What is the relationship between sport and national identity? What can sport tell us about changing perceptions of national identity? Bringing together the work of established historians and younger commentators, this illuminating text surveys the last half-century, giving due attention to the place of sport in our social and political history. It Includes studies of: · English football and British decline · Englishness and sport · Ethnicity and nationalism in Scotland · Social change and national pride in Wales · Irish international football and Irishness · Sport and identity in South Africa · Cricket and identity crisis in the Caribbean · Baseball, exceptionalism and American Sport · Popular mythology surrounding the sporting rivalry between New Zealand and Australia Sport and National Identity in the Post-War World presents a wealth of original research into contemporary social history and provides illuminating material for historians and sociologists alike.

This book provides a broad range of international case studies to examine how sport has helped to shape national identities, and how national cultures have shaped sport.

Practiced and watched by billions, sport is a global phenomenon. Sport history is a burgeoning sub-field that explores sport in all forms to help answer fundamental questions that scholars examine. This volume provides a reference for sport scholars and an accessible introduction to those who are new to the sub-field.

"East Asia is increasingly prominent within global sport. In the short period between 2018 and 2022 it will have held two Winter and one Summer Olympics, and the Rugby World Cup for good measure. This is not a sudden development. It has been in train for some time, although many scholars, especially in Europe and North America, have been focussed primarily on sport in their own countries and regions. J.A. Mangan, who for decades has been looking closely at sport in East Asia while encouraging others to do likewise, has made a major contribution to knowledge and understanding of a once under-appreciated subject. This excellent collection in his honour analyses the key interwoven elements of sport, media and nation in China, Japan and South Korea. It demonstrates how the structure and practice of sport connects in myriad ways with its representation, not least with regard to national narratives, international rivalries and transnational trends. It is a book that does signal justice both to East Asian Studies and to the academic who recognised the importance of sport to that field, and who has done so much to ensure that the region is centrally placed within any contemporary analysis of the world of sport." David Rowe, Emeritus Professor of Cultural Research, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University "Professor Mangan is the master dissector of the connections between sport and politics, geopolitics and nationalism across multiple Asian contexts. A collection of essays in honour of his long service to academic understandings of these fields is well deserved, and the editors and contributors to this volume have served up a worthy tribute. Showcasing new work by a stellar cast of China, Japan and Korea experts, in combination the papers collected here yield valuable insights into the issues of nation building, identity, media representation and sport which have been the subject of Professor Mangan's pioneering work over the past several decades. No one has done more to put East Asia on the map in terms of academic research on the manifold socio-political dimensions of sport, and this superbly constructed volume orchestrated by rising Tianwei Ren confirms that we neglect this fascinating, complex region at our peril." Jonathan Sullivan, Director of China Policy Institute and China Soccer Observatory, Associate Professor, School of Politics and IR. University of Nottingham

The modern history of sports is inextricably intertwined with national pride, international prestige, and world politics. In many ways, sport has created spillover effects that go beyond sporting results. First, it has played an important role in nation-building and as a benchmark of national identity. Second, it has served as a vessel through which nations and people assert political independence and to express a distinctive identity. Third, it acts as a conduit of power, allowing nations such as Australia to augment its global status and position on the world stage. Last, sport constitutes a means of contextualizing the renewal or rebirth of a nation, like the success of the 1964 Tokyo Games for post-war Japan.

"An examination of the development of the Olympic movement in Puerto Rico in the context of national and political identity"--