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Abstract
Over time, the game of cricket in India has become more than a game, morphing into a symbol of national identity. This article attempts to examine India's obsession with the game of cricket, using identity theory as a lens to understand the multilayered relationship between cricket and the Indian identity. Using social identity theory, and the concept of organizational identity and identification, it is argued that, in the absence of an overarching identity that can connect the various faces of India, cricket serves as a symbolic unifying entity in a nation replete with multiple and conflicting identities.
Notes
1 Majumdar, Indian Cricket Through the Ages.
2 Appadurai discusses the employment of cricket as a means to socialize natives by the British in Colonial India; CitationAppadurai, ‘Playing with Modernity’.
3 Wright, Ugra, and Thomas, John Wright's Indian Summers, 41.
4 For introductions to the colonial origins of cricket in India see CitationCashman, Patrons, Players and the Crowd; CitationBose, The Magic of Indian Cricket; CitationGuha, ‘Cricket and Politics in Colonial India’.
5 For meditations on the sport, its philosophy and the impact and profiles of its greatest players see CitationNandy, The Tao of Cricket.
6 CitationCashman, ‘Cricket and Colonialism’.
7 CitationMajumdar, Twenty-Two Years to Freedom; CitationWright et al., John Wright's Indian Summers; Bose, The Magic of Indian Cricket.
8 Wright et al., John Wright's Indian Summers, 41.
9 CitationMajumdar and Bandyopadhyay, ‘Cricket as Everyday Life’.
10 Wright et al., John Wright's Indian Summers, 41.
11 Religious ceremony involving prayers and offerings.
12 CitationMajumdar, Indian Cricket through the Ages.
13 CitationRoy, ‘Cricket's Social Subtext’.
14 Wright et al., John Wright's Indian Summers, 41.
15 Bose, The Magic of Indian Cricket; CitationSengupta, ‘Globalizing Patriotism?’, 249–76, esp. 267; Wright et al., John Wright's Indian Summers.
16 Majumdar, Indian Cricket through the Ages.
17 Wright et al., John Wright's Indian Summers, 41.
18 Majumdar, Indian Cricket through the Ages.
19 CitationTajfel and Turner, ‘Social Identity Theory’.
20 CitationHogg, ‘Social Identity’.
21 CitationHogg and Terry, ‘Social Identity and Self Categorization Processes’.
22 CitationSimon, Identity in Modern Society.
23 CitationAlbert and Whetten, ‘Organizational Identity’.
24 CitationAlbert and Whetten, ‘Organizational Identity’
25 CitationAshforth, ‘Becoming’.
26 CitationPratt, ‘To Be or Not To Be’.
27 CitationAshforth and Mael, ‘Organizational Identity and Strategy’.
28 Pratt, ‘To Be or Not To Be’.
29 CitationMael and Ashforth, ‘Identification in Work’.
30 CitationAshforth and Mael, ‘Social Identity Theory and the Organization’.
31 CitationCaldwell, ‘International Sport and National Identity’; CitationMewett, ‘Fragments of a Composite Identity’.
32 Caldwell, ‘International Sport and National Identity’.
33 Mael and Ashforth, ‘Identification in Work’.
34 CitationOommen, ‘Demystifying the Nation’.
35 For a nuanced understanding of the negotiation of identity in colonial India against the backdrop of cricket, see CitationSatadru Sen, Migrant Races.
36 CitationMajumdar, ‘Politics of Leisure in Colonial India’; CitationMannathukkaren, ‘Subalterns, Cricket and the “Nation”’; CitationChakraborty, ‘Subaltern Studies’.
37 Majumdar, Indian Cricket through the Ages.
38 Majumdar, Twenty-Two Yards to Freedom, 15.
39 Wright et al., John Wright's Indian Summers, 41.
40 Roy, ‘Cricket's Social Subtext’.
41 Majumdar, Twenty-Two Years to Freedom; Wright et al., John Wright's Indian Summers; Bose, The Magic of Indian Cricket.
42 Bose, The Magic of Indian Cricket; Cashman, ‘Cricket and Colonialism’; CitationGuha, A Corner of a Foreign Field; Majumdar, Twenty-Two Yards to Freedom.
43 For more detailed analysis of the unifying role of cricket during the 2003 World Cup and its role in stirring national sentiments, see CitationDasgupta, ‘Manufacturing Unison’; also refer to CitationBandyopadhyay, ‘Feel Good’.
44 An incident when a mosque built by the Mughal emperor Babur in the city of Ayodhya in India was deomolished by Hindu fundamentalists over the claim that the mosque was built over a Hindu temple.
45 Roy, ‘Cricket's Social Subtext’.
46 CitationKhan. Cricket.
47 CitationVahed, ‘Deconstructing “Indianness”’.
48 More detailed arguments on the elements that have contributed to the close links between cricket and the Indian national consciousness are provided by CitationCrick, Cricket and the Indian National Consciousness. The report may be accessed electronically at http://www.ipcs.org/pdf_file/issue/560458831IPCS-ResearchPaper9-EmilyCrick.pdf.
49 Majumdar and Bandyopadhyay, ‘Cricket as Everyday Life’.
50 Wright et al., John Wright's Indian Summers, 41.
51 The impact of cricket in creating goodwill and a general sense of bonhomie between the people of India and Pakistan during the Indian cricket team's tour of Pakistan in 2004 is discussed by CitationBhattacharya in Pundits from Pakistan; see also Bandyopadhyay, ‘Feel Good’.
52 For meditations on the sport, its philosophy and the impact and profiles of its greatest players see Nandy, The Tao of Cricket.
53 Dasgupta, ‘Manufacturing Unison’.
54 Roy, ‘Cricket's Social Subtext’.
55 A more detailed discussion of sport as war minus the shooting is provided by CitationOrwell, ‘The Sporting Spirit’; see also CitationMarqusee, War Minus the Shooting ; Sengupta, ‘Globalizing Patriotism?’.
56 Majumdar and Bandyopadhyay, ‘Cricket as Everyday Life’.
57 CitationChatterjee, ‘To Play Or Not To Play’.
58 Tajfel and Turner, ‘Social Identity Theory’.
59 CitationAveili, ‘Vietnamese New Year Rice Cakes’; CitationBrown and Starkey, ‘Organizational Identity and Learning’; Mewett, ‘Fragments of a Composite Identity’; CitationPratt and Rafaeli, ‘Organizational Dress as a Symbol’.