Games, Sports and Cultures : Berg Publishers : 9781859733127 : 1859733123 : 01 Jul 2000 : An inclination to view games and sport as ephemeral, non-serious, and inconsequential has served to discourage the distinctive contribution that anthropology might make to the study of sport, as well as the rich insights that a fuller appreciation of sport might furnish to anthropology. This book brings a distinctively anthropological approach to the deep significance of sport and games in everyday life. Contributors examine individual and team sports and sporting practices, from football (ie, soccer) to gymnastics, to unusual but nonetheless highly developed indigenous games such as Amerindian archery in South America and kabaddi in India. Sports are shown to provide a particularly revealing window through which to examine such topics as nationalism, transnationalism, ethnicity, class relations, the body, health, identity, gender, schooling and child rearing. Contributors also address contemporar