Beyond WEIRD Watching

In this methodological chapter, I argue that scholarship on sport continues to be dominated by Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic—WEIRD ways of watching that ensure that whatever we narrate about Africans ends up being the basis for marginalising, othering, and denying Africans—our histories, experiences, and agency. As a corrective, I write about the Springboks to develop insights into the conditions we find ourselves in. In the maelstrom of colonial and apartheid histories, I will write about this from my vantage point as a watcher of the game. I understand “watching” as a holistic, contextual, interactive, sensemaking, and communicative practice. It dynamically involves all senses and modes of encounter by which one gets to know something. It can elicit responses and co-creative possibilities. It may be conducted at such a remove of time and space that those watched are not positioned to participate as responders. But it always involves learning, knowledge acquisition, and meaning-making. This practice of watching is decolonial in that it provides new insights that open the way to further humanisation of the world.