Flutterby™! : possibilities and politics of sportification

The Australian breaking scene and the Olympic Games: The possibilities and politics of sportification Rachael Gunn and Lucas Marie

Here, breaking is a space for those ‘othered’ by Australian institutions to express themselves and engage in new hierarchies of respect. We argue that breaking’s institutionalization via the Olympics will place breaking more firmly within this sporting nation’s hegemonic settler-colonial structures that rely upon racialized and gendered hierarchies. As such, in this article we discuss and examine how the Olympics impacts ongoing local, social and cultural productions and expressions of hip hop, and the distinct possibilities of breaking that enable its participants to ‘show and prove’ outside standardized, institutionalized rubrics.

Also available from here and here.

Found by way of Graeme Codrington's Facebook post which further delves into Rachael Gunn's performance at the Olympics as a form of protest, and as one of colonization and cultural appropriation.

Edit: Not really much in here, but Viral Olympic breakdancer Raygun defends her performance.