Race/ Ethnicity & Idengeneity

Question 1

what is race?

Answer 1

Biological similarities among certain groups of people

• some people do not believe in ‘race’ as a term

Question 2

what is ethnicity?

Answer 2

social contructions of “race”

• cultural activites, values, language, traditions shared among groups
• societal expectaions and assumptions from these “ethnicity roles”

Question 3

what is colonization?

Answer 3

• white europeans began colonizing the world and assumed peoples were a different “species” of human
• they assumed that they were “normal” and different variations were deviant, immoral, irrational, or primative

Question 4

how did white people justify their behaviours?

Answer 4

• religion: believed they were doing good
• science: developed racial classifications that supported their viewpoints

Question 5

what were the 3 racial classification theories?

Answer 5

1) social darwinism: “natural selection”, “survival of the fittest”
2) Eugenics: forcef sterilization and marriage prohibitions of certain apparently “less desirable” members of society
ex: mental/physical disability, low IQ, etc.
3) Nazi Holocaust: Racial classification of “problematic” groups

Question 6

what is prejudice?

Answer 6

positive, or negative values assigned to assumed characteristics of a member of a particular group

Question 7

what is an example of race logic?

Answer 7

the ideology of ‘natural black athleticism’

• assuming that the dominance of blacks in sports is due primarily to innate biological differences between races

Question 8

law of compensation pervades what?

Answer 8

• the assumption that natural black athleticism comes with a price of being limited intellectually

AKA racial stacking

ex: white quarterback, black receivers

Question 9

what are some sociological factors to consider with different athletes?

Answer 9

• access to high altitude training
• diet/nutrition
• access to high quality coaching
• viable role models

Question 10

what is the ‘hunger fighter’ theory?

Answer 10

sport has a perception of being ‘accessible’ for people in north america

ex: black athletes are over-represented mostly in inexpensive sports (track, basketball, football)

Question 11

what is racial stacking?

Answer 11

athletes pushed into certain positions within a team based on racially-derived assumptions about their abilities/inabilities, connected to race logic

ex: white quarterbacks, black runners

Question 12

why is racial stacking an ongoing problem?

Answer 12

• trends reproduced by white authority figures (teachers, managers)
• under-representations of black managers/coaches in key decision-making positions
• success requires living up to the standards set by whites and acting in ways that whites define as normal and appropriate

Question 13

what are the differences of how achievements were represented for whites/blacks?

Answer 13

whites:

• character (hard work)
• culture
• organization

Blacks:

• Biology
• Natural physical abilities (natural athleticism)

Question 14

how are black athletes generally represented in the media?

Answer 14

• animal like
• sex-obsessed
• uncontrollable
• self-centered
• desire white women
• arrogant
• savages

Question 15

what is white privilege?

Answer 15

the ‘invisible package of unearned assets’ that white people enjoy

• advantages, privileges and courtesies in society

Question 16

what is colour blindness

Answer 16

• whites are often unaware of privilege
• denouncing the significance race/racism as an issue
• considering moral/culteral values ssociated with whites as neutral, normal and ideal

Question 17

what are some examples of white privilege and colour-blindness in sport?

Answer 17

• disallowing baggy shorts
• denoucing its ‘gangsta’ image
• challanging the ‘bad boy’ behaviour
• banning elaborate touchdown football
• french open banning Serena Williams skin-tight outfit in tennis

Question 18

what was the aim with the ‘black lives matter’ movement?

Answer 18

Primarily aimed at highlighting white privilege in the US

• Colin Kaepernick became the face of this movement in sport

Question 19

how is white privilege seen in relation to Native mascots/team names?

Answer 19

• Created as an outcome of white privilege
• Ignorance of harm caused by Native mascots/names is an example of colour-blindness

Question 20

why is it bad that we use indigineous names for sports?

Answer 20

• they remove opportunities for Indigineous people to define themselves and promote their ownership

Question 21

what have been some success that protest brought about?

Answer 21

• in 2005, the NCAA issued a ban on college teams usin potentially offensive names
• In 2014, Cleveland Indians phased out Cheid Wahoo

The struggle is still far from being over

Question 22

what is the truth and reconciliation commission?

Answer 22

3200- page document of numerous stories of neglect, abuse and trauma

Question 23

what were the aims of the TRC?

Answer 23

• to investigate the residential school system from 2008-2015, providing a platform and voice for 6000+ witnesses to recount experiences

Question 24

what role did sport play in the context of residential schools?

Answer 24

• helps us understand the development of native/non-native relations
• sport/rec had potential to be:
• site of cultural struggles and contested meanings of the body (how it should be used, displayed and conceptualized)
• tool for both colonization and resistance processes