The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin

New Sociological Perspectives 2021, Vol. 1, No. 1, 42–56 https://nsp.lse.ac.uk

“Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin

Aseela Shamim Haque*

Abstract

Although cricket is not yet a widely popular sport in Germany, it has been growing in part because of the enthusiasm for the sport carried forward by South Asian immigrants. Despite the sharp rise in the number of registered teams playing in the country, very little is known about the sporting practices that are in many ways continuations of traditions, social bonds, and as- pirations brought over from home countries. Although the configurations of cricket and South Asian diasporas have been widely researched in the UK and to a lesser extent in Norway, the German context has not received much attention. Through interviews and ethnographic fieldwork in Berlin, this article addresses that gap by underscoring how the Pakistani male diaspora emerges through cricket. It illustrates the experience of migrancy shared by Pakistani men in Berlin in the context of rising racism and Islamophobia. As such, it reveals how cricket shapes ideas of identity, community, and resistance against marginalisation. In doing so, it emphasis- es how cricket serves as an important avenue for Pakistani immigrants to negotiate their place in German society, form community bonds, express their cultural identities in resistance to racialising norms, and maintain continuities to home.

Keywords cricket, Germany, Pakistani diaspora, migration, Islamophobia, racism

* Aseela Shamim Haque is a doctoral fellow at the Department of Human Geography at Freie Universität Berlin. She received an MA in Global Studies from Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and this article is part of her Master’s thesis on cricket as postcolonial cultural practice in Berlin. Her current research focuses on the politics of infrastructure and urban public space. She considers the social and political materialities of flyo- vers in her hometown Karachi and how spaces underneath them can be significant and contested resources in the lives of people bypassed by the structures. In her work, she focuses on issues of development, ethnicity, gender, leisure, subaltern appropriation, and resistance in urban public space. “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 43

One early morning, I arrived at the Maifeld in Olympiapark for a cricket tournament that was publicised on a Facebook group for Pakistanis living in Berlin. With no signs or posters outside the stadium indicating that a cricket tournament was underway, I thought I had made a mistake. As soon as I entered the massive open field, however, I knew I had come to the right place. My ears were inundated with familiar sounds. A rapturous, traditional, beating dhol (drum) melted into the distinct grooves of contemporary Punjabi music. I walked closer to the field and heard Urdu, Hindi, Dari, Tamil, Pashto, Punjabi, and German voices intermingling. To my surprise, I was the only woman there. As I walked around the field to find Asjad, one of the interlocutors in my research, I was met with curious gazes and sometimes long stares. I guessed that it was unusual for a Pakistani woman to join such an event as a spectator. The Maifeld, most often used for gymnastics and equestrian sports, is the home of cricket in Berlin because it is the only field with cricket pitches available. At the tournament, there were multiple matches spread over the entire ground. Two pitches formed the nuclei where teams were having intense contests. Around the pitches, there were clusters of men watching, cheering, talking, and lounging. Even more games were dispersed in emp- ty spaces in and around the field: casual ball throwing, warming up, batting in the nets, informal matches with water bottles as wickets, and imaginary boundaries that extended into the stands. Two young boys practised swinging bats twice their size. Asjad, who was playing in the tournament, explained to me that teams consisting of nearly 200 players had come from all over Germany and other parts of Europe to take part in it. On the long day, the teams played against each other, broke for lunch provided by the organisers of the tournament in the stands, and reconvened. In the end, a winner was announced: The team from Sweden took back the €1000 cash prize. I asked a young man what he was looking forward to. He replied, “Now what… It’s over. Back to work, the usual, mundane life.” “Until when?” I asked. He beamed, “Until the weekend. Then back to cricket.” Cricket is growing in Germany due to the growing presence of South Asian immigrants (AFP 2017; Hill 2016; Radley 2018; Schmidt and Masters 2017). Considering that sport and politics are inseparable (James 1983), the stories of cricket playing out in Berlin require deeper engagement. In this paper, I explore how cricket serves as an important avenue for Pakistani male immigrants to negotiate their place in German society. In close engagement with diaspora theory, I consider how cricket encapsulates homing desires (Brah 1996) not only in the playing of the sport but also through the various materials that are brought over from home. In addition to diaspora theory, I present the diaspora space of Berlin through the framework of coloniality of migration (Rodríguez 2018) in which migration and asylum policies in Germany, produced by orientalist and racialised practices of European colonialism and imperialism, inform how Pakistani immigrants are seen in Ger- man society. Furthermore, I examine how Pakistani men respond to racism and anti-Mus- lim sentiments by striving for self-expression and self-identification on the cricket field. In essence, I elucidate the role of cricket in the lives of male players as a safe space that offers freedom of cultural expression, a respite from racism, strong community bonds, and continuities of home. In the following sections, I expand on the methodology of this research, offer reflections on thinking through diaspora and cricket in Germany, and contextualise immigration discourses in the country. Subsequently, I present the experiences of everyday racism and Islamophobia shared by interlocutors, their understandings of cricket as a cultural practice, and as a space of “freedom” and “release” from the racialising gaze. In the last two sections, I highlight how cricket players are struggling for space and visibility in the country and how passion for the sport and materials involved drive interlocutors to make “sacrifices” to construct social bonds and communities that are reminiscent of home. “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 44

Figure 1: A scene from the stands at the Maifeld.

