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Dr Paul Darby,
Dr K Liston,
Mr Ryan Adams
Monday, February 24, 2025
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
Background: With the exception of a handful of studies, research on sports labour migration has focused on the experiences of male athletes. This is incongruous given that migration has become a more entrenched feature of women’s sport, particularly in football. The academic neglect of transnationally mobile female athletes has contributed to an incomplete understanding of the socio-economic, cultural, gendered and in some cases, racialised dynamics that underpin sports migration and the experiences of migrant athletes. Recent work (Darby et al, 2022; 2024 and Agergaard, 2024) has called for this lacuna to be urgently addressed.
This project will examine the motivations, experiences and career trajectories of female transational athletes and how their pursuit and/or production of mobility impacts on their individual and social identities. It is underpinned by the need to consider: host countries’ status in the global/transnational division of labour in women’s sport and global geographies of power; international female athletes as migrant labourers whose experiences are gendered and racialised; how particular local contexts influence the identities, migratory aspirations and subsequent experiences of migration; the gendered and precarious nature of sport as work, and the specific experiences of female transnational sport migrants around belonging and settlement.
Research Design: The project will likely utilise a mixed methods design including, but not limited to, interviews, (non)participation observation, documentary analysis and surveys. We are also open to the use of netnographic and arts-based methods.
Research Objectives: These general objectives should be adapted by applicants to reflect their interests when submitting their research proposal:
· To explore the transnational sports labour migration of female athletes within one or a range of sports across one or more geopolitical spaces;
· To examine the impact of migration on the athletes concerned in terms of mobility/immobility, sports performance, precarity, sport as work, belonging and settlement;
· To analyse how the pursuit and/or acquisition of spatial mobility impacts on female athletes’ individual and social identities.
Skills required: Applicants will possess: a demonstrable specialism in social science, sociology and/or the humanities or a related area; academic performance in these areas, evidenced through a relevant postgraduate qualification, conference presentations and/or peer reviewed publications, and evidence of independent research. Supplementary skills might include professional or vocational experience of sport and/or labour migration as well as the ability to build relationships within women’s sport and with transnational migrants.
References
Adams, R. and Darby, P. (2020) ‘Precarious pursuits, broken “dreams” and immobility among Northern Irish soccer migrants’, Sport in Society. 23 (5): 920-937.
Agergaard, S. (2024) ‘Sport, migration and gender’ in J. Maguire, K. Liston and M. Falcous (eds.) Handbook of Sport and Migration (Edward Elgar Publishing: London, 2024), pp.69-103.
Agergaard, S and Tiesler, N.C. (2014) Women, Soccer and Transnational Migration. London: Routledge.
Agergaard, S. and Ungruhe, C. (2016) ‘Ambivalent Precarity: Career Trajectories and Temporalities in Highly Skilled Sports Labor Migration from West Africa to Northern Europe’, Anthropology of Work Review. 37 (2): 67-78.
Besnier, N. (2015) “Sports Mobilities Across Borders: Postcolonial Perspectives”, The International Journal of the History of Sport. 32 (7): 849-861.
Botelho VL and Agergaard S (2011) Moving for the love of the game? International migration of female footballers into Scandinavian countries. Soccer & Society 12(6): 806–819.
Bowes, A. and Culvin, A. (eds.) (2021) The Professionalisation of Women’s Sport: Issues and Debates. Leeds: Emerald Publishing.
Carter, T. (2011) “Re-placing sport migrants: Moving beyond the institutional structures informing international sport migration”, International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 48 (1); 66-82.
Culvin, A. (2023) ‘Football as work: the lived realities of professional footballers in England’, Managing Sport and Leisure. 28 (6): 684-697.
Darby, P, Esson, J and Ungruhe, C., ‘Women’s football and transnational migration in Ghana: Possibilities, Responsibilities, and Respectability’, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 59, 5 (2024), pp.747-765.
