In this episode, Johanna is joined by repeat guest and close friend of the show, interdisciplinary scholar extraordinaire Kelly Wright. We discuss and compare the media's reactions to Angel Reese during 2023's March Madness to a white German commentator's remark about the Moroccan World Cup team's gesture last summer. After recapping for us what happened with and against Reese, Kelly shares her agreement with and expands upon Letisha Brown's excellent First and Pen analysis: how the incident exemplified the dehumanization of Black people under our white supremacy, as well as how Reese's response could not have addressed sports' anti-Blackness and misogynoir in a better way. We also refer back to Kelly's insights from her prior episode about the white gaze of sports scouts and extend it to the mainstream media landscape that spewed racism and misogynoir against Reese. Kelly emphasizes how speech is an act, and not just words; hand gestures and body movements (and responses to them) are actions too, and we must analyze them as such regarding systemic violence and resistance to it. We pivot to the racism at the 2022 Men's World Cup: when a white German commentator chose to describe the Moroccan player's hand gesture as an "Islamic State gesture " (folks, he held up his index finger to suggest #1, like athletes do worldwide). We discuss sporting nationalism and whiteness in relation to this incident. Considering the German state's insistence that criticism of Israel is antisemitic, we briefly talk about how this fits into Germany's nationalist use of Holocaust commemoration for anti-Arab racism.
Episode 84: The Sports Media Problem with Adam H. Johnson
Episode 83: Progress for Whom? With Britni de la Cretaz
Episode 82: Higher Ed is Imploding! with Asheesh Kapur Siddique
Episode 81: ‘Family,‘ Race, and College Football with Tracie Canada
Episode 80: Inside/Out of the Sports Media Complex with Joel D. Anderson
Episode 79: Status Coercion in College Sport with Erin Hatton
Episode 78: “Understanding Gymnastics on its Own Terms” with Dvora Meyers, Part II
Episode 77: “Understanding Gymnastics on its Own Terms” with Dvora Meyers, Part I
Episode 76: Abolishing the Olympics with Jonny Coleman of NOlympics LA
Episode 75: Unfiltered with Kaiya McCullough
Episode 74: Buying Unicorns with Dogecoin at the Tokyo Olympics with Jules Boykoff
Episode 73: On the Rich Aquatic History of the Black Diaspora with Naji Ali
Episode 72: College Sport 'Apocalypse'
Episode 71: On Trans and Non-Binary Sporting Inclusion with Verity Smith and Abby Barras
Episode 70: Gender Expansive Gymnastics with Half In, Half Out
Episode 69: One Year
Episode 68: How Texas Changed the Culture of Athletics with Frank Guridy
Episode 67: Black Feminism and Contemporary Sports Culture with Dr. Letisha Brown
Episode 66: The Plantation Dynamics of College Sport
Episode 65: College Football and the Re-making of Oklahoma with Andrew McGregor
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