Beyond the Boundary: Cricket and Community in England, c. 1965-2015
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Sch of Historical Studies
Abstract
This research project focuses on cricket among South Asian immigrants in England, c. 1965-2015, in order to consider questions of identity, community and narratives of belonging within an increasingly ethnically diverse and multi-cultural society. In particular, it seeks to explore to what extent dominant constructions of cricket as an 'English' sport have resulted in marginalizing a variety of grassroots experiences and narratives involving non-white immigrant communities from former parts of the British Empire.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Prashant Kidambi (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Amerdeep Panesar (Student) |
| Description | The project is based on a series of interviews with current and former cricket players and administrators in England. These interviews will be made readily available at the Marylebone Cricket Club once the project has been completed. I am reluctant to give any concrete findings as the project is still ongoing with one year left. However, I think my findings will be useful in future which are noted in last section. |
| Exploitation Route | Recently, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced there South Asian Action Plan (2020-2024) to better engage with with South Asian communities. Also, the summer 2019 the Cricket World Cup will be hosted in England. These means in the next few years cricket will be under microscope from media outlets and academics. As the research data, which was based on interviews with British Asians will be deposited in the Marylebone Cricket Club archive and made freely available. The raw data itself will be useful to various organisations while the World Cup and ECB action plan is in motion. As the findings will contribute to overall understanding of the development of an immigrant community in sport. The findings also will outline the South Asian lived experience of cricket and how they negotiated playing the game in Britain between 1960-2018. Key actors such as the ECB and local cricket boards could use these findings to understand how to engage with the Asian community in Britain. More broadly the findings will shed light on wider knowledge of the South Asian community in Britain. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | The interviews collected for the project were deposited into the Marylebone Cricket Club archive alongside other textual sources. There are also plans to create digital stories and podcast length documentaries in the next 3 months. All the data will be placed in the Marylebone Cricket Club archive and made freely available once the project has been completed. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Policy & public services |