Settler Colonialism, Sport, and Recreation

Settler Colonialism, Sport, and Recreation interrogates the interconnections between settler colonialism and sport, recreation, and physical activity, theorizing sport as a site of ongoing colonial violence and a vital space of resistance, refusal, and reterritorialization. Laurendeau explains that settler colonialism is not a relic of the past moment but an ongoing genocidal project in still-settling states as they perpetually work to claim ownership of and authority over stolen lands as part of a project of capital accumulation. Moreover, Laurendeau highlights settler colonialism is a fundamentally relational project, structuring the lives not only of Indigenous peoples but of all who live in occupied territories. Drawing primarily but not exclusively on examples unfolding on lands claimed by Canada, Laurendeau explains that sport and recreation constitute a critical cultural space that produces and/or challenges ideas about bodies, relationships, belonging, nationhood, sovereignty, and more.