Forced Migration and Sport: Critical Dialogues across International Contexts and Disciplinary Boundaries

This book aims to extend and deepen conversations among scholars, policymakers, and practitioners about the role of sport in relation to contexts and issues of forced migration.

The chapters in this volume critically analyse and interrogate the implications of existing approaches, practices, and research around sport and forced migration across five themes: 1) participatory methodologies, power, voice and ethics; 2) emotions and embodiment; 3) gendered, socio-ecological and intersectional perspectives; 4) critical perspectives on integration and intercultural communication; and 5) fandom and media representations of forced migrants in elite sport. It does so by engaging with complex, yet necessary, dialogues and perspectives that cross disciplinary boundaries, and by not shying away from conceptual and ethical tensions that interrogate concepts, methodologies, policies, and forms of representation regarding forced migrants’ experiences and contributions to global sporting cultures.

The book provides key contributions to advance critical scholarly analyses and inform applied interventions on the ground and will be beneficial to researchers and advanced students of Sports, Sociology and Politics. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Ramón Spaaij is Professor in the Institute for Health and Sport at Victoria University, Australia, and Visiting Professor in the Utrecht University School of Governance, The Netherlands. His research addresses sociocultural aspects and impacts of sport, with a focus on diversity, social inclusion, social change, and violence.

Carla Luguetti is Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow in the Institute for Health and Sport at Victoria University, Australia, and an expert in sport pedagogy and social justice. Her work focuses on activist approaches within sport and physical education context, in collaboration with researchers and practitioners from all over the world.

Nicola De Martini Ugolotti is Senior Lecturer in Sport and Physical Culture at Bournemouth University, United Kingdom, and member of Associazione Frantz Fanon, Italy. His research is located at the intersection of sport/leisure, urban and (forced) migration studies.