Moving toward trust and partnership: an example of sport-related community-based participatory action research with Aboriginal people and mainstream academics

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the authors own assumptions made as academics using two examples from a research project with an Aboriginal community. The first attempt features a project that silenced the community. Later work engaged the community through tenets of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and a sport development project (SDP). Design/methodology/approach - This project explores a shift from a mainstream qualitative approach steeped in post-positivism to a de-colonizing methodology which opened up a space for a SDP. Findings - Mainstream research methodologies tend to silence marginalized communities and overlook local cultural practices. Effective community programming requires extensive consultation, and an approach that centralizes local voices. Research limitations/implications - Current understandings are limited to one Aboriginal Reserve. Practical implications - Recommendations are proposed concerning how researchers might embark on practices that support the reversal of colonization and improve relations among people from two cultures previously in conflict. SDP initiatives and applied sport research grounded in CBPR are proposed as conduits to bettering relations among cultures in conflict. Originality/value - The reader is provided with an example of how to attain goals of SDP at the local level through cultural praxis and a CBPR methodology.