Abstract:
Situated in the southern suburbs of New Zealand’s largest city, South Auckland is known for poverty, crime and cultural diversity. It is home to large numbers of indig- enous Maori and migrant Pasifika (Pacific Island) youth. Based on a year-long critical ethnography of a multiethnic high school, this article explores the place of physical education in the lives of young people in one school. Both a source of concern and a space of hope for diverse youth, physical education holds a unique place in their lives. On the one hand, physical education is implicated with narrow body norms while on the other hand it provides a space for relationship building, play and critical resistance. This article explores the complex potential for physical education as both a key site of learning for Pasifika and Maori youth, and one also politically fraught, given its close association with racialized and gendered body discourses.