Darren Powell
Biographic Data
| ID | 3701271 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Darren Powell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Darren |
| FAMILY NAME | Powell |
| SIGNATURE | POWELL D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Auckland |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2158-3474 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 83 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
“Why do I feel out of place?”
In this paper, I employ a layered autoethnographic account that incorporates memory, reflection, and theoretical analysis to explore my academic journey and positionality as a Chinese international student transitioning from China to the United Kingdom (UK). This novel combination of research methods provides a nuanced account of how contrasting educational systems shaped my emotional wellbeing during my postgraduate studies in the UK. Based on m…
Producing the well and skilled body
Background Aotearoa New Zealand is about to embark on a re-write of the official, national, health and physical education curriculum for all primary and secondary schools. This is a significant moment in policy history as the previous most recent curriculum updates occurred in 1999 [Ministry of Education. Citation1999. Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum] and 2007 [Ministry of Education. Citation2007. The New Zealand Curri…
Problematising young people’s bodies
Mental health(ism) education and the neoliberal imaginary
Understanding the governmental rationalities in the ‘integration of sports and education’ in Chinese schools
Olympic education
The implementation of Olympic education in schools is a requirement for any host country of the Olympic Games, including the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in China. However, there are no strict requirements for host countries in terms of what their Olympic education programme should look like or how they must be implemented. Rather, each country is left to develop their own version of Olympic education. In the context of the recent 202…
Kua takoto te mānuka, mā wai e hiki ake? Advancing a Te Tiriti o Waitangi‐led approach to mental health education in schools
This article engages mātauranga Māori, social psychology and the sociology of education to argue that an individualistic approach to mental health education in schools is inadequate. In this article we discuss a recent national school curriculum policy that demonstrates the ways mental health education can be framed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, informed by the determinants of health, and culturally located in worldviews representative of Te Ao Māori.…
Young people’s voices on emotions
This article presents an innovative narrative inquiry study carried out in a primary school in Aotearoa New Zealand with three young people who provide insights into how they perceive, construct, give meaning to, and make sense of their own emotions. The analysis from this primary research draws on Foucauldian scholarship to examine how the narratives that young people construct about their feelings are shaped by dominant psy-discourses on emotio…
Governing Olympic education
The Chinese government views the Olympic Games as a critical platform to present national pride on a global scale. Olympic education also has an important role to play for China, as it is a requirement for any Olympic host country. In the context or preparations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, this original ethnographic research examines the governance of Olympic education, with a focus on how relationships between China's government and a …
The business of Olympic education
The Olympics is one of the world’s biggest marketing platforms and, as such, presents the private sector with a vast range of advertising opportunities. One new area of opportunity is school-based Olympic education. While previous studies have revealed some of the marketing strategies used by Olympic sponsors in Olympic education, there is still a lack of understanding about how advertising tactics are employed by private sector players in Chines…
Critical ethnography in schools
This paper is a critical reflection of a critical ethnography, a study focused on how ‘healthy lifestyle education’ programmes were implemented and experienced in two primary schools. In an attempt to disrupt the status quo I employed a range of ethnographic methods: ‘hanging out’ with children and adults; building trusting relationships; having research conversations with participants; observing children and adults; and, journaling. However, the…
Private actors in New Zealand schooling
This article sets out to demonstrate the considerable extent to which the New Zealand school system has become saturated by private interests, and to explain this development over time. It is the first such overview of the privatisation of schooling in the New Zealand context. The analysis illustrates that the rise of private actors has involved some long-term factors such as demographic and cultural features of New Zealand society as well as mar…
The ‘will to give’
In contemporary times, corporate philanthropy is positioned as an effective means to ‘solve’ a variety of social problems. Childhood obesity is one such ‘problem’ that has captured the interests of schools, corporations, industry groups and a number of ‘not-for-profit’ players. In this paper, I critically examine how the private sector uses the notion of philanthropy to shape school-based solutions to obesity and unhealthy lifestyles. By conducti…
Culture jamming the ‘corporate assault’ on schools and children
In contemporary times, organisations across all sectors of society have been encouraged to collaborate and be ‘part of the solution’ to childhood obesity. This has led to a proliferation of anti-obesity/healthy lifestyles programmes that are funded, devised and implemented by private sector players (e.g. McDonald’s, Nestlé) in schools across the globe. This corporate-friendly version of education attempts to erode the democratic purposes of publi…
