Desi Hoop Dreams Pickup Basketball and the Making of South Asian American Masculinity

DESI HOOP DREAMS PICKUP BASKETBALL AND THE MAKING OF SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN MASCULINITY

INSTRUCTOR'S GUIDE

South Asian American men are not usually depicted as ideal American men. They struggle against popular representations as either threatening terrorists or geeky, effeminate comput- er geniuses. To combat such stereotypes, some use sports as a means of performing a distinctly American masculinity. Desi Hoop Dreams focuses on South Asian-only basketball leagues common in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, to show that basketball, for these South Asian Ameri- can players is not simply a whimsical hobby, but a means to navigate and express their identities in 21st century America. The participation of young men in basketball is one platform among many for performing South Asian American identity. South Asian-only leagues and tournaments become spaces in which to negotiate the relationships between masculinity, race, and nation. When faced with stereotypes that portray them as effeminate, players perform sporting feats on the court to represent themselves as athletic. And though they draw on black cultural styles, they carefully set themselves off from African American players, who are deemed “too aggressive.” Accord- ingly, the same categories of their own marginalization—masculinity, race, class, and sexuality—are those through which South Asian American men exclude women, queer masculinities, and working-class masculinities, along with other racialized masculinities, in their effort to lay claim to cultural citizenship. One of the fi rst works on masculinity formation and sport participation in South Asian American communities, Desi Hoop Dreams focuses on an American popular sport to analyze the dilemma of belonging within South Asian America in particular and in the U.S. in general.

288 PAGES • 1 MAP PAPER • 978-0-8147-6093-2

WWW . NYUPRESS . ORG NYU PRESS 2 INTRODUCTION Introduction ception ofvolleyballinNewYork’s Chinatown. • ACTIVITY this relateto“9-man”? up”? Whatdoesthistellusaboutconceptionsofnormativemasculinity?How • as femininity, race,andclass? masculinity neverexistsinisolationandisalwaysrelationtoothercategoriessuch • QUESTIONS FORDISCUSSION sporting masculinity. co-ethnic spacesastheviablemeanstoenterintoacceptableterrainofanAmerican der, sexuality, class,andracethatmustalsobecreated.Furthermore, onemustcreate regulating force.To “manup”meansthattherearevariousotherparallellinesofgen- how gender, specificallymasculinity, isbroughtintobeingthroughdisciplinaryand masculinity isputinrelationtootherracializedmasculinities.Intheprocess,wesee Thus, weseehowracializationisagenderedprocesswhereSouthAsianAmerican dinary insightsintoSouthAsianAmericanlifeandthegenderedidentityformations. examining theseordinarypracticeswithinsportingcultures,wecanprovideextra-or- this affinitytoAmericansportisnotawhimsicalandirrelevantconnection.By men demonstrateduringeverydayencounterswithbasketball.Thesepassionsand In theopeningchapter, wecomeacrossthepassionsyoungSouthAsianAmerican SUMMARY Show clipsfromUrsulaLiang’smovie“9-man”whichtalksaboutadifferentcon- What aresomecontradictionsyouseeintheveryideaof“browningouttoman With thecaseofKhan’squoteaboutmasculinity, howcanwemake senseofhow NYU PRESS INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE 3 CHAPTER 1 What are the freedoms of play present in pick-up basketball where Daniel does not in pick-up basketball where Daniel does not What are the freedoms of play present All colleges and universities have gyms with basketball courts. The basketball All colleges and universities have gyms with basketball courts. The basketball How does the social network form during Monday/Thursday night pick-up basket- How does the social network form during What are the possible meanings of Outkasts? How is it related to masculinity and How is it related to masculinity and What are the possible meanings of Outkasts? DESI HOOP DREAMS HOOP DESI have to play a “role”? • ball? How does class and race structure this network? ball? How does class and race structure ACTIVITY • the men. Take courts are sites of regular interaction between various students, mostly the people class to the gym and observe the dynamics of pick-up basketball. Who are there? Is it just students? How are teams assembled? • race? race? • QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION As the book aims to decipher the everyday practices of South Asian American mascu- to decipher the everyday practices of As the book aims and experience of sport and leisure. Whereas each chapter details one segment linity, the commitment young is often overlooked as inconsequential, pick-up basketball elements of social formation men have to it demonstrates key South Asian American Pick-up basketball pres- in a large multi-racial city of Atlanta. and co-ethnic intimacy intention- Through to the city. different and differential claims ents one way to provide American basketball players cre- basketball games, South Asian ally organizing pick-up into place this alternate enjoy co-ethnic socializing while putting ate opportunities to see in this chapter the We of their busy work and family lives. time and space outside their early basketball lives at the mosque, and formation of the team Atlanta Outkasts, locate these Muslim Pakistani American men the ways in which their pick-up games landscape in the U.S. South. While playing pick-up into a larger geo-political and racial desires. They also get to partake of practices of basketball, they get to indulge in their not be possible in other social venues. Through toughness and aggression that would these in pleasures of co-ethnic basketball. Yet, such brown out basketball, they indulge of one-on-one basketball also take shape by pleasures centered in individual moments and distancing from femininity. racially regulating acceptable masculinity Everyday The Play: ofFormation Basketball Desi-Up SUMMARY

