Methodology
This literature review was undertaken to provide an overview of the existing scholarship pertaining to Indigenous ice hockey in a global context.
Research Team
This project was produced for the Indigenous Hockey Research Network, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC 435-2018-0115). The operations were led by Janice Forsyth and Cindy Smithers, PhD, with support from Camille Duggal, undergraduate research student funded by Western University's Head and Heart Research Fellowship.
Search Strategy
First, a list of keywords and subject headings relevant to the search, related specifically to Indigenous involvement in ice hockey was created (Table 1). Next, a list of relevant individual and aggregate databases was created in consultation with an Assistant Librarian at Western University and the Research Team. Recognizing the corporatized nature of publishing, the Research Team further identified specific databases and academic journals not captured in Western’s databases that might potentially include scholarly literature pertaining to Indigenous ice hockey (Table 2). An online search of all databases and journals was completed using the Boolean search commands AND/OR in relation to the keywords and subject headings. As an additional quality control measure, reference lists of pivotal articles obtained through the online search were scanned for other relevant literature. This list was then vetted by the Research Team members, as well as selected researchers and sports media professionals who are familiar with hockey literature in Canada, to see if there were any obvious missing pieces. Finally, a crowdsourcing approach was used to solicit additional review and feedback by posting the list to this website and sharing it via social media (Twitter).
Timeframe
The search and review processes were initiated and completed over 5 months, from June to October 2021. Specifically, the scholarly database searches were completed June 16, the grey literature searches completed August 6, and the lay literature searches completed September 10. The final excel sheet, dated April 2022, was produced with all of the relevant information inserted and ready to share with the public (see below).
Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
The search was limited to socio-cultural items that either focused on Indigenous ice hockey or included Indigenous ice hockey as a substantive part of the analysis or story. This meant all items that merely mentioned Indigenous ice hockey, or Indigenous involvement in ice hockey, were excluded from the search. As a result, the specific inclusion criteria centred on five elements:
1. English language publications, and;
2. traditional scholarly publications (e.g., peer-reviewed articles, books, chapters, theses, etc.), or;
3. popular literature (non/fiction books), or;
4. biomedical research that advances socio-cultural theory (e.g., linking concussions and identity), or;
5. grey literature (e.g., policies, government reports, etc.).
The vetting process included reviewing titles, keywords, and abstracts, as well as scanning full text publications and, in the case of popular literature, promotional materials.
We purposely did not apply date restrictions to our search so that we could see publication patterns over time (e.g., continuity and changes in disciplines, journals, themes, etc.). Results from our search were initially vetted by an undergraduate research assistant to remove duplicates and publications that did not meet our inclusion criteria, such as publications that merely summarized or referenced original research or theory about Indigenous ice hockey as a stepping stone to another argument (e.g. about ‘diversity’ or ‘inclusion’ or the intersectionality of oppression, etc.). We also removed publications about Indigenous involvement in other types of hockey (e.g., field hockey, floor hockey, etc.), as well as book reviews and media, the latter because of the complexity and vastness of this particular search (e.g., blogs, newspapers, podcasts, etc.). We also removed articles published in peer-reviewed journals that were later published in anthologies, keeping only the anthology reference. This was done because the anthologies provided more context and depth than a stand-alone article in a journal.
Table 1
Set 1 Keywords/Headings (Combined using “OR”)
Indigenous, Aboriginal, Indian, First Nations, Métis, Inuit, Native American, American Indian, Maori, Torres Strait Islander, Tribal, Sami, Saami, Alaskan Native
Set 2 Keyword/Headings (Combined with Set 1 using “AND”)
Hockey
Table 2
Database or Journal + Limitations
1. American Indian Histories & Cultures (all resources, all types)
2. EBSCOhost (peer reviewed)
3. Google Scholar (full text, searched til results were irrelevant)
4. Human Kinetics (full text)
5. International Political Science Abstracts (full text)
6. IPortal: Indigenous Studies Portal (full text)
7. Journal of Sport Development (full text)
8. JSTOR (abstracts)
9. ProQuest (anywhere except full text, peer reviewed)
10. SAGE Journals (abstracts)
11. Web of Science (all fields)