Itamar Dubinsky
Biographic Data
| ID | 123611 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Itamar Dubinsky |
| GIVEN NAMES | Itamar |
| FAMILY NAME | Dubinsky |
| SIGNATURE | DUBINSKY I |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ben-Gurion University of the Negev |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4322-2626 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Africapitalism and local development in Ghanaian football academies
This article examines locally owned football academies in Ghana as engines of socio-economic development, linking their activities to the global visibility of the Men’s World Cup. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, it analyzes Kumasi Sports Academy and Unistar Academy through the lens of Africapitalism. The findings show that these academies combine profit-making with social contributions, including education, employment, and community development,…
We are the backbone of the team’
A recurring theme in the growing academic literature is that African fandom of local teams is in decline whereas support of European teams is growing. This article challenges such pessimistic views by shifting the focus to the supporters of Unistar Soccer Academy in Ghana. It examines the reciprocal relationship between the academy and its supporters’ club with the primary goal of analysing how each side contributes to the other in promoting soci…
From Online to Offline Surfing
African-owned sport-for-development initiatives are springing up across Africa, evidence of the aspirations for development they raise among local communities. Surfing clubs are also mushrooming in new spots, yet research has mostly focused on South Africa. A novel perspective from Ghana focuses on the Justice’s Brothers Surf School and the Obibini Girls Surf Club. Through ethnography at the Obibini Girls Surf Club and online content analysis, an…
African agency and soft disempowerment in the Chinese and American sports diplomacy
International Relations scholars are paying more attention to the various manifestations and outcomes of sports diplomacy. The term relates to the power of the private, public and third sectors to harness sportspeople, clubs, associations and events to promote a state’s policy within a global setting. While Western, Asian and Middle Eastern contexts have attracted most scholarly discussions in this regard, less attention has been devoted to Afric…
(Don't) Visit Rwanda
Since the late 2010s, Rwanda has advertised its Visit Rwanda logo on the jerseys of prominent European football teams and has built new sports stadiums to host international sports competitions. Such strategies reflect the practice of sportswashing, which refers to the utilization of sports by political actors to gain global legitimacy while diverting attention from unjust processes occurring in their home countries. Dubinsky analyzes the effecti…
Forever young
As the scholarship on youth grows, so does the focus on the predicaments youth face increases. In particular, the phenomenon of waithood, which refers to a prolonged period of transition from youth to adulthood, has been attracting much attention from researchers. This article builds upon this growing literature by examining the roles that soccer academies in Ghana and shelters for unaccompanied young migrants in South Africa play in creating, su…
Backward, homogenized, and commodified
Scholars have argued that the increased coverage of African football in western media attests to broader changes within western media, covering more diverse affairs concerning Africa. Subsequently, this change is said to have led to more positive portrayals of African affairs in western media that challenge Afro-pessimistic narratives. This article argues that these findings are limited to English and French-speaking newspapers, as other western …
Playing with the Boycott
Alongside the successes of the international sports boycott against apartheid South Africa (1948-1994), numerous countries circumvented it, including Israel. An examination of the reasons that led Israeli sports institutions and athletes to evade the sports sanctions against the apartheid regime reveals that Israelis did not join the boycott because of professional, Zionist, and national interests. Particularly, South African Jews played a crucia…
African footballers in Europe
Green Eagle Nation
Digital Diaspora
This article examines the cyberactivism of Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel. It adopts the concept of digital diasporas to probe the role that the Internet plays for members of the community. Based on interviews with Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel, content analysis of Eritrean websites and other online platforms, as well as government and third-sector reports, the article discusses the potential and limitations of the Internet in promoting th…
Green Eagle Nation
The sports pages of the postcolonial press provide a vantage point for viewing the tensions surrounding nation-building in Nigeria. Following independence, coverage of the Green Eagles national football team reflected aspirations for a united Nigeria, but it was also an outlet for the deep political tensions plaguing Nigeria at this time. From 1960 to 1961, contentious games against Ghanaian rivals, disputes around the choice of a national coach,…
Goal dreams
Focusing on three Ghanaian football academies, this article examines the role that dreams and aspirations play in shaping development schemes and in determining their impact. Football ignites the hopes and imaginations of entrepreneurs, aspiring players, their parents and supporters, and these aspirations serve as a blueprint for action both among founders and participants of academies. Imagined futures give birth to development initiatives, attr…
