Abstract
This poster presents an ongoing PhD project that investigates how afrodescendant communities in Rome and Brussels use sport as a practice of antiracist resistance and urban re-appropriation. Sport, often celebrated as a universal and neutral activity, is instead analyzed here as a contested arena where racialized inequalities intersect with practices of solidarity, belonging, and everyday resistance. The project combines postcolonial and decolonial theories (Quijano, Mbembe, Gilroy, Brah) with participatory visual methodologies. In particular, I employ photo-voice workshops, collaborative photography, and embodied ethnography with young athletes and residents in two European capitals shaped by colonial legacies and urban stigmatization. Empirical sites include Liberi Nantes (the first Italian football club composed entirely of refugees) and the Quarticciolo People’s Boxing Gym in Rome, alongside Molenbeek and Matonge in Brussels, neighborhoods deeply marked by racialized stigma and securitarian policies such as the Plan Canal. The poster visually displays methodological tools, selected images, and preliminary insights, highlighting how sport can serve as a laboratory of inclusion and a space where new imaginaries of citizenship and urban belonging are forged. The format will encourage discussion with delegates on how participatory methods can address discrimination and reframe the social role of sport.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
SPORT, DISCRIMINATION, AFRODESCENDANT COMMUNITIES, URBAN PERIPHERIES, ANTIRACIST RESISTANCE, POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES, DECOLONIAL THEORY, VISUAL ETHNOGRAPHY, PARTICIPATORY METHODS
