Download or read book The Urban Geography of Boxing written by Benita Heiskanen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating analysis of power relations embedded in sport, culture, and society combines ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and theoretical analysis to offer a timely interdisciplinary perspective to existing scholarship on boxing. It will be of interest to readers in Sport Studies, Cultural Studies, Cultural Geography, Gender Studies, Critical Race Theory, Labor Studies, and American Studies.
Download or read book The Urban Geography of Boxing written by Benita Heiskanen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-31 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an interdisciplinary cultural examination of twenty-first century boxing as a professional sport, a bodily labor, a lucrative business, a popular entertainment, and an instrument of ideology. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted with Latino boxers, women boxers, and boxing insiders in Texas, it discusses boxing from the vantage point of the sundry players, who are involved with it: the labor force, promoters, handlers, ringside officials, medical professionals, media, and the audiences. The various parties have multiple stakes in the sport. For some, boxing is about physical empowerment; others are in it for the money; some deploy it for ideological purposes; yet others use it to claim their 15-minutes of fame, and frequently the various interests overlap. In this book, Benita Heiskanen makes a broader connection between boxing and the spatial organization of racialized, class-based, and gendered bodies within particular urban geographies. Journeying actual sites where the sport is organized, such as the barrio, boxing gym, and competition venues, she maps the ways in which boxing insiders negotiate a variety of conflicting agendas at local, regional, and national scales. Beyond the United States, the worker-athletes conduct their labor within global socioeconomic conditions, business networks, and legal principles. Through this sporting context, Heiskanen’s discussion discloses some complex socio-historical, cultural, and political power relations between urban margins and centers, with ramifications far beyond boxing. This book will be of interest to readers in Sport Studies, Cultural Studies, Cultural Geography, Gender Studies, Critical Race Theory, Labor Studies, and American Studies.
Download or read book Boxing written by Gerald R. Gems and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-03-13 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sports fans have long been fascinated with boxing and the brutal demonstration of physical and psychological conflict. Accounts of the sport appear as far back as the third millennium BC, and Greek and Roman sculptors depicted the athletic ideals of the ancient era in the form of boxers. In the present day, boxers such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Robinson, Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. are recognized throughout the world. Boxing films continue to resonate with audiences, from the many Rocky movies to Raging Bull, The Fighter, Million Dollar Baby, and Ali. In Boxing: A Concise History of the Sweet Science, Gerald R. Gems provides a succinct yet wide ranging treatment of the sport, covering boxing’s ancient roots and its evolution, modernization, and global diffusion. The book not only includes a historical account of boxing, but also explores such issues as social class, race, ethnic rivalries, religious influences, gender issues, and the growth of female boxing. The current debates over the moral and ethical issues relative to the sport are also discussed. While the primary coverage of the political, social, and cultural impacts of boxing focuses on the United States, Gems’ examination encompasses the sport on a global level, as well. Covering important issues and events in the history of boxing and featuring numerous photographs, Boxing: A Concise History of the Sweet Science will be of interest to boxing fans, historians, scholars, and those wanting to learn more about the sport.
Download or read book On Boxing written by Joseph D Lewandowski and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-10-03 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a philosophical and cultural critique of contemporary boxing. It broadens and deepens our understanding of the empirically and normatively entwined complexities of a sport that is often misunderstood and all too easily reduced to stereotypes. Moving between and among work in ethnography, sociology, urban studies and, especially, the philosophy of sport, and drawing on research in boxing gyms in the US, the book presents a stereoscopic view of professional boxing as both situated cultural practice and formalized competitive sport. It takes us inside and outside the ring in discussions of the cultural embeddedness of boxing and boxing gyms, the formation of pugilistic selfhood and ‘boxer cool’, the nature and function of combat sport violence and sparring, and the aesthetics and ethics of cornering a boxing match. With its interdisciplinary focus on the empirical and normative dimensions of professional pugilism, On Boxing makes explicit the bittersweetness of the ‘sweet science’ and provides a new theoretical framework for analysing boxing and, indeed, sport in general. Written for a broad audience, this is important reading for scholars and students working in the areas of philosophy and sociology of sport and combat sport studies, as well as policy makers, coaches, and commentators engaged in the sport of boxing.
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Boxing written by Gerald Early and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-24 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While humans have used their hands to engage in combat since the dawn of man, boxing originated in Ancient Greece as an Olympic event. It is one of the most popular, controversial and misunderstood sports in the world. For its advocates, it is a heroic expression of unfettered individualism. For its critics, it is a depraved and ruthless physical and commercial exploitation of mostly poor young men. This Companion offers engaging and informative essays about the social impact and historical importance of the sport of boxing. It includes a comprehensive chronology of the sport, listing all the important events and personalities. Essays examine topics such as women in boxing, boxing and the rise of television, boxing in Africa, boxing and literature, and boxing and Hollywood films. A unique book for scholars and fans alike, this Companion explores the sport from its inception in Ancient Greece to the death of its most celebrated figure, Muhammad Ali.