Global and local methodological and ethical questions in researching football academies in Ghana
Do Western researchers in non-Western countries face special situations that require adopting a unique research methodology and ethics when conducting research with children? Are methodological and ethical rules, common in the West, also valid for research with children in non-Western countries? The present article addresses methodological and ethical questions that arise when conducting research with children in football academies in Ghana. The …
The Mandela Soccer Academy
Since their arrival in the late nineteenth century, Lebanese immigrants have come to play an important role in Ghanaian society, especially in commerce. In community development, however, their influence is considered to be less salient, and therefore it is less researched. The present paper tries to fill this lacuna by focusing on the Mandela Soccer Academy, which was established in 2012 in Ghana by Mohammed Issa, a Lebanese-Ghanaian entrepreneu…
Forever young
As the scholarship on youth grows, so does the focus on the predicaments youth face increases. In particular, the phenomenon of waithood, which refers to a prolonged period of transition from youth to adulthood, has been attracting much attention from researchers. This article builds upon this growing literature by examining the roles that soccer academies in Ghana and shelters for unaccompanied young migrants in South Africa play in creating, su…
African footballers in Europe
Global and local methodological and ethical questions in researching football academies in Ghana
Do Western researchers in non-Western countries face special situations that require adopting a unique research methodology and ethics when conducting research with children? Are methodological and ethical rules, common in the West, also valid for research with children in non-Western countries? The present article addresses methodological and ethical questions that arise when conducting research with children in football academies in Ghana. The …
African agency and soft disempowerment in the Chinese and American sports diplomacy
International Relations scholars are paying more attention to the various manifestations and outcomes of sports diplomacy. The term relates to the power of the private, public and third sectors to harness sportspeople, clubs, associations and events to promote a state’s policy within a global setting. While Western, Asian and Middle Eastern contexts have attracted most scholarly discussions in this regard, less attention has been devoted to Afric…
Digital Diaspora
This article examines the cyberactivism of Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel. It adopts the concept of digital diasporas to probe the role that the Internet plays for members of the community. Based on interviews with Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel, content analysis of Eritrean websites and other online platforms, as well as government and third-sector reports, the article discusses the potential and limitations of the Internet in promoting th…
Green Eagle Nation
The sports pages of the postcolonial press provide a vantage point for viewing the tensions surrounding nation-building in Nigeria. Following independence, coverage of the Green Eagles national football team reflected aspirations for a united Nigeria, but it was also an outlet for the deep political tensions plaguing Nigeria at this time. From 1960 to 1961, contentious games against Ghanaian rivals, disputes around the choice of a national coach,…
Goal dreams
Focusing on three Ghanaian football academies, this article examines the role that dreams and aspirations play in shaping development schemes and in determining their impact. Football ignites the hopes and imaginations of entrepreneurs, aspiring players, their parents and supporters, and these aspirations serve as a blueprint for action both among founders and participants of academies. Imagined futures give birth to development initiatives, attr…
The Mandela Soccer Academy
Since their arrival in the late nineteenth century, Lebanese immigrants have come to play an important role in Ghanaian society, especially in commerce. In community development, however, their influence is considered to be less salient, and therefore it is less researched. The present paper tries to fill this lacuna by focusing on the Mandela Soccer Academy, which was established in 2012 in Ghana by Mohammed Issa, a Lebanese-Ghanaian entrepreneu…
Global and local methodological and ethical questions in researching football academies in Ghana
Do Western researchers in non-Western countries face special situations that require adopting a unique research methodology and ethics when conducting research with children? Are methodological and ethical rules, common in the West, also valid for research with children in non-Western countries? The present article addresses methodological and ethical questions that arise when conducting research with children in football academies in Ghana. The …
The Mandela Soccer Academy
Since their arrival in the late nineteenth century, Lebanese immigrants have come to play an important role in Ghanaian society, especially in commerce. In community development, however, their influence is considered to be less salient, and therefore it is less researched. The present paper tries to fill this lacuna by focusing on the Mandela Soccer Academy, which was established in 2012 in Ghana by Mohammed Issa, a Lebanese-Ghanaian entrepreneu…
Goal dreams
