Cricket and Nationhood in the Twenty-First Century: Identity Projects in Uncertain Times

This book presents a comprehensive exploration of the contemporary global landscape characterized by unsettling dynamics in identity politics, state authority, capitalism, nationalism, and nationhood, during the twenty-first century. Using cricket as a lens, it argues that the sport plays a profound role in a global society. This sport has not only generated the contexts and tools for shaping, promoting, displaying, and legitimizing nationalism and national identity, it has also served as a conduit for followers who express national optimism and aspirations. Cricket, as a political project, intricately interweaves territorial and emotional dimensions of belonging, attitudes, and involvement, thus offering a unique perspective for understanding the modern world across South Asia, Australia, Western Europe, Southern Africa, and North America. The chapters analyse how the audience of cricket -- about two billion people -- understand themselves in relation to their involvement in cricket, and what interactions among these groups tell us about global identity politics. Cricket provides communities with a dynamic space and social capital, facilitating the negotiation of gender, sexual, ethnic, and racial identities within their adopted environments. It has been a potent medium in shaping ethnic and racial identities, surpassing surface-level displays of national colours and unified chants. This book marks a significant step forward, delving into the comprehensive performative, emotional, and representational significance inherent in these circumstances.

About the Author

Souvik Naha is Senior Lecturer in Imperial and Postcolonial History at the University of Glasgow. He has a PhD in History from ETH Zurich and held a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions fellowship at Durham University. His recently published book is Cricket, Public Culture and the Making of Postcolonial Calcutta .