Abstract
The literary turn in cultural and historical analysis has introduced a suite of new perspectives, theoretical approaches, and analytical techniques to the humanities and social sciences. The emergence of post-colonial modes of analysis, related to this literary turn, has increased our awareness and interpretation of various representational techniques in and approaches to colonial cultures. One theoretical approach has shaped a major strand of these post-colonial interpretations: Homi K. Bhabha’s argument that subaltern cultures may be understood as characterized by ironic mimicry and a “sly civility.” Although this model is seldom explicitly invoked in sports studies, it remains implicit in many interpretations of sport in the British Empire. This paper explores the usefulness of these tropes derived from Bhabha’s work through a critical reading of C.L.R. James’s Beyond a Boundary.
