The building of human towers (castells) is a centuries-old competitive practice where hundreds of men, women, and children gather in Catalan squares to create breathtaking edifices through a feat of collective athleticism. The result is a great spectacle of suffering and overcoming, tension and release. Catalonia's Human Towers is an ethnographic look at the thriving castells practice—a symbol of Catalan cultural heritage and identity amid debates around autonomy versus subsummation by the Spanish state. While the main function of building castells is to grow community through a low-cost, intergenerational, and inclusive leisure activity, Mariann Vaczi reveals that this unique sport also provides a social base, image, and vocabulary for the pro-independence movement. Highlighting the intersection of folklore, performance, and self-determination, Catalonia's Human Towers captures the subtle and unconscious processes by which the body becomes politicized and ideology becomes embodied, with all the risks and precarities of collective constructions.

The building of human towers (castells) is a centuries-old competitive practice where hundreds of men, women, and children gather in Catalan squares to create breathtaking edifices through a feat of collective athleticism. The result is a great spectacle of suffering and overcoming, tension and release. Catalonia's Human Towers is an ethnographic look at the thriving castells practice—a symbol of Catalan cultural heritage and identity amid debates around autonomy versus subsummation by the Spanish state. While the main function of building castells is to grow community through a low-cost, intergenerational, and inclusive leisure activity, Mariann Vaczi reveals that this unique sport also provides a social base, image, and vocabulary for the pro-independence movement. Highlighting the intersection of folklore, performance, and self-determination, Catalonia's Human Towers captures the subtle and unconscious processes by which the body becomes politicized and ideology becomes embodied, with all the risks and precarities of collective constructions.

This is the first book to focus on indigenous, traditional and folk sports and sporting cultures. It examines the significance of sporting cultures that have survived the emergence and diffusion of western sports and have carved out a unique position not only in spite of, but also in response to, modernity. Presenting case studies from around the world, including from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, the book draws on multi-disciplinary work from sociology, anthropology, history, cultural studies and political science, exploring key themes in the social sciences including nationalism, identity, decolonisation and gender. From Turkish oil wrestling, Kabbadi in South Asia and Iroquois lacrosse, to wushu and sumo in East Asia, these sporting practices continue to capture the indigenous imagination on the margins of the western hegemonic sport complex. Situated in the fissures between the local and the global, the archaic and the modern, and between ritual and record, they inhabit a liminal space of transformation as they assume new cultural and political meanings, offering important perspectives on the complexities, challenges and contradictions of modernity. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, indigenous studies, anthropology, social and cultural history, or globalisation.

Sport and Secessionism examines how sporting cultures reflect, inform and sometimes frustrate secessionist movements around the world. Investigating a wide range of cases, the book explores key themes including nationalism, nation building, state-region antagonisms, independence movements, identity and ethnic politics, sovereignty and autonomy processes, all through the lens of sport. Sports are uniquely positioned to shed light on secessionist politics due to their pervasiveness in society, and their ability to absorb, reflect and produce political projections. The book presents analyses of a wide range of geographical, cultural and political contexts in which sports are deployed to pursue regional independence, or greater sovereignty and autonomy, and explores the dual processes of sub-national identity construction and state sovereignty deconstruction. The book includes fourteen cases from such diverse parts of the world as Ireland, Taiwan, Turkey, Catalonia, Biafra, Canada and the UK, among others. Offering a unique perspective on an important geopolitical issue, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport and politics, the sociology of sport, political science, political geography, nationalism studies or international history.

Sport and Secessionism examines how sporting cultures reflect, inform and sometimes frustrate secessionist movements around the world. Investigating a wide range of cases, the book explores key themes including nationalism, nation building, state-region antagonisms, independence movements, identity and ethnic politics, sovereignty and autonomy processes, all through the lens of sport. Sports are uniquely positioned to shed light on secessionist politics due to their pervasiveness in society, and their ability to absorb, reflect and produce political projections. The book presents analyses of a wide range of geographical, cultural and political contexts in which sports are deployed to pursue regional independence, or greater sovereignty and autonomy, and explores the dual processes of sub-national identity construction and state sovereignty deconstruction. The book includes fourteen cases from such diverse parts of the world as Ireland, Taiwan, Turkey, Catalonia, Biafra, Canada and the UK, among others. Offering a unique perspective on an important geopolitical issue, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport and politics, the sociology of sport, political science, political geography, nationalism studies or international history.

