More Than a Name: The Importance of Cultural Names and Identity in Professional Sport

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aut.relation.journalInternational Journal of the Sociology of Leisure
dc.contributor.authorBorell, Phillip
dc.contributor.authorEnari, Dion
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-12T01:22:08Z
dc.date.available2024-06-12T01:22:08Z
dc.date.issued2024-06-12
dc.description.abstractIndigenous athletes have long been subject to racism throughout sporting systems. Such examples include being racially abused by opposition athletes and fans. For Indigenous peoples, their names carry their identity and history of generations; connecting them to their ancestors. Sadly, in some instances their esteemed names and identities have been bastardised intentionally. One incident includes an influential sport commentator making fun of an Indigenous name on air. Her inability to pronounce Indigenous names and their defensive mechanism of making fun of them, has added to the ongoing mistreatment of Indigenous athletes in sport. Another incident involving a highly regarded, sport coach, echoed racist behaviour by renaming an Indigenous athlete in his new team; because he did not want to learn how to pronounce his name, a name given to the athlete by his parents and gifted by his tūpuna (ancestors). These high profile examples demonstrate an ignorance to properly acknowledge the demographic who make up almost half of the playing contracts in this sport. This article will draw from the research of two Indigenous sport academics to address the importance of Indigenous identity for athletes as well as pushing-back against racism in professional sport. We advocate for the inclusion of our ancestral wisdom and the honouring of our names be etched in the fabric of professional sport.
dc.identifier.citationInternational Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, ISSN: 2520-8683 (Print); 2520-8691 (Online), Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi: 10.1007/s41978-024-00160-6
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s41978-024-00160-6
dc.identifier.issn2520-8683
dc.identifier.issn2520-8691
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10292/17643
dc.languageen
dc.publisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC
dc.relation.urihttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41978-024-00160-6
dc.rightsOpen Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccess
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.titleMore Than a Name: The Importance of Cultural Names and Identity in Professional Sport
dc.typeJournal Article
pubs.elements-id556232
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