Sport Leadership in the Greater Toronto Area Tamil Diaspora: Exploring the Lived Experience of Sport Leaders in Tamil Grassroots Sports Organizations

Abstract

Civil war in Sri Lanka precipitated the mass emigration of Tamils from Sri Lanka in the 1980s, many of whom settled in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). This community has since established significant social support networks and cultural infrastructure including, and of interest to this study, a growing number of Tamil grassroots sports organizations. Specifically, this study investigates the experience of leaders in the GTA Tamil diasporic sport community. The research objectives are to: 1) document the experiences of Tamil sport leaders in the GTA that led to their involvement with Tamil sport leagues; 2) understand what sport leadership means within the Tamil sporting community; 3) understand the gendered and gendering nature of sport leadership; and, 4) identify potential barriers that Tamils, in particular Tamil women, experience in sport leadership and strategies to negotiate them.

Postcolonial feminism and intersectionality theory inform this study to allow for deeper understanding of the impact colonialism has had on the Tamil diaspora and exploration of the meaning and consequences of multiple interacting social identities, such as class, race, gender and other systems of unequal power on sport leadership within the community. An exploratory multiple case study approach is used in this study to allow for intensive study of sport leaders through interviews and social media analysis.

By exploring the lived experiences of second and 1.5 generation Tamil sport leaders in the GTA, the importance of diasporic identity, gender norms, and postcolonial dynamics in shaping Tamil grassroots sports leadership is revealed. A hybrid leadership model emerges that has roots in both Tamil and Western ideologies as sport leaders navigate a ‘third space’ in the sporting sphere. Tamil women must also navigate intersecting barriers and supports at individual, interpersonal, organizational and cultural levels, adopting strategies such as collective leadership, which underscores the complex, gendered nature of leadership in diasporic sporting spaces.