Figure 2: Boundaries (big scoring shots) are serenaded by dhol. The gentleman pictured here brought the instrument from India and was requested to play at the event by the organisers.

Figure 3: To the right, the small strip is one of the cricket pitches at the Maifeld.

Methodology

1 “Viktoria 89” plays “hard Data collection for this paper included triangulated methods of detailed life story inter- ball” cricket in official ‘A views (Chilisa 2012) and ethnographic fieldwork in sports grounds in and around Berlin League’ matches, organised by the German Crick- (primarily the Maifeld stadium, the Werder Havel Cricket Ground in Brandenburg, and a et Federation (DCB) at the sports club at Westend, Charlottenburg) from winter 2018 to summer 2019. I interviewed Maifeld at Olympic Stadi- fifteen men between the ages of 25 and 45 years. Many of the participants were contact- um or Werder Havel Crick- et Ground. “Berliner Ti- ed through a Facebook group for Pakistanis in Berlin, while others were encountered in gers”, on the other hand, official matches and practice sessions of two teams, henceforth referred to as “Viktoria play “tape ball” cricket and 1 enter privately organised 89” and “Berliner Tigers”. Although Pakistanis are not the only group playing cricket in tournaments. They have the city, both the teams I came to work with happened to have members from Pakistan. ambitions of entering the This may be because of the online platform for Pakistanis through which I found my in- ‘A League’ in the future. For now, they practice at troduction to cricket in the city. Being a member of various online groups for Pakistanis a football club in Charlot- in the city, as a Pakistani myself, meant that I did not spend extended periods ‘looking’ tenburg. for my research group. Sharing my memories, experiences, and knowledge of Pakistani “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 45

cricket helped me relate to the participants and develop relationships that have extended beyond the research. Despite the shared experiences, however, I was an outsider in the cricket field that was a distinctly masculine space. All the interviews were conducted in Urdu, in a variety of places such as cafes, sports grounds, participant homes, and parks. I later translated the interviews into English. In- terlocutors in this research have diverse occupations such as software engineers, office administrators, shopkeepers, delivery personnel, activists, healthcare workers, business owners, and electricians. All of the men I spoke to were first-generation immigrants from Pakistan. Some had German citizenship, while others had varied visa statuses. The identities of some interlocutors have been pseudonymised for various reasons, such as the safety of participants who shared stories of repeated attacks by racist groups, the privacy of concerned individuals, and the pending status of asylum applications of participants. The decision to not employ the usual blanket anonymisation method was taken because other participants of the research wished for their names to appear in the work. This was approved by the supervisors of the research.

Thinking Through Diaspora and Cricket in Germany

It is important to examine how migration and immigrant identities are framed in Ger- many to understand how Pakistani identity, community formation, and resistance take shape through cricket. Since terms like migrant, refugee, and asylum seeker are products of racialisation and evoke tropes of illegality, criminality, and Islamophobia (Fletcher 2015; Leudar et al. 2008; Rodríguez 2018), I turn away from these labels to employ the analytical category of diaspora to understand how Pakistani identity and notions of community are being reproduced in Berlin. Diasporas are particular moments in the experience of migration. They come into being when certain ideas of a shared culture, history, language, geography, or religion are evoked to produce imagined transnational communities (Sökefeld 2006). Diaspora is a performance of hybridity and cultural difference (H. K. Bhabha 2004; Hall 1994, 1994) that involves borrowing from new environments, being influenced by the migratory routes taken, and distinctly carrying meanings and symbols of an imagined home (Rushdie 1992). It signifies identities shifting, evolving, and transforming into hybridised versions of themselves (Anthias 1998; H. K. Bhabha 2004; Brah 1996; Clifford 1994; Gilroy 1993; Hall 1994; Kalra, Kaur, and Hutnyk 2005). At the same time, diasporas are produced through an insistence on cultural difference in which “otherness” is performed and practised, not as something undesirable, but with self-confidence (Bhabha 1990). Taking lead from bell hooks, I contend that marginalised diasporas are “much more than a site of deprivation”, they offer radical possibilities of freedom from domination and resistance against colonial mentality (1989: 20). Within this framework, I argue they can function also as sites of resistance and openness (hooks 1989). Moreover, I consider how diasporas are ripe with homing desires that seek to transform new contexts into something like home (Brah 1996), thereby, presenting sociological viewpoints that are starkly different from those put forth by theories of assimilation and acculturation (Young 2012). Sport has been a significant form through which diasporas materialise. Indeed, scholars working on cricket have made significant contributions to diaspora studies by empha- sising the role of sport in diasporic identities, community formations, and transnational connections (Davis and Upson 2004; Devan 2012; Fletcher 2011; Fletcher and Walle 2015; Kaufman and Patterson 2005; Madan 2000; Perera 2000; Valiotis 2009; Wagg 2010). I consider cricket to be a practice of postcoloniality because it “serve(s) as a process by which immigrants from countries of colonial encounters try to find a voice and representation in the cultural dynamics of a new nation” (Patke 2006: 370). It must be noted, however, that the studies quoted earlier are limited to diasporas in the United Kingdom and Norway. The rise of cricket spurred by increased migration from South Asia in Germany requires close engagement as it presents new opportunities in understanding the entanglements of diaspora and sport. “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 46

