Forward and Backward: Women's Soccer in Twentieth-Century India
01 May 2005-Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and The Middle East (Duke University Press)-Vol. 25, Iss: 1, pp 204-213
TL;DR: For the first time, marketing of the World Cup is being directed toward women, particularly younger ones, as companies attempt to cash in on the growing popularity of football as discussed by the authors, as the notion of the football widow, annoyed and alienated during high-profile matches, becomes a thing of the past.
Abstract: E ngland’s progress in the World Cup is likely to draw record interest from women, as the notion of the “football widow,” annoyed and alienated during high-profile matches, becomes a thing of the past. For the first time, marketing of the World Cup is being directed toward women, particularly younger ones, as companies attempt to cash in on the growing popularity of football. High Street stores, including Top Shop, have produced World Cup merchandise like bikinis and underwear, printed with the cross of St. George and other slogans designed to show support for the England team. Both the Football Association (FA) and television companies expect record interest in the tournament from women, and about 15 percent of England fans in Japan with the official England supporters’ club will be female. Pubs and clubs also expect many women will watch England during morning broadcasts. Female football merchandise is one of the fastest-growing areas in the marketing of the game at club and international level. There has always been England merchandise aimed at men during a World Cup, making it a multimillion-pound industry, but many firms now feel that similar merchandise for women could prove just as lucrative. Umbro, which makes the England kit, has produced an England team shirt taking into account the female body, and an England team dress bearing the three lions crest. Top Shop has England World Cup products aimed at women in all of its three hundred stores, with a glitter England bikini and England beach towels proving the biggest sellers. In contrast to the upbeat nature of women’s soccer in Britain, women’s soccer in India continues to languish, hardly comparable in popularity to its British counterpart. Women spectators, key to the popularity of football in Britain, are still rarities in India, with football
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Dissertation•
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: Andrews et al. as mentioned in this paper explored how the ongoing and dialogic relationship between contemporary India and the West is represented, experienced, and contested in and through the realms of sport and physical culture.
Abstract: Title of Document: POSTCOLONIAL PLAY: ENCOUNTERS WITH SPORT AND PHYSICAL CULTURE IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA Callie Elizabeth Maddox Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Directed By: Professor David L. Andrews Department of Kinesiology Drawing upon the idea that India and the West are “tethered geographies” (Reddy, 2006), this dissertation project explores how the ongoing and dialogic relationship between contemporary India and the West is represented, experienced, and contested in and through the realms of sport and physical culture. With escalating rates of economic growth, a rapidly expanding middle class, and increasing international political clout, India is emerging as a global power while simultaneously defining itself as a postcolonial nation against, and in tandem with, the West. Utilizing a fluid theoretical vocabulary (Andrews, 2008) and employing mixed qualitative research methods that include participant observation and interviews, I examine how various sites of physical culture serve as points of meaningful exchange between India and the West. This project presents a necessarily partial and contingent understanding of the chosen sites, tempered by considerable reflexivity and self-awareness, as my own Self is intricately enmeshed in this work. The four distinct, yet related, empirical studies that comprise this project thus focus on the following: 1) the embodiment of gendered nationalism and male power as manifested by the Cheer Queens, a cheerleading squad supporting the Pune Warriors cricket team in the Indian Premier League, and the Great Khali, a professional wrestler from India who performs internationally for World Wrestling Entertainment; 2) the city of Delhi’s efforts to (re)create itself as a “world class” metropolis by hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games that resulted in spatial exclusion and the magnification of social inequalities; 3) changing body ideals amongst the young Indian middle class influenced by Western fitness practices and neoliberal discourses of healthism; 4) perceptions of authenticity held by Western tourists traveling to India to study Ashtanga yoga that reject the syncretic evolution of yoga and contribute to a construction of Otherness that continues to mark India and Indians as exotic, primitive, and poor. Also included is an “interlude” chapter centered on my personal experiences as a white, Western woman navigating the complexities of daily life in India and questioning the place of my own body within a context of fear, harassment, and assault. POSTCOLONIAL PLAY: ENCOUNTERS WITH SPORT AND PHYSICAL CULTURE IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA
17 citations
Cites background from "Forward and Backward: Women's Socce..."
...India (Majumdar, 2005; Mills, 2006) and continue to dominate the existing literature on sport in India....
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...Male scholars—Indian and Western—have written only intermittently about the female sporting experience in India (Majumdar, 2005; Mills, 2006) and continue to dominate the existing literature on sport in India....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the main factors that influence women's sporting participation in South Asian countries and analyzed a combination of concepts addressing women and sport in South Asia in two ways, and highlighted the benefits to South Asian societies of women's participation in sport, but argued why South Asian women are trivialised in sports participation.
