Race and Ethnicity
Published on May 23, 2016
No Description
MORE DECKS TO EXPLORE
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Race and Ethnicity
Sociology of Sport - Lecture 17
Functionalist view = that sport is egalitarian, unites
cultures & bridges divides
Springbok Tour 1981
What do you know?
Springbok Tour
- Apartheid in SA led to international stigma
- SA team toured NZ - disallowed black SA to play
- NZ govt - No politics in sport
- NZ divided - 150000 protestors
- Links to racial discrimination against Maori in NZ society
ITS BAD ENOUGH HAVING TO PLAY OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED NEW ZEALAND NATIVES, BUT SPECTACLE THOUSANDS EUROPEANS FRANTICALLY CHEERING ON BAND OF COLOURED MEN TO DEFEAT MEMBERS OF OWN RACE WAS TOO MUCH FOR SPRINGBOKS WHO FRANKLY
DISGUSTED"
South African journalist described in a cable sent back to South Africa his shock and disappointment at seeing white spectators cheering the Māori team
Untitled Slide
Today
- Defining race and ethnicity
- Racial ideology
- Issues with racial ideology
- Prospects for change
Photo by ChadCooperPhotos
RACE:
refers to a category of people regarded as
socially distinct because they share genetic traits
believed to be important by people with power and
influence in society
ETHNICITY
refers to ethnic groups: categories of people regarded as socially distinct because they share a way of life and a commitment to the ideas,
norms and material things that constitute that way of life
Issues with the term 'race'
- Racial categories are social creations based on meanings given to selected physical traits
- Race is not a valid biological concept - Human Genome Project
- Racial classifications are fuzzy because they are based on continuous traits with arbitrary lines drawn to create categories (there are no discrete categories)
When people divide humans into a racial population, they classify into distinct categories which are believed to share genetically based physical traits passed from one generation of the next.
Humans have always categorised one another using physical appearance however the concept of 'race' was developed in 17c when Europeans explored and colonised. It is seen as an exercise of power.
Whites used racial ideology to conclude that people of colour were primitive beings driven by brawn rather than brains, instincts rather than moral does and impulse rather than rationality.
This enabled whites to colonise, exploit enslave and even murder dark-skinned people without guilt or the sense that they had sinned (Hoberman 1992, Smedley, 1997, Winant 2001)
RACIAL IDEOLOGY
is a web of ideas and beliefs that people use to give meaning to physical traits such as skin colour and to evaluate people in terms of how they are classified by race
So what does this have to do with Sport?
Former All Black Grant Fox -, “Polynesian
players were naturally superior to us in talent, but a lot of them aren’t
there now because they didn’t have the discipline. . . . They lacked the right kind of mental attitude. They’d just turn up and play”
Fox contd -“So here we have it:
Fiji’s raw speed and power versus Australia’s organization[al] skills” (Television New Zealand commentary, 10 Feb 2001).
In other words, if the
Fijians succeeded, it was because they were inherently physical people, but
if the predominantly white Australian team succeeded, they did so through
intelligence and organization
Murray Deaker: “I think it is fantastic that we have this wonderfully athletic group of people that can help us develop our sport. . . . But I also want the hard, tough white farmer to be a part of my
All Black side . . . [The type of player who is] there for 80 minutes in a
ruthless uncompromising way”
Martin Crowe (head of SKY cricket) "Tuffey is a Maori and, traditionally, not many Maori make good cricketers because they don't have the patience or the temperament to play through a whole day, leave alone over a test match".
"I don't see them losing the ability to still score points, ...They get points because they play that coconut style, Polynesian sort of football... throwing it around." - Billy Moore (former Australian league player on NRL 360)
Graham Lowe told the Daily Telegraph the club (Warriors) was failing because of a "bro culture", a phrase which may have inadvertently played a race card which fell into the hands of those with bigoted views about the Warriors.
Racial ideology encourages people to:
- ‘see’ sport performances in ‘racialised’ terms, i.e., in terms of skin colour
- use whiteness as the taken- for-granted standard
- explain the success or failure of people with dark skin in racial terms
- do research designed to ‘discover’ racial difference
This can lead to sporting achievements been undermined as 'natural' and athletes being stereotyped
ie. Kenyan runners, Asian table tennis, Polynesian rugby players etc
Are there genetic differences between individuals?
YES
Are genetic characteristics related to athletic
excellence?
YES
Could one gene account for success across a range of
different sports?
PROBABLY NOT
Might skin colour genes and physical performance
genes be connected?
NO EVIDENCE
Racism
Not necessarily always blatant, however, ......
Racism: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
Untitled Slide
Consider (& discuss in small groups)
- something that sticks with you and why
- anything you strongly agree with or disagree with
- how racial ideology relates to what you have read
- your own experiences/observations in relation to the key points raised
- potential future implications for sport in NZ
Photo by Sharon Drummond