Diasporas have varying trajectories influenced by their particular contexts and relationships with host societies. Burdsey, Thangaraj, and Dudrah note that, “The Pakistani labour migrant in the Middle East consumes sport practices and fandom in a manner markedly different to the third generation Indian in the Bay Area of the United States” (2013: 212). This leads one to contend that diaspora space which is “inhabited not only by those who have migrated and their descendants but equally by those who are constructed and rep- resented as indigenous” is a necessary construct to examine the various journeys under- taken by diaspora formations in articulating identities and resistances against domination (Brah 1996: 178). It is imperative, thus, to ask: how do we understand the diaspora space of Germany? What are the localised sub-texts of migration that inform immigrant identities in the country?

Contextualising Immigration in Germany: Racism, Islamophobia and Coloniality of Migration

In the aftermath of Germany’s shift in immigration policy in 2015 to accept one million asylum seekers, the influx of immigrants primarily from countries with Muslim majority populations quickly came to be considered a “refugee crisis” (Rodríguez 2018). Fractures in the purported “welcome culture” of Germany became apparent as anti-immigration sentiments began to rise in the general public. Far-right parties, emboldened by the rising tide of xenophobia and Islamophobia in the public, have been further fanning the flames of racial and ethnic tensions in Germany through incendiary political rhetoric. These tensions manifest in the form of violent attacks against refugees, found to be concentrated in areas with far-right support (Jäckle and König 2017). In media narratives, the refugee figure has been stylised as a “criminal” and “bogus asylum seeker” (Rodríguez 2018). Implicit in these discourses is a concerted effort to otherise Muslims. Muslim male subjectivities in the media are often portrayed as violent, sexually transgressive, and a threat to society (Boulila and Carri 2017). Furthermore, in right-wing discourses, Islam and Muslim identities are often constructed in direct opposition to perceived European values of equality and feminism (Farris 2017). Theo Goldberg has argued that in the European imaginary, Islam embodies a “collection of lacks: of freedom; of a disposition of scientific inquiry; of civility and manners; of love of life; of human worth; of equal respect for women and gay people” (2006: 345). Furthermore, he stresses that the very idea of “the Muslim” in European orientalist legacy has come to signify the threat of death and “Muslim presence” in Europe stirs anxieties of European cultural demise. Fear and perceptions of threat are supplemented by a vocabulary that rests on racist stereotypes in political discourses and immigration policies (Bauder 2008; Boulila and Carri 2 The translation of the 2017). Sökefeld highlights, for instance, how the term Gefährder2 (potential terrorists) in term here is the one of- fered by the cited author political discourse is strategically utilised to justify the deportation of refugees, particu- in their article. larly of Afghan origin (Sökefeld 2019). Within a particular logic of deservingness, categories of the Straftäter (criminals) and hartnäckige Identitätsverweigerer (persons who refuse to clarify their identity by withholding documents, or who are unsuccessful in procuring documents) are instrumentalised to deport refugees who have supposedly “refused to integrate by violating the rules of Zusammenleben (‘living together’) in Germany” (Sökefeld 2019: 103). Not only do these categories serve to legitimise the violence of deportation, but they also demarcate the boundaries between wanted and unwanted immigrants in German society. As such, ideas of belonging become subject to these classifications. In my research, the terms Ausländer (foreigner) and asylum seeker appear to perform this function. They form a discourse of alterity or “culturism” that demarcates the boundaries of “society” by “rendering observable the non-integrated who are said to reside outside society” (Schrover and Schinkel 2013: 1133). Brubaker has also observed that German bu- reaucracy functions on a system of “institutionalized separateness” in policies regarding schools, social services, and citizenship, whereby those classified as Ausländer are differ- entiated from those considered as native German (Brubaker 2001: 537). This identification of difference in public policy and public institutions further adds to the discourse of alterity in which categories of German and Ausländer are imbibed with certain valuations of who belongs and who is the newcomer, the outsider, and the stranger. “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 47

