Race, ethnicity and Indigeneity – challenges and opportunities for embracing diversity in sport

Abstract

This issue of the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Journal was conceived as an outcome of the conference Sport, Race and Ethnicity: Building a Global Understanding, which was staged by the University of Technology Sydney from 30 Nov – 2 Dec 2008.1 The event was organised in partnership with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, and supported by the School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism, UTS Kuring-gai and the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre at UTS. The conference was opened by Graeme Innes (AM), Australian Human Rights Commissioner and Disability Discrimination Commissioner, and the Honourable Laurie Ferguson, Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services. The third day of the symposium featured an AHRC led ‘Sport and Cultural Diversity Forum’, chaired by Paul Oliver, author of the 2007 report What’s the Score? A Survey of Cultural Diversity and Racism in Australian Sport,2 and David Peachey, a Wiradjuri man who is best known for his contribution to rugby league football and his commitment to young Aboriginal people through the David Peachey Foundation.3 The eighty speakers at the conference included Indigenous peoples from Australia, New Zealand and Canada, together with people of different colour, ancestry and religion from places as diverse as North America, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Brazil and South-East Asia.