Speaker
Description
Civil war in Sri Lanka precipitated the mass emigration of Tamils from Sri Lanka, many of whom settled in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). This community has established significant social support networks and cultural infrastructure since, including a growing number of Tamil grassroots sports organizations. My doctoral research examines the lived experiences of sport leaders within this GTA Tamil diasporic sport community, paying particular attention to the voices of Tamil women who are largely missing from diasporic, sport, and postcolonial literature. This paper will share the insights I have gained from my experiences navigating this study as both a researcher and insider within this community – as I am a Tamil female in a leadership position within a Tamil women’s community sport organization. The paper will begin with a discussion of diasporic identity focusing on its role in defining the GTA Tamil sports community and the importance of understanding diaspora when engaging this community/”public” in research. The paper will then discuss how the insights gleaned during data collection have impacted the way in which I work as both as a researcher and as a Tamil sports leader. Finally, the paper will end with a discussion of the complexities of operating as an insider researcher within the community by identifying the challenges and opportunities legitimizing this work to effect social change.