Finally, these vocabularies of power reveal a particular rationale in how migration policies are structured under the coloniality of migration. Rodríguez in her analysis of migration discourses in Germany operationalises Aníbal Quijano’s idea of coloniality of power in which the racial, ethnic, and religious classification of peoples produces a system of power that fixes them in specific roles in governance, labour, economy, and culture, to -as sert that “the modes of production and social reproduction of global capitalism continue to be organized by the racial matrix sustaining the coloniality of power” (Rodríguez 2018: 20). Under the regime of the coloniality of migration, therefore, refugees are reduced to perform the role of “potential workers” and asylum policies are turning into a new form of regulating and controlling racialised labour migration. She further argues that, While current EU migration and asylum policies do not operate explicitly within a framework of racial or ethnic difference, by coupling nationality and the right to asylum, they construct hierarchies in the recognition or rejection of asylum in terms of nationalities. This places people in zones of recognition or rejection of the human right to liveability. (Rodríguez 2018: 24)

In this regard, the terms Ausländer and asylum seeker function as categorical instruments in the racialisation of migrants, constructing boundaries of belonging and restricting the right to stay. In the following section, I illustrate how the themes discussed above reflect the experiences of Pakistani male immigrants in the city of Berlin and their practice of cricket. I explore the place of sport and leisure in their lives beyond the roles ascribed to immigrants in labour migration and the asylum-labour nexus. In this research, I ask: how does playing cricket configure in their experience of migrancy? What hopes, dreams, and meanings does it embody? In the later sections, I take the reader to the cricket fields and highlight how these sites function as spaces of openness and resistance that allow Pakistani men to find relief from racism and Islamophobia and gain opportunities for self-expression.

“I am still an Ausländer in their eyes”: The Racializing Logic of the Coloniality of Migration

I met with Usman at the Gesundbrunnen train station and we walked to Humbolthain Park together. He told me he was born in Peshawar and came to Germany for his under- graduate studies. He is now forty years old and working as a software consultant. He also shared that he is encouraging his nephews to come to Germany to study, but the process of immigration has changed since he came in 2000. “Racism has increased,” he said. “They are becoming harsher with Ausländer.” I asked him who are considered to be Ausländer in Germany. You know there are types of foreigners. For example, Europeans like the British and others are different. They are not like Ausländer because they are white. People from Third World countries are treated differently. England, etc., are considered good countries. We, Pakistanis and Indians, are treated differently. Even in this group, there are further categories. They prefer Indians over Pakistanis.

I asked him why he thinks that is. People with dark hair and dark skin are not preferred. It’s also about Islam. Muslims have a bad reputation since 9/11. So, if your colour is dark and you are a Muslim, you are the bad type of Ausländer and they don’t want so many of us coming here. It doesn’t matter if you have the passport, you are a German citizen, or you speak Ger- man, you are still considered Ausländer. You know, sometimes I get dirty looks when I’m in my car. They are not used to seeing people like me in [fancy] cars.

Usman’s understanding of how his identity is racialised in Germany through the category of Ausländer echoes back to the discussion in the previous section about how racism and Islamophobia construct Muslim male subjectivities as outsiders. This perspective was reiterated by other participants in interviews who felt that they may never fully belong in Germany due to being seen as Ausländer. “Types of foreigners” is part of the racialising logic of the coloniality of migration (Rodríguez 2018) that subjects “Third World countries” “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 48

to different rules and regulations. For Zeeshan, this meant he had to wait for two years in Lahore for his spouse visa to come through. My application went through the proper legal channels but they make it so difficult that you start to feel like you are doing something illegal! I had to write so many applications, requests, provide proofs, assurances, and witness statements. I had to do my nikkah (marriage ceremony) twice because they did not recognise the first hall where it happened.

A general air of mistrust pervades these bureaucratic processes and embroils many in practices of pledges, guarantees, and affirmations. These practices in the form of proofs and justifications are subject to a type of scrutiny that pre-supposes criminal or unlaw- ful intent. Such bureaucratic strategies maintain the coloniality of migration (Rodríguez 2018), in which racialisation informs the construction of immigration policies. This sense of suspicion and tropes of criminality pervade social relations in the diaspora space (Brah 1996) as well. It is present in the “dirty looks” that Usman mentioned. For most of the individuals I talked to, racism was part of everyday life in Berlin. Gohar told me, There’s a lot of racism… Take the example of the poster that is plastered in S-Bahn stations (train stations) everywhere. It says, “Your country, your future.” They are giving people money to go back! They are clearly saying what they think of outsiders… How many people must see that every day on their way home from work and think, should I give up and leave? They don’t want me here.

