Youth Culture and Sport

Author BiographyMichael D. Giardina, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Advertising & Cultural Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Michele K. Donnelly is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Sociology at McMaster University. Her research is focused on feminist and critical sociology of gender, power, and sport.

• Introduction: Youth Culture & Sport in New Millennial Times 1. American Jordan: P.L. A.Y., Consensus, and Punishment 2. Midnight Basketball & the Cultural Politics of Recreation, Race, & At-Risk Urban Youth 3. The Popular Racial Order of ‘Urban’ America: Sport, Identity, & the Politics of Culture 4. White Masculinities and Youth Sport in America 5. It can Get Ugly on the Diamond: Examining White Privilege in Little League Baseball 6. Virtual Playing Fields: Children’s Video Games and the Infantilization of Contemporary Athletes 7. Care of the Young Sporting Self: Race, Gender, & Citizenship in Athletic Training Manuals 8. Babes & Boards: Action Sports Advertising and the Performance of Youthful Identity 9. All-Girls Snowboard Camps: Empowerment through Segregation? 10. Contesting Femininity through Women’s Rugby 11. From Babies to Ballers: Feminism, Race, and Girl’s Youth Basketball 12. TomBoys, TomGrils, and Gender Performativity in Youth Sport. Coda: Where Do We Go From Here?

"Giardina (advertising and cultural studies, U. of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign) and Donnelly, a doctoral candidate in sociology at McMaster U. in Canada, assemble 10 essays that critically examine the cultural aspects of youth and sport, challenging contemporary narratives of the topic. Contributors from the US and Canada address the interrelationship of the politics of culture, extreme/action sports and cultural branding, video games, and identity practices among its youth participants, and aspects of race, regarding African American and indigenous populations. Others consider Little League baseball, the politics of whiteness, America's icon of a suburban girl athlete during the Cold War, skater girls and gender identity, masculinity and skateboarding and snowboarding in Canada, and mothers who are athletes." -- Book News Inc., August 2008