`Ben Carrington's book makes a striking contribution to a critical understanding of the troubled relationship between sport and "race". In creating a rare discursive space from which "the black athlete" can speak beyond the usual cliches, and challenging insidious essentialisms that aspire to be progressive, he demonstrates convincingly the deep influence of sport on contemporary racialised meanings and ideologies. David Rowe, Centre for Cultural Research (CCR), University of Western Sydney
`Ben Carrington's book Race, Sport and Politics offers a valuable addition to the field. It is a fresh, lively and stimulating discussion that should constitute a key starting point for all lecturers, students and general readers with an interest in sport and culture.' Garry Whannel, Centre for International Media Analysis, Research and Consultancy (CIMARC), University of Bedfordshire
`In this intellectual tour-de-force, Carrington navigates the troubling contradictions of race and sports, helping us see that when we forgo blind celebration of the exploits of black athletes we might see new paths for racial progress.' Patricia Hill Collins, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland
Written by one of the leading international authorities on the sociology of race and sport, this is the first book to addresses sport's role in `the making of race', the place of sport within black diasporic struggles for freedom and equality, and the contested location of sport in relation to the politics of recognition within contemporary multicultural societies.
Race, Sport and Politics shows how, during the first decades of the twentieth century, the idea of `the natural black athlete' was invented in order to make sense of and curtail the political impact and cultural achievements of black sportswomen and men. More recently, `the black athlete' as sign has become a highly commodified object within contemporary hyper-commercialized sports-media culture thus limiting the transformative potential of critically conscious black athleticism to re-imagine what it means to be both black and human in the twenty-first century.
Race, Sport and Politics will be of interest to students and scholars in the sociology of culture and sport, sociology of race and diaspora studies, postcolonial theory, cultural theory and cultural studies.
