Alan Bairner

SPORTIVE NATIONALISM AND NATIONALIST POLITICS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SCOTLAND, THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, AND SWEDEN

The close relationship between nationalism and sport is an acknowledged fact. Numerous questions can be asked, however, about the precise nature of links between sportive nationalism and nationalist politics. The examples of Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, and Sweden suggest that these links are by no means straightforward. Indeed, these case studies describe very different types of relationships between sport and nationalism, depending on the role of nationalism itself in each context. In general, however, sportive nationalism, as opposed to political nationalism hiding behind sport, operates most successfully in societies where the issue of nationality is relatively uncontentious.

When leisure turns to fear: fear, mobility, and ethno-sectarianism in Belfast.

There has been a considerable amount of academic discussion of the type of constraints that influence the non-use of leisure facilities. These analyses have taken into consideration such factors as gender, social class, age and mobility. At least some of these include the fear of entering certain spaces as an additional constraint. This paper reveals that in Belfast, fear, which may be based either on personal experience or on imaginary scenarios that result from rumour and innuendo, is a major factor that deters people from using accessible leisure facilities. The paper contains extensive qualitative material that underlines this point. The authors argue that, despite an ongoing peace process, the sectarianization of place has a massive impact on the use of leisure facilities and recommend that fear should be more often taken into account when constraints on leisure participation are discussed.

“Woolmergate”: Cricket and the Representation of Islam and Muslims in the British Press

This article illustrates how the media represent Islam and Muslims in the post-9/11 context through an examination of British newspaper coverage of the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer at the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The article argues that key elements of the cultural stereotyping of Islam and Muslims identified in Said’s Orientalism—namely, violence, irrationality, and backwardness—were reproduced. These ideas stem from, and reinforce, a narrative of absolute and systematic difference between the East and the West. Thus, representations of Islam and Muslims in sport-related coverage, just as in “mainstream” reporting, tend to be negative and hostile. The article further argues that such representation has become more homogeneous and more heavily focused on religion and terrorism post-9/11 and that uniform and uncritical portrayals are particularly likely to appear in the seemingly apolitical context of sport-related issues.

Sport, Intellectuals and Public Sociology Obstacles and Opportunities

This article seeks to explain why it has proved so difficult for sociologists of sport to assume the mantle of public intellectuals even in relation to sport itself. Using a case study relating to sport in Northern Ireland and rooted in personal experience, the article examines alternative ways in which intellectual activity, albeit unconventionally understood, can influence the world of sport. Specifically, the analysis draws upon Antonio Gramscis distinction between traditional and organic intellectuals. It is argued that only through engagement with organic intellectuals who exercise authority within the subcultures of sport can critical sociologists hope to influence sporting practices.

National sports and national landscapes: In defence of primordialism

This article explores the relationship between landscape, sport and the formation and reproduction of national identities. Central to this discussion is the concept of national sports with evidence being taken from various genres of sports-related literature and from a variety of nations. Just as the landscape provides the context in which national sports are played and watched, it is the playing and watching of these sports which in turn give the landscape added meaning As a consequence of this, the nation, sport and landscape come to be recognised as interconnected texts which taken as whole offer significant insights into the primordial formation of national identities.

Soccer, Masculinity, and Violence in Northern Ireland Between Hooliganism and Terrorism

Despite, or arguably because of, the marked decrease in the level of politically motivated violence in Northern Ireland since 1994, greater attention can now be paid to other forms of violence. The article argues that hegemonic masculinity encourages patterned male violence at large and that this was formerly an important element in the persistence of terrorist violence. The latter existed on the same continuum as other manifestations of hegemonic masculinity including the antisocial behavior of certain soccer fans. Specific attention is paid in the article to the relationship between loyalist paramilitary violence and the activities of young Protestant working-class men at soccer games. The two phenomena are revealed as interconnected responses to a crisis of masculinity rooted in economic and political uncertainty.

Representing Taiwan: International sport, ethnicity and national identity in the Republic of China

This article outlines and analyses the political character of Taiwan’s relationship with international sport, and in particular with the Olympic movement. In so doing, it seeks to add to the understanding of the links between sport and the formation and reproduction of national identities, with specific reference to the various cultural and ethnic identities of Taiwan, and to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between ethnic and civic nationalism. The idea of the ‘New Taiwanese’ involves an ethnically divided people coming to see themselves as a cohesive group (Wong, 2001). Success in international sport can contribute to this process as it has in other post-colonial settings. Precisely how national identity formation in Taiwan will further develop, however, is difficult, if not impossible, to predict. What is certain, however, is that sport will continue to play a significant role in the unfolding process.

The Difficult Dialogue: Communism, Nationalism, and Political Propaganda in North Korean Sport

North Korea is arguably the least understood and the most reclusive country in the world. This article discusses the use of sport in the country as a vehicle for political propaganda and, in particular, the role of nationalism within the communist sporting culture. Although most nation states have become increasingly interdependent politically and economically in the so-called global era, relatively few countries have an official relationship with North Korea. Sport may be one of the few arenas in which the world can glimpse North Korean people and their culture because North Korean athletes consistently participate in international sporting competition, both inside and outside of the country, regardless of political and economic isolation. In this article, an attempt is made to paint a picture of North Korean society by exploring the country’s sport culture. Particular attention will be paid to the political, and specifically the nationalistic, dimension of sport in North Korea. To this end, three case studies— football, taekwondo, and mass gymnastics—are explored. This study of North Korean sport offers useful insights into the political and nationalistic elements embedded in the country’s cultural practice, and, more generally, insights into the problematic relationship between communism and nationalism.

What's Scandinavian about Scandinavian sport?

This essay consists of a set of personal reflections and observations. It discusses the social significance of sport in Nordic counties and comments on the academic study of Nordic sport, noting differing emphases from one country to another, for example in relation to sport and national self recognition. More generally, however, the essay argues that there is evidence of a specifically Nordic and/or Scandinavian approach to sport, associated above all with social solidarity. Furthermore, even if Nordic sport is less distinctive today than it once was, it continues to offer salutary lessons about how to play and organize sport and, in particular, about how to maintain a balance between mass participation and elite performance.

PROUD TO BE CHINESE: LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL AND NATIONAL IDENTITIES IN TAIWAN DURING THE 1970s 1

Defeated by the communists in 1949, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) sought refuge in Taiwan under the conditions of war and aggression that produced strong defensive nationalism and an intensive struggle for national identification. The KMT faced a dual crisis of legitimacy during the 1970s, both domestically and internationally, after being expelled from the United Nations. The urgency of seeking recognition within the boundary by the Taiwanese and beyond by the overseas Chinese led the KMT to use Little League Baseball (LLB) as a form of cultural symbolism, from which “Chinese identity” came to be manifested. This Chinese nation-building project engaged in by KMT elites was extremely successful and demonstrated the extent to which elites have the capacity to forge national sentiment on the basis of an imagined community. This process also successfully solicited support from the overseas Chinese to continue standing by a “Free China,” whose legitimacy had been eroded under the “Red China” onslaught. The eventual demise of this project was, in part, the result of pressure from rival elites with an ability to manufacture an alternative identity that drew upon more primordial factors.