Chia-Ying Liao
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Three Case Studies of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in U.S. Sport Media: Deleuzian Analyses of Media Events Surrounding Diana Taurasi, Becky Hammon and Maya Moore by Chia-Ying Liao A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation University of Alberta © Chia-Ying Liao, 2014 ii Abstract Previous feminist sport media studies have noted that media narratives surrounding the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) often portray its successes as proof of feminist achievements in women’s sport (Banet-Weiser, 1999; McDonald, 2000, 2002; McDonald & Cooky, 2013; Wearden & Creedon, 2002). Using critical feminist perspectives, this research has further argued that these celebratory narratives of gender equality masked reproduction of hegemonic ideologies of masculinity and whiteness. Using a poststructuralist Deleuzian perspective, in my dissertation I focus on construction of normative female sporting bodies through the mediated WNBA. My dissertation consists of three cases studies on contemporary WNBA- related media events that each draw on a different Deleuzian concept. The first case study focuses on Diana Taurasi’s alleged drug use in Turkey during 2010/11. I use Deleuze’s concept of assemblage to analyze what elements were drawn in to express Taurasi’s drug using body and what structures were articulated within the process. Through this analysis, I describe a shift in attention from the bio- chemical effects of banned substances to the information processing regarding a doping body, as well as a split between Taurasi’s private and public body. I further argue that these movements enabled and reified two structures, American standard and professionalism, through which the normalcy of Taurasi’s athleticism was measured and declared. The second case study focuses on Becky Hammon’s naturalization to Russia and representing the Russian Olympic team in 2008. I use Deleuze’s iii concept of cartography to map how two nations, the U.S. and Russia, were articulated through the ways in which Hammon was allowed to access and be affiliated with each spatial partition/nation in media. I depict a non-oppositional relation between the nations that legitimated Hammon’s migration to another country for her Olympic glory. This map shows that the supplementary space, Russia, could be correctly experienced only when it supports and nurtures the normative functions of the primary space, the US—such as Hammon’s “regular” job as a WNBA star. The third case study focuses on Maya Moore’s first year with the WNBA in 2011. Using Deleuze’s concept of becoming, I examine the reoccurring “savior” narrative that surrounded Moore’s entrance to the WNBA in the media. I first demonstrate how the media illustrated Moore’s ability to redefine the WNBA. I further discuss how her normativity was constructed through athleticism and profitability rather than gender and race in the commodified media scape of women’s professional sports. My Deleuzian analysis revealed a process of constructing normative professional athletes whose sporting bodies were primarily articulated through standards of the winning records and these athletes’ profitability. Therefore, a different type of ideal professional women basketball player from the feminized, sexualized, or racialized player traced by the previous feminist sport media research emerged. This media ideal continues, nevertheless, to be constructed within the commercialized context of the U.S. that emphasizes individual success and the superiority of the American professional sport. iv Dedication For P. P. Liao You are my light. “They say that every snowflake is different. If that were true, how could the world go on? How could we ever get up off our knees? How could we ever recover from the wonder of it? By forgetting. We cannot keep in mind too many things. There is only the present and nothing to remember.”—Jeannette Winterson, The Passion v Acknowledgement This dissertation is partially funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). I would like to thank my Supervisory Committee: Dr. Pirkko Markula, Dr. Marvin Washington, Dr. Dan Mason, and Dr. Lisa McDermott, who was on the committee till early 2014. I am extremely grateful for the time and effort you gave this project, and for all the invaluable feedback that pushed me and the project further. During this long journey, I have met amazing people. As someone challenges stillness, I am greedy for stability. Thank you for many days and nights of talks on theories, research, and life. You keep me sane, and your friendship is one of the most precious gifts that I have ever received. Also, I am extremely fortunate to have unconditional support from my family. While far away, they are home. vi Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 2 Women’s Elite Basketball in the United States .................................................. 5 The WNBA ...................................................................................................... 6 The WNBA in U.S. media ............................................................................. 10 Deleuzian Rhizomatic Ontology ....................................................................... 15 The Structure of the Dissertation....................................................................... 22 References ......................................................................................................... 25 “The Only Thing I am Guilty of is Taking Too Many Jump Shots”: A Deleuzian Media Analysis of Diana Taurasi’s Drug Using Body as an Assemblage .................................................................................................................................. 30 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 31 Doping, Sport and Women ................................................................................ 32 An Assemblage in the Media ............................................................................ 38 Components ................................................................................................... 40 Structures ....................................................................................................... 41 A Case Study of Diana Taurasi’s Positive Drug Test ....................................... 44 Case Selection and Data Collection ............................................................... 45 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 47 A Story of Diana Taurasi in the Media .......................................................... 47 A Two-Axis Analysis of Diana Taurasi’s Drug Using Body ............................ 49 Components ................................................................................................... 49 Structures ....................................................................................................... 54 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 60 References ......................................................................................................... 65 Mapping Nations with Becky Hammon’s Olympic Pursuit: A Deleuzian Media Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 71 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 72 Nationalist Sport Media as a Feminist Issue ..................................................... 74 Deleuzian Cartography and Nations in Sport Media ........................................ 78 vii Navigation...................................................................................................... 78 Mapping Nations ........................................................................................... 83 A Deleuzian Case Study of Becky Hammon’s Olympic Dream....................... 84 Case Selection and Data Collection ............................................................... 85 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 87 Becky Hammon and Her Road to the Olympics ........................................... 88 The Mapping of Becky Hammon’s Olympic Quest .......................................... 90 The Scope: Mapping Orientations ................................................................. 90 Perceptions: Mapping Relations .................................................................... 95 These Mapped Nations ................................................................................ 102 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 105 References ....................................................................................................... 109 Becoming the WNBA: A Deleuzian Media Analysis of Maya Moore’s WNBA Rookie Year ..............................................................................................................................