The relationship between sport and politics is inherently paradoxical. On the one hand, sport seems to be apolitical in that it is not a matter of life and death, but rather a game played for enjoyment. Yet as we learned in the postcolonial Caribbean and in post-apartheid South Africa, participants in sport are often thrust into deeply political contexts and relationships. In James’ West Indies, cricket played an important role in promoting colonial era British politics, identities, and power relations. The same is true for the rugby players in Carlin’s post-apartheid South Africa—where national and racial politics were performed and contested on the rugby pitch with great consequence.
For this post, we want you to write about a specific geopolitical/historical context that you think would provide a rich setting or backdrop to expose and elaborate upon such paradoxes. Be original! It would of course be easy to say that 1930s Germany or even Ancient Rome provide a setting rich for the author of literary works to expand upon such paradoxical conditions. However, we want you to dig around and come up with a real or quasi-real setting (and a potential story) from which a compelling sports story could be told. Think about and explain how sport in this setting provides both constraints (based on racism, nationalism, economic relations, gender politics, or something else) and possibilities for the fictitious hero-athlete.
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