The poster he is referring to is from a controversial campaign in 2018 by the German Inte- rior Ministry encouraging immigrants to return to their countries of origin with the promise of money for rent and rehabilitation. The poster in question had 24,000 installations all over Germany in seven different languages: German, English, French, Arabic, Russian, Pashto, and Farsi (Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community). Besides an array of country flags on the poster (mostly of African and Muslim-majority countries), there was no indication of who the message is for. Other interlocutors referred to it as well and their responses showed that the poster is perceived as a racist charge against Muslims in Germany. Interestingly, although the campaign website claims that it is only for “illegal migrants”, the programme offers even more money to those whose asylum claim has not been processed yet and, therefore, have not crossed the threshold to an illegal status (Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community). This signifies how migrants from certain countries are not wanted even if they stand a chance to be granted legal stays. By delineating national identities (mostly African and Muslim-majority countries) that are unwelcome through visual representations in public spaces, these posters alienate and ‘other’ immigrants from those respective countries. Furthermore, when relating incidents of racism, interlocutors expressed how everyday racism at their universities and workplaces created feelings of fear, dejection, and alienation. In conversations, it quickly emerged that racialisation and everyday racism signifi- cantly informed the subjectivities of the interlocutors. The next section discusses how the cricket field is an important space in their lives that helps mitigate the negative feelings produced by everyday racism, allows them to express their cultural identities and fosters strong community bonds. “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 49

“Culture of cricket”: Articulating Cultural Difference

On a bright morning in April 2019, I went to watch Viktoria 89 play one of their first matches of the year’s official season, organised by the German Cricket Foundation (DCB) at the Maifeld. I was invited by Asif who played for the team for a couple of years but quit on account of his plans to move to England to be closer to his brother. “There is a bigger Pa- kistani community there. My wife and kids will be around family. Pakistani culture is more prominent in England,” he explained. He had not found a job there yet but had found himself a cricket team. “Cricket is essential,” he grinned, “Job tou mil he jai gi (A job will be easier to find). There is also more cricket in England. There’s better cricket in England.” He pointed to the ground as he said it. “You see this grass? It’s too long. The ball doesn’t travel. This is not a cricket field. It is a compro- mise. It makes for less exciting cricket but it’s better than nothing.” As we talked, many people stopped to greet Asif. Some shook his hand and others gave him bear hugs. Everyone knew he was leaving soon. As we chatted, the rest of the team was sitting down in the grass. Fifteen guys in green kits, similar to the national kit of Pa- kistan, were lounging, talking, joking, and riling each other up for the upcoming match. We walked over to the players sprawled out on the grass and they started to get up. I sensed that my presence as a woman had created the need for decorum. This type of shift happened the first few times I met the team and after a while, they became relatively more comfortable being around me and including me in their jokes. Sometimes their jokes and comments around women’s interest in cricket extended to sexist stereotypes of women not being able to play cricket well or not having enough knowledge of cricket. One interlocutor, laughingly, shared how his wife is “responsible for trying to spoil cricket” because she would rather have him spend time with family on a Sunday instead of playing in a match. Moreover, women in the lives of the players are not encouraged to come to matches because of the aggressive altercations that sometimes happen between opposing teams. Zeeshan shared with me, My daughters come to watch us practice. They don’t come for the matches. During a match, we are completely different people (laughs). When the match is on, the atmosphere on the ground gets very heated.

Tensions and stresses of a competitive match can lead to lost tempers, altercations and harsh words spoken - behaviour that is generally considered by interlocutors to be in- appropriate around women and children. Hence, competitive cricket is understood as a masculine practice and masculine space in which women may not feel comfortable and are often not invited to participate even as spectators. At the matches, there were no spectators. In interviews, I asked participants why they thought there was no audience for cricket in Germany. Many expressed that cricket is specific to Pakistani culture and indiscernible to the German audience. They stated that certain aspects of the game such as its complicated rules, the time it takes to play, and the commitment required to play are discouraging for Germans, whilst those aspects are fostered in them through a “culture of cricket”. Kashif delineated, When I talk to my German colleagues at work about cricket, they do not seem to understand it. They do not show much interest. And it is understandable why… Who has eight hours in a day to spare for cricket? Pakistanis make the time because we have a culture of cricket. After the world cup of 1992, Pakistan was overcome with a new wave of cricket.

Many participants referred to aspects of the game to articulate a sense of cultural difference that emphasised their identities as Pakistanis and rationalised the absence of par- ticipation by Germans. According to Muhammad Ilyas, the game’s popularity has made it the “national sport” in Pakistan and as such, it is a “part of Pakistani culture.” Behram, for instance, contemplated how the stamina required to play long drawn-out matches comes from spices typical to Pakistani food. Others reflected on how they became familiar with the rules and configurations of the game from early childhood through watching TV and playing with family. These ideas informed the dialogue on why cricket in Germany remains a sport played largely by South Asian immigrants, with little or no interest from “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 50

the German population. The narratives shared by participants reveal the intimate relationship cricket practices have with their personal and social lives. This entanglement of cricket with stories of personal development, familial bonds, and social relationships is embodied by the “culture of cricket.” The interlocutors recognised that German audienc- es may not be interested in cricket because they do not have those associations with the sport. As such, participants see cricket as a cultural practice that has emerged through specific historical circumstances and experiences of socialisation. Therefore, there is a certain sense of ownership of cricket amongst Pakistani men that makes the game much more than a sport. It is a part of life.

