Lords of the square ring: Future capital and career transition issues for elite indigenous Australian boxers

Stronach, MM; Adair, D

Lords of the square ring: Future capital and career transition issues for elite indigenous Australian boxers

Stronach, MM

Adair, D

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Publisher:: UTS ePress
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Jo..., 2010, 2 (2), pp. 46 - 70
Issue Date:: 2010-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Stronach, MM https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5045-409X	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Adair, D https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7998-3414	en_US
dc.date.issued	2010-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Jo..., 2010, 2 (2), pp. 46 - 70	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1837-5391	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/15938
dc.description.abstract	In Australia a serious and widely documented statistical gap exists between the socio-economic circumstances of the countrys Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. Areas of divergence include life expectancy, health, housing, income, and educational opportunity and employment. This has made career attainment problematic for most Aboriginal people. Among male Indigenous people, professional sport is portrayed as one of the few realms in which they can prosper. This is particularly true in the major football codes Australian Rules and rugby league and a feature of elite-level boxing, where Indigenous fighters are also statistically over-represented. However, while sport has provided opportunities for a small number of talented Indigenous athletes, it has rarely been a pathway to lifelong prosperity. This paper contends that as a result of over-reliance on an abundant bank of physical capital, Indigenous Australian boxers are particularly vulnerable to potential occupational obsolescence should their bodily assets erode more quickly than envisaged. Drawing on an Indigenous concept, Dadirri, to inform a wider interpretive phenomenological approach, the paper examines retirement experiences of fourteen elite male Indigenous Australian boxers; the goal of this research is to understand their post-sport career decision making. In this respect, Pierre Bourdieus concepts of habitus, capital and field are utilised to frame and interpret the capacity of Indigenous boxers to develop sustainable career pathways which we describe as future capital during their time as elite athletes.	en_US
dc.publisher	UTS ePress	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Jo...	en_US
dc.title	Lords of the square ring: Future capital and career transition issues for elite indigenous Australian boxers	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	2	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
utslib.for	15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services	en_US
utslib.for	16 Studies in Human Society	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	2	en_US
pubs.volume	2	en_US

Abstract:

In Australia a serious and widely documented statistical gap exists between the socio-economic circumstances of the countrys Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. Areas of divergence include life expectancy, health, housing, income, and educational opportunity and employment. This has made career attainment problematic for most Aboriginal people. Among male Indigenous people, professional sport is portrayed as one of the few realms in which they can prosper. This is particularly true in the major football codes Australian Rules and rugby league and a feature of elite-level boxing, where Indigenous fighters are also statistically over-represented. However, while sport has provided opportunities for a small number of talented Indigenous athletes, it has rarely been a pathway to lifelong prosperity. This paper contends that as a result of over-reliance on an abundant bank of physical capital, Indigenous Australian boxers are particularly vulnerable to potential occupational obsolescence should their bodily assets erode more quickly than envisaged. Drawing on an Indigenous concept, Dadirri, to inform a wider interpretive phenomenological approach, the paper examines retirement experiences of fourteen elite male Indigenous Australian boxers; the goal of this research is to understand their post-sport career decision making. In this respect, Pierre Bourdieus concepts of habitus, capital and field are utilised to frame and interpret the capacity of Indigenous boxers to develop sustainable career pathways which we describe as future capital during their time as elite athletes.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/15938