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KNES 287 Sport and American Society: Module 2 Topic D

“Race, Ethnicity, and Moving from CLASS to Sporting Difference” RACE/ETHNICITY, hopefully you will see the:

David L. Andrews Physical Cultural Studies Program INTERCONNECTION Department of Kinesiology

Theme 1:

“race [ethnicity] is the modality in The Compelling Myth of which class is lived” Race and Racial Difference

Source: Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J., & Roberts, B. (1979). Policing the crisis: Mugging, the state, and the law and order (p. 394). London: Macmillan.

The Seeming Naturalness of Substantive (Racial) Physiological Difference We routinely understand our experience, and ourselves in “racial” as opposed to cultural/ethnic terms.

As if we are the natural and essential embodiments of a particular racial group, rather than being the products of specific social-cultural-historic forces.

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RACE: Racial Ty pol ogy : Carolis Linnaeus (1734) European (Homo sapiens europaeus) A CULTURALLY CONSTRUCTED concept: White, serious, strong Asiatic The classification of people into particular (Homo sapiens asiaticus) Yellow, melancholy, greedy GROUPINGS through the CONNECTION of American specific SOCIAL, PHYSICAL, and (Homo sapiens americanus) Red, ill-tempered, subjugated PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS to African superficial markers of PHENOTYPICAL (Homo sapiens afer) Black, impassive, lazy DIFFERENCE. Non-Geographically Defined (Homo sapiens monstrosus)

Racial Typologies II: J.F. Blumenbach (1795) The establishment of notions of race and racial difference centres on the establishment of a RACIAL HIERARCHY in which a dominant Caucasian “racial” grouping sought to secure its position of authority (no great surprise to find out Mongolian which “racial” grouping Carolis Linnaeus belonged to). Malay American This is achieved by DEMONIZING other Ethiopian groupings as being INFERIOR, DEVIANT, and/or THREATENING to the majority population.

Racial Typologies III: Carleton Coon (1962) Homo Erectus As crude as these RACIAL TYPOLOGIES are, they have had a huge impact on popular perceptions and experiences of RACE and RACIAL DIFFERENCE.

Many people believe that human beings are sub-divided into distinct SUB-SPECIES or RACES.

Caucasoid Mongoloid Australoid Capoid Congoid However, this type of RACIAL TYPING has been conclusively REJECTED by recent advances made in GENETIC SCIENCE.

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See Video Clip 1

The PHENOTYPES (such as skin colour, hair texture, facial structure) through which the so-called races have been classified are actually superficial and relatively recent adaptations to local I will not ask a question on this video, it is here for environmental conditions. your education/interest should you have time! Source: http://www.pbs.org/race/

How about genes?

"Race has no genetic or scientific basis"

Doesn’t the Human Genome Project identify Craig Venter (2000) off Celera Genomics, a races as distinct GENOTYPES? company sequencing and analyzing human DNA.

From the Scientists Mouths… •The human genome contains 3164.7 million “People are too closely chemical nucleotide bases (A, C, T, and G). •The average gene consists of 3000 bases, but sizes vary greatly, with the largest known human related--and have mixed gene being dystrophin at 2.4 million bases. •The total number of genes is estimated at 30,000 to too much throughout 35,000—much lower than previous estimates of 80,000 to 140,000 that had been based on history--to differ in extrapolations from gene-rich areas as opposed to a composite of gene-rich and gene-poor areas. fundamental ways.” •Almost all (99.9%) nucleotide bases are exactly the same in all people. Olson, S. (2001, April). The genetic archaeology of race. The Atlantic http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/Human_Genome/home.html Monthly, http :// ww w. theatl an tic. co m/i ssu es/ 2001/ 04/ o lso n -p1.htm

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The Genetic Impossibility of Distinct Human “Races”

Africa AFRICA AFRICA 100,000 year s ago Europe 40,000 EUROPE EUROPE year s ago AFRICA

Asia 60,000 ASIA ASIA EUROPE year s ago ASIA North America NORTH NORTH 15-35,000 AMERICA AMERICA NORTH AMERICA year s ago