Physical education in Aotearoa New Zealand primary schools
Whilst globally there has been a great deal of discussion and rhetoric regarding the state of physical education at the primary level, there is a paucity of evidence regarding teachers’ perceptions of quality physical education in practice. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore and interpret primary school teachers’ perceptions of physical education in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and identify the influence(s) of education, sport an…
Governing the (un)healthy child-consumer in the age of the childhood obesity crisis
In recent years, multinational food and drink corporations and their marketing practices have been blamed for the global childhood obesity 'crisis'. Unsurprisingly, these corporations have been quick to refute these claims and now position themselves as 'part of the solution' to childhood obesity. In this paper, I examine how and why corporations fund, devise and/or implement 'healthy lifestyles education' programmes in schools. By using a critic…
The governmentality of childhood obesity
In this paper, we examine the emergence of what might seem an unexpected policy outcome – a large multinational corporation, frequently blamed for exacerbating childhood obesity, operating as an officially sanctioned driver of anti-obesity initiatives in primary schools across the globe. We draw on Foucault's notion of governmentality to examine the pedagogical work of two international programmes devised and funded by Coca-Cola. We demonstrate h…
Assembling the privatisation of physical education and the ‘inexpert’ teacher
In this article, I examine the practice of outsourcing physical education (PE) lessons to external sports organisations. I draw from ethnographic research conducted with two primary schools in New Zealand to illuminate how outsourcing interconnects with the privatisation of education. Using Foucault's notion of government, I demonstrate how schools’ employment of four outside providers worked to govern teachers towards certain ends. In addition, …
Childhood obesity, corporate philanthropy and the creeping privatisation of health education
Concerns about a global childhood obesity crisis have led to a proliferation of primary school-based health education policies and practices. What is surprising, however, is the recent explosion of ‘obesity prevention’ programmes and resources that are devised, funded and implemented by multinational corporations and marketed to schools as ‘health education’. In this article, I draw on two corporate anti-obesity/health education programmes that a…
Getting fit basically just means, like, nonfat’
Current concerns about a childhood obesity crisis and children's physical activity levels have combined to justify fitness lessons as a physical education practice in New Zealand primary (elementary) schools. Researchers focused on children's understandings of fitness lessons argue that they construct fitness as a quest for an ‘ideal’ (skinny or muscular) body. The conflation of fitness with thinness, however, is complex and problematic. In this …
Assembling the privatisation of physical education and the ‘inexpert’ teacher
In this article, I examine the practice of outsourcing physical education (PE) lessons to external sports organisations. I draw from ethnographic research conducted with two primary schools in New Zealand to illuminate how outsourcing interconnects with the privatisation of education. Using Foucault's notion of government, I demonstrate how schools’ employment of four outside providers worked to govern teachers towards certain ends. In addition, …
Getting fit basically just means, like, nonfat’
Current concerns about a childhood obesity crisis and children's physical activity levels have combined to justify fitness lessons as a physical education practice in New Zealand primary (elementary) schools. Researchers focused on children's understandings of fitness lessons argue that they construct fitness as a quest for an ‘ideal’ (skinny or muscular) body. The conflation of fitness with thinness, however, is complex and problematic. In this …
Critical ethnography in schools
This paper is a critical reflection of a critical ethnography, a study focused on how ‘healthy lifestyle education’ programmes were implemented and experienced in two primary schools. In an attempt to disrupt the status quo I employed a range of ethnographic methods: ‘hanging out’ with children and adults; building trusting relationships; having research conversations with participants; observing children and adults; and, journaling. However, the…
Governing the (un)healthy child-consumer in the age of the childhood obesity crisis
In recent years, multinational food and drink corporations and their marketing practices have been blamed for the global childhood obesity 'crisis'. Unsurprisingly, these corporations have been quick to refute these claims and now position themselves as 'part of the solution' to childhood obesity. In this paper, I examine how and why corporations fund, devise and/or implement 'healthy lifestyles education' programmes in schools. By using a critic…
The ‘will to give’
In contemporary times, corporate philanthropy is positioned as an effective means to ‘solve’ a variety of social problems. Childhood obesity is one such ‘problem’ that has captured the interests of schools, corporations, industry groups and a number of ‘not-for-profit’ players. In this paper, I critically examine how the private sector uses the notion of philanthropy to shape school-based solutions to obesity and unhealthy lifestyles. By conducti…
Physical education in Aotearoa New Zealand primary schools
