Paul Darby
Search for other papers by Paul Darby in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMedClose
,
James Esson
Search for other papers by James Esson in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMedClose
, and
Christian Ungruhe
Search for other papers by Christian Ungruhe in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMedClose
Post-playing-career transitions and struggles
in African football migration
Chapter DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526120274.00016
Online Publication Date:
25 Jan 2022
Abstract only
Log-in for full text

This chapter explores how African migrant players plan for, manage and negotiate the conclusion of their football career. It shows how a neglect of formal education and the absence of other dual career possibilities frequently limits alternative occupational opportunities for migrant players, resulting in precarious livelihoods characterised by financial difficulties and a declining social status. These can generate significant and (often interconnected) obstacles for players’ post-playing-career trajectories, not least by creating a discrepancy between their social status abroad and at ‘home’. However, in keeping with the rest of the book, this chapter illustrates the resourcefulness of African football players as they seek out other ways of reproducing their social mobility and status when their professional playing career concludes, not least by investing in businesses and housing at home and making strategic decisions around remaining abroad or returning to Africa. This enables a conceptualisation of African migrant footballers’ quest for social mobility as an ongoing process that occurs throughout their life course, from the forming of their migratory aspiration to their transnational careers and finally into their post-playing-career lives.
  • Collapse
  • Expand
  • Top

African football migration

Aspirations, experiences and trajectories

eISBN:
9781526120274
Publisher:
Manchester University Press
Cover African football migration
Subjects:
Sociology
Keywords:
global production networks; intergenerational contract; involuntary immobility; labour precarity; migration–development nexus; social navigation; social infrastructure; football migration; transnational migration; youth agency
Page Count:
287
Publisher:
Manchester University Press

Series: Globalizing Sport Studies

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 17 17 4
Full Text Views 0 0 0
PDF Downloads 0 0 0

Related Content

Cover Making work more equal

Making work more equal

A new labour market segmentation approach

Editors:
Damian Grimshaw
,
Colette Fagan
,
Gail Hebson
, and
Isabel Tavora

Book

Publication History:

Online Publication Date:
01 Sep 2017
Subjects:
  1. Sociology

This book presents new theories and international empirical evidence on the state of work and employment around the world. Changes in production systems, economic conditions and regulatory conditions are posing new questions about the growing use by employers of precarious forms of work, the contradictory approaches of governments towards employment and social policy, and the ability of trade unions to improve the distribution of decent employment conditions. Designed as a tribute to the highly influential contributions of Jill Rubery, the book proposes a ‘new labour market segmentation approach’ for the investigation of issues of job quality, employment inequalities, and precarious work. This approach is distinctive in seeking to place the changing international patterns and experiences of labour market inequalities in the wider context of shifting gender relations, regulatory regimes and production structures.
Cover Go home?

Go home?

The politics of immigration controversies

Authors:
Hannah Jones
,
Yasmin Gunaratnam
,
Gargi Bhattacharyya
,
William Davies
,
Sukhwant Dhaliwal
,
Emma Jackson
, and
Roiyah Saltus

Book

Publication History:

Online Publication Date:
31 Mar 2017
Subjects:
  1. Sociology

In July 2013, the UK government arranged for a van to drive through parts of London carrying the message ‘In the UK illegally? GO HOME or face arrest.’ The vans were short-lived, but they were part of an ongoing trend in government-sponsored communication designed to demonstrate control and toughness around immigration. This book explores the effects of such performances of toughness: on policy, on public debate, on pro-migrant and anti-racist activism, and on the everyday lives of people in Britain. This book both presents research findings, and provides insights into the practice of conducting research on such a charged and sensitive topic.

Blending original research, theoretical analysis, and methodological reflections, the book addresses questions such as:

  • Who gets to decide who ‘belongs’?
  • How do anti-migrant sentiments relate to changing forms of racism?
  • Are new divisions, and new solidarities, emerging in the light of current immigration politics?


Written in a clear and engaging style, the book sets an agenda for a model of collaborative research between researchers, activists, and people on the ground.
Cover Federalism and democratisation in Russia

Federalism and democratisation in Russia

Author:
Cameron Ross

Book

Publication History:

Online Publication Date:
06 Oct 2010
Subjects:
  1. Sociology

Building on earlier work, this text combines theoretical perspectives with empirical work, to provide a comparative analysis of the electoral systems, party systems and governmental systems in the ethnic republics and regions of Russia. It also assesses the impact of these different institutional arrangements on democratization and federalism, moving the focus of research from the national level to the vitally important processes of institution building and democratization at the local level and to the study of federalism in Russia.