South SOUTH AMERICA America SOUTH SOUTH 15-35,000 AMERICA AMERICA year s ago AUSTRALASIA

Australasia 50-60,000 AUSTRALASIA AUSTRALASIA year s ago

Common Continental Relative Isolation 1500 onwar ds: Futur e: D ilution Genetic Or igins Spread Up to 1500: Incr eased of S uper ficial Superfical Inter action - Phenotypical Phenotypical Racial Differences? Adaptation Mythologising

Using Brasil 2014 and Rio 2016 To D enounce R ace and Race Differences

According to Yale University geneticist, Kenneth K. Kidd: “Race is an artificial construct that cannot be defined by any existing biological data”

Source: Shane, S. (1999, April 4). Genetics research increasingly finds "race" a null concept: Similarities in humans outweigh all differences, The Baltimore Sun. “WE R NO RACE” See Video Clip 2

Theme 2: “Denying the scientific existence of race does not deny the existence of race as a social construct, and does not deny the very real impacts of racism. Ethnicity and the Social Instead, it seeks an alternative way to combat Consequences of the racism by deconstructing the foundations that Race Myth support racist claims – the assumption of difference. ”

Source: Herbert, S. (2012, August 14). As it enters the sporting spotlight, Brazil calls on the world to rethink race. The Guar dian.

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Far from being natural and biologically derived, ETHNICITY It is perhaps better to refers to a series of LEARNED, refer to ETHNIC GROUPS EXPERIENCED, and PERFORMED or ETHNICITIES as behaviors. opposed to racial groups Whereas RACE is a BIOLOGICAL or races. construct, ETHNICITY is a CULTURAL construct.

Rather than linked by supposed The ethnic dimensions of sport culture leads to the establishment of very different bodily conventions/expectations for different biological traits, ethnic groups share ethnic groupings. common: Body Body - geography Shape Meanings Body - histories Size - practices ETHNIC BODY Body - experiences Images PERFORMANCE - values Body - identities Practices Body Body Identities Often derived from their experience of Style race based privilege or discrimination.

Ethnic Differences/Ethnic Identities are oftentimes The Sporting Performance of Gen eri c Euro pean Ameri can (W hi te) Eth ni ci ty EXPRESSED/PERFORMED through particular SPORT and PHYSICAL CULTURE PRACTICES.

Polka: Polish A merican Et hnicit y

Bocce Ball: It alian-American Et hnicit y Football: Cricket: American Samoan Elite/Suburban/“Country Club” Sports Sout h A sian A merican Et hnicit y Et hnicit y

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Thinking Through an Ethnic (as Opposed to Racial) Lens

“Race may not be biological, but it is still a powerful social idea with real consequences for people's lives.”

Source: http://www.pbs.org/race/

U.S. Population by Race – 2010 Real Median Household Income by Race and Hispanic Origin of Householder: 1967 to 2011

$35,192

American Indian and A laska N atives

www.census.gov/Kaiser Family Foundation Median for nation: $50,502 www.census.gov

Poverty Rates by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1959 to 2011 Median for nation: 14.3% Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/poverty-in-america-2012- 9?op=1#ixzz2O7xDZBU9

American Indian and A laska N atives

27%

2011 Poverty Rate: Family of 4 Living on Less than $22,350 www.census.gov

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SAT Scores by Race/Ethnicity Percentage of US Men 18-64 Incarcerated by Race

Percentage of Incarceration Population Rates per Number Incarcerated Incarcerated 100,000 White (non- 1.1% 678 693,800 Hispanic)

Black 7.9% 4,347 841,000

Hispanic 2.7% 1,775 442,00

http://nces.ed.gov/ www.hrw.org

Ethnicity as Collective and Creative Response Theme 3: Most ethnic groups in the United States have distinctive cultures and values created Native American partly as a collective response to: (Indigenous) 1. Common experiences of (often RACE- Ethnicity and Sport: BASED) privilege or discrimination

2. The social-class status/position resulting The Experience and from #1 Embodiment of Institutionalized Separation

Initially patronised as being quaint oddities, the Native American population was later viewed as an impediment to the advancement of “European” civilization.

