Cricket, drinking and exclusion of British Pakistani Muslims?

Fletcher, Thomas; Spracklen, Karl

doi:10.1080/01419870.2013.790983

Cited by 42 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…One conduit through which the interplay between old and new homes was reproduced was through the love of sport many brought with them (Fletcher and Spracklen 2013). For many members of the South Asian diaspora, there exists a continuation of ethnic solidarities and attachments to the symbols of national belonging and continuing investment, emotionally, economically and culturally in the 'homeland'.…”

Section: Pakistani Migration To the Uk And Norwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating their right to play: Asian-specific cricket teams and leagues in the UK and Norway

Fletcher

Walle

2014

Identities

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The cultural significance of 'ethnic-specific' cricket teams and leagues has received limited scholarly attention, despite increasing evidence of their various social functions. This paper aims to contribute to this under-researched area by drawing upon two individual case studies of Pakistani Muslim cricket teams; the first is based in the UK and the second in Norway. In this paper we argue that leisure and sport are key spaces for the delineation of social identities and hierarchies. We identify how cricket represents a significant social network within both the British and Norwegian Pakistani communities. In particular, we articulate the role of cricket in establishing and maintaining friendships and relationships, bolstering a sense of belonging, initiating diasporic sentiments, as well as being significant in the development of social capital, and resisting institutionalised white privilege.Key Words: Cricket, Diaspora space, Muslims, Pakistanis, Racism IntroductionWe situate this paper from the perspective that racism is embedded and institutionalised within the sport of cricket.This perspective emphasises that racism is contingent upon the sport's history with inequality and marginalisation. In other words, to understand the historical legacies of 'race' and racism within cricket, we must situate these within broader discourses of Empire, 'Englishness' and 'whiteness'.Cricket developed most significantly under the watch of the Victorians. At this time cricket was viewed as an institution wholly symbolic of Empire, bourgeois English nationalism and elitism. In this fiercely nationalistic era, the English regarded cricket as an extension of the nation, and as a theatre for articulating their cultural supremacy. For Williams (2001) cricket is (or at least was) an institution expressing a distinctively English set of ideologies and was important for understanding how the English imagine themselves. Playing the game, it was widely believed, helped inculcate many of the qualities fundamental to Victorian gentility, namely: temperament, strategy, diligence, hard work, pride, respect and 'manliness'. Crucially, the 'Englishness' depicted through cricket is imagined: idyllic, unspoiled and, conspicuously white (see Fletcher, this volume).Since the dismantling of the British Empire, cricket has become a strong cultural marker for (post-)colonial identities. Within the (post-)colonial context, the reason(s) why minority ethnic groups participate in cricket continues to be linked to the sport's colonial past. Some sports, such as cricket, possess colonial legacies, and therefore take on different personal and political connotations to sports which hold little resonance with colonialism and (post-)colonialism (Burdsey et al. 2013). For Carrington (2010 sport is fundamental to diasporic communities for mobilising cultural resistance and emphasising their 'indigenous' cultural identities within the (post-)colonial era. Cricket in particular is embroiled in everyday negotiations of cultural identities for many minority e...

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Section: Pakistani Migration To the Uk And Norwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating their right to play: Asian-specific cricket teams and leagues in the UK and Norway

Fletcher

Walle

2014

Identities

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“…See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/18/ pakistan-isi-mumbai-terror-attacks 3. See Fletcher and Spracklen (2013) for a discussion of sport and drinking, and the tension that exists within the South Asian community, particularly Pakistani Muslims. 4.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

It’s because we’re Indian, innit?’ Cricket and the South Asian diaspora in post-war Britain

Raman

2014

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The South Asian communities who came to post-war Britain had numerous ways of maintaining links with 'home' even as they put down new roots. One conduit through which the interplay between old and new homes was reproduced was through the love of cricket many brought with them. The moral and ethical codes, which underpin much cricketing discourse, provided a language through which to reinscribe ideas of identity and belonging. Cricket helped create social networks and diasporic connectivity. These affective relations gave rise to South Asians who are today multiply rooted; secure in their Indian or Pakistani 'national' identities, at times identifying as a South Asian diaspora, but nevertheless also 'loyal' citizens of Britain. The story of South Asians and their relationship with cricket in post-war Britain sheds light on the complex politics of belonging in the post-colony, and illustrates that diaspora is ultimately an unstable assemblage of collective association.

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“…Long et al 2009), including: low incomes; long working hours; religious observance; shortage of facilities in ethnic areas; language barriers and racism(s) (Hylton et al 2015). It has also been suggested that there are cultural barriers to participation in sport; in particular with regards to diet and drinking (Fletcher & Spracklen, 2014). Cricket is rather different.…”

Section: Cricket and South Asian Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strangers of the north: South Asians, cricket and the culture of ‘Yorkshireness’

Fletcher

Swain

2016

Journal for Cultural Research

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As a county, Yorkshire is what Wagg and Russell refer to as a 'cultural region': an imagined space, where culture is constructed, refined and articulated by a set of discursive relationships between local populations and a whole range of cultural forms. In this context however, culture is conceived as something which belongs to, and is only accessible by, certain groups of people. Our focus in this article is on the culture of Yorkshire cricket. Historically, Yorkshire cricket has been linked with white male privilege and some studies have shown that people within Yorkshire take a degree of pride in this. Consequently, the county and its cricket club have faced frequent accusations from minority ethnic communities of inveterate and institutionalised racism. Drawing upon Bauman's notion of 'liquid modernity', we argue that the processes of deregulation and individualisation championed by New Right policies have led to a divorce between power and politics, a corner stone of the old solid modern world. This in turn has led to an erosion of the state, causing individuals to navigate turbulent life projects which are consistently haunted by the spectres of fear and insecurity. Such an environment has caused cricket to be pushed further behind gated social spaces, in an attempt to maintain a semblance of 'community'.

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Cricket, drinking and exclusion of British Pakistani Muslims?

Cited by 42 publications

References 31 publications

Negotiating their right to play: Asian-specific cricket teams and leagues in the UK and Norway

Negotiating their right to play: Asian-specific cricket teams and leagues in the UK and Norway

It’s because we’re Indian, innit?’ Cricket and the South Asian diaspora in post-war Britain

Strangers of the north: South Asians, cricket and the culture of ‘Yorkshireness’

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