Engh, M. and Agergaard, S. (2015) “Producing mobility through locality and visibility: developing a transnational perspective on sports labour migration”, International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 50 (8): 974-992.
Engh, M., Settler, F. and Agergaard, S. (2017) “The ball and the rhythm in her blood”: racialised imaginaries and football migration from Nigeria to Scandinavia. Ethnicities 17(1): 66–84.
Liston, K. and Booth, S. (2014) “The Continental Drift to a Zone of Prestige: women’s soccer migration to the US NCAA Division 1 2000-2010”, in Agergaard, S. and Tiesler, N.C. (eds.) Women, Soccer and Transnational Migration. London: Routledge, pp. 53-72.
Liston, K. and Maguire, J. (2021) ‘Globalization, Sport and Gender Relations’, in Maguire, J., Falcous, M. and Liston, K. (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Globalization and Sport. London: Palgrave, pp.205-228.
Roderick, M., Smith, A. and Potrac, P. (2017) ‘The Sociology of Sports Work, Emotions and Mental Health: Scoping the Field and Future Directions’, Sociology of Sport Journal. 34 (2): 99-107.
Williams, J. (2013) Globalising women’s football: Europe, migration and professionalization (Peter Lang).
Agergaard, S. (2024) ‘Sport, migration and gender’ in J. Maguire, K. Liston and M. Falcous (eds.) Handbook of Sport and Migration (Edward Elgar Publishing: London, 2024), pp.69-103.
Agergaard, S and Tiesler, N.C. (2014) Women, Soccer and Transnational Migration. London: Routledge.
Agergaard, S. and Ungruhe, C. (2016) ‘Ambivalent Precarity: Career Trajectories and Temporalities in Highly Skilled Sports Labor Migration from West Africa to Northern Europe’, Anthropology of Work Review. 37 (2): 67-78.
Besnier, N. (2015) “Sports Mobilities Across Borders: Postcolonial Perspectives”, The International Journal of the History of Sport. 32 (7): 849-861.
Botelho VL and Agergaard S (2011) Moving for the love of the game? International migration of female footballers into Scandinavian countries. Soccer & Society 12(6): 806–819.
Bowes, A. and Culvin, A. (eds.) (2021) The Professionalisation of Women’s Sport: Issues and Debates. Leeds: Emerald Publishing.
Carter, T. (2011) “Re-placing sport migrants: Moving beyond the institutional structures informing international sport migration”, International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 48 (1); 66-82.
Culvin, A. (2023) ‘Football as work: the lived realities of professional footballers in England’, Managing Sport and Leisure. 28 (6): 684-697.
Darby, P, Esson, J and Ungruhe, C., ‘Women’s football and transnational migration in Ghana: Possibilities, Responsibilities, and Respectability’, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 59, 5 (2024), pp.747-765.
Engh, M. and Agergaard, S. (2015) “Producing mobility through locality and visibility: developing a transnational perspective on sports labour migration”, International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 50 (8): 974-992.
Engh, M., Settler, F. and Agergaard, S. (2017) “The ball and the rhythm in her blood”: racialised imaginaries and football migration from Nigeria to Scandinavia. Ethnicities 17(1): 66–84.
Liston, K. and Booth, S. (2014) “The Continental Drift to a Zone of Prestige: women’s soccer migration to the US NCAA Division 1 2000-2010”, in Agergaard, S. and Tiesler, N.C. (eds.) Women, Soccer and Transnational Migration. London: Routledge, pp. 53-72.
Liston, K. and Maguire, J. (2021) ‘Globalization, Sport and Gender Relations’, in Maguire, J., Falcous, M. and Liston, K. (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Globalization and Sport. London: Palgrave, pp.205-228.
Roderick, M., Smith, A. and Potrac, P. (2017) ‘The Sociology of Sports Work, Emotions and Mental Health: Scoping the Field and Future Directions’, Sociology of Sport Journal. 34 (2): 99-107.
Williams, J. (2013) Globalising women’s football: Europe, migration and professionalization (Peter Lang).
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