Focusing on three Ghanaian football academies, this article examines the role that dreams and aspirations play in shaping development schemes and in determining their impact. Football ignites the hopes and imaginations of entrepreneurs, aspiring players, their parents and supporters, and these aspirations serve as a blueprint for action both among founders and participants of academies. Imagined futures give birth to development initiatives, attr…
Digital Diaspora
This article examines the cyberactivism of Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel. It adopts the concept of digital diasporas to probe the role that the Internet plays for members of the community. Based on interviews with Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel, content analysis of Eritrean websites and other online platforms, as well as government and third-sector reports, the article discusses the potential and limitations of the Internet in promoting th…
Green Eagle Nation
The sports pages of the postcolonial press provide a vantage point for viewing the tensions surrounding nation-building in Nigeria. Following independence, coverage of the Green Eagles national football team reflected aspirations for a united Nigeria, but it was also an outlet for the deep political tensions plaguing Nigeria at this time. From 1960 to 1961, contentious games against Ghanaian rivals, disputes around the choice of a national coach,…
African footballers in Europe
Green Eagle Nation
Backward, homogenized, and commodified
Scholars have argued that the increased coverage of African football in western media attests to broader changes within western media, covering more diverse affairs concerning Africa. Subsequently, this change is said to have led to more positive portrayals of African affairs in western media that challenge Afro-pessimistic narratives. This article argues that these findings are limited to English and French-speaking newspapers, as other western …
Playing with the Boycott
Alongside the successes of the international sports boycott against apartheid South Africa (1948-1994), numerous countries circumvented it, including Israel. An examination of the reasons that led Israeli sports institutions and athletes to evade the sports sanctions against the apartheid regime reveals that Israelis did not join the boycott because of professional, Zionist, and national interests. Particularly, South African Jews played a crucia…
Forever young
As the scholarship on youth grows, so does the focus on the predicaments youth face increases. In particular, the phenomenon of waithood, which refers to a prolonged period of transition from youth to adulthood, has been attracting much attention from researchers. This article builds upon this growing literature by examining the roles that soccer academies in Ghana and shelters for unaccompanied young migrants in South Africa play in creating, su…
African agency and soft disempowerment in the Chinese and American sports diplomacy
International Relations scholars are paying more attention to the various manifestations and outcomes of sports diplomacy. The term relates to the power of the private, public and third sectors to harness sportspeople, clubs, associations and events to promote a state’s policy within a global setting. While Western, Asian and Middle Eastern contexts have attracted most scholarly discussions in this regard, less attention has been devoted to Afric…
(Don't) Visit Rwanda
Since the late 2010s, Rwanda has advertised its Visit Rwanda logo on the jerseys of prominent European football teams and has built new sports stadiums to host international sports competitions. Such strategies reflect the practice of sportswashing, which refers to the utilization of sports by political actors to gain global legitimacy while diverting attention from unjust processes occurring in their home countries. Dubinsky analyzes the effecti…
Africapitalism and local development in Ghanaian football academies
This article examines locally owned football academies in Ghana as engines of socio-economic development, linking their activities to the global visibility of the Men’s World Cup. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, it analyzes Kumasi Sports Academy and Unistar Academy through the lens of Africapitalism. The findings show that these academies combine profit-making with social contributions, including education, employment, and community development,…
We are the backbone of the team’
A recurring theme in the growing academic literature is that African fandom of local teams is in decline whereas support of European teams is growing. This article challenges such pessimistic views by shifting the focus to the supporters of Unistar Soccer Academy in Ghana. It examines the reciprocal relationship between the academy and its supporters’ club with the primary goal of analysing how each side contributes to the other in promoting soci…
From Online to Offline Surfing
African-owned sport-for-development initiatives are springing up across Africa, evidence of the aspirations for development they raise among local communities. Surfing clubs are also mushrooming in new spots, yet research has mostly focused on South Africa. A novel perspective from Ghana focuses on the Justice’s Brothers Surf School and the Obibini Girls Surf Club. Through ethnography at the Obibini Girls Surf Club and online content analysis, an…
Political science (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Sports, Gender, and Society (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts (7 works) · Football (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Gender Studies (5 works) · Media studies (5 works)