Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2018
Publication Title
Quebec Studies
Abstract
This article explores the meaning of baseball in areas of New England where immigrants of French-Canadian descent settled permanently. It examines representations of the sport in the French-language press of Massachusetts, notably to demonstrate how the game both affirmed the assimilation of a working-class, Catholic, and culturally French-Canadian group, as well as helped to articulate its distinct Franco-American identity. One does not typically think of baseball being played in French or as an expression of French sporting prowess in the United States or in Canada. While people of French heritage in North America have struggled with the historical trauma of loss and defeat since the British Conquest, athletic confrontation in the contemporary arena, symbolizing the rivalry that played out over several centuries in the Atlantic world, has provided regular opportunities to measure success.
Cet article explore la signification du baseball dans les régions de la Nouvelle Angleterre où se sont installés de manière permanente des immigrés de souche canadienne-française. Il examine les représentations du sport dans la presse francophone du Massachusetts, afin de démontrer comment le jeu affirmait l’assimilation de ce groupe canadien-français de classe ouvrière et de religion catholique en même temps qu’il l’aidait à articuler une identité francoaméricaine distincte. On ne pense pas généralement au baseball comme un jeu de langue française ni comme une expression de la prouesse sportive francophone tant aux États-Unis qu’au Canada. Ceux d’ascendance française en Amérique du Nord ont fait face au traumatisme historique de la perte et de la défaite depuis la Conquête britannique, mais la confrontation dans l’arène sportif dans l’ère contemporaine – symbole d’une rivalité centenaire dans le monde atlantique – leur a régulièrement offert la possibilité d’un succès.
Volume
66
DOI
doi.org/10.3828/qs.2018.16
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights
Licensed to Smith College and distributed CC-BY under the Smith College Faculty Open Access Policy.
Recommended Citation
Gosnell, Jonathan, "Le base ball, Assimilation, and Ethnic Identity: The National Pastime in Franco-America" (2018). French Studies: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/frn_facpubs/9
Comments
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.