Sports, public spaces, and immigrant communities. Basketball tournaments among Mexican immigrants in California

Abstract

This paper examines the role of sports practice in the re-articulation process of immigrant communities in their places of destination. I will use the case of basketball tournaments held by immigrants from Oaxaca, Mexico, in the context of the Los Angeles metropolitan region. This Mexican emigration has settled mainly in southern California, in the United States. While the eventual creation of their immigrant communities is explained by the insertion of immigrants in specific labor niches through their social networks, mainly based on sharing the same hometowns of origin, the role of socio-cultural elements such as sports practice and the formation of immigrant public spaces are also significant factors that make possible this process. The examination of these sports practices reveals its centrality in the conformation of these public spaces and with it the development of identification processes that enables the consolidation of immigrant communities.