Rugby and Diasporic Fiji Islander Sociality
Towards a Pacific Island Sociology of Sport
ISBN: 978-1-83753-087-8, eISBN: 978-1-83753-086-1
Publication date: 10 October 2024
Abstract
Rugby in Fiji and Fijian sport labour migration have recently received growing academic attention. To date, research has focused on the trajectories of transnational Fijian athletes and their contributions to the global sport economy, considering the institutional undercurrents of professional rugby. Exploring the ways rugby contributes to diasporic Fiji Islander sociality more generally, this chapter expands on existing scholarship on Fijian rugby and Fiji Islander migration. For this purpose, this chapter draws on insights gathered at an international rugby sevens tournament in Tokyo and connects this social episode to other ethnographic findings from fieldwork in Japan and the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2016. This chapter evaluates the relevance of rugby in Fiji's diaspora beyond a narrow connotation to act as a collective marker of ‘belonging’ for transborder migrants from Fiji. Consequently, it explores the ways rugby and various markers of social distinction such as ethnicity, postcolonial identity or gender intersect. The discussion highlights rugby as a useful lens through which the dynamic ways Fiji Islanders relate to each other can be captured.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Research in Japan was conducted as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science postdoctoral fellow [grant number PE11043]. Research in the United Kingdom was undertaken as a Fritz Thyssen Foundation postdoctoral fellow. I would like to express my gratitude to my interlocutors who willingly welcomed me into their midst. Yoko Kanemasu has been a great source of encouragement and a fabulous editor. In addition, I am indebted to two anonymous reviewers from whose generous suggestions this chapter benefited and to Christian Fenesiu for comments on the initial manuscript. Armina Johanna has yet to attend a rugby match with her dad but might realize one day how much she has contributed to this chapter.
Citation
Schieder, D. (2024), "Rugby and Diasporic Fiji Islander Sociality", Kanemasu, Y. (Ed.) Towards a Pacific Island Sociology of Sport (Research in the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 22), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 185-203. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1476-285420240000022010
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024 Dominik Schieder. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited