Sport in South Asian Society

Sport in South Asian Society: Past and Present is concerned with a detailed study of sports' arrival, spread and advance in colonial and post-colonial South Asia. An array of articles which address critical issues of nationalism, communalism, commercialism and gender through the lens of sport are available under one rubric. The book makes the point that one cannot claim to understand social histories of South Asian sport by simply looking at the history of the game in one province or region. Further, it demonstrates that it would be faulty to understand sport in terms of the exigencies of the colonial state. Drawing inspiration from C.L.R. James' well-known epigram, 'What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?' the book suggests that South Asian sport makes sense only when it is placed within the broader colonial and post colonial context. It demonstrates that sport not only influences politics and vice versa, but that the two are inseparable. Sport is not only political; it is politics, intrigue, culture and art. To deny this is to denigrate the position of sport in modern South Asian society. in the Global Society