Sport in the Middle East has become a major issue in global affairs. The contributors to this timely volume discuss the intersection of political and cultural processes related to sport in the region. Eleven chapters trace the historical institutionalization of sport and the role it has played in negotiating "Western" culture. Sport is found to be a contested terrain where struggles are being fought over the inclusion of women, over competing definitions of national identity, over preserving social memory, and over press freedom. Also discussed are the implications of mega-sporting events for host countries, and how both elite sport policies and sports industries in the region are being shaped.Sport, Politics and Society in the Middle East draws on academic disciplines from the humanities and social sciences to offer in-depth, theoretically grounded, and richly empirical case studies. It employs diverse research methodologies, from ethnography and in-depth interviews to archival research, to make a lasting contribution to this critical subject.

IntroductionDanyel Reiche and Tamir Sorek1.Mapping the 'Sports Nahda': Toward a History of Sports in the Modern Middle EastMurat Yildiz2. Football's Role in How Societies Remember: The Symbolic Wars of Jordanian-Palestinian FootballDag Tuastad3. Hapoel Tel Aviv Fans and the Crisis of Israeli Liberal SecularismTamir Sorek4. Qatari Female Footballers: Negotiating Gendered ExpectationsCharlotte Lysa5. Sportswomen in the Middle East and North Africa's Use of Social MediaNida Ahmad6. The World Cup and its Challenge to Free Expression Norms in QatarCraig L. LaMay7. Turkish Sports: Lost in Politics?Cem Tinaz8. Developing a National Elite Sport Policy in an Arab Country: The Case of LebanonNadim Nassif9. Legacies of Mega-Sporting Events in Developing Countries: A Case Study of LebanonDanyel Reiche10. The Business of Sports in the Gulf Cooperation Council Member StatesSimon Chadwick