ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyses three overlapping themes: change and continuity, cultural and transcultural power, and the complexity of race, gender, and national identity. Seven original contributions analyze Polynesian and Aboriginal athletes and athletics in colonial and post-colonial contexts. Their analyses stress the importance of adaptation and appropriation, reinvention and revivialism, as well as diaspora and globalization. The seven contributions to this special issue are arranged geographically, beginning in New Zealand/Aotearoa, moving to Australia, and concluding in the United States. Chronological and thematic considerations further informed the organization. The book deals with New Zealand/Aotearoa and the United States take up what might be understood as the national games of settler states, rugby and American football. It focuses on race, empire and rugby in New Zealand/Aotearoa opens the special issue.
