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 44: The Culture of Abuse in Swimming with Katherine Starr
Episode 43: The Golden Age of Black Swimming with Kevin Dawson
Episode 42: Cheer, College Football, and Suffering as Virtue with Amanda Mull
Episode 41: “Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back” with Kavitha Davidson and Jessica Luther
Episode 40: On the Player Strikes
Episode 39: 'Everyone On Screen Has Tested Negative' by Hannah Ensor
Episode 38: Fascism, Coloniality, and Sport with Zoé Samudzi
Episode 37: Olympic Sport on the New Plantation with Tezira Abe
Episode 36: Solidarity Forever with Kain Colter
Episode 35: Reimagining College Sport with Ricky Volante
Episode 34: Athlete A and Gymnastics Culture with Jennifer Sey
Episode 33: The Sports Industrial Complex with Kevin Blackistone
Episode 32: College Revenue Athlete Special with Hunter Reynolds and Benjamin St-Juste of College Athlete Unity and Miles Lester
Episode 31: Maya Moore, the Activist Athlete with Kurt Streeter
Episode 30: Teaching Capitalism to Americans: The Karolyis Come Stateside with Geza Pozsar
Episode 29: “Their System was Much More Brutal…”: The Karolyi Way in Communist Romania with Geza Pozsar
Episode 28, Part II: History and Harm in Gymnastics with Georgia Cervin
Episode 28, Part I: History and Harm in Gymnastics with Georgia Cervin
Episode 27: The Language of Race and Sport with Kelly E. Wright
Episode 26: #NotYourMascot with Jacqueline Keeler
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