This thesis examines the extent of the diffusion of baseball across the world. Tracing the diffusion of baseball, and the diverse receptions the game has encountered on foreign soils, holds out the prospect of offering many insights into the global spread of sport and our understanding of the processes of globalization in general. By examining different responses to baseball, and developing our empirical knowledge on the extent of its diffusion, we will be in a position to draw more reliable and valid conclusions than have, thus far, been offered in relation to the global diffusion of baseball specifically, and globalization processes more generally. The thesis endeavours to determine the extent to which baseball can be regarded as a global sport. This objective will involve charting the development of baseball in America, its diffusion to other countries and the different receptions the game has received on foreign soil, via a series of national case studies Given the magnitude of global diffusion processes it is hardly surprising that its study has attracted the attention of academics from a number of disciplines and orientations. This particular thesis tests the figurational approach, assessing the adequacy of this approach in being able to make sense of the global baseball figuration. It does this by first providing an outline for the incipient modernization, and subsequent sportization, of baseball in America. Then a cross-sectional analysis of the diffusion and development of baseball in various countries throughout the world is presented, for the most part via a critical analysis of secondary source material. In order to supplement the secondary source material, questionnaires were sent to all national governing bodies for baseball across the world (109 in total). The principal focus of the empirical aspects of this thesis is on the development of baseball in England. Extensive documentary analysis of archival newspaper sources was carried out in the National Newspaper Library, Colindale, London. Alongside this, several oral history interviews were conducted with baseball players who had played in this country before the 1950s. Furthermore, interviews were conducted with administrators involved in the running and promotion of the game in this country. Analysing the diffusion of baseball around the world, and the different responses to attempts to develop the game, and subsequently analysing in much greater depth the developments and responses to baseball in England, enables us to engage in more informed comparative analysis. On the basis of this thesis it is concluded that the argument that baseball is a 'global sport', is a highly exaggerated view of baseball's global profile. The fact of the matter is baseball has only enjoyed sustained periods of success in a handful of countries in Asia and Latin America. Furthermore, it is argued that the theoretical premises of figurational sociology are both sensitising and illuminating; and provide a more object-adequate analysis of the global baseball figuration than other theoretical approaches allow. In this respect, the central figurational concept of dynamic and differential power relationships is key to developing our understanding of the global baseball figuration, and globalization more generally. The concept of lengthening chains of interdependency is a far more illuminating, and therefore more useful, way of conceptualising the process by which baseball has undergone diffusion, than concepts such as Americanization, American cultural hegemony, imperialism, or, indeed, globalization.

Fait interculturel et transmédiatique mondialisé, le basket-ball reste toutefois lié à une identité pré-supposée afro-américaine, malgré son américanité de naissance et d’essence. Qu’est-ce qui réside derrière cette acculturation à rebours par une minorité d’un sport de la majorité ? En quoi l’afro-américanité du basket-ball est-elle un construit politique, culturel et social ? Quel rôle les médias jouent-ils dans la représentation de ce lien établi entre culture afro-américaine et basket-ball ? Et dans quelle mesure ce lien se retrouve-t-il dans les autres éléments de la culture populaire afro-américaine ?Cette démarche fait appel à différentes disciplines, de l’histoire culturelle aux études médiatiques, en passant par la sémiologie. Elle s’appuie sur un corpus complexe comportant principalement une étude de terrain, des analyses des commentaires de matchs, des documentaires sportifs et des productions audiovisuelles (films, séries TV, musique). Elle vise à exposer le dispositif de storytelling de la NBA, ainsi que la mise en images, en paroles et en musique de l’afro-américanité du basket-ball.La recherche met en évidences diverses phases dans l’évolution du sport, du Politique au Corporate en passant par le Symbolique, avec une récente phase Progressiste de retour du politique. L’analyse des commentaires des Finales NBA révèle la représentation de l’athlète noir à travers le prisme des médias. Mêlée au storytelling, la question raciale donne lieu à une mythologie sportive américaine où se joue le rapport à l’autre par le biais de la performance sportive et raciale des athlètes. L’étude des productions de la culture populaire fait émerger l’importance visuelle du corps de l’athlète noir et la figure du Basketteur noir dans l’imaginaire collectif américain. Le processus d’acculturation et d’appropriation culturelle se révèle ainsi partiellement à l’initiative de la communauté afro-américaine mais les médias et la culture populaire qu’ils véhiculent jouent un rôle essentiel dans le cadrage de la figure du Basketteur noir dans le grand récit du vivre-ensemble américain. / As a global cultural phenomenon, basketball is portrayed as a “black” sport, in spite of its origins in Mainstream America. What lies behind this acculturation in reverse, whereby a minority appropriates a sport of the majority? In what sense is the Afro-Americanness of basketball a political, cultural and social construct? What role do the media play in the representation of this link established between Afro-American culture and basketball? And to what extent does this link find itself reflected in the other elements of the Afro-American popular culture? The research methodology calls on various disciplines, from cultural history to media studies, including semiology. It relies on a complex corpus that includes ethnographic observation, the analyses of the comments of NBA matches, documentaries as well as audiovisual productions (movies, TV series, music). It aims at revealing the storytelling constructed by the NBA, as well as the representing in words and music of the Afro-Americanness of the basketball.The research highlights several phases in the evolution of the sport, from Political to Symbolic to Corporate with a recent Progressive phase of return to politics. The analysis of the comments of the Finales NBA reveals the representation of the black athlete through the media prism. Mixed with this storytelling, the issue of race is elaborated within an American sports mythology where the relation to the Other is mediated by the athletic and racial performance of the players. The study of popular culture underlines the visual importance of the black body and the figure of the Black Baller. The process of acculturation and cultural appropriation is thus partially related to the initiative of the Afro-American community but the media and the popular culture they convey play an essential role in the framing of the black Basketball player within the narrative of American togetherness.