“Cricket is my release”: Escaping Racism and Forming Communities

In many ways, this relationship with cricket constructs it as a site of resistance (hooks 1999) for men in the Pakistani diaspora. While discussing one of Viktoria 89’s matches, Usman stressed how the mahaul (social ambience) created by cricket, where he is with other Pakistanis and South Asians, eases the stress of being an Ausländer and makes him feel like he belongs. He added, I play cricket because I’ve always played it. That’s who I am. It feels good to meet, make a community, feel like myself. Cricket is my release. I don’t get that environment at work or home or anywhere else. So many times, I have faced problems with other people’s behaviour because they don’t like Ausländer. At work, I solve problems with conflict management. We have a beautiful conversation as a result. On the street, like when people stare or give dirty looks, I ignore [them]. In cricket, I am relaxed. It is freeing. You know everyone. The atmosphere is like in Pakistan, the same joking around and having fun.

For many men I spoke to, cricket is a safe space of self-expression – away from the othering and racialising gaze. It allows one to embody one’s identity; practised not only through the sport itself but also the many materials involved in its performance. The green kits of Viktoria 89, for example, may be a choice in the expression of Pakistani identity. The colour and design are modelled after the national team. This material reproduction is meant to draw lines of affiliation and create feelings of community. It symbolises continuity. The label of Ausländer, as discussed earlier, erases cultural difference under its sweeping racialised logic. It does not recognise cultural identity, it simply denotes “outsider.” By expressing their Pakistani identities, participants find freedom from racialising logic and its multiple erasures. Another critical aspect of cricket is how the sport fosters a sense of community amongst men. It is an important site for diaspora formation, not only for Pakistani men but for other groups as well. Interlocutors explained how one’s sense of community “expands” because of close interactions with men from India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and other countries. The field is not just a space of play but also a space of “ideas,” where men share their stories of migration, discuss the politics of their home countries, and learn about cultures other than their own to find themselves transforming – more “knowledgeable,” “compassionate,” and part of a “bigger community.” They stressed that this was a unique opportunity, unavailable to them in other spheres of life, brought on only by the “magic of cricket” as it “brings everyone together.” The mahaul is characterised by the intermingling of various ethnolinguistic identities, a sense of community because people “knew each other,” and the element of enjoying oneself. Music, food, time spent with friends, and cricket create an experience of leisure that feels familiar, feels apna (one’s own). As that sense of community expands, ethnolinguistic prejudices are challenged. Zeeshan shared with me, All the teams are very cooperative with each other. After coming here, these things don’t matter so much… People don’t really care if you are Pakistani or Sri Lankan or Afghan. I told you about the Indian team… We are very good friends with them off the field. “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 51

In conversations with participants regarding divisions in the Pakistani diaspora, I learnt that there are considerable fractures based on ethnicities. I asked Sahil, therefore, if teams are divided in terms of ethnicity in the cricket scene. He responded that this is not the case. Many participants expressed that in their experience of playing cricket, nationalist rivalries and ethnic biases are supplanted by feelings of community and togetherness. The positionality of Pakistani asylum applicants is very illuminating here. They often experience the double burden of alienation due to racism and Islamophobia in German society as well as class-based discrimination within the Pakistani diaspora. In the sphere of cricket, however, there is greater acceptance as “talent” supersedes prejudice. The field provides grounds for the contestation of biases as they prove “we are not any less than them” through their game. Indeed, Pakistani asylum applicants in this research proudly proclaimed how they represent the sport in the city. Others also conceded, “There can be no cricket without them.” Such social entanglements and resistances are what constitute cricket as a site of openness. However, as much as participants expressed that teams are not divided along national and ethnic lines, I felt that the kits worn during matches reflected otherwise. I shared my observations with Asjad, “Why is it then that I see Pakistanis in one team and Indians in another? Pakistanis are in green and Indians are in blue?” He told me the kits do not always reflect the identities of all the players. The colour and design are often decided by captains. Viktoria 89, last year, had several Afghan players, who played in the green kits preferred by the Pakistani captain. He added, Last year when we had a tournament on home ground, an Indian team also participat- ed. We referred to it as an Indian team because they were in blue kits [like the Indian national cricket team]. We thought everyone in it is Indian. But some Pakistanis were playing in that team as well. When I went up to bat in that match, the wicket-keeper heckled me in Punjabi… His dialect suggested that he may be from Pakistan… You can tell from the accent as well. I directly asked him, “You don’t seem Indian…?” He laughed and said, “You are right.” When we sat together to eat after the match, it turned out that the team had four Pakistanis who had been playing with them from the beginning. We didn’t realise because of the colour of the kits probably (laughs).

