Arab Soccer in a Jewish State: The Integrative Enclave (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies) - Hardcover

Sorek, Tamir

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521870488 ISBN 13: 9780521870481

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2007

Synopsis

Over the last two decades soccer has become a major institution within the popular culture of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel. They have attained disproportionate success in this field. Given their marginalisation from many areas of Israeli society as well as the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such a prominent Arab presence highlights the tension between their Israeli citizenship and their belonging to the Palestinian people. Bringing together sociological, anthropological and historical approaches, Sorek examines how soccer can potentially be utilised by ethnic and national minorities as a field of social protest, a stage for demonstrating distinctive identity, or as a channel for social and political integration. Relying on a rich combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, he argues that equality in the soccer sphere legitimises contemporary inequality between Jews and Arabs in Israel and pursues wider arguments about the role of sport in ethno-national conflicts. Ideal for researchers and graduate students.

About this title

Book Description:

The growing success of Arab soccer teams and players in Israel highlights fundamental tensions and contradictions in Israeli collective identity and in Arab-Jewish relations. This book analyses the political significance of sport in ethno-national conflicts and argues that equality in the soccer sphere legitimises contemporary inequality between Jews and Arabs.

About the Author:

Tamir Sorek earned his PhD in sociology and anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2002 and taught for three years at Cornell University. Today he is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Israel Studies at the University of Florida. His interest and publications centre on Israeli and Palestinian identities as well as Israeli-Palestinian relations. His study of these relations focuses on socio-historical dynamics, power relations, and the juncture of culture and politics. In his studies, Sorek combines both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. His current project, supported by a Fulbright fellowship, deals with the ways Israeli and Palestinian national memories dialogue and confront one another.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0521870488
• ISBN 13: 9780521870481
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 242