It was the perceived “manifest destiny” of the European American people US expansion westward, which justified the oftentimes violent “Indian Removal” to lands west of the Mississippi.

While at the time viewed as a necessary act for the development of the nation, this is now considered to be an act of GENOCIDE. Late 19th and Early 20th Century Images of Native Americans

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Hence, as a justification for the subsequent genocide, the Racial Ty pol ogy : Carolis Linnaeus (1734) racial stereotype of the “bloodthirsty savage” soon became a compelling racial mythology. European (Homo sapiens europaeus) “He is ignoble—base and treacherous, and hateful in every way. Not even White, serious, strong imminent death can startle him into a spasm of virtue. The ruling trait of all savages is a greedy and consuming selfishness, and in our Noble Red Man it Asisatic is found in its amplest development. His heart is a cesspool of falsehood, of (Homo sapiens asiaticus) treachery, and of low and devilish instincts ... The scum of the earth!” Yellow, melancholy, greedy (Mark Twain, 1870, Th e Nob l e Red Man) American (Homo sapiens americanus) “The Indian [was thought] as less than human and worthy only of Red, ill-tempered, subjugated extermination. We did shoot down defenseless men, and women and African children at places like Camp Grant, Sand Creek, and Wounded Knee. We did (Homo sapiens afer) feed strychnine to red warriors. We did set whole villages of people out Black, impassive, lazy naked to freeze in the iron cold of Montana winters. And we did confine thousands in what amounted to concentration camps.” Non-Geographically Defined (Wellman- The Indian Wars of the West, 1934) (Homo sapiens monstrosus)

Indian Removal and Manifest Destiny

Robert Lindneux (1942) “The Trail of Tears”

Forced Land Sale

Native American Imagery in Sport

Native American Imagery in Popular Culture

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2010 The Native American population presently suffers from disproportionately high levels of: -poverty -unemployment -alcoholism -drug abuse -heart disease -diabetes -suicide

The Native American Condition While made up of numerous distinct tribal groupings, Native American ethnicity has developed as a response to shared histories, experiences, and cultural traditions/practices.

However, SPORT AND PHYSICAL CULTURE plays an important role in the reproduction of Native American’s sense of ETHNIC IDENTITY and BELONGING: of See Video Clip 3 MEMBERSHIP to the Native American ethnicity.

There are Native American ethnic physical North American Indigenous Games cultural traditions, which some groups are looking to revive and advance:

An event incorporating roughly 10,000 athletes, representing more than 1,000 tribes in a variety of Olympic sporting events (and lacrosse), and cultural performances. Source: Brooke, J. (1998, August 2). Indians proudly revive a tradition of running. New York Times. www.peabody.harvard.edu/mcnh_running/ Managed by the Native American Sports Council Inc., an non-profit www.indianyouth.org/ member of the United States Olympic Committee.

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Nonetheless, and especially for the youth segment, Euro- Reservation Basketball American forms of sport and physical activity play an important role within contemporary Native American culture.

These sports (especially basketball and football) have been INCORPORATED INTO–and become important EXPRESSIONS OF–Native American ETHNICITY. See Video Clip 4

“Rez Ball” The Native American Sport Paradox Euro-American organized sport has been “Rez Ball is a tradition, the passion for the game passed down from generation Originally introduced as a actively INCORPORATED into Native to generation. Even in the poorest of Native American communities, nearly FORCED tool of ASSIMILATION American culture, as an embodiment and every home has a hoop. T he co urt may be d irt, and th e basket mi g ht be a tire into mainstream American society. EXPRESSION of Native American ring or milk crate, but the aesthetics don't matter as long as there's light and a ETHNICITY. ball.”

