Performative Pedagogy and the Creation of Desire: The Indigenous Athlete/Role Model and Implications for Learning

Stella Coram

doi:10.1017/S1326011100004427

Authors

Stella Coram Monash University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1326011100004427

Abstract

The athlete role model has emerged as the new pastor invested with the task of leading young people classed “at-risk” from entering into self-destructive pathways. The logic invested in the athlete role model is that young people identify with their sporting heroes and in the process try to emulate them. This holds for the major sporting codes in Australia including the Australian Football League (AFL), which supports the formation of role model programmes based on the input of Indigenous athletes to target Indigenous youth living in rural outposts. Armstrong (1996) sees the push to emulate the deeds of elite athletes in terms of a mythic function, the creation of desire to be like the hero. This article explores the theoretical implications for Indigenous learning grounded in the athlete/hero as role model. It is proposed that the athlete role model in the contemporary context of capitalism can work to obscure the realities of competition in sport and in the process promulgate false opportunity through sport at the expense of education.

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