Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk: Defining Critical Race Theory in Research

This paper focuses on what constitutes a Critical Race Theory (CRT) methodology. Over the last decade there has been a noticeable growth in published works citing CRT in the UK. This has led to an increase in practical research projects utilising CRT as their framework. It is clear that research on ‘race’ is an emerging topic of study recently encapsulated by the work of Seidman (2004), Bulmer and Solomos (2004), Gunaratnam (2003), Denzin and Giardina (2006; 2007), Tuhiwai Smith (2006), and Denzin, Lincoln and TuhiwaiSmith (2008). What is less visible is a debate on how CRT is positioned in relation to the ‘nexus of methodic practice, substantive theory and epistemological underpinnings that is a methodology (Harvey 1990:1). These philosophical, ethical, and practical questions are initially considered here by examining the notions of ontology, epistemology and methodology before practical considerations of recognising, framing and applying CRT research methodologies are explored

Local Government, ‘Race’ and Sports Policy Implementation: Demystifying Equal Opportunities in Local Government.

ABSTRACT This thesis takes as its starting point the position that equal opportunities as a concept and practice have been conceptualised and operationalised inconsistently in local government (Nanton 1989, Young 1990, 1992, Bagilhole 1997). As a result the PhD investigated the appreciative contexts and ideologies that underpinned the assumptive worlds of those who influence policy and practice in sport in three local authorities in Northshire. Operationalising a critical ‘race’ standpoint (CRT) the study critically examined the views of senior officers and councillors in local authority sport utilising Young’s (1977, 1979) assumptive worlds framework. This research was based upon a two-phase investigation. The first phase involved a multi-site case study, which took place in North City, West Town and South City between 1996 and 1998. In a similar fashion to Stone’s (1988) single case study investigation into local authority equal opportunities strategies for women employees, they were intended to clarify and crystallise the everyday pressures and assumptions underpinning equal opportunities and ‘race’ within local authority sport. The agenda for the multi-site case study was to interrogate the values and assumptions that underpinned equal opportunities and race-equality for fifteen senior officers and nine councillors. In tandem with the local government case studies the second phase was an ethnography that involved an observation and analysis of the black sports pressure group VBES. The group was followed from its inception in 1996 until it became a significant agent within the sports policy network in Northshire in 2000. VBES contributed the black perspective from outside the local authorities. Consequently, Voluntary Black and Ethnic Sport’s links and associations over the years were a clear barometer of how effective equalities work was developing in specific authorities across the region. Three dominant themes emerged out of the study of the local authorities and evidence of them found expression in the activities of VBES. These themes were the conceptual confusion surrounding equal opportunities and race-equality, the policy tensions caused by individual appreciations and interpretations of policy, and the colour blindness that ignores wider issues of ‘race’. The themes aggregated to represent the core processes that affect each authority’s ability to effectively tackle race-equality in sport. Conceptual confusions, policy tensions and colour-blindness, that enwrapped the assumptive worlds of each authority, effectively led to policy implementation gaps between their promise and practice. The marginalisation of ‘race’ from mainstream provision has resulted in the ambiguity that Young (1990, 1992) warned against and in the lack of leadership that was the focus of Ouseley’s (1990) analysis. Ultimately there are issues that need to be managed in local government about how race-equality in sport is to be translated from policy to practice

Systematic Review of the Literature on Black and Minority Ethnic Communities in Sport and Physical Recreation

The Carnegie Research Institute was commissioned by Sporting Equals and the Sports Councils to conduct an independent systematic review of the literature on participation in sport and recreation by Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. The brief was to focus on UK material from the past ten years, to compile an electronic, bibliographic database and use that evidence to assess the policy significance of existing knowledge in the drive to widen and increase participation. Although the field might still be considered under-researched over 300 items were identified. Judgements were made on the quality of the research on the basis of the methodological and theoretical soundness and the credibility of the link between the conclusions and the data. The various items were collated in an electronic, bibliographic database and coded as: substantive research of good quality; related public statistics and policy documents; and other related materials of interest. The research, policy and practice contained in this body of work is set within an expanding national and international framework of policy and legislation concerned with human rights and principles of equality. The Sports Councils and Sporting Equals have played a significant part in this through initiatives like the Equality Standard. They have not been acting in isolation, but have received support from other sports bodies with initiatives both to challenge discrimination and inequality and to promote participation and inclusion. Nonetheless, there still seems to be a measure of disconnection between research, sports policies and equality policies. Indeed, sports policies are sometimes based on limited representations of racism and so are inhibited in the way they address racial equality

Space for inclusion? The Construction of Sport and Leisure Spaces as Places for Migrant Communities

The research on which this paper is based started from the proposition that sport and leisure spaces can support processes of social inclusion (Amara et al., 2005), yet may also serve to exclude certain groups. As such, these spaces may be seen as contested and racialised places that shape behaviour. We shall use this paper not just to explore how those spaces are perceived by new migrants, but how those interpretations may vary with time and processes of social change. That involves examining how sport and leisure spaces are encoded in different ways, thereby affecting people’s experience, while at the same time recognising that their sport and leisure practices shape those social constructions. We argue that such an understanding is necessary to inform policies and practices that could promote the development of mutual and shared spaces rather than disconnected multiple occupations of spaces. Our goal is not only to contribute to the development of theory, but also to the debate that has counterposed multiculturalism and integrationism. Our recent systematic review, conducted for Sporting Equals and the sports councils (Long et al., 2009), synthesised literature on participation in sport and physical recreation by people from Black and Minority Ethnic Communities (BME) in the UK. That review identified a growing body of research, but one focussing primarily on the experiences of Black and Asian groupings. That has led us to turn to a consideration of new migrant communities. In this paper we shall be reporting on empirical research conducted with ‘new migrants’ now living in Leeds