I am a sport historian who focuses on the intersection of immigration, race and ethnicity, and national identity as they pertain to sport. My main focus is Association football (soccer), though I dabble in all football codes including Rugby and American football. Supervisors: Carlos Aguirre (University of Oregon/MA advisor) and Jaime Schultz (Penn State University/PhD advisor)
In 1934, four Argentine-born soccer players participated for the Italian team that won the FIFA W... more In 1934, four Argentine-born soccer players participated for the Italian team that won the FIFA World Cup on home soil. As children born to parents who participated in a wave of Italian immigrants that helped reshape Argentine society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these four players were part of a larger trend where over one hundred Argentine soccer players of Italian descent were signed by Italian clubs in the late 1920s and through the 1930s.
This thesis examines the liminal space between Italian and Argentine identity within the broader context of diaspora formation in Argentina through a look at these four exemplars of the transatlantic talent shift. Utilizing sources that include Italian and Argentinian newspapers and magazines, national federation documents, and census and parish records, the thesis reveals the fluidity and temporality of national identity among Italo-Argentine immigrant offspring during the early twentieth century.
Bartolomé Mitre’s election as president in 1862 commenced a series of political, economic, and de... more Bartolomé Mitre’s election as president in 1862 commenced a series of political, economic, and demographic developments that radically altered Argentine culture. Immigration fueled exponential population growth and rapid urbanization, and British capital drove a pattern of railroad construction that concretized Buenos Aires’ primacy as the political and financial capital of Argentina. The British also imported soccer, a sport that gradually gained purchase among the various immigrant groups as well as the extant population. Politics created the conditions by which the sport proliferated through the capital and the nation; in turn, soccer became an anchor in the political process after the 1912 enactment of universal, compulsory suffrage for all adult male citizens. Soccer clubs, already expanding in number throughout the country, became focal points for the construction of power bases for aspiring politicians. The dynamic processes that contributed to the development of modern Argentinian national identity molded and were molded by soccer’s evolution from a wholly British enterprise into a multiethnic national pastime. Through an evaluation of newspapers from the period as well as official publications from the various soccer federations of the sport’s early years, this paper builds upon previous studies that have evaluated facets of this subject to illuminate the inextricable push-pull factors linking soccer, immigration, and politics as essential elements in the formation of patriotic sociocultural identity through the second presidency of Hipólito Yrigoyen and the end of the amateur era in 1931.
This paper examines examples of athlete protest in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to sh... more This paper examines examples of athlete protest in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to show why these actions are so important to increase discussion on sensitive issues and to force societies to confront these problems. Athlete activism is powerful because of the natural exposure that sport as big business consistently offers. Sport also affords a natural opportunity for high-profile athletes, whose identities cross intersectional lines of race, ethnicity, class, and gender, to work together and to magnify their message in global stadiums and arenas to diverse audiences. By protesting economic, legal, and cultural disparities that exist throughout society, athlete activism shows the value of collective action by prominent figures such as international women’s soccer players in the fight for equal treatment, Venus Williams ahead of Wimbledon, and Colin Kaepernick, the Minnesota Lynx, Tommie Smith and John Carlos among others who protest police brutality and racism towards blacks.
At the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay, a group of American soccer players advanced to the semi-fi... more At the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay, a group of American soccer players advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament, securing what remains the best-ever finish by a team representing the United States. As time has passed, this team has largely been dismissed as a group of English and Scottish players brought in to bolster the Americans’ chances at the World Cup. This treatment belies the complex interrelation between immigration, labour and leisure time in the early twentieth century that were at the heart of American success in Uruguay. This article keys in on the four regions from which the roster for the 1930 US World Cup team was selected in order to show that their third-place finish was the culmination of a decade-long process of soccer popularization, proliferation, and professionalization through the immigrant hotbeds of the Atlantic seaboard and Midwest.
Sports in African History, Politics, and Identity Formation, 2019
This paper investigates the creation of the semiotic linkages that unified the white communities ... more This paper investigates the creation of the semiotic linkages that unified the white communities of South Africa over the five-year period after the termination of hostilities in the Anglo-Boer War. The success of the Springboks on their first international tour, the 1906-07 visit to Britain and France, “made Dutch and English almost one... whilst their poor petty statesmen and politicians – had been trying to do the same thing in the past in vain.” Rugby success improved the international prestige of South Africa in Britain and throughout Europe, offered a representation of white South Africans through which both British and Dutch descendants could vicariously celebrate their growing prowess, and created a nucleus of fanaticism that would mark the state of rugby in the country throughout the subsequent century. In that context, rugby served a catalytic role as a strong national symbol through which both British and Afrikaner alike could express mutual pride.
In 1934, four Argentine-born soccer players participated for the Italian team that won the FIFA W... more In 1934, four Argentine-born soccer players participated for the Italian team that won the FIFA World Cup on home soil. As children born to parents who participated in a wave of Italian immigrants that helped reshape Argentine society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these four players were part of a larger trend where over one hundred Argentine soccer players of Italian descent were signed by Italian clubs in the late 1920s and through the 1930s.
