Playing While White :Privilege and Power on and off the Field
Playing While White :Privilege and Power on and off the Field
hardback
Published:
3 July, 2017
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Description
Playing While White argues that whiteness matters in sports culture, both on and off the field. Offering critical analysis of athletic stars such as Johnny Manziel, Marshall Henderson, Jordan Spieth, Lance Armstrong, Josh Hamilton, as well as the predominantly white cultures of NASCAR and extreme sports, David Leonard identifies how whiteness is central to the commodification of athletes and the sports they play.
Leonard demonstrates that sporting cultures are a key site in the trafficking of racial ideas, narratives, and ideologies. He identifies how white athletes are frequently characterized as intelligent leaders who are presumed innocent of the kinds of transgressions black athletes are often pathologized for. With an analysis of the racial dynamics of sports traditions as varied as football, cycling, hockey, baseball, tennis, snowboarding, and soccer, as well as the reception and media portrayals of specific white athletes, Leonard examines how and why whiteness matters within sports and what that tells us about race in the twenty-first century United States.
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9780295741871 |
| ISBN10 | 0295741872 |
| Number Of Pages | 320 |
| Item Weight | 590 g |
| Publisher / Reseller | University of Washington Press |
| Format | hardback |
Media Reviews
"Incisive and troubling."
-- Marilyn Dahl * Shelf Awareness for Readers *"Playing While White is a critical text for anyone interested in sports and whiteness studies and definitively puts to rest the claim that race is irrelevant in the commentaries surrounding athletes and their participation in sports."
* Black Perspectives (AAIHS) *Author's Bio
David J. Leonard is a professor at Washington State University. He is the author of After Artest: The NBA and the Assault on Blackness and coeditor of Commodified and Criminalized: New Racism and African Americans in Contemporary Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @drdavidjleonard.