In Shimit Aman’s film Chak De! India, we examine the impact of India’s socio-political condition. In result, Aman’s film brings to light the political anxiety of post-colonial India. Furthermore, we are able to determine how the boundaries of Indian nation-states have an impact on the construction gender, sports, and space.
Sports are dependent indicators of the socio-political atmosphere in India. It has become an emblem of Indian nationhood, dominated by males the practice of a national sports is the country’s symbol of the evolution of Indian modernity. Appadurai states, “The means of modernity contained in cricket require a confluence of lived interests where cricket producers and consumers can share the excitement of ‘Indiannes’ without its many divisive scars” (Appadurai, 179). Like Cricket, Field Hockey introduced to India by the British during the colonialism of the Indian empire. Thus, in the Indian context these sports produce an unexpected light on the relationship between nationhood and empire (Appadurai, 32). India has developed a collective identity of ‘Indianess’ through the vernacularization of these sports.
The relationship between sports and politics is on the oldest pervading examples of the interaction of the institution and nationhood (Heitzman and Srinivas, 140). Sports become a lens in which the outsider can view the socio-political stratum. Within the beginning of the Film, the audience becomes aware of the importance of the Field Hockey match between India and Pakistan. Through this match, the space of Indian Muslim identity is hostile and prejudicial in the face of India. The match magnifies and politicizes the experience of the match while simultaneously being apart of a larger discourse of nationa...
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...53). Furthermore, the Girls hockey team broke the gender stereotype by dominating a male domain, by performing bodily practices that ignore the differences of their nation-states. In one scene of the movie, when hockey officials decide not to send the girls team to Australia for the World Cup, the coach makes a deal in which the girls would challenge the men’s team in hopes of making it. The girls unite to put on a fierce match, and by competing in a male domain, they are rewarded with the opportunity to go play in the world cup. Moreover, they learned to reconcile religious discrimination for national sentiment through sports performance. In contrast to cricket, Appadurai states, “In the case of cricket in India, the key to the complex flows that linked cricket, class, and race in the colonial ecumene was the story of patronage and coaching in India”(Appdurai, 45).
Nair, N. (2011). Cricket Obsession in India: Through the Lens of Identity Theory. Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, 14(5), 569-580. doi:10.1080/17430437.2011.574351
Sports have always been important part of Canadian identity and culture. Since the rapid growth of both amateur and professional sports in the beginning of the previous century, sports like hockey, basketball and curling became inseparable part of Canadian culture. The two books under review examine Canadian sports in twentieth century and the changes it went through in early twentieth century are Bruce Kidd’s, The Struggle for Canadian Sport (University of Toronto Press, 1996) and Colin D. Howell’s, Blood, Sweat, and cheers: sport and the making of modern Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2001). Howell argues that sport in twentieth century was “important in the construction of gender identities and in the shaping of ethnic, racial, regional and community allegiances“. Kidd however argues that “the particular transformations of this period have shaped the structure of Canadian sports as much as anything before or since.” Both authors believe that this time period in sports had formative influence not only on the sports culture but also on Canadian identity
James, Lawrence. Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Print.
"Politics has come to be considered not only inappropriate in the arena of sports, but actually antithetical to it," Zirin says. "We want so much to see sports solely as an arena of play, not seriousness. But here's the thing, this can cheapen not only the greatness and relevance of sports to us as a society, but also the courage of the athletes" (The Nation). The pursuit of fame, wealth and status can blind the human conscious, which is why it is important for us to encourage athletes to speak their minds. As a nation, we should not silence the athletes, because it is the truly courageous athletes who have the audacity to stand up when it’s not popular. Sports should be used as a platform for a certain kind of politics: militarism, nationalism. There is a rich tradition of resistance to politics in sports, but their actions have been integral to country’s struggle for racial and gender equality; sports are a safe place to discuss these difficult topics.
