| ID | 164302 |
| Title Proper | Whose ‘wee country’?: identity politics and sport in Northern Ireland |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Liston, Katie |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article responds to calls in this journal for increased attention to identity, culture, power and sport. It explores, for the first time, the lived realities of identity politics in a divided society, through interviews with 12 self-declared Irish nationalists and republicans that represented Northern Ireland. Important insights are revealed into national eligibility decisions for either Irish team, motivated mainly by ‘shop window’ visibility and being seen as the best of a peer group. Political and sporting nationalisms were not necessarily analogous. A significant original finding is that the lived experiences of being closer to ‘the other’ resulted in an overall reinforcement rather than dissolution of difference. Visual and oral ‘national’ symbols such as flag, and especially anthem, delineated such difference, being symbolic walls of the mind. ‘Our wee country’ was thus a polarised and polarising fantasy shield. The article concludes by reconsidering the role of sport as a lens through which to examine identity and its’ place as part of the ‘problem’ and ‘solution’. |
| `In' analytical Note | Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power Vol. 26, No.2; April 2019: p.203-221 |
| Journal Source | Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 2019-04 26, 2 |
| Key Words | Politics ; Northern Ireland ; Identity ; Habitus ; Sport ; Divided |