Construction and representation of identities in football museums: a comparative study

Abstract

This thesis aims at providing a cross-cultural study of how football museums represent and construct identities, both collective and personal. The research is based on a multi-sited ethnography at selected football museums in the UK, Germany, and China, employing participant observation, photographic recording and online research methods. This investigation sharpens an anthropological awareness of constructions of multiple layered identities by examining football museums’ exhibiting practices and activity programmes, as well as their built environments and cultural settings. The research also offers a perspective on museum visitors, who consume football museums with diverse personal and collective identity claims. Looking into the largely under-explored terrain of football museums, this research joins continuing anthropological efforts to understand identity work while also exploring continuing tensions inherent in a marriage between museums and football. The thesis contributes to the research field of football/sports museums with an ethnographic emphasis and a cross-cultural range.