As two of the authors whose work is evaluated in Lindsey and Grattan’s paper, Darnell and Hayhurst offer a rejoinder. While suggesting that Lindsey and Grattan’s analyses are important and insightful, Darnell and Hayhurst argue that their work is best viewed as complementary to the critical analyses of northern-led development and neoliberalism provided by Lindsey and Grattan.
Drawing on their fieldwork and experiences in researching sport for development, some of the key arguments made by Darnell and Hayhurst include:
- A renewed commitment to the issues of power and resistance in the mobilization of sport to meet international development goals must be made
- More attention should be paid in trying to achieve a balance between ‘local aspects and global influences’ in sport for development and peace, without privileging one over the other
- Using decolonizing, feminist-oriented, participatory action research (PAR) may provide a means through which to reinvigorate the SDP research agenda in a more positive, socially charged and meaningful way
Their paper concludes by suggesting that Lindsey and Grattan’s study has ignited a critical conversation for considering a ‘place-based struggle’ in SDP, but one that is attuned to such struggles as they are produced and constrained within the global politics of unequal development.
Finally, in addition to making sense of local actions, scholars should also connect and communicate such understandings of sport-for-development in ways that challenge or contribute to broader structures of knowledge and power on a global scale.
Both articles are currently available for free from The International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics
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