Carlisle Indian Industrial School 1901 Haskell Indian Nations University 2004

Source: Bordow, S. (2010, July 10). Rez Ball a sanctuary for Native American kids. The Arizona Republic. Chilocco Indian Agricultural School 1909 Santa Fe Indian School 2013

Sport and Native American Ethnicity: Incorporation and Resistance Incorporation: Involvement in activities that are a central aspect of mainstream (“colonist”) American culture, and whose Also, as within other lower class groupings, individualistic focus contradicts the collective sensibilities oftentimes Native American sporting of traditional Native American culture participation is motivated by elements of the Resistance: Sporting involvement provides vehicle for resistance to LOWER CLASS HABITUS. assimilation and (re)assertion of Native American identity/ethnicity through: Specifically, this is the case in regard to the 1. Source of unity and pride for Native American peoples use of the sporting/physically active body as 2. Reinforces sense of tribal and nation belonging by an important SOURCE OF PROFIT. playing games against other tribes, and the “colonists”: “beating the white man at his own game” . Source: A nderson, E. D . ( 2006) . U sing t he mast er's t ools: resist ing coloniz at ion through colonial sports. The int ernat ional Journal of t he hist ory of sport , 23( 2) , 247-266.

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A Fighting Chance There are, also, a number of professional sporting icons, providing models for Native American youth.

See Video Clip 5

Thus, both indigenous and mainstream sport/physical cultural PERFORMANCES, are a site through which NATIVE AMERICAN ETHNIC IDENTITY, and sense of BELONGING, See Video Clip 6 BECOMES EXPRESSED and EXPERIENCED.

Slavery could only be justified through the advancement Theme 4: of a dehumanizing:

African American (Black) Ethnicity and Sport:

The Experience and Embodiment of Historical Segregation and Under-Privilege “Stowage” of typical slave ship, c. 1790

A RACIAL IDEOLOGY PERTAINING TO THE PHYSICAL MERITS/APTITUDE OF THE SLAVE (AFRICAN) POPULATION

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One of the most enduring racist myths centres on the supposed natural physicality of the “BLACK BODY”… Racial Ty pol ogy : Carolis Linnaeus (1734)

“Classical racism involved a logic of European (Homo sapiens europaeus) dehumanization, in which African White, serious, strong peoples were defined as having Asisatic (Homo sapiens asiaticus) bodies but not minds: in this way Yellow, melancholy, greedy the superexploitation of the black American (Homo sapiens americanus) body as a muscle-machine could be Red, ill-tempered, subjugated African justified. Vestiges of this are active (Homo sapiens afer) today…” Black, impassive, lazy Non-Geographically Defined Mercer, K. (1994). Welcome to the jungle: New positions in black cultural (Homo sapiens monstrosus) studies (p. 138). New York: Routledge.

Racial Ideology as a Binary Opposition Within mainstream American culture, African Americans (especially AA males) have historically BLACK ------WHITE been characterized as either: NEGROID------CAUCASOID BODY------MIND CLOWNS PHYSICAL ------CEREBRAL UNCULTURED ------CULTURED BUFFOONS PRIMITIVE ------SOP HISTICATE D PROMISCUOUS ------RESPONSIBLE GLADIATORS VIOLENT ------CO NTROLLE D DEVIANT ------LAW- ABI DING CRIMINALS INFERIOR ------SUPERIOR AFRICAN AMERICAN ------EUROP EAN AMERICAN Hall, R. E. (1993). Clowns, buffoons, and gladiators: Media portrayals of African-American men. Journal of Men's Studies, 1(3), 239-251.

