Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

In this paper, I aim to disseminate the knowledge that was generated during a participatory art-based action research that I collaborated on with a group of young Afghan asylum seekers in Sweden. The focus of the research was the lived experiences of the youth in relation to sport and physical activity. I have chosen a narrative poem which I crafted using vox participare [voices of participants] (Norton & Sliep, 2019) to do this work. In this way I have grounded the dissemination of our research in the shared epistemology of our peoples, the Khorasani peoples of central/western Asia. By adopting the persona of شاعر [the poet] (Olszewska, 2015) and by writing in a reflective manner that does not obscure my own privilege, I work towards decolonising the process of research and knowledge generation as it relates to the field of sport. I attempt to show how the Afghan youth re-make sport (and physical activity) in ways that re-create conditions of dignity for themselves and their community in their everyday living. In this way, I aim to disrupt the dominant understandings about what sport is, what it is supposed to do and how it can be utilised by those who are living with social injustices.