Staff profile

I did my undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology at St Andrews (2010-2014), before coming to Durham to complete a PhD in Anthropology (2017-2022). I was an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow in Anthropology from 2023-24, and I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate on the Wellcome Trust Reimagining Governance project. 

Broadly speaking, I interrogate the idea that sport can be deployed for social good. Previously, I looked at the supposed link between cricket and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. In my ethnographic research, I covered a wide spectrum of the cricket community in Colombo, thinking about cricket within the wider context of Sport for Development and Peace. Currently, I am exploring the relationship between sport and social change more widely.

I direct the International Network of Sport Anthropology, an ECR-focused group that has over 200 members from around the world. We recently held our second international conference at KU Leuven, and we meet regularly on Zoom to discuss each other’s work and to run workshops on related topics. If you are interested in joining us, please email admin@sportanthro.org or visit our website.

• Cricket
• Reconciliation
• Social Change
• Sport for Development and Peace
• Sri Lanka
• Anthropology of Sport

Chapter in book

• 'Re-Reflective' Knowledge: The Iterative Cycle of Digitally Mediated Embodiment.
  
  Hildred, B. (n.d.). ’Re-Reflective’ Knowledge: The Iterative Cycle of Digitally Mediated Embodiment. In T. Carter, S. Heath, B. Hildred, & N. Neuhaus (Eds.), Doing Anthropology in a Sporting World: Knowledge, Representation, and Collaboration in the Digital Age. [Contracted by publisher]. Vernon Press.

Edited book

• Doing Anthropology in a Sporting World: Knowledge, Representation, and Collaboration in the Digital Age
  
  Carter, T., Heath, S., Hildred, B., & Neuhaus, H. (Eds.). (n.d.). Doing Anthropology in a Sporting World: Knowledge, Representation, and Collaboration in the Digital Age [Proposed to publisher]. Vernon Press.

Journal Article

• The Anthropology of Sport: New Modes of Theorising Comparison, Scale & Change
  
  Hildred, B., & Crawley, M. (2023). The Anthropology of Sport: New Modes of Theorising Comparison, Scale & Change. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute: Virtual Issues.