Whilst globally there has been a great deal of discussion and rhetoric regarding the state of physical education at the primary level, there is a paucity of evidence regarding teachers’ perceptions of quality physical education in practice. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore and interpret primary school teachers’ perceptions of physical education in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and identify the influence(s) of education, sport an…
The business of Olympic education
The Olympics is one of the world’s biggest marketing platforms and, as such, presents the private sector with a vast range of advertising opportunities. One new area of opportunity is school-based Olympic education. While previous studies have revealed some of the marketing strategies used by Olympic sponsors in Olympic education, there is still a lack of understanding about how advertising tactics are employed by private sector players in Chines…
The governmentality of childhood obesity
In this paper, we examine the emergence of what might seem an unexpected policy outcome – a large multinational corporation, frequently blamed for exacerbating childhood obesity, operating as an officially sanctioned driver of anti-obesity initiatives in primary schools across the globe. We draw on Foucault's notion of governmentality to examine the pedagogical work of two international programmes devised and funded by Coca-Cola. We demonstrate h…
Kua takoto te mānuka, mā wai e hiki ake? Advancing a Te Tiriti o Waitangi‐led approach to mental health education in schools
This article engages mātauranga Māori, social psychology and the sociology of education to argue that an individualistic approach to mental health education in schools is inadequate. In this article we discuss a recent national school curriculum policy that demonstrates the ways mental health education can be framed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, informed by the determinants of health, and culturally located in worldviews representative of Te Ao Māori.…
Mental health(ism) education and the neoliberal imaginary
Governing Olympic education
The Chinese government views the Olympic Games as a critical platform to present national pride on a global scale. Olympic education also has an important role to play for China, as it is a requirement for any Olympic host country. In the context or preparations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, this original ethnographic research examines the governance of Olympic education, with a focus on how relationships between China's government and a …
Private actors in New Zealand schooling
This article sets out to demonstrate the considerable extent to which the New Zealand school system has become saturated by private interests, and to explain this development over time. It is the first such overview of the privatisation of schooling in the New Zealand context. The analysis illustrates that the rise of private actors has involved some long-term factors such as demographic and cultural features of New Zealand society as well as mar…
Childhood obesity, corporate philanthropy and the creeping privatisation of health education
Concerns about a global childhood obesity crisis have led to a proliferation of primary school-based health education policies and practices. What is surprising, however, is the recent explosion of ‘obesity prevention’ programmes and resources that are devised, funded and implemented by multinational corporations and marketed to schools as ‘health education’. In this article, I draw on two corporate anti-obesity/health education programmes that a…
Getting fit basically just means, like, nonfat’
Current concerns about a childhood obesity crisis and children's physical activity levels have combined to justify fitness lessons as a physical education practice in New Zealand primary (elementary) schools. Researchers focused on children's understandings of fitness lessons argue that they construct fitness as a quest for an ‘ideal’ (skinny or muscular) body. The conflation of fitness with thinness, however, is complex and problematic. In this …
Assembling the privatisation of physical education and the ‘inexpert’ teacher
In this article, I examine the practice of outsourcing physical education (PE) lessons to external sports organisations. I draw from ethnographic research conducted with two primary schools in New Zealand to illuminate how outsourcing interconnects with the privatisation of education. Using Foucault's notion of government, I demonstrate how schools’ employment of four outside providers worked to govern teachers towards certain ends. In addition, …
The governmentality of childhood obesity
In this paper, we examine the emergence of what might seem an unexpected policy outcome – a large multinational corporation, frequently blamed for exacerbating childhood obesity, operating as an officially sanctioned driver of anti-obesity initiatives in primary schools across the globe. We draw on Foucault's notion of governmentality to examine the pedagogical work of two international programmes devised and funded by Coca-Cola. We demonstrate h…
Governing the (un)healthy child-consumer in the age of the childhood obesity crisis
In recent years, multinational food and drink corporations and their marketing practices have been blamed for the global childhood obesity 'crisis'. Unsurprisingly, these corporations have been quick to refute these claims and now position themselves as 'part of the solution' to childhood obesity. In this paper, I examine how and why corporations fund, devise and/or implement 'healthy lifestyles education' programmes in schools. By using a critic…
Physical education in Aotearoa New Zealand primary schools
Whilst globally there has been a great deal of discussion and rhetoric regarding the state of physical education at the primary level, there is a paucity of evidence regarding teachers’ perceptions of quality physical education in practice. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore and interpret primary school teachers’ perceptions of physical education in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and identify the influence(s) of education, sport an…
