By Dr. Vernon Andrews
The manuscript is the culmination of two decades of athlete interviews and surveys on the politics of “appropriate” sports behavior, rules committees, why Black and White athletes behave the way they do on the field, and five decades of observing sports in places as varied as Oakland to New Zealand, Australia, Scotland and Wales.
By Dr. Vernon Andrews
Utilizing examples from sport and everyday interactions, the author interrogates a sample of social theories that deal with situated social activity. The goal is to continue broadening our perceptions of black knowledge of social behavior. Many African Americans resist past ways of knowing white power and control. Still others of us will continually see ourselves on stage and see bicultural scenarios through the double consciousness lens.
By Dr. Vernon Andrews
How do you get New Zealand students excited and engaged in learning about U.S. sport when most do not know anything about the rules or history of U.S. sport, especially the cultural history surrounding baseball, football and basketball? One general pedagogical rule I have learned here is not to make the U.S.A. (and sport) the only focus of a course. Thus, teaching American Sports Culture in New Zealand is not only about educating students on yet another American institution fraught with racism, sexism and homophobia, but also about educating students about American culture and history, the proclivities and peculiarities of American sports and fans, and how these all relate to situating one‘s own culture and sport as an institution in society – particularly New Zealand sport and society. Read more >>
By Dr. Vernon Andrews
Ralph Ellison was once quoted by David W. Stone in Lingua France on the influence of African American cultural customs on American life by saying, “Without the presence of Negro American style our jokes, our tall tales, even our sports would be lacking in the sudden turns, the shocks, the swift changes of pace (all jazz-shaped) that serve to remind us that the world is ever unexplored, and that while a complete mastery of life is mere illusion, the real secret of the game is to make life swing” (p. 71). Indeed, Ellison pointed out what many would consider the essence of leisure life in America: joking, storytelling, participating in sports, playing jazz and other music forms, and making life swing and having fun. Ellison notes that the specific cultural way African Americans perform their leisure and life has added to the mix of what makes Americans unique in so many ways. Read more >>
By Dr. Vernon Andrews
And there I was—frozen stiff—amid the huddled masses on the Washington Mall waiting for Barack Obama to walk onto the stage and place his hand on the Bible and declare that life for black folks and white folks would change forever in America. My hands were swollen and red; my feet had no feeling. It was 18 degrees in the sunshine, and I had to be the only person out there with no gloves, no long johns and no wool socks. Read more >>
By Dr. Vernon Andrews
At the turn of the last century, W.E.B. Du Bois wrote that the problem of the 20th century would be the problem of the color line. Du Bois was concerned with racial equality, institutional inclusion and increasing the social and economic power of non-whites in American society (Du Bois, 1904). Since this declaration, researchers have been fascinated by the enduring problem and social puzzle of racial harmony in America, power-sharing and economic equality. Read more >>