In Foreign Fields The Politics and Experiences of Transnational Sport Migration

In Foreign Fields examines the lives, decisions and challenges faced by transnational sport migrants - those professionals working in the sports industry who cross borders as part of their professional lives. Despite a great deal of romance surrounding international celebrity athletes, the vast majority of transnational sport migrants - players, journalists, coaches, administrators and medical personnel toil far away from the limelight. Based on twelve years of ethnographic research conducted on three continents, Thomas Carter traces their lives, routes and experiences, documenting their travels and travails. He argues that far from the ease of mobility that celebrity sports stars enjoy, the vast majority of transnational sports migrants make huge sacrifices and labour under political restrictions, often enforced by sport's governing bodies.This unique and clearly written study will make fascinating reading for anthropologists, sociologists and anyone interested in the lives of those who follow their sporting dreams.

Thomas F. Carter is Senior Lecturer in anthropology at the Chelsea School at the University of Brighton in Eastbourne. He was previously a Research Fellow in the School of Anthropological Studies at Queen’s University of Belfast. He has written extensively on Cuba, sport and politics. His previous books include The Quality of Home Runs: The Passion, Politics and Language of Cuban Baseball (2008).

PrefaceIntroduction: Sowing Transnational Sport Fields1. Routes & Strategies of Transnational Sport Migration2. Striding Across the Fields of Global Sport3.  Sport and the State: Tensions of Sovereignty and Citizenship4. NEOsport and the Production of Transnational Sport Migrants5. Family Matters: risks and costs of mobility6. Illegal Motion: Undocumented Migration and the Production of IllegalityClosing Comments: Experiencing the Politics of Transnational Sport Migration