The Great Migration (1910-1940)

Leland, MS, 1939 Philadelphia, 1889

Natchez, MS, c. 1940

Oklahoma City, 1939 Jim Crow Society The Second Migration (1941-1970s)

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The Cycle of Racially Discriminatory Spatial Segregation RACIAL SEGREGATION: A historic process of involuntary and voluntary spatial (re)location based on racial/ethnic identity. Housing Education [Fair Housing Act (Civil [Brown vs Board of Rights Act)– 1968] Education of Topeka - 1954]

Employment Culture [Title VII Civil Rights Act – [Title II Civil Rights Act – 1964] 1964 – Anti-Discrimination State Laws] Involuntary Voluntary

2010 This lead to the HIGH CONCENTRATION of RACIAL/ETHNIC minority groups in relatively CONTAINED URBAN SPACES, otherwise known as:

GHETTOIZATION

Hyperghettoization: GHETTOIZATION Deindustrialization and increased urban unemployment +

Decreased quality Increased levels of public services and experiences of DEINDUSTRIALIZATION (including schools) urban poverty

=

Elevated crime Diminished quality HYPERGHETTOIZATION rates of housing stock / Source: Wacquant, L. J. D. & W.J. Wilson (1989). The cost of racial and class exclusion in the inner city. In W. J. Wilson (Ed.), Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, HYPERSEGREGATION Vol. 501, The Ghetto Underclass: Social Science Perspectives, 8-25.

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Hypersegregation: Effects of Hyperghettoization

Breakdown of traditional sources of mass urban EMPLOYMENT.

Higher Concentrations of Spatially-Bound Racial Poverty and Underprivilege.

Racial (and class) POLARIZATION of the metropolitan population. The further SEPARATION of increasingly impoverished spaces and populations from the rest of the city.

Baltimore: The Archetypal 21st Century American City Due to historic race-based discrimination, a Community)Median)Household)Income Community Racial Composition higher percentage of the African American population are located within the urban working/underclass.

However, European/white Americans constitute the statistical majority of the urban working/underclass.

Legend Legend Furthermore, there is a growing urban and Community Statistical Area Community Statistical Area Median HH Income % Black 11162 - 18924 0.02 - 0.21 suburban African American middle class. 18925 - 26460 0.22 - 0.40 26461 - 34084 0.41 - 0.60 34085 - 44870 0.61 - 0.79 0.80 - 0.98 44871 - 64571 Community)income)data)is)from)2000)Census. Community race data is from 2000 Census. Nonetheless… Clearly DIVIDED/SEGREGATED along INTERSECTING RACE and CLASS LINES.

Consequences of Historical Race-Based Discrimination and African American Ethnicity as Expressive Cultural Spatial Separation Response to Spatial Segregation and Discrimination Amongst US “racial groupings” the African American population presently displays:

- Lowest median household income

- Highest unemployment rate

- Highest poverty rate

- Lowest SAT scores

- Highest incarceration rate

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Yet, the African American population also exhibits the following: America’s Raced Sporting Landscape

NFL NBA WNBA

Players

Head Coaches

White: 64% African American: Hispanic or Latino: Asian American: 12% 16% 5%

Source: 2012 The Racial and Gender Report Cards. The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Patterns of [RACIAL]ETHNIC Under and Over Representation

Swimming and Ethnic[Racial] Difference? Theme 5:

Basketball and African American Ethnicity

Source: Hastings, D. W., Zahran, S., & Cable, S. (2006). Drowning in inequalities: Swimming and social justice. Journal of Black Studies, 36(6), 894-917.

A BASKETBALL GENE? BASKETBALL as Urban/Ethnic Response Not an essentially black (African American) NBA WNBA pastime, rather, the game of America’s urban working class!

Players Although people assume the existence of racially specific basketball genes. In actuality, the rates and even styles of sporting involvement--and indeed the very existence of racial categories--can

Head be attributed to broader social, cultural, political, Coaches and economic forces:

White: 64% African American: Hispanic or Latino: Asian American: RESTRICTED educational opportunities, 12% 16% 5% employment and economic opportunities, and Source: 2012 The Racial and Gender Report Cards. The Institute for Diversity sport/physical activity choices. and Ethics in Sport.

