Globalizing Cricket: Englishness, Empire and Identity

Description

Globalizing Cricket examines the global role of the sport - how it developed and spread around the world. The book explores the origins of cricket in the eighteenth century, its establishment as England's national game in the nineteenth, the successful (Caribbean) and unsuccessful (American) diffusion of cricket as part of the development of the British Empire and its role in structuring contemporary identities amongst and between the English, the British and postcolonial communities. Whilst empirically focused on the sport itself, the book addresses broader issues such as social development, imperialism, race, diaspora and national identities. Tracing the beginnings of cricket as a 'folk game' through to the present, it draws together these different strands to examine the meaning and social significance of the modern game. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the role of sport in both colonial and post-colonial periods; the history and peculiarities of English national identity; or simply intrigued by the game and its history. Cover Half-Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Globalizing Sport Studies Series Editor’s Preface Acknowledgements Introduction: Globalizing Cricket The aims of Globalizing Cricket A framework for understanding the development of cricket Conclusion: Cricket and Englishness as a pleonasm 1 The Emergence of Cricket From folk game to modern sport Early cricket matches The sportization of cricket Law changes and the control of violence Conclusion 2 The 'National Game': Cricket in Nineteenth-Century England National identity and Englishness Cricket and Englishness Cricket and social change in nineteenth-century England Cricket towards the end of the century Conclusion Postscript 3 The Imperial Game: Cricket and Colonization The Imperial game: Some conceptual issues Cricket and colonization: Dominant trends Cricket and colonization: Ideological problems Conclusion 4 Cricket in America Theories of cricket’s demise in America The arrival of cricket in America Cricket’s peak and the rise of baseball Conclusion 5 Cricket in the Caribbean Cricket in the colonial Caribbean Cricket in the post-colonial Caribbean Conclusion 6 Cricket and the Celtic Nations Colonization and the Celtic nations The development of cricket in Celtic nations Wales Scotland Ireland The ‘failure’ of cricket in the Celtic nations Celtic cricket and colonization Conclusion: Cricket and contemporary identities in the Celtic nations 7 Cricket and Diasporic Identities in Post-Imperial Britain Conceptualizing diaspora The Caribbean diaspora and cricket spectatorship The South Asian diaspora and cricket spectatorship Diasporic identities and grassroots cricket Diaspora and professional cricket in England Conclusion 8 Cricket and Changing Conceptions of Englishness Malign Englishness The Barmy Army and the emergence of benign Englishness The social context of the Barmy Army’s emergence 2005 Ashes and the popularization of benign Englishness Flintoff as the embodiment of Englishness Conclusion 9 Cricket, the English and the Process of 'Othering' Orientalism Woolmergate Woolmergate and cultural representations of the West Woolmergate and cultural representations of the Caribbean Woolmergate and cultural representations of the Orient Conclusion Conclusion Theoretical reflections References Notes Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z