Cultural Identity An overview Cultural Identity There is nothing static or unchanging about concepts of identity They are historically contingent Different times different structures produce different understandings of identity ID: 756658
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Sport, nationalism and identitySlide2
Cultural Identity
An overviewSlide3
Cultural Identity
There is nothing static or unchanging about concepts of identity. They are historically
contingent
Different times, different structures produce different understandings of identitySlide4
Cultural Identity
How we understand identity today is very different from how it was understood in the past, and may well no longer apply in the future
How we understand it in the west may not apply today in other parts of the globeSlide5
Cultural Identity
We are encouraged in contemporary society to think of identity as something which is
within
us, and which we radiate outwards
Contemporary theories of identity, however, argue that (1) our identities are constrained by external structures over which we may have little control, and…Slide6
Cultural Identity
(2) that we essentially “build” our identities using a range of resources already existing outside us
Since the resources we use are provided by the culture in which we live, our identities are therefore by definition culturalSlide7
Cultural Identity
Since the cultural resources of our society are not just available to us, but are more generally available (even if not equally to all), however “different” we might think we are our identities are made up from the same resources as other people, even if we put these together in a slightly different waySlide8
Cultural Identity
At the level of group identities we can, despite the current focus on “uniqueness” (“be yourself”), agree to use similar resources to differentiate ourselves as a group from other groupsSlide9
Collective identities
Football is traditionally a site of both male and working class identities
Ballet, on the other hand, is traditionally a site of female and middle-class or upper-class identitiesSlide10
Collective identities
Opera is a site of middle-class, middle-aged identity, and so on
Though uncommon in Europe, some of the world’s largest events are sites of religious identitySlide11
Collective identities
The concept of “group” can on occasions expand to mean “nation”, and frequently does so in relation to sportSlide12
Cultural Identity
A Brief HistorySlide13
Cultural Identity - a brief history
During the Middle Ages the central form of collective identity was membership of an Estate: the peasantry, the nobility, the clergy - status was more important than individualitySlide14
Cultural Identity - a brief history
Nature was thought of as a “Great Chain of Being”, from the smallest creature all the way up to God
You were allocated a place in this chain at birth, and movement - “upward mobility” - was impossibleSlide15
Cultural Identity - a brief history
When capitalism swept away the structures of feudalism and ushered in “modernity” new concepts of identity appeared
With its ideological emphasis on enterprise, the bourgeoisie developed the concept of the “bounded individual” simultaneously with notions of class-based and nation-based identitiesSlide16
Cultural Identity - a brief history
As we move into postmodernity the concept of identity is changing again
To a large extent the idea of a single identity is being replaced by multiple identities
We can stage one identity as a football fan, and a quite different one elsewhereSlide17
Sport and National IdentitySlide18
Sport and National Identity
Sports as we now know them were likewise the product of emerging modernity, and have as a result been connected from the outset with both concepts of class and nation
During the period of expansion of the British Empire British businessmen took their sports with them, spreading football, rugby, cricket and even polo to many parts of the globeSlide19
Sport and National Identity
Some countries (Canada, the United States) stressed their independence by adapting these games and producing new versions
Others (India, the Caribbean islands) attempted to beat the metropolis “at its own game”)Slide20
Sport and National Identity
Sporting mega-events are sites of multiple identity formation
Football world cups combine national identity with male identity and (decreasingly) working-class identitiesSlide21
Sport and National Identity
Wimbledon tournaments combine national identity with broadly speaking middle-class identity
Their common denominator, however, is almost always the presence (however indirect) of signs of national identitySlide22
Sport and National Identity
Most such events make use of conventional symbols of the nations (flags, national anthems, national costume and the like) in displays of explicit nationalism
Even where these are absent (Wimbledon) media coverage operates as if they were thereSlide23
Sport and National Identity
In fact media coverage invariably presents sportpersons in international competitions as
representatives
of their “nation”
Governments can invest huge amounts of money in attempts to present a certain image of their nationSlide24
Sport and National Identity
Tensions can arise from various sources
Political competition
This was particularly acute during the Cold War, but is still visible today
Poor performances are often interpreted by the press as “humiliating”Slide25
Sport and National Identity
Internal conflict
Great tension can arise when there is conflict over the definition of the “nation” (Scottish/British, Catalan/ Spanish)
Scottish athletes are appropriated as both “Scottish” and “British”, Catalans as both “Catalan” and “Spanish”Slide26
Sport and National Identity
However, national identity can also be staged in the mode of fun
This was particularly visible in Germany in 2006
The most striking example is, however, the Tartan ArmySlide27
ConclusionSlide28
National Identity and Sport
National identity is not a
thing
(we are not born with it), it is the product of
discourses
and
practices
Sport is a major arena for the staging of practices related to national identitySlide29
National Identity and Sport
The media are the major sources of discourses on national identity, and these are particularly visible when reporting on major international sporting events
Sport and media are, therefore, major producers of our sense of what it is to be Scottish, English, Spanish and so onSlide30
National Identity and Sport
As is the case will all discourse, however, no single definition emerges
The struggle over which definition should prevail can be bitter
However, practices of national identity can be, and often are, a source of enjoyment and funSlide31
Many Thanks