When we start exploring cultures outside of our own, we tend to focus on things like language, food, and music. But watching sports can often be another way to gain insight into a country's politics.
Here in the United States, soccer (aka soccer or soccer) has finally gained a following despite the proliferation of countries where soccer is the number one sport. But if we look at the most popular sports in the world, the second most popular sport globally is cricket.
Cricket and the Caribbean have a long and checkered political history. This history has been the subject of a fascinating metaphorical analysis by a brilliant Trinidadian. Historian, journalist, left-wing activist Cyril Lionel Robert JamesHis 1963 book “Beyond A Boundary” (full text) is considered by many critics to be the greatest book on cricket ever written.
James was born in January 1901. So today we celebrate him as we explore the history and politics of Caribbean cricket.
caribbean problem This is a weekly series from Daily Kos.. If you don't know much about the area, check it out. Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the Caribbean countries.
As Paul Prescod wrote for Jacobin in 2022:
CLR How did James help end racial hierarchy in West Indies cricket?
Introduced to the Caribbean through British colonialism, cricket was originally reserved for the leisure of white planters and colonial officials. But slaves became increasingly accustomed to the hard work of bowling under the hot sun to the sons of their slave owners, and the sport soon took deep roots among black West Indians.
Plantation owners and the white middle class formed cricket clubs that persisted after slavery was abolished on the island. The first intercolonial tournament was held in 1891 between Barbados, Trinidad and British Guiana. The Black West Indians watched from the sidelines with envy. Eventually, black West Indians formed their own cricket clubs, participating in club competitions every Saturday. At first participation was limited to the black middle class, but soon the black working class also got involved in the sport.
Local club cricket became an arena where various class and racial tensions played out. CLR James, a cricket club participant from Trinidad, explained: “Cricket was a field in which social passions during the politically repressed colonial era were actively expressed, even if they were diluted. On the cricket field, all men were theoretically equal, regardless of color or status.”
James' wife, activist Selma James, wrote about the impact of his book in The Guardian in 2013.
How does Beyond a Boundary break down barriers of race, class, and empire?
Fifty years ago, my husband's book about cricket inspired our fight against discrimination, which continues to this day.
This was the book CLR should have written. He believed he understood the game in a way that most experts did not and could not. He considered himself more scrupulous about the craft of the game and how it grapples with team dynamics, technique, player concentration, and the psychological battle between batsman and bowler, batsman and fielder. And he saw the game in action, not just played. For West Indians, this meant, above all, a colonial society stratified by race and class. His constant explanations of status differences between cricket clubs cut like glass.
Because he was clever and literate, CLR was able to join the club of cricketers of lighter or darker complexion. He confesses that he chose the former. “So I became one of those dark men whose ‘surest sign of arrival was that I was associating with people of a lighter complexion than myself.’ My decision cost me dearly… on the public side; [I] It delayed my political progress for years.”
Establishing the interconnections between cricket and racial and class divisions early on paves the way for Beyond a Boundary to achieve its author's overall objectives. That said, it seeks to draw on other surprising connections: cricket and art, life in ancient Greece and even rewriting British social history with cricket's great WGs. Grace is an important character. Just as amazing as his connections is the light he sheds on all subjects, not just cricket. We benefit from the breakdown of boundaries. We are invited to reject the fragmentation of reality and see its various interconnections, without which we cannot fully know anything, including our own reality. What do they know about cricket if it is shut out from all other aspects of life and struggle?
Documentary filmmaker Mike Dibb directed the hour-long “Beyond A Boundary” episode of the BBC's “Omnibus” program in 1976.
From the YouTube video notes on the Institute for the Public Square channel:
“What do they know about cricket that only cricket knows?” Trinidadian writer CLR James looks beyond the boundaries the game of cricket typically sees. He traces the impact of cricket on Caribbean society and reflects on the connections between organized sport, aesthetics, and politics in 19th-century England and 5th-century BC Greece. “One day we will be able to answer Tolstoy’s vexing and infuriating question: ‘What is art?’” But this can only happen if we learn to integrate the vision of Walcott on the back foot with the outstretched arms of the Olympic Apollo and cover.”
Worldwrite produced a two-hour documentary about James in 2016 titled “Every Cook Can Govern: The Life, Influence, and Work of CLR James.”
