This unique volume explores sports stories that contain elements of colonialism and show the rise of nationalism and the emergence of communalism; other examples show how the establishment of nationhood in a post-colonial world, the challenge of the regions to the political centre and the impacts of globalization and economic liberalization have all left their mark on the development of sport in South Asia. Quite simply, South Asian history and society have transformed sports in the region while at the same time such games and activities have often shaped the development of South Asia.

This is the first book to focus on indigenous, traditional, and folk sports and sporting cultures. It examines the significance of sporting cultures that have survived the emergence and diffusion of western sports and have carved out a unique position not only in spite of modernity but also in response to it. Presenting case studies from around the world, including from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, this book draws on multidisciplinary work from sociology, anthropology, history, cultural studies, and political science, exploring key themes in the social sciences including nationalism, identity, decolonisation, and gender. From Turkish oil wrestling, kabaddi in South Asia, Iroquois lacrosse, to wushu and sumo in East Asia and various European traditional sports, these sporting practices continue to capture the indigenous imagination on the margins of the western hegemonic sport complex. Situated in the fissures between the local, the national, and the global; between the archaic and the modern; and between ritual and record, they inhabit a liminal space of transformation as they assume new cultural and political meanings, offering important perspectives on the complexities and contradictions of modernity. The volume’s decolonial perspective lies in its promotion of indigenous and subaltern worldviews through their traditional movement cultures on the margins of the western hegemonic sport complex. This is a fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, nationalism, Indigenous studies, heritage and folklore studies, anthropology, social and cultural history, or globalisation.

This book reimagines the pleasures of sports and provides a critical perspective from the Global South. Analysing the spread of sports markets in Sri Lanka along with a range of struggles, the book highlights how the celebration of ‘sportive nationalism,’ promoting sports markets in the Global South reinforces patriarchal ethno-nationalist authoritarian sports cultures. By explaining how the realm of social reproduction involving households and communities is integral for play and sports, the book challenges the market-driven ‘sports and development’ agenda while arguing for a ‘sports commons.’ By foregrounding issues of justice and care, the book highlights how struggles for recognition, redistribution and representation are central to reimagining sports within an alternative notion of work, play and resistance.

""Playing with the Big Boys" traces the development of basketball in the Philippines from an educational tool during the early period of American colonial rule in the early twentieth century to a ubiquitous national pastime"--

This book takes a close look at the experiences of migrant athletes, their precarious careers, and at what this can tell us about wider themes of globalisation, identity, race, gender, and the body. Based on in-depth ethnographic research on male Brazilian footballers and futsal players working in Central and Eastern Europe, this book helps to fill gaps in previous research on sports migration and global sports labor markets. This book uses life-history interviews to reveal how race, gender, and class are articulated in the everyday experiences of migrant athletes; how they express their religious affiliations; and how they navigate the relationships with injuries and pain that are characteristic of precarious athletic careers. This book considers the transnational networks that are essential in sustaining international athletic labor flows and the role that borders and emotions play in the lives of sports migrants and also the agency that migrant athletes can have in issues such as player development and retention. Presenting a more nuanced, ground-level perspective on sports migration and the sociological dialogue between identity, culture, and the body, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the socio-cultural study of sport, migration, globalization, or global inequalities.

Basketball has a lock on the Filipino soul. From big arenas in Manila to makeshift hoops in small villages, basketball is played by Filipinos of all walks of life and is used to mark everything from summer breaks for students to religious festivals and many other occasions. Playing with the Big Boys traces the social history of basketball in the Philippines from an educational and “civilizing” tool in the early twentieth century to its status as national pastime since the country gained independence after World War II. While the phrase “playing with the big boys” describes the challenge of playing basketball against outsized opponents, it also describes the struggle for recognition that the Philippines, as a subaltern society, has had to contend with in its larger transnational relationships as a former U.S. colony. Lou Antolihao goes beyond the empire-colony dichotomy by covering Filipino basketball in a wider range of comparisons, such as that involving the growing influence of Asia in its region, particularly China and Japan. In this context, Antolihao shows how Philippines basketball has moved from a vehicle for Americanization to a force for globalization in which the United States, while still a key player, is challenged by other basketball-playing countries.

International, multi-disciplinary perspectives on the key question of community engagement in theory and practice in a diverse range of heritage settings. Across the global networks of heritage sites, museums, and galleries, the importance of communities to the interpretation and conservation of heritage is increasingly being recognised. Yet the very term "meaningful community engagement" betrays a myriad of contrary approaches and understandings. Who is a community? How can they engage with heritage and why would they want to? How do communities and heritage professionals perceive one another? What does itmean to "engage"? These questions unsettle the very foundations of community engagement and indicate a need to unpick this important but complex trend. Engaging Heritage, Engaging Communities critically explores the latest debates and practices surrounding community collaboration. By examining the different ways in which communities participate in heritage projects, the book questions the benefits, costs and limitations of community engagement. Whether communities are engaging through innovative initiatives or in response to economic, political or social factors, there is a need to understand how such engagements are conceptualised, facilitated and experienced by boththe organisations and the communities involved. Bryony Onciul is Lecturer in History at the University of Exeter; Michelle Stefano is the Co-Director of Maryland Traditions, the folklife program for the state of Maryland and Visiting Assistant Professor in American Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Stephanie Hawke is a project manager and fundraiser, working on a range of projects aiming to engage communities with culturalheritage. Contributors: Gregory Ashworth, Evita Busa, Helen Graham, Julian Hartley, Stephanie Hawke, Carl Hogsden, Shatha Abu Khafajah, Nicole King, Bernadette Lynch, Billie Lythberg, Conal McCarthy, Ashley Minner, Wayne Ngata, Bryony Onciul, Elizabeth Pishief, Gregory Ramshaw, Philipp Schorch, Justin Sikora, Michelle Stefano, Helen Tully, John Tunbridge.

Practiced and watched by billions, sport is a global phenomenon. Sport history is a burgeoning sub-field that explores sport in all forms to help answer fundamental questions that scholars examine. This volume provides a reference for sport scholars and an accessible introduction to those who are new to the sub-field.

This multivolume set is much more than a collection of essays on sports and sporting cultures from around the world: it also details how and why sports are played wherever they exist, and examines key charismatic athletes from around the world who have transcended their sports. Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice provides a unique, global overview of sports and sports cultures. Unlike most works of this type, this book provides both essays that examine general topics, such as globalization and sport, international relations and sport, and tourism and sport, as well as essays on sports history, culture, and practice in world regions—for example, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and Oceania—in order to provide a more global perspective. These essays are followed by entries on specific sports, world athletes, stadiums and arenas, famous games and matches, and major controversies. Spanning topics as varied as modern professional cycling to the fictional movie Rocky to the deadly ball game of the ancient Mayans, the first three volumes contain overview essays and entries for specific sports that have been and are currently practiced around the world. The fourth volume provides a compendium of information on the winners of major sporting competitions from around the world. Readers will gain invaluable insights into how sports have been enjoyed throughout all of human culture, and more fully comprehend their cultural contexts. The entries provide suggestions for further reading on each topic—helpful to general readers, students with school projects, university students and academics alike. Additionally, the four-volume Sports Around the World spotlights key charismatic athletes who have changed a sport or become more than just an outstanding player.

This volume gathers work from a wide range of disciplines - anthropology, cultural studies, geography, history, law, sociology, and post-colonial studies - to explore the paradoxical processes of emulation, resistance and transformation that are at work in the global diffusion and development of "sport" and body cultures.