The first article, Banton’s Theories of ‘Race’ seeks to define Race as a social construct born out of the scientific and social enlightenments of the last few centuries. He argues that the development of race as a science was adopted in order to find meaning to what was, at the time, a complete European domination of other cultures. Banton shows, along with Mariel Mikaila and Arthur Lemonik’s article “Race”, how race is an inherently social construct stemming from geographic, political, cultural, economic and religious factors. Their articles shed light on late 19^th and early 20^th century attempts by social scientists to create a scientific approach to racism, such as Curie ‘European, African, Mongoloid theorem’ or social Darwinist principles. Mikaila and Lemonik go on to argue the consequences of race in modern society particularly in its limiting factor and its ability to create social, political and economic stress on society. 

Carrington’s “Sport and Race” gives an overview of the inherent ties between race and sports throughout the last hundred years. Carrington states that both race and sport are social constructs, which are intimately tied particularly in the ever increasingly globalized world. Carrington begins by showing sports as a colonial export and one of the colonizers many forms of hegemony. Sports such as soccer and cricket were used as forms of power and assimilation over native cultures during the British imperialist expansion. European dominance in sports was seen as evidence of white superiority until the beginning of the 20^th century. It was at this time that sports became an avenue for resistance by marginalized races.  The overturn of the ‘dominant European athlete’ during the 20^th century reopened the discussion on ‘success’ in race and sports. The scientific racial studies of the early 20^th century are now brought up again as a ‘scientific’ explanation for different races dominance in different sports its once again being sought.

Cox’s and Miller’s article discuss the development of the Nation-state and the subsequent evolution of nationalism. Both author’s agree that the Nation is shaped by the political, geographic, cultural and linguistics pressures, amongst many others, which bond together to define it. In turn the author’s bring up the many pitfalls that come with defining nationalism, particularly in an increasingly changing and globalizing world.

Alex Bairner’s article discusses the ‘close relationship between sport and nationalism.’ Bairner remarks on how the ‘national’ identity of specific sports, particularly rugby and soccer in Great Britain coincides with different national movements throughout the world. Bairner focuses on the importance of national teams in cementing a cultural nationalism for its supporters. While some view national team support as simply short lived patriotic fervor, such as MP Jim Sillars ‘ninety-minute patriotism’, the role of sports in defining national identity is increasingly growing. Though sport tends to not be politicized, these ‘national’ teams ensure that once marginalized peoples and groups now have the opportunity to express their national identity, such as the Catalans, Quebecois and Scots through the medium of sport.

Questions

• How will concepts of Nationalism change of the next century as globalization increases?
• With an increasingly globalizing world, will National teams lose out to the globalized Club teams?