Teach your children well
Adam Goodes, from unruly child to Indigenous statesman
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5675478 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Barry Judd (0000-0001-5642-5129, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author), Diana Sandars (0000-0002-5834-1700, The University of Melbourne) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 200-213 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Celebrity Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1939-2397 • E-ISSN: 1939-2400 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/19392397.2022.2109308 |
| OpenAlex | W4292729084 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 14 |
The ‘Goodes saga’ in Australian Football transformed Adam Goodes’ persona as a dutiful son of the sport into a polarising celebrity, most infamously through an encounter with a female teenage fan. In this article, we argue that the ‘Goodes saga’ exposed the contested nature of Indigenous celebrity stemming from settler anxieties about the unruly child and Indigenous statesman. Goodes transformed from a sports star, a dutiful ‘son’ of the sport to the national celebrity of a political statesman – a position of adulthood that might be described as characteristic of Eldership. Goodes’ self-manufactured celebrity persona, based in his concept of Indigeneity as ‘having a foot in both worlds’, was enacted through his mission to incorporate Indigenous cultural practices into the sport and wider settler-Australian culture. These actions were persistently disparaged through recourses to Euro-centric concept of the child and childhood as a state of innocence. We prompt readers to consider why the settler-public and its national institutions like the Australian Football League are so invested with surrounding Indigenous stars with a discourse of childhood. Why might the AFL and settler society more broadly consider the possibility that Aboriginal men might ascend to adulthood such a terrifying proposition
Advertising · Art · Celebrity culture · Football · Humanities · Indigenous · Innocence · League · Media studies · Persona · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spectator sport · Australian History and Society · Gender Studies · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Law · Themes in Literature Analysis
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |