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

改变领域：挑战板球霸权叙事，推动斯里兰卡和全球体育促进发展与和平的变革

• 批准号: ES/Y007476/1
• 负责人: Benjamin Marcus Hildred
• 金额: $ 14.33万
• 依托单位: Durham University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FY007476%2F1
• 关键词: Changing; Field; Challenging; hegemonic; narratives

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.

在攻读博士学位期间，我研究了板球在斯里兰卡的和解努力中所扮演的角色。虽然我的结论是板球对个人有一些积极的影响，并且可以改善国家的人际关系，但我的研究结果也提出了一个问题：像板球这样的运动不太可能促进目前形式的结构性变革。通过对斯里兰卡板球运动员进行深入的人类学田野调查，我发现体育促进了某些叙事，这些叙事延续了狭隘的社会观，其中变革的想法大多是个人的。虽然板球运动员学习如何改变自己的生活，但这项运动很少让他们质疑或挑战他们的社会限制。许多体育促进发展与和平（SDP）的实践者倾向于将改变留给个人，只是为人们提供通过体育改变的机会，而不是解决使社会问题长期存在的系统性问题。因此，我得出的结论是，需要进一步评估体育与变革之间的关系，挑战这些主流体育叙事，从而改变体育运动。这里提出的奖学金是实现改变体育叙事和转变社会体育思维这一目标的第一步。它建立在我在斯里兰卡背景下的具体发现的基础上，致力于使它们在当地范围内更具影响力，并与更广泛的受众更相关。到目前为止，我的研究主要在学术层面产生了影响，刺激了会议论文和出版物，包括关于斯里兰卡板球民族主义的书籍章节，以及关于探索体现运动的创新技术的期刊文章。我管理着一个斯里兰卡研究小组，以及我于 2020 年创立的国际体育人类学网络 (INSA)。ESRC 奖学金将使我能够开发这一出版记录并进一步发展这些网络，使我成为不断发展的体育人类学领域的专家，对社会变革有重要的看法。最重要的是，奖学金将使我能够在斯里兰卡传播我的发现，继续与当地 SDP 参与者建立网络，并提供在地方一级影响的具体证据。该奖学金的第一个主要目标是传播我关于斯里兰卡板球与和解的发现，发展和改善其在不同规模的影响。第二个目标是创建一个围绕体育和变革的人类学子领域，这将产生强有力的理论来更好地推动体育倡议，并支持我在学术界建立职业生涯的目标。这些目标将通过四个相互关联的目标来实现：1．从我的博士材料中生成有影响力的出版物，包括构建有助于体育和社会变革人类学子领域的理论的期刊文章。2。通过一系列研讨会交流和传播调查结果，特别是在斯里兰卡，这将影响地方和国家层面的 SDP 从业者。3．在英国和国际上建立研究网络和合作伙伴关系，通过对渥太华的海外机构访问与体育促进和解领域的著名专家合作，并通过扩大体育人类学国际网络来创建我自己的网络。4。制定一项拨款提案，通过扩大我的发现范围，将我的发现纳入更广泛的背景和跨不同学科，将这项关于体育和变革的工作延伸到未来。这些目标将通过确保我的发现接触到更多的受众，从而最大限度地发挥我的博士学位的影响力，从而带来工具和概念上的好处。最终，这项奖学金将为我的博士研究成果提供空间，使其更具可操作性，并产生更大的影响。达勒姆 ESRC 博士后奖学金将帮助我改变这个领域，挑战板球霸权叙事，并推动斯里兰卡和全球体育促进发展与和平的变革。