Critical Geographies of Sport ─ Space, Power and Sport in Global Perspective

Sport is a geographic phenomenon, with the physical, cultural and organisational infrastructure of sport occupying a prominent place in our political and urban spaces. This important new book takes an explicitly spatial approach to sport, bringing together research in geography, sport studies and related disciplines to articulate a critical approach to ‘sports geography’. Including cases from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, it highlights the ways that space and power are produced through sport and its concomitant infrastructures, agencies and networks. It is fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in sport and politics, sport and society, or human geography.

Natalie Koch is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, USA. Her current research focuses on state-making, nationalism, geopolitics, and authoritarianism, with a special interest in spectacle – both in urban landscapes and in events like national celebrations and sports. An elite cyclist herself, she has a long interest in the intersection between political geography and sport, and has published numerous articles in journals such as Political Geography, Urban Geography, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Gender, Place and Culture, Geoforum, Social and Cultural Geography,and Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.