and international development through sport. He has published his work in high-quality journals such as the Australian Journal of International Affairs, Asian Studies Review and New Political Economy. Thomas is a strong believer of sport as an instrument to achieve human development and physical and emotional well-being.