Identifier
etd-1115102-003746
Degree
Master of Arts in Liberal Arts (MALA)
Department
Liberal Arts
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
This paper looks at the effects of professional basketball on white culture. Traditional scholarship focuses on the impact this has on the African-American community. Very little attention is given to its effects on white America. The focus of this paper is to examine whiteness and to understand how it is socially constructed. In addition, this paper will examine how some elements of black style have been appropriated by white America and changed the definition of whiteness in America. White America's appropriation of limited aspects of black style has been facilitated by the culture that is associated with professional basketball. The economic and social contributions of these athletes have expanded the boundaries of traditional whiteness. This paper presents the argument that the parameters of historical whiteness has expanded to include certain elements of blackness, but this pattern does not alter traditional racist ideology.
Date
2002
Document Availability at the Time of Submission
Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.
Recommended Citation
Buras, Bradburn Virgil, "Sport, and the changing definition of whiteness" (2002). LSU Master's Theses. 3795.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/3795
Committee Chair
Leonard Moore
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_theses.3795