Football as a road to integration and its depiction in Bend It Like Beckham
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According to the Commission for Racial Equity in the UK, the outdated notion of multiculturalism no longer serves the thorny nature of modern race relations and “integration based on shared values and loyalties is the only way forward.” (Ahmed 122) To be afforded full citizenship, the migrant must embody the pre-established ideals designed by the white nation.
In the UK, not only is football the main religion, but it “provides national ground” (Ahmed 122) and loyalty to it translates into loyalty to the state. Using it as a tool for ‘happy multiculturalism’ provides non-white citizens ‘happiness’ in exchange for approval. This idea is implicitly depicted in Bend It Like Beckham, where “the “playing field” which offers signs of diversity, where “whoever” scores will be cheered” (Ahmed 135) is a metaphor for level ground that possesses a magical equalizing power. In Melancholic Migrants, Ahmed critiques the binary opposition seen in the depiction of the migrant culture vis-à-vis Western culture. While the main character’s Indian home was portrayed as restrictive and demanding, the representation of British culture incorporated celebrity, freedom, individuality, and ultimately happiness. Through her journey with football, Jess met Jules, the friend who got her on the team, and Joe, the man she fell in love with. Jess’ attempt to achieve happiness and obtain her freedom were facilitated by her “intimate contact with a white girl and a white man. Freedom takes form as proximity to whiteness.” (Ahmed 135)
Meanwhile, Black American WWII veterans will testify that no amount of integration, not even directly standing in the line of fire for the sake of their country, allowed them to escape second-class citizenship and dehumanization. It was not until 1964, nineteen years after the end of the Second World War, that the Civil Rights Act finally outlawed segregation. Sixty years later, people with Black-sounding names must send out 15 resumes to receive one callback, 50% more than their white counterparts. For the ‘alien’ inhabitants of white-majority countries, it is likely that no amount of integration will ever be enough.
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I especially like @maimuna_hossain’s description of the British nation’s bargain: happiness in return for approval.
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The Lie of integration has so much room to be analyzed, tore down, and debunked. Not only does integration ask someone to strip themselves of their cultural identity just to conform to the societal norm but often it asks the same individual to condemn their original identities and views. Majority cultures, especially European cultures but most especially the British, love to flaunt how 'accepting' and 'educated' they are of/on the diaspora of minority (conquered) cultures that were present in the British Empire, and then in the same breath condemn multiculturalism and promote the systematic condemnation and destruction of these cultures within Britain. It is not just a 'cultural conversion' that is pressed onto melancholic migrants but the active condemnation of their mother culture, once 'cultural conversion' has been completed society seeks to implicate the melancholic migrant in the destruction of their old identities. All of this, just to never truly be accepted by the Majority as a "proper British bloke".
In a far less literal sense than the example of Black American Veterans that you gave, "Integration" seeks to enlist the migrant/minority population in a war against their own communities. "Multiculturalism" is dead only because the societal Majority is too lazy or ignorant to seek an understanding with its minority populations. Every mention of "seeking understanding through 'shared values'" makes me laugh and cringe, knowing that the real intention behind those words is 'British values'.