Sport, nationalism and identity

Cultural Identity An overview

Cultural Identity  There is nothing static or unchanging about concepts of identity. They are historically contingent  Different times, different structures produce different understandings of identity

Cultural Identity  How we understand identity today is very different from how it was understood in the past, and may well no longer apply in the future  How we understand it in the west may not apply today in other parts of the globe

Cultural Identity  We are encouraged in contemporary society to think of identity as something which is within us, and which we radiate outwards  Contemporary theories of identity, however, argue that (1) our identities are constrained by external structures over which we may have little control, and…

Cultural Identity  (2) that we essentially “build” our identities using a range of resources already existing outside us  Since the resources we use are provided by the culture in which we live, our identities are therefore by definition cultural

Cultural Identity  Since the cultural resources of our society are not just available to us, but are more generally available (even if not equally to all), however “different” we might think we are our identities are made up from the same resources as other people, even if we put these together in a slightly different way

Cultural Identity  At the level of group identities we can, despite the current focus on “uniqueness” (“be yourself”), agree to use similar resources to differentiate ourselves as a group from other groups

Collective identities  Football is traditionally a site of both male and working class identities  Ballet, on the other hand, is traditionally a site of female and middle-class or upper-class identities

Collective identities  Opera is a site of middle-class, middle- aged identity, and so on  Though uncommon in Europe, some of the world’s largest events are sites of religious identity

Collective identities  The concept of “group” can on occasions expand to mean “nation”, and frequently does so in relation to sport

Cultural Identity A Brief History

Cultural Identity - a brief history  During the Middle Ages the central form of collective identity was membership of an Estate: the peasantry, the nobility, the clergy - status was more important than individuality

Cultural Identity - a brief history  Nature was thought of as a “Great Chain of Being”, from the smallest creature all the way up to God  You were allocated a place in this chain at birth, and movement - “upward mobility” - was impossible

Cultural Identity - a brief history  When capitalism swept away the structures of feudalism and ushered in “modernity” new concepts of identity appeared  With its ideological emphasis on enterprise, the bourgeoisie developed the concept of the “bounded individual” simultaneously with notions of class- based and nation-based identities

Cultural Identity - a brief history  As we move into postmodernity the concept of identity is changing again  To a large extent the idea of a single identity is being replaced by multiple identities  We can stage one identity as a football fan, and a quite different one elsewhere

Sport and National Identity

 Sports as we now know them were likewise the product of emerging modernity, and have as a result been connected from the outset with both concepts of class and nation  During the period of expansion of the British Empire British businessmen took their sports with them, spreading football, rugby, cricket and even polo to many parts of the globe

Sport and National Identity  Some countries (Canada, the United States) stressed their independence by adapting these games and producing new versions  Others (India, the Caribbean islands) attempted to beat the metropolis “at its own game”)

Sport and National Identity  Sporting mega-events are sites of multiple identity formation  Football world cups combine national identity with male identity and (decreasingly) working-class identities

Sport and National Identity  Wimbledon tournaments combine national identity with broadly speaking middle-class identity  Their common denominator, however, is almost always the presence (however indirect) of signs of national identity

Sport and National Identity  Most such events make use of conventional symbols of the nations (flags, national anthems, national costume and the like) in displays of explicit nationalism  Even where these are absent (Wimbledon) media coverage operates as if they were there

Sport and National Identity  In fact media coverage invariably presents sportpersons in international competitions as representatives of their “nation”  Governments can invest huge amounts of money in attempts to present a certain image of their nation

Sport and National Identity  Tensions can arise from various sources  Political competition  This was particularly acute during the Cold War, but is still visible today  Poor performances are often interpreted by the press as “humiliating”

Sport and National Identity  Internal conflict  Great tension can arise when there is conflict over the definition of the “nation” (Scottish/British, Catalan/ Spanish)  Scottish athletes are appropriated as both “Scottish” and “British”, Catalans as both “Catalan” and “Spanish”

Sport and National Identity  However, national identity can also be staged in the mode of fun  This was particularly visible in Germany in 2006  The most striking example is, however, the Tartan Army

Conclusion

National Identity and Sport  National identity is not a thing (we are not born with it), it is the product of discourses and practices  Sport is a major arena for the staging of practices related to national identity

National Identity and Sport  The media are the major sources of discourses on national identity, and these are particularly visible when reporting on major international sporting events  Sport and media are, therefore, major producers of our sense of what it is to be Scottish, English, Spanish and so on

National Identity and Sport  As is the case will all discourse, however, no single definition emerges  The struggle over which definition should prevail can be bitter  However, practices of national identity can be, and often are, a source of enjoyment and fun

Many Thanks