Lakota basketball and racism: Performance, performativity, and engaged acrimony.

Summary: Sporting contests between communities actively engaged in societal struggle comprise an event I call "engaged acrimony." In these sporting contests, ideas of sport as promoting harmony get tested and often give way to demonstrations of vitriol that mirror actual relations. In this article,...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Anthropology & Humanism Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 299 - 311
Autor principal: Klein, Alan
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Dec2023
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Summary: Sporting contests between communities actively engaged in societal struggle comprise an event I call "engaged acrimony." In these sporting contests, ideas of sport as promoting harmony get tested and often give way to demonstrations of vitriol that mirror actual relations. In this article, I discuss Lakota basketball teams from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as they played against neighboring white teams, examining how their responses to racism were safely expressed within and around sporting events. I analyze two of the best‐known instances of engaged acrimony using Turner's sense of performance and Butler's theory of performativity. In doing so, I offer an understanding of how Native communities can fashion an empowering response to racism.