The Anthropology of Sport: Bodies, Borders, Biopolitics

336 Pages·2017·3.521 MB·English

by  Niko Besnier, Susan Brownell, Thomas F. Carter

The publisher and the University of California Press
Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous
support of the Fletcher Jones Foundation
Imprint in Humanities.
Th e Anthropology of Sport
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Th e Anthropology of Sport
bodies, borders, biopolitics
Niko Besnier, Susan Brownell,
and Th omas F. Carter
university of california press
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing
scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its
activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic
contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit
www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2018 by Th e Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Besnier, Niko, author. | Brownell, Susan, author. | Carter, Th omas F.,
1967– author.
Title: Th e anthropology of sport : bodies, borders, biopolitics / Niko Besnier,
Susan Brownell, and Th omas F. Carter.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2018] |
Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifi ers: lccn
2017023360 (print) | lccn 2017026172 (ebook) | isbn 9780520963818
(ebook) | isbn 9780520289000 (cloth : alk. paper) | isbn 9780520289017
(pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: lcsh: Sports—Anthropological aspects.
Classifi cation: lcc gv706.2 (ebook) | lcc gv706.2 .b48 2018 (print) |
ddc 306.4/83—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017023360
Manufactured in the United States of America
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Sport, Anthropology, and History 11
•
2 Sport, Colonialism, and Imperialism 39
•
3 Sport, Health, and the Environment 71
•
4 Sport, Social Class, Race, and Ethnicity 97
•
5 Sport and Sex, Gender, and Sexuality 127
•
6 Sport, Cultural Performance, and Mega-events 158
•
7 Sport, Nation, and Nationalism 197
•
8 Sport in the World System 228
•
Epilogue: Sport for Anthropology 255
Notes 259
Selected Bibliography 305
Index 313
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illustrations
1. Model of ball game with spectators, Nayarit, Mexico,
ca. 100 bce–250 ce 2
2. A young Senegalese wrestler strikes a pose before his fi ght 8
3. Th e Nemean Games Revival in 2012 15
4. “Spear throwing contest of Igorrote Warriors,” 1904 world’s fair 20
5. A beach cricket game on a lazy Sunday aft ernoon, Trinidad 57
6. Fijian boys learn to handle rugby balls from the earliest age 69
7. Practicing tai chi on a river bank, Guilin, China 87
8. A member of Fiji’s rugby sevens national team avoids a tackle by a
British player at the Rio Olympics 114
9. Angelina Huang, 2017 US novice ladies’ fi gure skating champion 122
10. Tamara Press (USSR) in the women’s discus throw fi nal,
Tokyo 1964 132
11. Th e Fijianas, Fiji’s national women’s rugby sevens team, at the Rio
Olympics 145
12. Turkish oil wrestling at the Kırkpınar festival in Edirne, Turkey 147
13. Every soccer game in Buea, Cameroon, begins with a prayer huddle 167
1 4. Senegalese wrestling star Modou Lô with his mystique arsenal, Dakar 168
15. Diagram of MacAloon’s ramifi ed performance theory as applied to the
Olympic performance system 171
16. Mini-Olympics, schoolchildren with torch, Deyang, Sichuan, China 177
17. Competing for the goat carcass in a buzkashi game, Panjshir valley,
Afghanistan 190
vii