This thesis examines the liminal space between Italian and Argentine identity within the broader context of diaspora formation in Argentina through a look at these four exemplars of the transatlantic talent shift. Utilizing sources that include Italian and Argentinian newspapers and magazines, national federation documents, and census and parish records, the thesis reveals the fluidity and temporality of national identity among Italo-Argentine immigrant offspring during the early twentieth century.
Bartolomé Mitre’s election as president in 1862 commenced a series of political, economic, and de... more Bartolomé Mitre’s election as president in 1862 commenced a series of political, economic, and demographic developments that radically altered Argentine culture. Immigration fueled exponential population growth and rapid urbanization, and British capital drove a pattern of railroad construction that concretized Buenos Aires’ primacy as the political and financial capital of Argentina. The British also imported soccer, a sport that gradually gained purchase among the various immigrant groups as well as the extant population. Politics created the conditions by which the sport proliferated through the capital and the nation; in turn, soccer became an anchor in the political process after the 1912 enactment of universal, compulsory suffrage for all adult male citizens. Soccer clubs, already expanding in number throughout the country, became focal points for the construction of power bases for aspiring politicians. The dynamic processes that contributed to the development of modern Argentinian national identity molded and were molded by soccer’s evolution from a wholly British enterprise into a multiethnic national pastime. Through an evaluation of newspapers from the period as well as official publications from the various soccer federations of the sport’s early years, this paper builds upon previous studies that have evaluated facets of this subject to illuminate the inextricable push-pull factors linking soccer, immigration, and politics as essential elements in the formation of patriotic sociocultural identity through the second presidency of Hipólito Yrigoyen and the end of the amateur era in 1931.
This paper examines examples of athlete protest in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to sh... more This paper examines examples of athlete protest in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to show why these actions are so important to increase discussion on sensitive issues and to force societies to confront these problems. Athlete activism is powerful because of the natural exposure that sport as big business consistently offers. Sport also affords a natural opportunity for high-profile athletes, whose identities cross intersectional lines of race, ethnicity, class, and gender, to work together and to magnify their message in global stadiums and arenas to diverse audiences. By protesting economic, legal, and cultural disparities that exist throughout society, athlete activism shows the value of collective action by prominent figures such as international women’s soccer players in the fight for equal treatment, Venus Williams ahead of Wimbledon, and Colin Kaepernick, the Minnesota Lynx, Tommie Smith and John Carlos among others who protest police brutality and racism towards blacks.
At the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay, a group of American soccer players advanced to the semi-fi... more At the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay, a group of American soccer players advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament, securing what remains the best-ever finish by a team representing the United States. As time has passed, this team has largely been dismissed as a group of English and Scottish players brought in to bolster the Americans’ chances at the World Cup. This treatment belies the complex interrelation between immigration, labour and leisure time in the early twentieth century that were at the heart of American success in Uruguay. This article keys in on the four regions from which the roster for the 1930 US World Cup team was selected in order to show that their third-place finish was the culmination of a decade-long process of soccer popularization, proliferation, and professionalization through the immigrant hotbeds of the Atlantic seaboard and Midwest.
Sports in African History, Politics, and Identity Formation, 2019
This paper investigates the creation of the semiotic linkages that unified the white communities ... more This paper investigates the creation of the semiotic linkages that unified the white communities of South Africa over the five-year period after the termination of hostilities in the Anglo-Boer War. The success of the Springboks on their first international tour, the 1906-07 visit to Britain and France, “made Dutch and English almost one... whilst their poor petty statesmen and politicians – had been trying to do the same thing in the past in vain.” Rugby success improved the international prestige of South Africa in Britain and throughout Europe, offered a representation of white South Africans through which both British and Dutch descendants could vicariously celebrate their growing prowess, and created a nucleus of fanaticism that would mark the state of rugby in the country throughout the subsequent century. In that context, rugby served a catalytic role as a strong national symbol through which both British and Afrikaner alike could express mutual pride.
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Papers by Zach Bigalke
This thesis examines the liminal space between Italian and Argentine identity within the broader context of diaspora formation in Argentina through a look at these four exemplars of the transatlantic talent shift. Utilizing sources that include Italian and Argentinian newspapers and magazines, national federation documents, and census and parish records, the thesis reveals the fluidity and temporality of national identity among Italo-Argentine immigrant offspring during the early twentieth century.
Scholarly Articles by Zach Bigalke
Chapters by Zach Bigalke
This thesis examines the liminal space between Italian and Argentine identity within the broader context of diaspora formation in Argentina through a look at these four exemplars of the transatlantic talent shift. Utilizing sources that include Italian and Argentinian newspapers and magazines, national federation documents, and census and parish records, the thesis reveals the fluidity and temporality of national identity among Italo-Argentine immigrant offspring during the early twentieth century.