Hegemonic settler-colonial structure

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“Here, breaking is a space for those ‘othered’ by Australian institutions to express themselves and engage in new hierarchies of respect. We argue that breaking’s institutionalization via the Olympics will place breaking more firmly within this sporting nation’s hegemonic settler-colonial structures that rely upon racialized and gendered hierarchies.”

—Dr Rachael Gunn, The Australian breaking scene and the Olympic Games: The possibilities and politics of sportification, September 2023

Hegemonic settler-colonial structure
/ˌhiːɡɪˈmɒnɪk sɛtlə-kəˈləʊniəl ˈstrʌkʧə/ (n.)
A system where a dominant group (often from a colonising country) establishes control over a territory and its indigenous population.

“Hegemonic”, we suppose because a group becomes dominant and imposes cultural, economic, and political influence, on the values, norms, and systems of a subordinate group. In any case, some pre-existing power structure whose existing mechanisms impose political order and hierarchy on a “society” of some sort.

“Colonial” suggests the hegemony then involuntarily appropriates and exploits the society’s cultural artefacts and resources.

“Settler” because the Colonial hegemonists do not just cut and run: they settle on the society’s territory and exclude the indigenous population from its own homeland.

Bing AI tells us:

“This structure often leads to long-term social, economic, and political inequalities, with the indigenous population facing marginalization and loss of their land, culture, and autonomy.”

Worked example

Dr Gunn highlighted a real possibility of this happening should “Breaking” be introduced to the Paris Olympics. so it is interesting to see the colonial-settler hegemony at work, invading an expressive and social dance style originating in the Bronx, developed and largely practised by People of Colour ... [that] does not easily ‘fit’ with the construction of the idealized Australian sporting hero – the large, muscular, White, cismale uniformed body enculturated as part of an established sporting institution.}}

It indeed came to pass that Australia would be represented in Olympic breaking by “Bgirl Raygun”, a uniformed, white, “cisgendered” female — JC would not presume to remark on a lady’s musculature or size — athlete enculturated as part of an AusBreaking, an established sporting institution.

So, who is this Bgirl Raygun?

“It is near impossible for breakers in Australia to make a living from breaking” the academic monograph — but apparently you can make a living writing about it: BgirlRaygun is none other than Dr Rachael Gunn, lecturer in the cultural politics of, well, breaking, at Macquarie University’s Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature, and author of that very study in grievance.

See also

• Fox Sport Australia’s backgrounder to Breaking’s inclusion in the 2024 Olympics
• Critical theory