First World Indigenous Games

Analyses from the Multiple Streams Framework

Abstract

The study examines the first edition of the World Indigenous Games, held in Brazil in 2015, based on how the discussions and formulations of the policies related to this sporting event proceeded. In a qualitative way, the study used the Multiple Streams framework, which verifies the factors that influence the formulation of the political agenda, through a documental analysis of national laws and decrees that regulate the sport focused on indigenous peoples, as well as reports issued by the Ministry of Sports (Brazil), in partnership with UNESCO. The results point to the incorporation of the World Indigenous Games into the political agenda based on the convergence between the problem stream, drawn from the absence of public policies focused on indigenous demands, lack of appreciation and dissemination of indigenous culture and feedback from the Brazilian Indigenous Games; the policy stream, established through international documents published in defense of indigenous culture and traditional games of different peoples; and the political stream, through the representations of the Brazilian Ministry of Sports, the Intertribal Committee and the foreign leadership, culminating in the opening of the “launch window” for the organization of the sporting event.