[Review] Ellen van Neerven, Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity. University of Queensland Press, 2023. 384 pp.

Authors

  • Asha Steer University of Melbourne

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.60162/swamphen.11.21206

Keywords:

book review, Ellen van Neerven, Indigenous identity, sport, queer identity

Abstract

This is a review of Ellen van Neerven's book Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity.

Author Biography

  • Asha Steer, University of Melbourne

    Asha is a Barkandji woman, currently living and working on Wurundjeri Woiwurrung Country and undertaking a Doctor of Philosophy in Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on the racialisation of Indigenous women in sport, with emphasis on the everyday stereotyping of Indigenous women’s physicality and intellect. This research fits with Asha’s academic interests of sport, critical race theory, feminism and gender studies. 

References

Carlson, Bronwyn, Tristan Kennedy, and Andrew Farrell. “Indigenous Gender Intersubjectivities: Political Bodies.” The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology. Eds Maggie Walter, Tahu Kukutai, Angela A. Gonzales and Robert Henry. Oxford UP, 2022, pp. 415–433.

Coram, Stella. “Race Formations (Evolutionary Hegemony) and the `Aping’ of the Australian Indigenous Athlete.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport 42.4 (December 2007): 391–409. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690208089833.

Coram, Stella and Chris Hallinan. “Critical Race Theory and the Orthodoxy of Race Neutrality: Examining the Denigration of Adam Goodes.” Australian Aboriginal Studies 1.1 (2017): 99–111. https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.907032851637853.

Farquharson, Karen and Timothy Marjoribanks. “Representing Australia: Race, the Media and Cricket.” Journal of Sociology 42.1 (March 2006): 25–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783306061351.

Foley, Carmel, Tracy Taylor and Hazel Maxwell. “Gender and Cultural Diversity in Australian Sport.” Sport and Challenges to Racism. Eds. Jonathan Long and Karl Spracklen. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp. 167-182. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230305892_11.

Hallinan, Chris and Barry Judd. “Indigenous Studies and Race Relations in Australian Sports.” Sport in Society 15.7 (September 2012): 915–921. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2012.723350.

Judd, Barry. “The Question of Indigenous Origins and the Unlevel Playing Field: Outside the Boundary of the Dominant Paradigm.” Sport in Society 15.7 (September 2012): 1026–1033. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2012.723372.

Norman, Heidi. “A Modern Day Corroboree: Towards a History of the New South Wales Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout.” Aboriginal History Journal 30 (2011): 169–186. https://doi.org/10.22459/AH.30.2011.13.

Pavlidis, Adele, Kim Toffoletti, Matthew Klugman, and Michael Burke. “The AFL Has Consistently Put the Women’s Game Second. Is It the Best Organisation to Run AFLW?” The Conversation. April 8, 2022. http://theconversation.com/the-afl-has-consistently-put-the-womens-game-second-is-it-the-best-organisation-to-run-aflw-180665.

Spaaij, Ramón, Karen Farquharson, and Timothy Marjoribanks. “Sport and Social Inequalities.” Sociology Compass 9.5 (May 2015): 400–411. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12254.

van Neerven, Ellen. Personal Score. University of Queensland Press, 2023.

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Published

2025-06-19

Issue

Vol. 11 (2025): Recentring the Region

Section

Book Reviews

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