Whiteness, Blackness and Settlement: Leisure and the Integration of New Migrants

Abstract

Abstract

Shooting for Lithuania: Migration, National Identity and Men’s Basketball in the East of England

“…We have demonstrated how participation in basketball related to their migratory experiences and acculturation strategies in the face of resistance and stigmatization from the local indigenous population, which often served to 'racialize' their basketball behaviors and traditions, thereby making their group more 'visible' and subject to marginalization (Long & Hylton, 2002;Long et al, 2014). Initially, our participants had been isolated, with poorly established bonds of association with their compatriots.…”

“…Consequently, 'racialization' does not require phenotypical or biological difference, but can also make use of sociocultural and economic differences. For example, it has been highlighted how 'whiteness' is often assumed to command the center due to processes of normalization, as opposed to more peripheral 'race' categories, including 'blackness,' which is often othered in host communities in the West (Long & Hylton, 2002;Long et al, 2014). Consequently, it has been assumed that 'Other White' migrant groups have fewer problems, in adapting to a new context.…”

“…One consequence of this was that the unexpectedly large numbers of A8 migrants entering the UK meant specific groups, such as Romanians, to be symbolically denuded of their 'whiteness' in such sources as the tabloid media which emphasized the negative aspects of their immigration, including their high numbers and negative stereotypes, such as linking them to crime (Fox et al, 2012). Other groups, however, are often subsumed into wider 'East European' categories, which are in turn often subsumed within generic categories of European Whiteness-and are therefore less visible in such negative discourses (Long & Hylton, 2002;Long et al, 2014). As will be observed below, our group of Lithuanian migrants had been negatively stigmatized at the local level, both in terms of their wider relationships with local populations, and within sport.…”

“…Instead, like other 'racial/ethnic' categories, 'whiteness' as an ideological construct represents a heterogeneous multiplicity of national, regional and ethnic identities which are shaped by broader geospatial relationships and power dynamics that change over time, and which intersect with other markers of difference (including gender, age and (dis)ability). Whiteness, therefore, is a process (Long et al, 2014;Satzewich, 2000). For example, although the free-market policies of New Labor in the UK quickly meant that nearly 1.5 million Eastern Europeans entered the country seeking work, the majority moved into the low-end sector of the economy (Fox et al, 2012).…”

Football for Inclusion: Examining the Pedagogic Rationalities and the Technologies of Solidarity of a Sports-Based Intervention in Sweden

“…With specific reference to sport as a means of inclusion, some problematic aspects regarding its potential have been identified. It is important to highlight the risk of inclusion in a sports context being seen as synonymous with adaptation (assimilation) to specific norms and to the pre-defined ideals of the majority, creating stereotypes of these groups, maintaining hierarchies, and excluding racialised groups (e.g., Forde, Lee, Mills, & Frisby, 2015;Hylton, 2011;Long, Hylton, & Spracklen, 2014;Spaaij et al, 2016). Furthermore, different types of inclusion have been identified, involving both the strengthening of bonds within groups, and thereby creating stronger boundaries against other groups (exclusive bonding), as well as the creation of bridging contacts between different groups (inclusive bridging) (Coakley, 2011).…”