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Cricket brings us together
Mursal Juya
Be it the Asia Cup or the World Cup, the fascination, excitement, and anxiety that cricket brings forth are all palpable at the Asian University for Women (AUW), where students from 15 Asian countries get together to watch matches and cheer their favourite teams. In such a diverse community, it is difficult, however, to watch cricket without thinking critically about nationalism, national identity, and representations of women.
On February 18, as the Bangladesh and Afghanistan teams took their positions on the field, AUW students turned the campus café into a mini-stadium, huddled around the TV, and got ready to follow every move in the game. As an Afghan student at AUW, I was particularly excited about the match.
Watching the match with Bangladeshi friends at AUW was an unforgettable experience. We put up flags, laughed, and cheered for our teams. At the end of the match, Afghan students congratulated their Bangladeshi friends for their team’s victory, and Bangladeshi students tried to make their Afghan peers feel better by emphasising how well the Afghan team performed.
Studying in a diverse environment teaches us to respect the institutions and values that students from other countries hold dear. In learning to move beyond divisions, tolerance, and genuine respect, we constantly put ourselves in each others’ shoes and try to consider multiple perspectives. We strive to see beyond our own national identities, and we try to foster respect and solidarity between students from different countries.
Just as cricket helps build bridges between countries, it can also play a powerful role in unifying people within a country and helping them overcome grievances and antagonism between each other. While Afghanistan has only recently begun playing cricket at the international level, it has already won millions of hearts.
Cricket unites the people of Afghanistan and brings all the ethnic groups to a common ground. In Afghanistan’s ethnically diverse population where ethnicity continues to play a major role in daily lives, cricket has strengthened the sense of a unified national identity. Cricket in Afghanistan has become one of the main sources of joy, hope, and unity among people. Perhaps it will help foster greater respect and equality among the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan over time.
In addition to bringing different ethnic groups in Afghanistan together, cricket also brings people together regardless of gender. Last year, 24 Afghan students including myself travelled from Chittagong to Dhaka for the Afghanistan-Bangladesh match during the Asia Cup. That so many Afghan women had come all the way from Chittagong to Dhaka to support their team received quite a lot of attention from the regional and Bangladeshi media, possibly because we defied stereotypes about Afghan women.
We had come from a presumably conservative country, so our appearance in a stadium as avid cricket fans seemed unusual to many. Our presence implied standing up against the odds, but also reflected the divergence between stereotypes and reality.
As young Afghan women, we are determined to change perceptions of Afghanistan and challenge stereotypes through our work on major social, economic, and political issues in our country. We thereby aim to create a platform for positive change where people choose solidarity and empathy over divisiveness.
We want our voices to be heard, not only when we cheer at cricket matches, but also when we engage in debates and campaigns for social change to build a better world.
- See more at: http://www.dhakatribune.com/op-ed/20....8g0KSxdY.dpuf
*Mursal is studying in Bangladesh in the Asian University for Women.
Afghan students supporting their cricket team in Bangladesh.
Two Afghan female students who studied in Bangladesh at the Afghan Ministry of Education.
Mursal Juya
Be it the Asia Cup or the World Cup, the fascination, excitement, and anxiety that cricket brings forth are all palpable at the Asian University for Women (AUW), where students from 15 Asian countries get together to watch matches and cheer their favourite teams. In such a diverse community, it is difficult, however, to watch cricket without thinking critically about nationalism, national identity, and representations of women.
On February 18, as the Bangladesh and Afghanistan teams took their positions on the field, AUW students turned the campus café into a mini-stadium, huddled around the TV, and got ready to follow every move in the game. As an Afghan student at AUW, I was particularly excited about the match.
Watching the match with Bangladeshi friends at AUW was an unforgettable experience. We put up flags, laughed, and cheered for our teams. At the end of the match, Afghan students congratulated their Bangladeshi friends for their team’s victory, and Bangladeshi students tried to make their Afghan peers feel better by emphasising how well the Afghan team performed.
Studying in a diverse environment teaches us to respect the institutions and values that students from other countries hold dear. In learning to move beyond divisions, tolerance, and genuine respect, we constantly put ourselves in each others’ shoes and try to consider multiple perspectives. We strive to see beyond our own national identities, and we try to foster respect and solidarity between students from different countries.
Just as cricket helps build bridges between countries, it can also play a powerful role in unifying people within a country and helping them overcome grievances and antagonism between each other. While Afghanistan has only recently begun playing cricket at the international level, it has already won millions of hearts.
Cricket unites the people of Afghanistan and brings all the ethnic groups to a common ground. In Afghanistan’s ethnically diverse population where ethnicity continues to play a major role in daily lives, cricket has strengthened the sense of a unified national identity. Cricket in Afghanistan has become one of the main sources of joy, hope, and unity among people. Perhaps it will help foster greater respect and equality among the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan over time.
In addition to bringing different ethnic groups in Afghanistan together, cricket also brings people together regardless of gender. Last year, 24 Afghan students including myself travelled from Chittagong to Dhaka for the Afghanistan-Bangladesh match during the Asia Cup. That so many Afghan women had come all the way from Chittagong to Dhaka to support their team received quite a lot of attention from the regional and Bangladeshi media, possibly because we defied stereotypes about Afghan women.
We had come from a presumably conservative country, so our appearance in a stadium as avid cricket fans seemed unusual to many. Our presence implied standing up against the odds, but also reflected the divergence between stereotypes and reality.
As young Afghan women, we are determined to change perceptions of Afghanistan and challenge stereotypes through our work on major social, economic, and political issues in our country. We thereby aim to create a platform for positive change where people choose solidarity and empathy over divisiveness.
We want our voices to be heard, not only when we cheer at cricket matches, but also when we engage in debates and campaigns for social change to build a better world.
- See more at: http://www.dhakatribune.com/op-ed/20....8g0KSxdY.dpuf
*Mursal is studying in Bangladesh in the Asian University for Women.
Afghan students supporting their cricket team in Bangladesh.
Two Afghan female students who studied in Bangladesh at the Afghan Ministry of Education.