Runs in the Outfield: The Pakistani Diaspora and Cricket in England

Abstract

In an age of heightened global flows and disjunctures the transnational appeal of the idea of Pakistan has grown. The socio-political context of diaspora marginalization in England, along with stronger transnational linkages between migrants and their regions of origin in Pakistan, has led to the development of other Pakistani identities that subvert the authoritarian political discourse of officialdom in Islamabad. This article will analyse the emergence of disparate British-Pakistani cricket cultures and their relevance to discussions on Pakistani national consciousness and identity. It will be argued that these discourses from diaspora communities in England provide crucial insights into the construction of political and cultural identities. Their disposition to be pluralistic, heterogeneous and composed of numerous cultural and political influences reflects the reality of historical human interchange. As such, they are rebuttals of simplistic modernist constructions of identity, particularly of the type emanating from the discourses of authoritarian political leaders like those in Pakistan.