Abstract: The participation of women in sport is significant to socio-economic empowerment in any country. Evidence reveal that although South Asian female athletes are capable of winning medals in the Olympics, a very low percentage of the South Asian female population ever participate actively in sport. The status and circumstances to participate in sport are restricted for many female athletes in South Asia. This paper examined the main factors that influence women's sporting participation in South Asian countries. Data were analysed by using documentary analysis method. This paper analysed a combination of concepts addressing women and sport in South Asia in two ways. Firstly, it emphasises the issues and patterns of women's participation in sport in South Asian countries after the independence from the British Empire. Secondly, it highlights the benefits to South Asian societies of women's participation in sport, but argues why South Asian women are trivialised in sports participation. Results revealed the ine...
16 citations
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In or out of bounds: the cultural and political implications of the women's soccer in Israel by Kenda Ranee Stewart as mentioned in this paper, a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Anthropology in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa.
Abstract: Approved: ____________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________ Title and Department ____________________________________ Date ____________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________ Title and Department ____________________________________ Date IN OR OUT OF BOUNDS?: THE CULTURAL AND POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF PALESTINIAN WOMEN'S SOCCER IN ISRAEL by Kenda Ranee Stewart A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Anthropology in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa
1 citations
Cites background from "Forward and Backward: Women's Socce..."
...…in soccer also mention that, during the 1920s in India and the late 19 th century in the Netherlands, one of the arguments against women playing was that they would be dressed inappropriately—wearing shorts instead of dresses or saris (Knoppers and Anthonissen 2003:354; Majumdar 2005:208-209)....
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...After independence, however; women’s access to soccer or cricket was not seen as a priority by post-independence feminist activists (Majumdar 2005:205)....
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...Today women’s soccer in India is a “male preserve,” and soccer is considered improper and unsuitable for women’s bodies (Majumdar 2005:205)....
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the debate on widow burning in colonial India and argues that the women who were burned were marginal to the debate and that the controversy was over definitions of Hindu tradition, the place of ritual in religious worship, the civilizing missions of colonialism and evangelism, and the proper role of the colonial state.
Abstract: "Contentious Traditions" analyzes the debate on sati, or widow burning, in colonial India. Though the prohibition of widow burning in 1829 was heralded as a key step forward for women's emancipation in modern India, Lata Mani argues that the women who were burned were marginal to the debate and that the controversy was over definitions of Hindu tradition, the place of ritual in religious worship, the civilizing missions of colonialism and evangelism, and the proper role of the colonial state. Mani radically revises colonialist as well as nationalist historiography on the social reform of women's status in the colonial period and clarifies the complex and contradictory character of missionary writings on India. The history of widow burning is one of paradox. While the chief players in the debate argued over the religious basis of sati and the fine points of scriptural interpretation, the testimonials of women at the funeral pyres consistently addressed, the material hardships and societal expectations attached to widowhood. And although historiography has traditionally emphasized the colonial horror of sati, a fascinated ambivalence toward the practice suffused official discussions. The debate normalized the violence of sati and supported the misconception that it was a voluntary act of wifely devotion. Mani brilliantly illustrates how situated feminism and discourse analysis compel a rewriting of history, thus destabilizing the ways we are accustomed to look at women and men, at 'tradition', custom, and modernity.
548 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the debate on widow burning in colonial India and argues that the women who were burned were marginal to the debate and that the controversy was over definitions of Hindu tradition, the place of ritual in religious worship, the civilizing missions of colonialism and evangelism, and the proper role of the colonial state.
Abstract: "Contentious Traditions" analyzes the debate on sati, or widow burning, in colonial India. Though the prohibition of widow burning in 1829 was heralded as a key step forward for women's emancipation in modern India, Lata Mani argues that the women who were burned were marginal to the debate and that the controversy was over definitions of Hindu tradition, the place of ritual in religious worship, the civilizing missions of colonialism and evangelism, and the proper role of the colonial state. Mani radically revises colonialist as well as nationalist historiography on the social reform of women's status in the colonial period and clarifies the complex and contradictory character of missionary writings on India. The history of widow burning is one of paradox. While the chief players in the debate argued over the religious basis of sati and the fine points of scriptural interpretation, the testimonials of women at the funeral pyres consistently addressed, the material hardships and societal expectations attached to widowhood. And although historiography has traditionally emphasized the colonial horror of sati, a fascinated ambivalence toward the practice suffused official discussions. The debate normalized the violence of sati and supported the misconception that it was a voluntary act of wifely devotion. Mani brilliantly illustrates how situated feminism and discourse analysis compel a rewriting of history, thus destabilizing the ways we are accustomed to look at women and men, at 'tradition', custom, and modernity.
470 citations