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Using data collected from 4 months of ethnographic research that was conducted during the summer of 2002, this article examines the complexity inherent in anthropological investigations of “tradition,” and also the multiplicity of ways that traditions are looked at by residents of Sambaa K’e and Dene Games organizers in the Northwest Territories. By exploring different interpretations of traditional Dene Games, the role of women in such games, and the ideological positions that have contributed to these interpretations, the ways in whichß certain understandings of tradition are privileged over others are elucidated.

This article examines the piloting of a cultural safety training module in the Canadian Red Cross’s (CRC’s) Water Safety Instructor Development Program. Thematic analysis of interviews with program participants and facilitators revealed two main themes: Inclusion is important and valued by instructors, and accommodation for cultural and ethnic diversity is difficult to achieve in aquatics settings. Doherty and Chelladurai’s (1999) framework was used to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the pilot module. In conclusion, the authors propose that cultural safety training for the instructors alone will not lead to the provision of culturally safe sport; rather, there needs to be a change in the overall organizational culture in which the CRC’s programs are offered if they are to succeed. These findings make three contributions to the literature. First, the authors bridge the existing bodies of literature on critical Whiteness theory and sport management literature that addresses the management of diversity. Second, the authors explore the novel application of cultural safety training for instructors of a sport program. Finally, the authors offer recommendations to enable the development of an organizational culture that is facilitative and supportive with respect to inclusion (i.e., is welcoming) and accommodation (i.e., is flexible and adaptable) of cultural and ethnic diversity in aquatics programming.

This research note examines Golf Digest’s depictions of gender through the publication’s portrayals of women in its 2008 issues. Through the use of intersectional theory and critical discourse analysis of the contents within Golf Digest, we found that despite its emerging use of women columnists and content concerning women in articles or advertisements, the magazine mainly reproduced dominant images about white, wealthy, heterosexual women athletes. In particular, we argue that the magazine often reinforces exclusionary attitudes toward women golfers by maintaining systems of privilege and oppression that benefit wealthy, white, heterosexual males. As such, we focus on gender as the most visible intersectional identity with white males, and discuss how including mainly white, wealthy, heterosexual women also conveys messages about other women’s involvement in golf.

Indigenous women’s perspectives on physical activity and the ways in which it fosters decolonization have yet to be considered from an Indigenous feminist perspective. Therefore, in this paper, we present four Anishinaabekweg (that is, Anishinaabeg women’s) dibaajimowinan (personal stories) of physical activity, specifically running, and their views on its contribution to decolonization. This study used an Anishinaabeg research paradigm, storytelling, and Anishinaabeg informed thematic analysis. Findings from the dibaajimowinan revealed three themes: running as ceremony and healing; the significance of running as a group; and running for health and personal goals. The dibaajimowinan from the Anishinaabekweg runners show how decolonization through physical activity can occur, which is an important addition to the field of sociology of sport.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 Calls to Action identified societal measures necessary for a successful reconciliation process between Indigenous peoples and settlers in Canada, five of which were specific to sport. Half a decade after the Calls to Action were published, the response by national sport organizations in Canada has escaped scholarly attention. Through a lens informed by settler colonial studies, the authors employed summative content analysis to examine the ways, if any, in which national sport organizations in Canada have implemented relevant Calls to Action. The results indicate a lack of response by most national sport organizations which, we argue, represents settler silence.

More elite female distance runners are opting to have children during their athletic careers. Despite this, there is a dearth of information regarding pregnancy and physical activity for elite level athletes. Further, current pregnancy physical activity guidelines are not relevant for this population`s needs. Two research questions frame this study: are elite female distance runners’ pregnancy informational needs being met?; where do they seek and find trustworthy advice on physical activity during pregnancy? Open-ended, semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 women who experienced at least one pregnancy within the past five years, had achieved a minimum of the USA Track and Field 2012 Olympic Team marathon trials ‘B’ entry standard or equivalent performances for distance running events 1,500m or longer. The participants had between one—three children, hail from five countries and participated in 14 Olympic Games and 72 World Championships. Utilizing poststructuralist feminist theory and thematic analysis, our findings revealed that the participants received advice from three main sources, both in person and online: medical professionals, coaches, and other elite female distance runners. However, we found that they also received unsolicited advice and comments from community members where they lived. The participants identified fellow elite female distance runners as the most reliable and trustworthy sources of information, followed by medical professionals, then coaches. Ultimately, the women revealed a lack of formal sources they could turn to for trustworthy advice about how to have a safe and healthy pregnancy while continuing to train at a high intensity. These results illuminate the need to meet female elite athletes’ informational needs in terms of well-being during pregnancy.

Over the past two decades, significant policy shifts within Canada have urged corporations from all sectors, including the extractives industry, to fund and support sport for development (SFD) programming in Indigenous communities, often through corporate social responsibility strategies. The idea that sport is an appropriate tool of development for Indigenous communities in Canada and that the extractives industry is a suitable partner to implement development programs highlight profound tensions regarding ongoing histories of resource extraction and settler colonialism. To explore these tensions, in this paper, the authors drew on interviews conducted with extractives industry representatives of four companies that fund and implement such SFD programs. From these interviews, three overarching discourses emerged in relation to the extractives industry’s role in promoting development through sport: SFD is a catalyst to positive relationships between industry and community, SFD is a contributor to “social good” in Indigenous communities, and extractives industry funding of SFD is “socially responsible.”

Several female athletes have recently challenged the long-standing assumption that pregnancy/parenthood (particularly motherhood) and participation in elite-level sport are mutually exclusive. These women’s actions have elicited change across the elite athletics industry and have sparked a need for further research to understand how elite athlete-parents perceive these shifts. We used feminist poststructuralist theory, feminist participatory action research, and semistructured interviews to explore the perspectives of 21 pregnant and parenting elite/international and world-class athletes (11 women and 10 men) on the developing degree of acceptance of parenthood in elite athletics. Through feminist poststructuralist discourse analysis, we identified that, despite considerable recent advancements, there is still a need for continued change in the degree to which pregnant/parenting elite athletes are accepted and supported within elite athletics.

Much of the research on Indigenous youth’s sport has focused on the barriers that they experience in accessing opportunities for participation. What remains underexplored is the idea that nonparticipation might actually reflect Indigenous youth’s deliberate refusal of Euro-Canadian sport. In making this argument, first, we connect Indigenous theories of refusal to Indigenous youth sport participation in Canada. Second, we examine the researcher’s role in reproducing colonialism in sport studies. Third, we apply examples of Indigenous refusal of sport. We conclude by discerning the central tensions of the topic and areas for future study. This paper is a call for researchers to study refusal, not only as an act by Indigenous youth, but also as a method that researchers can use in refusing to reproduce colonial representations of Indigenous youth.