4 CHAPTER 2

Who isDesi?:UnderstandingWho Organized OutBasketball Brown tion ofCultures. • ACTIVITY to correspondingmainstreamracializationsas“model minority,” or“terrorist”? • • analyze SouthAsianAmericanlifeandcorresponding social organizationoflife? description ofthecockfight,whatwayscanwethenuse thatGeertzianmodelandthen • QUESTIONS FORDISCUSSION co-ethnic space,performancesofmasculinityareraciallycoded. and withtheexclusionorpolicingofcertainracializedblackmen.Thus,eveninthis also takesrelationtocertainSouthAsianAmericanswhoareseenas“blackened” As theyshowandtakepleasureinphysicalabilities,theverypracticeofmasculinity masculinity whileshowingthenumerousathleticpossibilitiesofthesebrownbodies. use awiderangeofathleticplaysandbodilycomportmenttodecodetheparameters losses servethepurposeofproducingmultipleperformancesmasculinity. Players and individualsfromeachother. Thetypesofplaysonthecourt, thevictories,and At thesemomentsofsameness,thereisstillacompellingdesiretodifferentiateteams and theintentionalstructuringofphysicalspace. experience ofsamenessasSouthAsianAmericansisfacilitatedthroughteamnames names. Thus,withinIndo-PakBasketball,therearemanymomentswhereakindof engaged withvariousformsofpopularcultureandmediatoproduceteam teams wanttoseparatethemselvesfromeachotherandshowdominance,most the veryformationofteamsshowssharedconceptionsmasculinity. Although at Indo-PakBasketballtournaments.Whilehoopingforstatusasteamsandcities, found backinSouthAsia.Intheprocess,teamsclaimandrepresenttheircities cial interactionsthatgoacrossthereligiousandethnicdiametricoppositionsoften Teams managethelargerterrainofSouthAsianAmericathroughcomplicatedso- crowd, itisteam-orientedbasketballwherethestakesandrewardsareforteams. Basketball tournaments,althoughcertainexceptionalindividualsstandoutinthe and competeagainstotherteamsfromaroundtheU.S.Canada. WithinIndo-Pak officials tomonitortheplay. Unlikepick-upbasketball,teamsalreadyarriveformed Organized basketballisalevelofwithmuchclearerrules,formats,and SUMMARY Read thechapteron“Balinese Cockfight” inCliffordGeertz’s (1973)Interpreta- What aretheathleticachievementsandpossibilitiesat playandhowdotheyrelate What pleasuresdoparticipantsderive? We seetheparticularorganizationoflifeinBalithrough Geertz’srichethnographic NYU PRESS INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE CHAPTER 3 5 In what ways does race and gender pop up with relation to culture and with regard up with relation to culture and with regard In what ways does race and gender pop documentary film “9-Man” by Ursula Liang. Watch In comparison to “9-Man,” what are the origins of such exclusive co-ethnic spaces? In comparison to “9-Man,” what are What are the multiple and contradictory ways that blackness takes shape and form ways that blackness takes shape and form What are the multiple and contradictory DESI HOOP DREAMS HOOP DESI • to biological classifications of race? • • ACTIVITY on the Asian American and Latino court? • QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SUMMARY to a wide assortment of masculinity takes shape in relation South Asian American not position themselves only in Thus, South Asian Americans do racial masculinities. ambiguity and racial indetermi- Americans. As a result of the racial relation to African of affiliation and identification Americans, they have various points nacy of South Asian American.” They play in Asian American of “Latino” and “Asian with the categories ad- South Asian American men leagues. Through such play, and Latino basketball and Latinos while at the and difference with Asian Americans judicate similarities of local basketball heroes (partial) membership. The creation same moment claiming Asian Americans are dispelled from these cate- becomes one moment in which South clear when creating the templates of ideal gories. Their racial identification becomes heroes. Asian American and Latino sporting Racial Ambiguity: Hoopin’ in Other Ethnic Leaguesin Other Ethnic Hoopin’ Ambiguity: Racial

