Sport and Postmodern Times

Edited by Genevieve Rail

Subjects: Gender Studies
Series: SUNY series on Sport, Culture, and Social Relations
Paperback : 9780791439265, 399 pages, September 1998
Hardcover : 9780791439258, 399 pages, September 1998

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I. Postmodern Sports Writing and the Transgression of Boundaries

1. Postmodernism and the Possibilities for Writing "Vital" Sports Texts
Toni Bruce

2. "How Do You Warm-Up for a Stretch Class?": Sub/In/Di/verting Hegemonic Shoves Toward Sport
Nate Kohn and Synthia Sydnor

3. Born-Again Sport: Ethics in Biographical Research
Robert Rinehart

Part II. Sport and the Postmodern (De)construction of Gender

4. Representing Black Masculinity and Urban Possibilities: Racism, Realism, and Hoop Dreams
Cheryl L. Cole and Samantha King

5. Lesbians and Locker Rooms: The Subjective Experiences of Lesbians in Sport
Caroline Fusco

6. Colonizing the Feminine: Nike's Intersections of Postfeminism and Hyperconsumption
Mélisse R. Lafrance

Part III. Virtual Sport, Representation, and the Postmodern Mediascape

7. Seismography of the Postmodern Condition: Three Theses on the Implosion of Sport
Geneviève Rail

8. Sex, Lies, and Videotape: The Political and Cultural Economies of Celebrity Fitness Videos
Margaret MacNeill

9. Excavating Michael Jordan: Notes on a Critical Pedagogy of Sporting Representation
David Andrews

10. Baudrillard, "Amérique," and the Hyperreal World Cup
Steve Redhead

Part IV. Sport and Postmodern Body Invaders

11. Instrumental Rationalization of Human Movement: An Archeological Approach
Jacques Gleyse

12. Addiction, Exercise, and Cyborgs: Technologies of Deviant Bodies
Cheryl L. Cole

13. Post-Sport: Transgressing Boundaries in Physical Culture
Brian Pronger

Part V. Physical Culture, Consumer Culture, and Postmodern Geography

14. In Search of the Sports Bar: Masculinity, Alcohol, Sports, and the Mediation of Public Space
Lawrence A. Wenner

15. Rap and Dialectical Relations: Culture, Subculture, Power, and Counter-Power
Nancy Midol

16. Hassiba Boulmerka and Islamic Green: International Sports, Cultural Differences, and Their Postmodern Interpretation
William J. Morgan

17. (Ir)Relevant Ring: The Symbolic Consumption of the Olympic Logo in Postmodern Media Culture
Rob VanWynsberghe and Ian Ritchie

Contributors

Index

Using postmodern social theory, this book expands our understanding of sport, the body, and the broader physical culture.

Description

This book provides critical insight into the questions of race, gender, sexuality, and locality in sport and society. Topics discussed include postmodern sport writing; sport and the postmodern deconstruction of gender and sexuality; virtual sport and the postmodern mediascape; discipline, normalization, rationalization, surveillance, panopticism, and other forms of power used to "invest" postmodern sporting bodies; and new perspectives on sport and physical culture, consumer culture, and postmodern geography.

Genevieve Rail is Associate Professor, School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, and editor of AVANTE.

Reviews

"…a vital read for those interested in contemporary developments concerning social inequality and sport. " — The International Journal of the History of Sport

"…a timely addition, providing one of the first books to bring postmodernist perspectives to the realm of sport … This anthology will be an important addition to the burgeoning postmodernist discussions and debates on sport, physical culture and leisure and will be particularly useful for scholars/students taking up postmodern methodologies. " — Culture, Sport, Society

"This will be a trend-setting book. The topic redefines the sociology of sport and gives a feeling that one is engaging an important moment in the field. It is a stunning accomplishment—the sociology of sport comes of age with this collection. " — Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois at Urbana

"This volume challenges the status quo in sport sociology in a meaningful way. Those who read it will find an extraordinary collection of vibrant essays whose point is to stretch the limits of our understanding. In a sense, this volume is the first journey in the sport sociology Star Trek, taking us where no one has gone before. " — Stephen D. Mosher, Ithaca College

"For those interested in seeing how postmodern approaches enable scholars to understand social worlds, and especially sports, in new ways, this book is valuable. " — Jay Coakley, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs