Researchers, policy makers, and practitioners increasingly pay attention to sport and physical activity as a means and context for refugee wellbeing and integration, influenced by wider political and policy concerns about forced migration. Considering this growing scholarly and policy attention, it is timely to take stock of, and critically reflect on, recent developments in this field of research. This paper offers an integrative, critical review of the scientific literature on the topic. It critically synthesizes what is known about the sport and physical activity experiences of people with refugee and forced migrant backgrounds, and identifies key issues and directions for future research in this field. This review of contemporary academic literature comprises 83 publications derived from fourteen languages published between 1996 and 2019. It shows a substantial increase in the volume of published research on the topic in recent years (2017–2019). Published research is concentrated primarily in Western countries around the themes of health promotion, integration and social inclusion, and barriers and facilitators to participation in sport and physical activity. The findings foreground the use of policy categories, deficit approaches, and intersectionalities as three pressing challenges in this area of research. Based on this synthesis, the authors identify four research gaps that require attention in future research: the experiential (embodied emotional) dimensions of sport and physical activity, the need to decolonize research, the space for innovative methodologies, and research ethics.

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Keywords: forced migration, refugee, sport participation, physical activity, integration, health promotion, leisure, asylum seeker

The aim of this chapter is to explore this intersection between global (forced) migration flows, refugee (re)settlement, and sport. We set out by critically examining the current state of academic knowledge on the relationship between sport, development and refugee settlement, focusing on the identification of dominant and submerged themes in research as well as current knowledge gaps. This is followed by a discussion and illustration of our distinctive research approach to the topic. We conclude the chapter by outlining directions and critical challenges for future research on refugees and sport. In doing so, we aim to build on, and progress, recently identified issues and questions that can help guide this emerging field of research (Spaaij and Oxford, 2018). How might an asset-based approach to sport for development (SfD) and forced displacement be conceived and fostered? How can the needs and aspirations of refugees be met and community resilience be strengthened without resorting to deficit-based or threat-based approaches? And, how can the SfD sector and researchers learn from, and accommodate, refugees’ intimate knowledge of resilience, independence and autonomy?