Spanish soccer is on top of the world, at international and club level, with the best teams and a seemingly endless supply of exciting and stylish players. While the Spanish economy struggles, its soccer flourishes, deeply embedded throughout Spanish social and cultural life. But the relationship between soccer, culture and national identity in Spain is complex. This fascinating, in-depth study shines new light on Spanish soccer by examining the role this sport plays in Basque identity, consolidated in Athletic Club of Bilbao, the century-old soccer club located in the birthplace of Basque nationalism. Athletic Bilbao has a unique player recruitment policy, allowing only Basque-born players or those developed at the youth academies of Basque clubs to play for the team, a policy that rejects the internationalism of contemporary globalised soccer. Despite this, the club has never been relegated from the top division of Spanish football. A particularly tight bond exists between fans, their club and the players, with Athletic representing a beacon of Basque national identity. This book is an ethnography of a soccer culture where origins, nationalism, gender relations, power and passion, lifecycle events and death rituals gain new meanings as they become, below and beyond the playing field, a matter of creative contention and communal affirmation. Based on unique, in-depth ethnographic research, this book investigates how a soccer club and soccer fandom affect the life of a community, interweaving empirical research material with key contemporary themes in the social sciences, and placing the study in the wider context of Spanish political and sporting cultures. Filling a key gap in the literature on contemporary Spain, and on wider soccer cultures, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, anthropology, sociology, political science, or cultural and gender studies.

Spanish soccer is on top of the world, at international and club level, with the best teams and a seemingly endless supply of exciting and stylish players. While the Spanish economy struggles, its soccer flourishes, deeply embedded throughout Spanish social and cultural life. But the relationship between soccer, culture and national identity in Spain is complex. This fascinating, in-depth study shines new light on Spanish soccer by examining the role this sport plays in Basque identity, consolidated in Athletic Club of Bilbao, the century-old soccer club located in the birthplace of Basque nationalism. Athletic Bilbao has a unique player recruitment policy, allowing only Basque-born players or those developed at the youth academies of Basque clubs to play for the team, a policy that rejects the internationalism of contemporary globalised soccer. Despite this, the club has never been relegated from the top division of Spanish football. A particularly tight bond exists between fans, their club and the players, with Athletic representing a beacon of Basque national identity. This book is an ethnography of a soccer culture where origins, nationalism, gender relations, power and passion, lifecycle events and death rituals gain new meanings as they become, below and beyond the playing field, a matter of creative contention and communal affirmation. Based on unique, in-depth ethnographic research, this book investigates how a soccer club and soccer fandom affect the life of a community, interweaving empirical research material with key contemporary themes in the social sciences, and placing the study in the wider context of Spanish political and sporting cultures. Filling a key gap in the literature on contemporary Spain, and on wider soccer cultures, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, anthropology, sociology, political science, or cultural and gender studies.

Grounded in ethnographic research, this edited collection examines the intersections between grassroots culture, local identities, and the politics of catalanisme and independentisme from the end of the Francoist period to the present day. Through studies of various cultural manifestations including festivals, human tower-building, gastronomy, and bull-runs, chapters explore how civil mobilisation, women's increasing participation in the public sphere, and issues of gentrification and heritagisation have intertwined with identity politics and nationalist trends. An important consideration is how a popular culture centred on sociability responded to the lockdowns and restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. More generally, the book reflects on the politicisation of culture and its role in nation-building, problematising such concepts as 'inclusion', 'integration', 'authenticity', 'belonging', and 'identity'. Contributors: Lluís Bellas, Camila del Mármol, Manuel Delgado, Mireia Guil, Venetia Johannes, Sarai Martín López, Romina Martínez Algueró, Dorothy Noyes, Xavier Roigé, Alessandro Testa, Mariann Vaczi