The first perspective is that women are disadvantaged at any sport. Some people reiterate the difference of men and women in sports. This is influenced by strength and the natural power men hold, comparable to women. Rodriguez questions “Is this because female athletes don’t have what it takes to make it in the world of sports or could it be more of a social issue?” This perspective seems to be a social issue based on the notable skills women acquire vs. the apparent judgments of gender issues. The second perspective is the idea that women deserve and inherently earn their right of equal attention and equal pay. “Sometimes, the secret to equality is not positive discrimination, it 's equal terms. It 's the shrug of the shoulders that says "what 's the difference?" The moment worth aspiring for is not seeing people celebrate the world-class female cricketer who competes at comparatively low-level male professional cricket, but the day when people are aware that she does, and don 't find it notable at all” (Lawson). Lawson makes it a point to confirm the biased notions against women in sports and relay an alternative worth working toward and fighting for. Both outlooks can be biased but only one has factual evidence to back it up. The second perspective reviews an ongoing gender issue. This problem is welcome for change depending on society’s
Sport and identity together have a unique relationship in which any regional or national place can use sport as a means to create a sense of identity. The relationship is complex and varied. Identity can be explained as understanding what or who a person or a thing is. Sport is capable of creating a feeling of nationhood and this is an important factor. It is important too for a nation to create a sense of identity but it is especially important for a regional area. For a small country to host a major sporting event is a significant achievement especially with having rivalry with bigger neighbouring countries. Nationalism can be expressed in a less aggressive manner through sport because there is a clear winner and loser; it is a clear cut way of asserting superiority of your notion over others. In this essay, one regional and one national example will be looked upon to see how they use sport to assert their sense of identity. Cricket in Yorkshire County Cricket Club will be used as a source of a regional example and rugby in South Africa will be used as a national example. We will look at the factors they used to inflict sport as a means to promote their identity and also if these identities are sustainable.
Dealing with the issue of sport and ethnology, three major factors come to mind; prejudice, racism, and discrimination. These factors span across gender, ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural groups. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss how these factors have played a part in the evolution of sport in our society. The first issue tackled in this paper will be racism in sports, followed by prejudice and discrimination.
Sports throughout history have shown close ties and relations to values and cultures of a society. Sports and competition have adapted and grown as the world and people have grown and developed. Sports are often seen as simple consequence of the industrial revolution. The Impact of increased urbanization, better communication and transportation, as well as more time and income for specialization, all led to the creation of sports. (szymanski). In essence As the public sphere grew so did the concept of sport. (Szymanski). Even the impact colonization had on spreading sports, shows the congruence between the development of society and development of modern sports. What make sports very unique is that they always bring about a sense of culture
India is well known as a nation of contrasts, and the nation itself is a paradox. It is one of the world’s oldest known civilizations, yet it has only existed as the nation the world now know sit for 67 years. Similarly, it has produced some of the most important contributions to mathematics, science, philosophy, and trade, yet it is still considered to be a developing nation. The country’s history is a long, winding journey that has led it to its current state – the world’s largest democracy featuring both the same technological advancements enjoyed by the first world and the same challenges and problems faced by the rest of the developing world.
Whether its baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, or tennis, sports is seen all over the world as a representation of one’s pride for their city, country, and even continent. Sports is something that is valued world-wide which has the ability to bring communities together and create different meanings, beliefs and practices between individuals. Although many people may perceive sports to have a significant meaning within our lives, it can also have the ability to separate people through gender inequalities which can also be represented negatively throughout the media. This essay will attempt to prove how gender is constructed in the sports culture while focusing on female athletes and their acceptance in today’s society.
“We condition the masses to hate the country, but simultaneously we condition them to love all country sports. At the same time, we see to it that all country sports shall entail the use of elaborate apparatus. So that they consume manufactured articles as well as transport. Hence those electric shocks.” said the director to the student (Huxley
7. Stoddart, Brian. “Sport, Cultural Imperialism, and Colonial Response in the British Empire,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 30, No. 4 (1988): 649-673.
Adopting an anthropological questions, researchers frame fundamental questions around a wide range of theoretical models (Coakley and Dunning 2004:150). Researchers in the anthropology of sport tend to employ a distinctive framework within which to address among other things, specialised problems like gender and sport, sport and ritual, and violence in human society (Blanchard 1995:23). The anthropology of sport is primarily a behavioral science closely related to cultural anthropology (Blanchard 1995:23) and tied to the knowledge that sport is an institution and a component of culture (Coakley and Dunning 2000:151). Cultural anthropologists believe that play, sports, and physical activity are universal features of cultures, past and present. Following this rationale, the study of sport should enable researchers to access the quality and nature of social problems of particular cultures (Blanchard 1995; Chandler et al
Different studies and analysis opens up many of the inner dimensions of the experience of sports and media. Understanding sports, media, and spectacle reveals both details and generalizations about our culture and our general humanity.
The uncivilized character of Indian men exhibited violence that now has turned to the silences many of them unwillingly endure years later. The topic of the Indian partition is a controversial topic, it was a time where women were symbolized as national subjects, and faced the horrific procurement of religious catastrophe. The confusion of not understanding such mental lapse is the silence is best depicted through children in the movie, 1947 Earth. It is the battle Lenny and writer Butalia deal with, as Butalia paints a vivid picture of silence though her oral history, The Other Side of Silence. Butalia recounts the silence that lies within an interviewee’s memory, as she recounts, “‘I cannot ...