Examining the Use of Postcolonial Management Theory in Sport Management Education: Strategies to Enhance Student Learning of Colonial Histories and Challenge Dominant Ideologies

Abstract

There remains limited work that examines the use of postcolonial theory in sport management, and even less so in sport management education. The purpose of this paper is to outline a performative approach, guided by postcolonial management theory, and its utilization within sport management classrooms. The paper highlights two forms of performativity—critical and progressive—and identifies and discusses specific pedagogies that educators may adopt for student learning about the dominance of Westernized understandings of management and organizations. Integrating a postcolonial management theory, performative approach in sport management education in conjunction with socially just pedagogies seeks to acknowledge and disrupt a reliance on Westernized ideologies. The paper concludes by discussing the significance of postcolonial management theory for sport management education.