Beyond the sporting boundary: the racial significance of sport through midnight basketball

Abstract

Sport is among the most potent institutions in the production, maintenance and contestation of race in the modern world. The last decade has witnessed a significant increase of sport-based research on the cutting edge of theorizing race and racism in the post-civil rights, postcolonial era. Nonetheless, the study of sport has yet to be seriously engaged by mainstream social scientists. This paper argues that sport scholars need to better demonstrate the powerful, even irreducible racial significance of sport in politics, public policy and popular culture. This argument is illustrated and elaborated with findings from an ongoing, multifaceted research project on midnight basketball in the USA. Key points include: the complexity of racial imagery in and around sport; sport's legitimating functions for racialized neo-liberalism; and the impact of sport and race politics on federal crime policy. Revealed throughout is a more sophisticated understanding of the centrality and complexity of contemporary racial formations.

Skin in the Game: Colorism and the Subtle Operation of Stereotypes in Men’s College Basketball

“…Sport also provides space for the imposition of, conflict over, and revision of racial ideologies (Carrington 2013). Hartmann (2012Hartmann ( , p. 1007) takes this sentiment even further, arguing that "sport is among the most potent institutions in the production, maintenance and contestation of race in the modern world." A significant way that sport transmits information about race is through the interpretation of in-game sports announcers.…”

“…However, they also draw upon established scripts from development meetings about the types of comments to make about certain players. In some ways, media structure what is possible in a given context such as a basketball game (Hartmann 2012(Hartmann , 2016Wachs et al 2012).…”

Policing the Void: Recreation, Social Inclusion and the Baltimore Police Athletic League

“…While doubtless realizing many of these outcomes, programs such as the PALs explicitly targeting the problematized urban poor are never far removed from what populist conservative thinking considers to be such program's raison d'être: using physical recreation interventions as means of "controlling and/or containing populations…seen as either 'at-risk' or socially disruptive" (Hartmann, 2012(Hartmann, , p. 1011. However, while its disciplining logic has been unwavering, the very structure and delivery of the various components of the social problems industry is contingent upon the shifting ideologies and policies of urban governance.…”

Racism in contemporary American institutions: a critical, color-blind discourse analysis of sport

“…The perceptions of sport are consistent with existing American ideals, which contest the existence of racism, even though sports have been considered to reflect the racial hierarchy of societies (Frey & Eitzen, 1991;Lapchick, 1986;Sanderson, 2010). There is also little doubt amongst critical race scholars and sports sociologists about sport being one of the most powerful and important institutions in the production, legitimization and potential contestation of contemporary racial constructions (Hartmann, 2003;Leonard, 2004;Hartmann, 2012).…”

“…Reasons for this situation include, but are not limited to, the extreme popularity of sports participation and consumption from the local to global level (Primm et al, 2007). The ways in which sport emphasis virtues of fair play, meritocracy, and competition, which "seems to parallel and model liberal democratic visions of social justice and cross-cultural understanding" (Hartmann, 2012(Hartmann, , p. 1008. Thus, sports are viewed as an avenue of equal opportunity that lead the way towards civil rights, human rights, and racial justice (Hartmann, 2012).…”