1st Edition
Football and Diaspora Connecting Dispersed Communities through the Global Game
This is the first book to examine football (soccer) through the lens of diaspora studies. Presenting case studies from across four continents, it considers how diasporic minorities develop a sense of belonging between their national and transnational ethnic communities through an active participation in football.
Bringing together a cross-disciplinary group of scholars working in anthropology, communication, cultural studies, history, psychology, politics, sociology and sport, it unearths the connections between culture, identities, politics, nationalism, globalization, and how those manifest in the lived experience of diasporic peoples. Against a background of the continued internationalization of sport and pervasive global migration, it explores key themes in the social sciences including migration, acculturation, and assimilation; sport, identity, fandom, and representation; and nationhood, citizenship, and politics. As the book focuses on diverse ethnoreligious groups dispersed around the world, it covers a wide range of geographic locations, with cases addressing the Bolivian, Ethiopian, Moroccan, Zimbabwean, Croatian, Irish, and Basque diasporas.
It is fascinating reading for anybody working in sport studies, diaspora studies, political science, sociology, cultural studies, international history or social history.
Introduction
Jeffrey W. Kassing and Sangmi Lee
1 Football and Diaspora: A Theoretical Framework
Sangmi Lee and Jeffrey W. Kassing
Part I: Community and Representation
2 Soccer Boundaries and Social Capital: How Fútbol Unites and Divides Ethiopian Diasporic Immigrants in the United States
Mohammed Ademo
3 Croatian Australian Identity and Soccer Since 1945
Vesna Drapač and Ivan Hrstić
4 The Bolivian Diaspora in the Rise and Fall of the First Supporters Group in Major League Soccer: Losing Home
Stephen P. Andon
Part II: Transnational Connections
5 Football Fandom and the Basque Diaspora in the United States: A Modern
Passion with an Old-World Identity
Mariann Vaczi, John Bieter and Argia Beristain
6 Morocco’s Atlas Lions and Diaspora Support in the 2022 FIFA World Cup: “Dima Maghrib (Morocco Forever)!”
Christopher J. Cox
7 Reimagining National Pride and Patriotism: Online Fan Cultures of Zimbabwe Men’s Football Team Fans Outside the Country
Manase Kudzai Chiweshe
8 Football and the Emergence of Diasporas: Representing Post-Soviet Conflict States Beyond Europe
Steve Menary and Sangmi Lee
9 The Irish Diaspora and Celtic Football Club in Scotland: Power, Protest
and Prejudice
John Kelly
Biography
Jeffrey W. Kassing is Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Social & Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University, USA. His research interests include sport and identity, sports media, and soccer. He is the co-director of the Sport, Media, and Culture Research Group at Arizona State University.
Sangmi Lee is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University, USA. She received her Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.) in anthropology at the University of Oxford, UK. Her research focuses on diaspora, transnationalism, nationalism, and multiculturalism based on ethnographic approach.
