Fùtbol and Piłka Nożna
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Fùtbol and Piłka Nożna: The Role of Soccer in Contemporary Mexican-American and Polish-American Ethnicity in Chicago By Asgeir Kjeldstad A Thesis Presented to The Department of Literature, Area Studies, and European Languages North American Studies Faculty of Humanities Supervisor: David Mauk In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the MA degree UNIVERSITETET I OSLO Spring 2014 Fùtbol and Piłka Nożna: The Role of Soccer in Contemporary Mexican and Polish American Ethnicity in Chicago II © Asgeir Kjeldstad Year 2014 Title: Fùtbol and Piłka Nożna: The Role of Soccer in Contemporary Mexican and Polish American Ethnicity in Chicago Author: Asgeir Kjeldstad http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo III IV V Acknowledgments I want to thank friends and family for their patience and support through this process. I especially want to thank Eirik and Leah for their thoughts, comments and ideas on my drafts. I will also always like to thank Jacek, George, Mario, Rigo, Salvador and Jesse for not only showing interest in my project, but also showing me “their” Chicago. And finally, thank you Risper, for always believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. VI VII Index 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Structure....................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Chicago ........................................................................................................................ 3 1.3 Soccer in Chicago ........................................................................................................ 7 1.4 American Studies ....................................................................................................... 10 1.5 Sources and Methods ................................................................................................. 13 2 Theory .............................................................................................................................. 17 2.1 Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity ..................................................................................... 17 2.2 Assimilation ............................................................................................................... 24 2.3 Segmented Assimilation ............................................................................................ 27 2.4 Transnationalism ....................................................................................................... 30 2.5 Soccer Scholarship .................................................................................................... 34 2.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 36 3 Mexican Americans .......................................................................................................... 39 3.1 Ethnic Identity ........................................................................................................... 41 3.2 Challenges ................................................................................................................. 52 3.3 Resources ................................................................................................................... 60 3.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 64 4 Polish Americans .............................................................................................................. 66 4.1 Ethnic Identity ........................................................................................................... 67 4.2 Challenges ................................................................................................................. 76 4.3 Resources ................................................................................................................... 81 4.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 84 5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 87 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 94 Endnotes ................................................................................................................................. 102 VIII 1 Introduction This thesis seeks to examine how soccer functions as part of the construction of contemporary Mexican-American and Polish-American ethnicity in Chicago. As part of seeking answers to the over-all investigation, the study addresses three related sub-topics. First, how does soccer provide not only a sense of ethnic identity, but also arenas for Mexican and Polish Americans to formulate and celebrate their ethnicity? Second, how is soccer used to address the challenges Mexican Americans and Polish Americans face in Chicago? And, finally, how does soccer enable Mexican and Polish Americans to portray themselves as resources for the host society in their struggle for public approval? Chicago serves as the geographical framework for this study. However, as there are various ways to define “Chicago,” it is necessary to discuss how the precise geographical area included in this thesis is understood. Chicago can either be defined as the space within the city limits of the City of Chicago in the time period investigated in this thesis, or as the metropolis reaching far beyond these fixed borders. The colloquial term “Chicagoland,” which was first put into circulation in the Chicago Tribune in the 1920s, suggests a metropolitan approach to Chicago, as it, originally, applied to an area reaching into Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa.1 More recently, the term no longer includes parts of Michigan and Iowa.2 The idea of Chicagoland seems to coincide with the borders of Chicago- Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI as a metropolitan statistical area defined by the Office of Management and Budget.3 For the purpose of this study, however, Chicago is limited to Cook, DuPage and Will County. This limitation can be seen as a compromise between the two different approaches. On the one hand, by approaching Metropolitan Chicago as comprising these three counties, the thesis acknowledges the city as an extended urban area that reaches beyond city limits. On the other hand, as the selected counties are the most populated and closest to the city, they seem best suited to represent the city of Chicago for the analysis presented here. The Mexican-American and Polish-American populations and the soccer activities in which they are engaged occur inside the three-county area. As this thesis studies contemporary ethnicity, the time frame of the study is the present time. However, although the focus of this study is the construction of contemporary ethnicity, it would be impossible to understand this process without acknowledging the historical contexts. It is sometimes difficult to balance between contemporary ethnicity, which is the 1 foreground of this study, and historical context, which serves as the background. However, in an attempt to specify the time frame, this study will focus on the period between 1990 and 2014. Whereas recent literature on ethnic groups has focused on the second generation, this study does not limit itself to a particular generation. Rather, this study investigates Mexican American and Polish-American ethnicity across generations. Mexican Americans and Polish Americans are selected for several reasons. The two groups are two of the largest ethnic groups in Chicago. Furthermore, Mexican and Polish Americans are heavily involved in Chicago’s soccer scene, as both groups participate in both the amateur and professional soccer in the city. However, the two groups are not selected merely based on their similarities; but, moreover, the differences between the two ethnic groups make it possible to study how the construction of ethnicity may differ based on different conditions. And thus, as this study investigates two different ethnic groups, there is a comparative aspect of this thesis. 1.1 Structure This thesis is structured in five chapters. This chapter, Chapter 1, serves as an introduction as it presents the topic and boundaries of the investigation. The chapter also discusses how this thesis fits into the scholarly field of American Studies. The next chapter, Chapter 2, gives a thorough review and discussion of the theories relevant in this study. In this discussion, the concepts that are given most attention are ethnicity, assimilation, segmented assimilation and transnationalism. In addition to these concepts, drawn from studies focusing on immigration and ethnicity, the chapter also discusses soccer and sport scholarship. By doing this, the chapter functions as the theoretical framework guiding the chapters that follows. The two ethnic groups investigated in this thesis are dealt with in separate chapters, and Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 are dedicated to Mexican Americans and Polish Americans, respectively. Finally, Chapter 5 compares and contrasts the findings of the two preceding chapters and concludes this investigation. Within this study of Mexican and Polish-American ethnicity, three sub-topics will be investigated. In addition to guide