6 CHAPTER 4

etn Dgt” lyn ihHtrsxaiyadOhrStso Leisure Getting “Digits”:PlayingwithHeterosexuality andOtherSitesof ifornia Press,2015).Watch the movietitled“TheGuru.” • ACTIVITY young menlikeMahmoud,Mustafa,andImran? immigrant andMustafa’sdisclaimeraboutFOBs?Howisdesicoolthenproducedby • aged? Howdoesitdifferfromthephysicalinteractionsonbasketballcourt? • scene? HowdoesitrelatetoKimberlyHoang’sanalysisofthesexindustryinVietnam? • QUESTIONS FORDISCUSSION bounds ofheterosexualmasculinity. intimacy cannotbetranslatedontothedanceclubswhereitwouldreadoutside American menatthepartysceneanditisthroughfights.Thesamekindsofphysical women. Atthesametime,therearephysicalinteractionswithotherSouthAsian sexuality” (Rich1991)andaimforsexualencounterswithcertaintypesofracialized direction relationshiptosexuality. Theyperform variousmodeof“compulsoryhetero- club scene,andstripclubs,youngSouthAsianAmericanmenplaywithmasculinityin interact withwomenpartiesandlocalnightlife.Atprivateparties,thedance on-male socialinteractionsandphysicalintimacyonthebasketball,playersdirectly differently thanwhattheydidonthebasketballcourt.Whereastherearemostlymale- important realmwhereSouthAsianAmericanmencomportthemselvessimilarlyand local nightlifeofthehostingcity. Thus,theleisurespacesofnightlifeprovideone Most Indo-PakBasketballtournamentsalsocontainanafter-partyanddelveintothe South AsianAmericanmasculinitiesarenotcontainedtoonlythebasketballcourt. SUMMARY Read chapters 3 and 4 in Kimberly Hoang’s book With regardto“TheGuru,”howcanwecarefullyanalyzetheimageofnew What arethewaysinwhichphysicalcomportmentatclubsiscarefullyman- What arethesexualizedhierarchiesthatoneseesacrossdancepartyandclub NYU PRESS INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE Dealing in Desire (University of Cal - CHAPTER 5

Breaking the Cycle: The Ballplayer Posture and Performances of Exclusion

SUMMARY

We see in chapter four one of the first very clear examples of gender integrated spaces and the formation of South Asian American masculinity in relation to femininity and heterosexuality. As a result, femininity and homosexuality (same-sex desire) are seen as antithetical to South Asian American sporting masculinity. Yet, femininity and homosexuality, contradictorily, are key governing, structuring, and regulating forces of heterosexual masculinity. The young men police their leisure spaces of play and dancing to make sure that women enter only in certain capacities. Gay men are mar- ginalized and excluded from sporting activities as their very presence would dismantle the taken for granted link between male bodies and heterosexuality. With gay men excluded from the sporting space, South Asian American men ironically conjure up gayness in order to give substance to it and to heterosexuality. Practices of “playing gay” destabilizes the very category of masculinity that needs “gayness” as its opposite. In the process of critically examining these practices, we see how same-sex desire and femininity take shape. However, we must not make gay men and women to be pow- erless dupes in the game of South Asian American masculinity. They find their own ways of finding spaces and expressing agency within that same rubric of South Asian American masculinity.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

• What do you see as the relationships, in lines with Johnson’s chapter, between masculinity and heterosexuality?

• Why does homosexuality exist in this staunching heterosexual space? What does that tell us about heterosexual masculinity in Asian American diasporas?

• How do the black gay men at the Waffle House and the trans people of color in “Paris is Burning” complicate the relationship between sex, gender, and sexuality?

ACTIVITY

• Read chapter on sexuality and black men playing gay in E. Patrick Johnson’s Appro- priating Blackness. Watch the first 45 minutes of movie “Paris is Burning.” Watch the film “Saving Face.”

DESI HOOP DREAMS 7 8 CONCLUSION Conclusion • ACTIVITY relation toformerChineseNBAplayerYao Ming? sexual meanings?Howishisiconicitypositionedinrelationtoblackathletesand • • QUESTIONS FORDISCUSSION izations. pleasure intheirownbodies,desireamainstreamdesiherowhocanundotheracial- tion tolargersocialspaces.Intheprocess,youngmen,whiledesiringandtaking gendered identities.Theveryexclusivenessofbrownoutbasketballlimitsitstransla- ity andthelargerdictatesinSouthAsianAmericaU.S.societyaboutrespectable There isalinkbetweentheseco-ethnicexclusiveperformancesofsportingmasculin- SUMMARY “Living withLinsanity”LosAngelesReviewofBooks. What arethewaysinwhichJeremyLin’spopularityhasracial,gendered,class,and How doraceandgenderintersectinthelongingforamainstreamhero? NYU PRESS INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE REFERENCES

References

Geertz, Clifford. 1973. Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books

Hoang, Kimberly. 2015. Dealing in Desire. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Johnson, E. Patrick. 2003. Appropriating Blackness. Durham: Duke University Press.

Wang, Oliver. March 6, 2012. “Living with Linsanity.” Los Angeles Review of Books.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

Espana-Maram, Linda. 2006. Creating Masculinity in Los Angeles’s Little Manila. New York: Columbia University Press.

Yep, Kathleen. 2009. Outside the Paint. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Regalado, Samuel. 2012. Nikkei Baseball. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Spindal, Carol. 2005. Dancing at Halftime. New York: New York University Press.

DESI HOOP DREAMS 9