Every Chef Can Govern: The Life, Influence and Works of CLR James is the first full-length documentary to explore the life, writings and politics of the great Trinidad-born revolutionary CLR James, who died in Brixton, London in 1989. , CLR Never-before-seen footage featuring unique testimony from people James knew and the world's most prominent scholars of James' life, work, and politics. From colonialism to cricket, slavery to Shakespeare, Marxism to cinema, this unique work lifts the lid on the life of a tireless, courageous and uncompromising revolutionary.
see:
CLR Is James a household name in the UK? worldwrite's 6-minute video asks that very question.
From the worldwrite YouTube video notes:
Hackney Council in East London paid tribute to CLR James by naming its library after him. We headed to Dalston outside the CLR James Library to find out if the locals actually knew anything about it. “Have you ever heard of CLR James?” we asked. Was he a local councilor, a South African cricketer, or a Trinidad-born revolutionary and cricket-loving writer? The response was informative, and if ever there was evidence that the documentary we had planned was desperately needed, this was it. This short video will make you smile
It is not surprising that James is little known to the British public. Black history and Black historical figures there are erased the same way they are here. This is especially true when connected to Marxist or Trotskyist perspectives.
So I am grateful that early in my political education I was introduced to one of James's books, “The Black Jacobins.”
Writing for Jacobin in 2021, Rachel Douglas noted that “CLR James has written the definitive history of the Haitian Revolution.”
Socialist historian CLR James was born 120 years ago today. His groundbreaking book, The Black Jacobins, is a spectacular account of the Haitian Revolution and an authoritative history of the heroic struggle for freedom and dignity.
Returning to cricket, the “Caribbean Diaspora Arts and Culture in New York” website explores the history of cricket “in the Caribbean.”
Two Caribbean presidents, Wesley Hall of Barbados and Roy Fredericks of Guyana, were also former players. Not only did the face of cricket change politically, but so did the practical social problems it raised. Learie Constantine, picture 2, who played for the West Indies team from 1928 to 1939, noticed many racial problems while playing professionally in England. His white peers admired his talent but did not consider him a social equal. This was as true in England as it was in his native Trinidad, where blacks were second-class citizens. Constantine's observations led him to campaign for change in the West Indies. He was joined by CLR James, a renowned author and cricketer who has written extensively about the link between sport and politics. James and Constantine began a trend that would lead to many other organized political movements and reforms in the West Indies in the 1930s (Stoddart). The racial divide in the West Indies was clearly evident in the team's captaincy. The captain was always white. Being a captain was reserved for white men because it symbolized control. Frank Worrell was the first black captain of the West Indies team in 1960. He represented the people of the West Indies and symbolized a new era of equality.
During the 1980s, the West Indies team achieved a dominant position on the international stage and earned respect from many other countries where cricket was popular. This dominance made the West Indies a powerful force on the international stage, especially in addressing racial issues. During the apartheid era in South Africa, the West Indies used their influence to prevent the division of white and black countries, including South Africa. Many West Indies players traveled to South Africa to avoid losing their cricket matches. Another victory that the West Indies team was able to achieve in the race category was over England. In 1984, an all-black West Indies team swept England in five games, achieving not only a cricketing triumph but also a social triumph. They represented the entire West Indian population and the entire black population of the world, showing how strong and capable black people were and proving their equality.
Lastly, I must admit that I have Caribbean friends who know nothing about cricket and have never played, but who are huge fans of the sport. I often came across references to cricket during my reading, so I searched the web for an explainer. Since I know a lot about baseball, I found the following particularly helpful.
From the Sports explained YouTube video notes:
Cricket is a sport very similar to baseball, except that it is completely different from baseball. It's a unique game, but baseball fans are uniquely positioned to understand it faster than someone who's just flying around blindly. There are enough similarities between cricket and baseball that if you already understand how baseball is played, understanding how cricket is played is not that difficult. Watch this video and you will become a cricket master in no time.
And amazingly, I just saw cricket coming to Nassau County, New York!
New York stadium revealed to host T20 World Cup matches
The 34,000-seat Nassau County International Cricket Stadium has announced that it will host the India-Pakistan match during the eight-match T20 World Cup.
Construction is underway on New York's Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, cricket's first new modular stadium, and is expected to be completed in just three months.
I'm thinking of coming down from up north to attend the game after re-reading James' book.
For more on cricket and James, as well as our weekly Caribbean news roundup, join us in the comments section below. And I'm curious. Have you ever read James? Have you ever attended a cricket match?
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