Sport

Abstract

Abstract Postcolonial scholars have become increasingly interested in sports, among the most universally practiced of cultural activities. For many centuries, sports – both traditional and modern – have played a significant role in the development of local, regional, and national identities throughout formerly colonized areas of North America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. The study of sport in the postcolonial context can be divided chronologically into four stages: the precolonial era, in which traditional sports dominated; the era of colonization spanning from the end of the nineteenth century to World War II; the time of decolonization and independence, which extends roughly from World War II to the late 1960s; and the subsequent period of globalization and migration, from the 1970s to the present. In postcolonial societies, many of the sports that were once used by colonizers to inculcate Western ideas and values ultimately became instruments of resistance and key components of national culture.