Changing the Field: Challenging hegemonic narratives of cricket to drive change in Sri Lanka and global Sport for Development and Peace

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During my PhD, I examined the assumed role that cricket has in reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka. Though I concluded that cricket had some positive influence on individuals and could improve interpersonal relations in the country, my findings also posed a problem: that sports like cricket are unlikely to promote structural change in their current form. Through in-depth anthropological fieldwork with cricketers in Sri Lanka, I found that sports promote certain narratives that perpetuate a narrow view of society, in which ideas of change are mostly individual. While cricketers learn how to make change in their own lives, the sport rarely leads them to question or challenge their social constraints. Many Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) practitioners tend to leave change up to individuals, simply providing opportunities for people to change through sport, rather than addressing the systemic problems that perpetuate social issues. Consequently, I concluded that work was needed to assess the relationship between sport and change further, to challenge these dominant sporting narratives in order to transform sport. The fellowship proposed here is a first step towards this goal of shifting the narrative on sport, and transforming thinking about sport in society. It builds on my specific findings in the Sri Lankan context, working to make them more impactful at the local scale, and more relevant to a wider audience.So far, my research has had impacts at a mostly academic level, stimulating conference papers and publications, including a book chapter on nationalism in Sri Lankan cricket, and a journal article on innovative techniques for exploring embodied movement. I run a Sri Lanka research group, and the International Network of Sport Anthropology (INSA), which I founded in 2020. An ESRC fellowship will enable me to develop this publication record and grow these networks further, positioning me as an expert within the growing anthropology of sport, who has important things to say about social change. Most importantly, a fellowship would enable me to disseminate my findings in Sri Lanka, to continue building networks with local SDP actors, and provide concrete evidence of impact at local level.The first major aim of this fellowship is to disseminate my findings about cricket and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, developing and improving their impacts at various scales. The second is to create a sub-field of anthropology surrounding sport and change, which would generate robust theory to better drive sport initiatives, and support my aims of establishing a career in academia. These aims will be achieved through four interlinked objectives:1. Generating impactful publications from my PhD material, including journal articles which build theory that contributes to a sub-field of anthropology in sport and social change.2. Communication and dissemination of findings, particularly in Sri Lanka, through a series of workshops that will impact SDP practitioners at local and national level.3. Establishing Research Networks & Partnerships in the UK and internationally, through an overseas institutional visit to Ottawa to work with a renowned expert in Sport for Reconciliation, and by expanding the International Network of Sport Anthropology to create my own network.4. Formulating a grant proposal, which will extend this work on sport and change into the future by broadening my findings to include wider contexts and across various academic disciplines.These objectives will maximise the impact of my PhD by ensuring that my findings reach a larger audience, leading to both instrumental and conceptual benefits. Ultimately, this fellowship will provide space to make the findings of my PhD more actionable and give them far greater impact. An ESRC postdoctoral fellowship at Durham will help me to change the field, challenge hegemonic narratives on cricket, and drive change in Sri Lanka and global Sport for Development and Peace.