Asjad’s explanation made sense. Due to the colours of the kits of some teams, I had wrongly assumed that teams were made based on national affiliations. In part, this may have been because the teams I was working with consisted only of Pakistanis at the time. This assumption was also shaped by the fact that most of the literature I had read on diasporic cricket was based on ethnicity-specific teams (Fletcher and Spracklen 2014; Fletcher and Walle 2015; Joseph 2014). In many instances, while watching matches and interact- ing with teams, those presumptions were proven untrue. In as much as the kits that are chosen represent cultural identity, the colours and designs may not be an expression of exclusivist nationalism. For Pakistani men living in Berlin, playing cricket allows expression of cultural difference (Bhabha 1990), wherein othering discursive constructions of Ausländer and asylum seeker are resisted. Cricket emerges as “release,” “freedom,” and “escape” from alienating racialising logic. Moreover, by engaging in what is considered their “culture of cricket”, interlocutors build social bonds and connections as transcultural communities. Cricket, as such, functions as a site of openness for men in which ethnic, class, and nationalist biases become less potent to allow for inclusive diaspora formation. As mentioned before, this openness does not extend necessarily to Pakistani women who are usually not invited to cricket events. “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 52

“Look here! We are people too!”: The Struggle for Space and Visibility

It was late afternoon in May 2019 in a busy café in Moabit, Berlin. The din of human voices and clinking of forks against plates was forcing Zeeshan to strain his voice. He grew agitated as our conversation turned to the state of the cricket tournament taking place in the summer. He told me that the administration of the Maifeld had granted them only fifteen days that year, ten days less than last year, for the official regional tournament organised by the DCB. The people at the top are making it harder and harder to organise cricket in the city. They can’t completely get rid of us because their own rules don’t allow it. We will have to fight ourselves to keep cricket going in the city because it is obvious, they are pushing it further and further onto the back foot. They are not interested in cricket. Cricket is made up of our people - the Pakistanis, Indians, Sri Lankans, Bangladesh- is, Afghans… All desis (people of the Indian subcontinent). When our people become strong enough, they will be able to force Germans to recognise cricket as a part of life. They will be able to say to them, “Look here, we are people too!”

His voice cracked with exasperation at the end and he looked across the café. They say they will try to give us more days next year. The space on the schedule that is carved out for us is completely dependent on what other sports are being organised in that space. Cricket is at the bottom of their priority list. It is, however, our top priority. So, we make whatever comprises we can to keep it going.

I learnt from the interlocutors that the Maifeld in Olympiapark is one of the only grounds in the city with a cricket pitch. The next best option is the Werder Havel Cricket Ground in Brandenburg which is not ideal for cricket. On my first visit, I was surprised by how we had to get on a dirt track to get there. It was very secluded and surrounded by woods. The ground itself was in poor shape. It was uneven, strewn with rocks and weeds, and the wild grass was too long. At the end of a match, as we were leaving, Waqas pointed to the football ground adjacent to the field and said, “If you want to see the difference in how football and cricket are treated here, just look over there.” The football field was perfectly manicured, there were no stones, the markings were fresh, the ground was secured by a fence, and the goalposts were in great shape. The striking contrast between the two fields revealed how marginalised cricket is in the country. Viktoria 89, like many other cricket teams in Berlin, is not funded by the club it is a part of. Players are not paid and their financial costs in the form of equipment, renting cricket grounds, and umpiring fees are not covered. Moreover, for Berliner Tigers, the cost of a single match can go up to 200-300 euros. As such, all the expenses are managed by the teams themselves. Therefore, cricket in Germany, despite its recent boom in terms of the number of teams that are playing, is struggling to establish itself. The fact that cricket does not have a big audience, in what participants called a “country for football,” requires players and teams to organise the sport through collective efforts. For Viktoria 89, it means fostering a sense of camaraderie and togetherness in which costs are taken care of by financially secure team members. Players with stable jobs and businesses assume leadership and patron roles in the team by being captains. They are often the ones managing the team and acquiring materials to play. Sahil, in his role as captain of Berliner Tigers, tries to maintain the team’s “discipline;” for example, if there is a fight oc- curring between his team member and the opposing team, he “scolds” his team member the way “parents would scold their child, and not someone else’s.” In many instances, interlocutors referred to their teams as families. Such arrangements are understood as “a part of cricket.” Participants draw on experiences of adolescence and of playing cricket in Pakistan to create such systems of support. At the same time, there is hope that when “our people,” that is “Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Afghans etc.,” occupy prominent positions of power in Germany, cricket will finally be more visible. “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 53

“Passion” and Cricket Equipment: Exploring Homing Desires

It was late Sunday evening in June 2019 and we were driving back to Berlin from Werder Havel Cricket Ground in a rush because Waqas had to catch a bus back to Leipzig where he lives. We were discussing whether he would be able to make it. Waqas travelled to Berlin for every match and I asked him how he managed to rush back and forth almost every weekend in the summer. He told me, “It is difficult and tiring, but worth it because I have to play.” Zeeshan added eagerly, Cricket is in us… Nobody can disagree with that. You can’t say that our passion for cricket has diluted now that we are here. Not at all. No matter where we go, those who have the passion, will figure out a way to play cricket in whatever space we can manage.

Waqas, who was apprehensively keeping a close eye on Google Maps, teased, Yes, rightly said by our esteemed captain. Passion ne he marwa diya hai! (Passion has gotten me in this trouble!)

