Playing with Knowledge: Sport and the Paradox of Development in Solomon Islands

Abstract

This article addresses particular ideas behind the ideological discourses and practices of development relating to Solomon Islands soccer and the dissemination of knowledge applied to sporting practice. Speaking through the interconnection of local processes linked to global flows of information and practices, this analysis focuses on specific recent attempts by the global governing body fifa and its regional representative, the ofc , to introduce and implement various development programs under the objectives set out in official statutes. I further assess the disparate set of practices and conceptions of the various actors following the 1998–2003 “Tension” period as part of a broader discourse of development systems and interaction. By examining forms of “empowerment” discourse, appropriated by local agents as well as foreign organizations such as fifa , this article suggests a more nuanced and pluralized approach to rethinking contemporary sporting formations and the competing knowledge systems at play throughout the region.