British Asian females' racialised and gendered experiences of identity and women's football

This thesis provides a detailed analysis of British Asian females' expenences of playing women's football in England. Even though a growing number of British Asian girls and women are known to be playing the game in recent years, they have not generally been valued and/or accepted members of the field. Arguably, their positioning(s) as insiders/outsiders in relation to women's football is tenuous and involves different levels of belonging and non-belonging. This is an under-researched area of study and therefore I use ethnographic research methods - particularly interviews and participant observation - to prioritise the voices and experiences of British Asian female footballers. In this way I give the research participants the power to speak about their experiences in a way that makes sense to them as 'players' of the game. The research specifically examines how the subjective experiences of British Asian female football players is shaped by the material conditions of their lives, and also engages with how they actively respond to such forces. Acknowledging the heterogeneity of British Asian football players and illustrating both similarities and differences in terms of their everyday experiences have been central to the research processes. The findings of this study show how these females - in relation to their personal circumstances - carve out a sense of belonging for themselves through on-going forms of negotiation. Commonalities in their experiences signify the pervasiveness of gender, 'race'/ ethnicity, nation and class as well as other ideas about family, generation, style and consumption which construct , new articulations of 'femaleness' and 'Asianness'. Identities are becoming increasingly hybrid resulting in a wide array of experiences and positioning(s) which are not clear-cut or easy to decipher but are nuanced and complex. Engaging with the vicissitudes of British Asian females' football experiences this account provides a timely contribution to the sociology of sport as well as to the fields of gender, ethnic and racial studies.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo