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In this paper, which is a revised and modified version of the 2019 North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Alan Ingham Memorial lecture, the author shares four views, contributions, and opportunities that sports sociologists might consider useful in how to decolonize as well as indigenize our discipline together. The need to actively engage in the theory and practice of how to decolonize while understanding what it also means to work toward becoming an accomplice, activist, ally, or co-resistor are important threads underpinning the nature and scope of this paper. The author concludes with a plea to sports sociologists that decolonizing our minds is as much a collective effort as it is an act of reconciliation while maintaining the promise of inclusion, equity, and human rights. As sports sociologists, understanding what it means to be in "good relations" with Indigenous Peoples is fundamental to how we continue to build on and improve our discipline together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tirohanga Whānui (Abstract): Traditional knowledge systems have been at the core of our existence as indigenous peoples since time immemorial. As an oral/aural-based society, our ancestors frequently engaged in opportunities to not only test their knowledge at different times and in different situations but also to recall knowledge through the art of story-telling. This paper seeks to (re)position autoethnography from an indigenous perspective. This will be achieved by referring to autoethnography as a culturally informed research practice that is not only explicit to Māori ways of knowing but can be readily validated and legitimated as an authentic “Native” method of inquiry. Grounded within a resistance-based discourse, indigenous autoethnography aims to address issues of social justice and to develop social change by engaging indigenous researchers in rediscovering their own voices as “culturally liberating human-beings.” Implicit in this process is also the desire to ground one’s sense of “self” in what remains “sacred” to us as indigenous peoples in the world we live, and in the way we choose to construct our identity, as Māori. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will argue that the Treaty of Waitangi, signed on 6 February 1840 by Māori and the Crown, has a made significant contribution to informing and advancing Māori health practices in Aotearoa New Zealand. A key focus of this paper relates to (re)validating the Treaty to improve Māori health outcomes and providing a strategy for evaluating the current health status of Māori. There is a growing concern among Māori that the health sector continues to perpetuate notions of "treating" Māori health more so than empowering Māori to control their ownprocesses for being healthy. Moreover, a major shift constitutionally (that is, self-determining the right to be healthy) as well as institutionally (that is, developing approaches to greater access to health provision) is required to enable Māori to achieve better health outcomes moving forward. Finally, a number of important culturally innovative, responsive and inclusive perspectives are shared to enhance our engagement with the Treaty and Māori health from a socio-cultural perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]