Title:
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British Asian females' racialised and gendered experiences of identity and women's football
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This thesis provides a detailed analysis of British Asian females' expenences of
playing women's football in England. Even though a growing number of British
Asian girls and women are known to be playing the game in recent years, they have
not generally been valued and/or accepted members of the field. Arguably, their
positioning(s) as insiders/outsiders in relation to women's football is tenuous and
involves different levels of belonging and non-belonging. This is an under-researched
area of study and therefore I use ethnographic research methods - particularly
interviews and participant observation - to prioritise the voices and experiences of
British Asian female footballers. In this way I give the research participants the
power to speak about their experiences in a way that makes sense to them as 'players'
of the game. The research specifically examines how the subjective experiences of
British Asian female football players is shaped by the material conditions of their
lives, and also engages with how they actively respond to such forces.
Acknowledging the heterogeneity of British Asian football players and illustrating
both similarities and differences in terms of their everyday experiences have been
central to the research processes. The findings of this study show how these females
- in relation to their personal circumstances - carve out a sense of belonging for
themselves through on-going forms of negotiation. Commonalities in their
experiences signify the pervasiveness of gender, 'race'/ ethnicity, nation and class as
well as other ideas about family, generation, style and consumption which construct ,
new articulations of 'femaleness' and 'Asianness'. Identities are becoming
increasingly hybrid resulting in a wide array of experiences and positioning(s) which
are not clear-cut or easy to decipher but are nuanced and complex. Engaging with the
vicissitudes of British Asian females' football experiences this account provides a timely contribution to the sociology of sport as well as to the fields of gender, ethnic
and racial studies.
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