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The game needs few economic resources for America’s participation, hence soon after its invention in Urban 1890, basketball rapidly became a sport Game

dominated by its principal exponents: Buffalo Germans 1901

The urban American populace Cleveland Rosenblums 1928-29

(whose dominant populations tended to be the most prominent in basketball terms: these have included German, Polish, Jewish, Irish, and African American ethnic populations…)

Philadelphia SPHAS 1930s Harlem Rens 1930

“Hoopdreams” By the 1980s, 80% of the N.B.A. was black and nearly all (91.3%) N.B.A. players came from URBAN America. Basketball was still the URBAN GAME, the only difference was the racial/ethnic group which now dominated urban America.

See Video Clip 7

Socio-Economic Environment Lower Class Basketball: Culture of Poverty?

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The “taste of necessity” (Bourdieu, 1984): SPORT and PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Preferences driven by restricted availability of Personal Aspiration/Habitus sport/physical activity resources and opportunities.

Agency and Constraint

“Habitus is, thus, a matter of socialisation and the adaptation of the individual’s ambitions and actions to the social circumstances in which they live…

…Thus habitus expresses the idea that people make choices, buttheir choices are always constrained and influenced by the resources and social identity of the actor” Communal Norm Source: Korp, P. (2008). The symbolic power of "healthy lifestyles". Health Sociology Review, 17, 19.

“pursuit and expression of toughness” “Urban” Basketball

More competitive

More physical

More individualistic

More expressive

Source: Carlston, D. E. (1986). An environmental explanation for race differences in basketball performance. In R. E. Lap ch ick (Ed.), Fractured Source: Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the ju dg emen t focus: Sport as a reflection of society (pp. 87-110). Lexington: D.C. Heath. of taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

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Pursuing the CONVERSION of PHYSICAL CAPITAL into ECONOMIC CAPITAL

Physical capital: “refers to the development of bodies in ways which are recognized as possessing value in social fields.” (Shilling, 2012, p. 135)

Familial Expectation Source: Shilling, C. (1993). The body and social theory. London: Sage.

Sporting Advancement and Social Mobility

High profile/success stories of players from urban African American communities demonstrate a pathway of POTENTIAL success for urban African American youth, and motivate many to seek to emulate them.

This is POTENTIAL success, since the chances of securing a college scholarship, let alone forging a professional career, are exceedingly small. UPWARD MOBILITY through sport is POSSIBLE for some, but Cultural Modelling NOT VERY LIKELY for many. Source: Unverified, all figures are rough approximations.

From a SOCIOLOGICAL perspective, basketball has Theme 6: emerged as an important URBAN AFRICAN AMERICAN response to race-based discrimination leading to economic and spatial separation.

Basketball within URBAN AFRICAN AMERICAN Ignoring Ethnicity/ communities has effectively developed as a popular response to what are challenging conditions of (Re)Naturalizing the Black existence. Athlete Thus, in CULTURAL/ETHNIC TERMS, basketball has emerged as an important MARKER/EXPRESSION of URBAN AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE/ETHNICITY….It is part of the SHARED EXPERIENCE OF URBAN AFRICAN AMERICAN LIFE.

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Basketball as [Urban] African American Ethnicity B More: Urban African American Basketball Aesthetics/Style

Basketball as a form of [Urban] African American EXPRESSIVE CULTURE

See Video Clip 8

Source: Andrews, D. L., Mower, R. L., & Silk, M. L. (2011). Ghettocen tr ism and the Essentialize d Black Male Athlete. In D. J. Leonard & C. R. King (Eds.), Commodified and Criminalized: New Racisms and African Americans in Contemporary Sports (pp. 69-94). Lanham , MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Sport and the Persistence of Racial Categorizing/Binaries Although rooted in URBAN EXPERIENCE, BASKETBALL has become a form of AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPRESSIVE CULTURE in general terms.

Thus, for the GROWING SUBURBAN BLACK MIDDLE CLASS, it can be appropriated as a MARKER of BLACK IDENTITY in the same way as other forms of EXPRESSIVE BLACK CULTURE (specifically MUSIC and DANCE).

BASKETBALL could be said to be a widely used marker of AFRICAN AMERICAN ETHNICITY. See Video Clip 9

Ignoring Ethnicity African American athletes are routinely presented (either in positive or negative terms) as EMBODIMENTS of some INNATE/NATURAL RACIAL DIFFERENCE.