Culture jamming the ‘corporate assault’ on schools and children
In contemporary times, organisations across all sectors of society have been encouraged to collaborate and be ‘part of the solution’ to childhood obesity. This has led to a proliferation of anti-obesity/healthy lifestyles programmes that are funded, devised and implemented by private sector players (e.g. McDonald’s, Nestlé) in schools across the globe. This corporate-friendly version of education attempts to erode the democratic purposes of publi…
The ‘will to give’
In contemporary times, corporate philanthropy is positioned as an effective means to ‘solve’ a variety of social problems. Childhood obesity is one such ‘problem’ that has captured the interests of schools, corporations, industry groups and a number of ‘not-for-profit’ players. In this paper, I critically examine how the private sector uses the notion of philanthropy to shape school-based solutions to obesity and unhealthy lifestyles. By conducti…
Private actors in New Zealand schooling
This article sets out to demonstrate the considerable extent to which the New Zealand school system has become saturated by private interests, and to explain this development over time. It is the first such overview of the privatisation of schooling in the New Zealand context. The analysis illustrates that the rise of private actors has involved some long-term factors such as demographic and cultural features of New Zealand society as well as mar…
Critical ethnography in schools
This paper is a critical reflection of a critical ethnography, a study focused on how ‘healthy lifestyle education’ programmes were implemented and experienced in two primary schools. In an attempt to disrupt the status quo I employed a range of ethnographic methods: ‘hanging out’ with children and adults; building trusting relationships; having research conversations with participants; observing children and adults; and, journaling. However, the…
The business of Olympic education
The Olympics is one of the world’s biggest marketing platforms and, as such, presents the private sector with a vast range of advertising opportunities. One new area of opportunity is school-based Olympic education. While previous studies have revealed some of the marketing strategies used by Olympic sponsors in Olympic education, there is still a lack of understanding about how advertising tactics are employed by private sector players in Chines…
Kua takoto te mānuka, mā wai e hiki ake? Advancing a Te Tiriti o Waitangi‐led approach to mental health education in schools
This article engages mātauranga Māori, social psychology and the sociology of education to argue that an individualistic approach to mental health education in schools is inadequate. In this article we discuss a recent national school curriculum policy that demonstrates the ways mental health education can be framed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, informed by the determinants of health, and culturally located in worldviews representative of Te Ao Māori.…
Young people’s voices on emotions
This article presents an innovative narrative inquiry study carried out in a primary school in Aotearoa New Zealand with three young people who provide insights into how they perceive, construct, give meaning to, and make sense of their own emotions. The analysis from this primary research draws on Foucauldian scholarship to examine how the narratives that young people construct about their feelings are shaped by dominant psy-discourses on emotio…
Governing Olympic education
The Chinese government views the Olympic Games as a critical platform to present national pride on a global scale. Olympic education also has an important role to play for China, as it is a requirement for any Olympic host country. In the context or preparations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, this original ethnographic research examines the governance of Olympic education, with a focus on how relationships between China's government and a …
Olympic education
The implementation of Olympic education in schools is a requirement for any host country of the Olympic Games, including the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in China. However, there are no strict requirements for host countries in terms of what their Olympic education programme should look like or how they must be implemented. Rather, each country is left to develop their own version of Olympic education. In the context of the recent 202…
Problematising young people’s bodies
Mental health(ism) education and the neoliberal imaginary
Understanding the governmental rationalities in the ‘integration of sports and education’ in Chinese schools
“Why do I feel out of place?”
In this paper, I employ a layered autoethnographic account that incorporates memory, reflection, and theoretical analysis to explore my academic journey and positionality as a Chinese international student transitioning from China to the United Kingdom (UK). This novel combination of research methods provides a nuanced account of how contrasting educational systems shaped my emotional wellbeing during my postgraduate studies in the UK. Based on m…
Producing the well and skilled body
Background Aotearoa New Zealand is about to embark on a re-write of the official, national, health and physical education curriculum for all primary and secondary schools. This is a significant moment in policy history as the previous most recent curriculum updates occurred in 1999 [Ministry of Education. Citation1999. Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum] and 2007 [Ministry of Education. Citation2007. The New Zealand Curri…
Sociology (16 works) · Political science (13 works) · Pedagogy (9 works) · Politics (8 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Social science (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Physical education (6 works)