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Diasporas in Sport: Networks, Nostalgia, and the Nuances of Dwelling

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The Palgrave Handbook of Globalization and Sport

Abstract

Many migrants remain connected to the cultures, communities, and consciousness of their land of origin, making diaspora a better heuristic than the nation or transnationality for understanding the experiences of migrants and their descendants. Their connections to local and global politics, cultures, and societies are multi-sited, imagined, and constructed. This chapter describes diasporas and specifies how they have been studied in sport contexts, including international sport fandom and the power of ethnic sporting organizations to fulfill the psychological, social, and economic needs of migrants. A case study of a recreational Black Caribbean Canadian cricket and social club in the Greater Toronto Area is used to explore three main elements that are central to the diasporic imaginary: (1) multi-sited interpersonal networks or pluri-local homelands; (2) nostalgia and narrativized rediscoveries of other places and times; and (3) the nuances of dwelling that require the co-mingling of and translations among/within ethnic and racial groups. This sport case study reinforces many of the findings of literatures on Black and Caribbean diasporas as the club members try to prove, preserve, and protect their distinctive culture. Club members’ on- and off-field sport practices, sport media consumption, sport tourism, as well as family constructs belie a simple national or transnational frame. This chapter ends with some ideas for the next steps in intersectional research on sporting diasporas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Janelle Joseph

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  1. Janelle Joseph
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Correspondence to Janelle Joseph .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK

    Joseph Maguire

  2. Ulster University, Jordanstown, UK

    Katie Liston

  3. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Mark Falcous

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Joseph, J. (2021). Diasporas in Sport: Networks, Nostalgia, and the Nuances of Dwelling. In: Maguire, J., Liston, K., Falcous, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Globalization and Sport . Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56854-0_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56854-0_20

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