This idea of “passion” for the game was echoed by others as well. It became apparent that despite the challenges of space, costs, and visibility, a sense of “passion” is the fun- damental factor that has allowed cricket to grow in Berlin. The reader will remember from the earlier sections how Asif prepared for the move to England by finding himself a cricket team before he found a job. These accounts illustrate deep relationships with the sport that are continued through setting “priorities” and making “sacrifices.” When Zeeshan stated that “cricket is in us,” he is inferring how Pakistani male identity is inter- twined with the practice of cricket. For participants, playing, watching, and keeping up with cricket through digital apps is an essential part of life that has not changed despite migration. Many men carry these practices, encased in memories of childhood, forward. Many participants, in conversations about their passion for cricket, spoke about their early memories of the sport, time spent playing with friends, and family back home. These in- dividualised origin stories of the love of sport reveal how memories of home and a sense of nostalgia are enmeshed in dialectic explorations of “passion.” Disruptions and break- ages caused by migration are alleviated by the continuities that cricket affords. When “passions” are played out in the cricket field, the mahaul they remember from home is reproduced, communities “like family” are formed, and the promise of making a “name” for oneself is maintained. In this sense, “passion” for cricket in the diaspora is represent- ative of homing desires that seek to translate new and unfamiliar environments into what interlocutors call mahaul “just like Pakistan.” These desires also manifest in cricket practices in Berlin with a preference for cricket equipment from “home.” Zeeshan, who could not afford to buy the equipment he wanted when he was young, enjoys going back to his hometown in Pakistan to buy everything for his team. “Equipment is cheaper compared to the prices in England and high quality,” he told me, with pride. Many interlocutors preferred to acquire the materials from Pakistan because of their “better quality.” In these discussions, participants made references to Pa- kistan as a “first-class producer of sporting goods” and shared examples of the quality of items from merchants in their hometowns. These discussions showed how attachments to home also manifest in materials that are brought over from Pakistan. As mentioned earlier, players take great pride in the green kits that are modelled after the Pakistani national cricket team. Moreover, interlocutors shared how they are attached to their bats that are specific to their individual “grip, form and style.” In as much as sharing and community spirit inform cricket culture in Berlin, attachment to one’s bat illustrates personal connections to the objects. Economic opportunities in Germany grant buying power in Pakistan which is a matter of pride and indicates prosperity to family members in Pakistan. Through these articles, participants develop and maintain relationships with merchants in their hometowns and family members who help them with the acquisition. Hence, objects of cultural value, such as high-quality bats and kits from Pakistan, are instrumental in the maintenance of diasporic spaces and practices. Therefore, “passion” manifests in the performance of cricket in multiple ways. Materials acquired from Pakistan help not only maintain connections to home but also allow players to express their cultural identities as Pakistanis. Driving these efforts are deep cultural attachments to the sport which seek to translate the diaspora space of Berlin into social relations and mahaul that resemble home. “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 54

Conclusion

Cricket and the experience of migrancy share an intimate relationship. In the current context of rising racism and Islamophobia in Germany, I sought to illustrate how immigration discourses are affecting the practice of cricket in the Pakistani male diaspora. The narratives divulged here show how deeply cricket informs ideas of identity, community, and resistance. Cricket helps to cope with the pain of racism and discrimination experienced in everyday life in Berlin and allows interlocutors to negotiate the challenges of being non- white immigrants. This article provides an exposition on how Muslim immigrants navigate their surroundings and deal with everyday racism. It also shows how the insistence on cultural identity in a socio-political context that demands integration and commits cultural erasure through the imposition of racialising categories is an act of radical resistance against discrimination and the white hegemonic gaze. The scenes of celebration I encountered on my first visit to the Maifeld told me a particular story of cricket in Berlin. Playing out under the shadow of racism in Germany that is both the country’s past and present, it is a story of perseverance, community, and social bonds. It tells how identities are ever-evolving and ideas of community are ever-growing in the framework of global migration. It also reflects on what remains constant in cricket in diasporas: passions and desires that constitute the re-making of home. Besides the production of familiar social relations and spaces in diaspora, it highlights the place of objects in the performance of diasporic identity. Furthermore, these narratives reveal that homing desires have to be understood in relation to the complex systems of social relations, whereby diasporas are not harkening back to a particular past but are active agents in the production of hybridised identities through the recognition of shared transcultural struggles and solidarities. The themes I have divulged here speak about resisting domination and discrimination to create spaces of inclusivity in which ethnic, class, and national biases melt away in the face of talent and rising competition in sport. They reveal that sport is a powerful force that brings men together and allows them to cope in new, unfamiliar, and often hostile environments. They also reveal that cultural identities can find the freedom of self-expression on the sports field that may not be granted to them in other spheres of life. Data Availability Statement

Data for this study has not been made publicly available. “Playing on the Back Foot”: The Pakistani Male Diaspora and Cricket in Berlin – New Sociological Perspectives 55

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