The Sexual and Gender Politics of Sport Mega-Events
This challenging new study examines gender and sexuality in relation to the roving colonialism of sport mega-events. Built around four case studies in postcolonial and settler colonial contexts the Olympics in Vancouver, London and Sochi and soccer fans in the Egyptian revolution the book examines sporting homonationalism and anti-colonial resistance.
The first part discusses different moments of homonationalism in sport. The second part explores how indigenous and anti-colonial protests against mega-sport events lead to different views about gender and sexuality politics in sport. It offers a critical counter-narrative to the view that gay and lesbian inclusion in global sporting events is simply a matter of universal human rights. The book calls for LGBT social movements in sport to move away from complicity with neoliberalism, nationalism and colonial-racial logics, particularly Islamophobia, toward a decolonial politics of solidarity.
Theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded, this book draws together important threads in the contemporary study of sport to illuminate the relationship between sport and wider society. It will be fascinating reading for any student or researcher interested in the sociology of sport, Olympic studies, gender and sexuality studies, postcolonial studies, indigenous studies, settler colonial studies or the politics of race and inclusion.
Heather Sykes is an Associate Professor of Physical Education at OISE Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, Canada. Heather researches issues of sexuality in sport and physical education through the lenses of poststructural, postcolonial, queer and feminist theories. Her book entitled Queer Bodies explored homophobia, transphobia and fat phobia in Canadian physical education, raising ethical questions about how society constructs ideals about healthy and athletic bodies. Heather has been co-editor of the journal Curriculum Inquiry and is involved in the North American Society for Sport Sociology.
Routledge Critical Studies in Sport
Series Editors Jennifer Hargreaves and Ian McDonald
University of Brighton
The Routledge Critical Studies in Sport series aims to lead the way in developing the multi-disciplinary field of Sport Studies by producing books that are interrogative, interventionist and innovative. By providing theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded texts, the series will make sense of the changes and challenges facing sport globally. The series aspires to maintain the commitment and promise of the critical paradigm by contributing to a more inclusive and less exploitative culture of sport.
Also available in this series:
The Cultural Politics of Lifestyle Sports
Belinda Wheaton
Celebration Capitalism and the Olympic Games
Jules Boykoff
Soccer, Culture and Society in Spain
An Ethnography of Basque Fandom
Mariann Vaczi
Olympic Exclusions
Youth, Poverty and Social Legacies
Jacqueline Kennelly
Critical Geographies of Sport
Space, Power and Sport in Global Perspective
Edited by Natalie Koch
The Sexual and Gender Politics of Sport Mega-Events
Roving Colonialism
Heather Sykes
The Sexual and Gender Politics of Sport Mega-Events
Roving Colonialism
Heather Sykes
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2017 Heather Sykes
The right of Heather Sykes to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-02362-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-77628-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby
To all activists in prison and in exile
Contents
HEATHER SYKES
HEATHER SYKES
HEATHER SYKES
HEATHER SYKES
HEATHER SYKES
HEATHER SYKES AND MANAL HAMZEH
SALIMA BHIMANI
MANAL HAMZEH AND HEATHER SYKES
HEATHER SYKES
Firstly, my immense gratitude to each activist who shared insight and wisdom with me. Your deep knowledge about how the forces of repression work under the name of sport needs sharing widely. Thank you for explaining and translating your wisdom across languages, generations and continents. To Nadia Kamel, thank you for hosting me in Cairo and intuitively connecting me to the Ultras struggles within the ongoing revolution you are living. Thank you for teaching me that activism springs from endless thinking and complex narration, guided by wisdom passed down through families and generations.
I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the amazing research team at OISE whose perspectives also shaped this book in meaningful ways Jeff Lloyd, Michael Wallner, Itani, Tyler Carson, Salima Bhimani and Chandni Desai. Collectively, but mainly as individuals, you shaped this book in so many ways. Jeff Lloyd, thank you for co-presenting part of this research with me at AERA in Vancouver, 2011, and also for your substantive intellectual contributions to early analyses of the Vancouver Olympics, especially making the connection with the proroguing of the Canadian parliament. Michael Wallner, thank you for also contributing to the early analysis of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the literature review, particularly your insightful reviews of new scholarship in settler colonial studies. Itani, thank you for your critical input throughout this project and for co-presenting at conferences in Brazil and Canada. Your insistence on both the importance of militarism and the specificity of homonationalisms in different colonial contexts has kept my analysis focused and, I hope, more ethical. Chandni Desai, your activist research about the Rio Olympics and Palestinian solidarity in Brazil toward the end of this project is invaluable and gives a clear political signal where the ideas in this book need to lead. Also, thanks to Tyler Carson in appreciation of your summer work about Israeli pinkwashing and settler colonial in sport for this project.
Salima, your interpretation of what it means to do activism from places of exile speaks to difficulty and determination, necessity and spirit. Thank you for teaching me about these profound aspects of activism and the necessary caution in the search for solidarities.
