Author Description

"Sport and Secessionism examines how sporting cultures both reflect and inform secessionist movements around the world. Investigating both historical and contemporary cases, the book explores key themes including nationalism, nation building, state-region antagonisms, independence movements, identity and ethnic politics, sovereignty and autonomy processes, all through the lens of sport. Sports are uniquely positioned to shed light on secessionist politics due to their pervasiveness in society, and their ability to absorb, reflect, and produce political projections. The book presents analyses of a wide range of geographical, cultural and political contexts in which sports are deployed to pursue regional independence, or greater sovereignty and autonomy, and explores the dual processes of sub-national identity construction and state sovereignty deconstruction. It includes cases from regions as diverse as Ireland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Turkey, Catalonia, Biafra and the UK. Offering a unique perspective on an important geopolitical issue, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport and politics, the sociology of sport, political science or political geography, or international history"--