Al Campanis (1987): “They m ay not have som e of the necessities Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder (1988): Fuzzy Zoeller (1997)“Tell him [Tiger to be, lets say a field m anager ” “He’s bred to be the better athlete” Woods] not to ser ve fr ied chicken next Rather than being understood as the EMBODIED year ” PRODUCTS OF A COMMON URBAN AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE/ETHNICITY.

In other words, oftentimes people (yes even academics) OVERLOOK their SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATIONS when considering AFRICAN AMERICAN ATHLETES. Shannon Sharpe (1997) “Naturally I Paul Hornung (2004): “We can't Don Imus (2007): “Nappy- don’t thing he (the “white guy”) is that stay as str ict as we ar e as far as headed hoes and jigaboos” fast…That’s just m y per ception of, the academ ic str uctur e is They FETISHIZE/ABSTRACT THE BLACK ATHLETIC you know, that’s just how we ar e” concer ned because we've got to get the black athletes” BODY, and forget to consider the SOCIAL CONTEXTS Residual Biological and Cultural Racisms (and Sexisms) and RELATIONS responsible for its PRODUCTION.

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Re-Naturalizing Black Athletic Bodies/De-Ethnicizing Sport Culture Re-Racialized Black Physicality Naturalizing Black Physical Prowess Naturalizing Black Physical Deficiency

Innate Physical Advantages Innate Physical Disadvantages

Both are examples of FETISHIZING/ABSTRACTING THE BLACK (UN)ATHLETIC BODY, and failing to consider the See Video Clip 10 (Discussion of Michael Johnson’s 2012 comments SOCIAL CONTEXTS and RELATIONS responsible for its regarding the genetically-based superiority of Black physicality) PRODUCTION.

The Ethnic Explanation [White] Suburban Swimming Culture

Theories for low black American swimming rates

① Propagat ion of incorrect scient if ic t heories such as black people being much less buoyant

① Historic factors going as far back as slaves not being allowed to learn to swim

② Denial of access to pools in 1920s and 30s causing ripple effect to present day

③ Lack of municipal pools in predominant ly black neighbourhoods in 1960s onwards Suburban R esident ial Pools

④ Percept ion of swimming as elitist or white sport

Suburban Swim C lubs Source: Rohrer, F. (2010, September 3). Why don’t black Americans swim? Source: Wiltse, J. (2007). Contested waters: A social history of swimming BBC News: USA & Canada. pools in America. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina.

Re-Racialized Bodies/Re-Racialized Activities This BIOLOGIZATION/NATURALIZATION OF Naturalized Blackness? Naturalized Whiteness? BLACK SPORTING PHYSICALITY harkens back to the same racial ideologies (of natural physical superiority/intellectual inferiority) which justified slavery: “that most commonplace of stereotypes, the black man as sports hero, mythologically endowed with a 'naturally' muscular physique and an essential capacity for Each BODY has come to be understood as the appropriate expression strength, grace and machinelike perfection” for PERCEIVED natural race-based embodied/physical differences.

Such a re-racialized understanding IGNORES the SOCIAL CONTEXTS and RELATIONS responsible for these ETHNIC/EMBODIED Source: Mercer, K. (1994). Welcome to the jungle: New positions in black MANIFESTATIONS. cultural studies (p. 178). New York: Routledge.

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Racial Ideology as a Binary Opposition What do we see? Race or Ethnicity?

BLACK ------WHITE NEGROID------CAUCASOID BODY------MIND

PHYSICAL ------CEREBRAL UNCULTURED ------CULTURED PRIMITIVE ------SOP HISTICATE D PROMISCUOUS ------RESPONSIBLE VIOLENT ------CO NTROLLE D DEVIANT ------LAW- ABI DING INFERIOR ------SUPERIOR AFRICAN AMERICAN ------EUROP EAN AMERICAN

See course website for related required readings, video clips, key concepts, thematic review questions, and essay question.

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