(Mis)-understanding Nation and Identity: Re-imagining Sport in the Future of African Development

Abstract

Athletics, its obsession and allure for economic empowerment (marathons,
World Championships, Golden League track events) through skill and will,
unlike any other sport in Kenya, has generated contestations in the emergence
of national identity. Thus the crisis in the body Athletics Kenya (AK), the Ministry
for Gender, Sports and Culture and among individual athletes in Kenya
today is symbolic of the crisis of individuality, nationhood and identity in African
development. Since the ‘defection’ of Wilson Kipketer in 1998, Kenyan
athletes have negotiated and have ‘run’ for citizenship in the Middle East,
Europe and the United States. At stake is whether athletes, athletics, sports
policy and the governing bodies are witnessing an evolution or devolution in
autonomy especially when citizenship changes necessitate identity changes as
is the case of the Qatar/Bahrain ‘defecting’ athletes. The paper presents the
case for this issue, while situating the practise of athletes ‘defecting’ within the
global flows of movement and questions of identity.