Co-creating knowledge on bicycling: a decolonial feminist participatory action research approach to arts-based methods

Abstract

Decolonial scholars have warned against the colonizing tendencies of Western research, in which the deliberate misrepresentation of Indigenous and racialized bodies justifies the exploitation and violence towards these communities (Tuck & Yang, 2012; Smith, 2022). Within the field of qualitative sport research, there is a need for research methodologies that relinquish power from the researcher, into the hands of the research communities (Spaaij et al., 2018). This paper aims to demonstrate the utility of a decolonial feminist participatory action research (PAR) approach to arts-based methods for sport research through an exploration of fieldwork with a Toronto-based bicycle organization. A combination of data collection methods were used, including: 1) arts-based methods; 2) semi-structured interviews; and 3) reflexive journal notes. The results of this project demonstrated that a decolonial feminist PAR approach to arts-based methods can: 1) illuminate the non-human actors within art and bicycling; 2) help research colleagues critique systems of oppression; and 3) facilitate research colleague agency. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the importance of co-creating knowledge within sport scholarship to illuminate the diverse knowledges of those vulnerable to systemic oppression and erasure. This is a novel direction for challenging power relations within sport research and within sociological research more broadly