Cultural sport psychology research: conceptions, evolutions, and forecasts

Abstract

Cultural sport psychology (CSP) is a relatively new research genre that challenges mainstream sport psychology's assumptions to facilitate contextualized understandings of marginalized topics and cultural identities. Conceptual writings on CSP have grown in the past 10 years, and with that, empirical literature explicitly positioned within CSP. In this article, the landscape of CSP is outlined to more clearly explicate and contextualize the goals and tenets of this mode of inquiry, with the overarching intent of making further recommendations for CSP research. As CSP is broad, a small body of sport research conducted on race and ethnicity (two facets of cultural identity) is reviewed. Suggestions are made to extend the limited body of research on marginalized cultural identities via a CSP approach, focusing on reflexive processes and participant engagement. Through these strategies, CSP research is put forward as a way to further open the possibility of advancing social change and social justice.