Download or read book A History of Women s Boxing written by Malissa Smith and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-06-05 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Records of modern female boxing date back to the early eighteenth century in London, and in the 1904 Olympics an exhibition bout between women was held. Yet it was not until the 2012 Olympics—more than 100 years later—that women’s boxing was officially added to the Games. Throughout boxing’s history, women have fought in and out of the ring to gain respect in a sport traditionally considered for men alone. The stories of these women are told for the first time in this comprehensive work dedicated to women’s boxing. A History of Women’s Boxing traces the sport back to the 1700s, through the 2012 Olympic Games, and up to the present. Inside-the-ring action is brought to life through photographs, newspaper clippings, and anecdotes, as are the stories of the women who played important roles outside the ring, from spectators and judges to managers and trainers. This book includes extensive profiles of the sport’s pioneers, including Barbara Buttrick whose plucky carnival shows launched her professional boxing career in the 1950s; sixteen-year-old Dallas Malloy who single-handedly overturned the strictures against female amateur boxing in 1993; the famous “boxing daughters” Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier-Lyde; and teenager Claressa Shields, the first American woman to win a boxing gold medal at the Olympics. Rich in detail and exhaustively researched, this book illuminates the struggles, obstacles, and successes of the women who fought—and continue to fight—for respect in their sport. A History of Women’s Boxing is a must-read for boxing fans, sports historians, and for those interested in the history of women in sports.
Download or read book Fighting Identity written by Amit Singh and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-10-21 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an immersive ethnographic account of how fighters at a Polish-owned Muay Thai/kickboxing gym in East London seek to reject prior identity markers in favour of constructing one another as the same, as fighters, a category supposedly free from the negative assumptions and limitations associated with prior ascriptions such as race, class, gender and sexuality. It explores questions of subjectivity and identity by examining how and why fighters sought to disavow identity, which involved casting aside pre-established ways of thinking, feeling and acting about constructed differences to forge deep bonds of carnal convivial friendships. Yet, this book argues that becoming a fighter is highly socially contingent and remains subject to rupture due to the durability of taken-for-granted thinking about race, gender and sexuality, which, if drawn upon, could pull people out of the category of fighter and back into longer-standing durable categories. This book deploys Butler's theory of performativity and Bourdieu's conceptualisation of habitus to explore the context-specific ways people transgress identity whilst remaining attentive to the constrained nature of agency. The book is intended for undergraduate and master's students on courses looking at race, racism, gender, social anthropology, sociology and sociology of sport.
Download or read book Boxing the Gym and Men written by Jérôme Beauchez and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the lived experiences of boxers in a French banlieue, largely populated by people from working-class and immigrant backgrounds. Jérôme Beauchez, who joined in the men’s daily workouts for many years, analyzes the act of boxing as a high-stakes confrontation that extends well beyond the walls of the gym. Exploring the physical and existential realities of combat, the author provides a multifaceted “thick description” of this world and shows that the violence faced by the gym’s members is not so much to be found in the ring as in the adversity of everyday racism and social exclusion. Boxing can therefore be understood as an act of resistance that is about more than simply fighting an opponent and that reflects all the existential struggles facing these men who are both stigmatized and socially dominated by race and class.
Download or read book Fighting Sports Gender and the Commodification of Violence written by Victoria E. Collins and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-04-07 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fighting Sports, Gender and the Commodification of Violence: Heavy Bag Heroines offers a glimpse into the cultural terrain of women's boxing as it manifests in everyday gyms for novice boxers. Taking an ethnographic approach, Victoria Collins examines broad understandings of gender, violence, self-defense, commodification, and health and fitness from the point of view of women who engage in the sport. Collins unpacks dominant assumptions about gender and the sport through the eyes of the women's understandings of gender norms, social assumptions about physicality, sexuality, as well as challenges to masculine and feminine performativity. Central to this study is the appropriation and marketing of the boxers' work out in cardio-boxing gym spaces (i.e. fitness boxing), where the sport has increasingly been packaged, commodified, and sold to predominantly middle class, white female consumers as a means to not only improve their health and fitness, but also as a means to defend themselves against a would-be attacker. The body project for women in the sport of boxing, therefore, should not only be framed as a form of resistance, but one of physical feminism.
Download or read book Female Olympian and Paralympian Events written by Linda K. Fuller and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-10-04 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Female Olympian and Paralympian Events is a groundbreaking book that examines women’s sports in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which have long been underappreciated and under-analyzed. The book begins with a brief background on women’s participation in the Olympic Games and their role relative to the International Olympic Committee, then introduces the underlying Gendered Critical Discourse Analysis theory used throughout the book’s analysis before delving into a literature review of female Olympians and Paralympians’ events. It includes a listing of noteworthy “firsts” in the field, followed by individual discussions of twenty-eight Summer and seven Winter events, analyzed according to their historical, rhetorical, and popular cultural representations. Women’s unique role(s) in the various events are discussed, particular athletes and Paralympic events are highlighted, and original tables are also included. At the end of each section, affiliated organizations and resources are included in this invaluable referential volume.
Download or read book Fighting Visibility written by Jennifer McClearen and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ultimate Fighting Championship and the present and future of women's sports Mixed martial arts stars like Amanda Nunes, Zhang Weili, and Ronda Rousey have made female athletes top draws in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Jennifer McClearen charts how the promotion incorporates women into its far-flung media ventures and investigates the complexities surrounding female inclusion. On the one hand, the undeniable popularity of cards headlined by women add much-needed diversity to the sporting landscape. On the other, the UFC leverages an illusion of promoting difference—whether gender, racial, ethnic, or sexual—to grow its empire with an inexpensive and expendable pool of female fighters. McClearen illuminates how the UFC's half-hearted efforts at representation generate profit and cultural cachet while covering up the fact it exploits women of color, lesbians, gender non-conforming women, and others. Thought provoking and timely, Fighting Visibility tells the story of how a sports entertainment phenomenon made difference a part of its brand—and the ways women paid the price for success.
Download or read book A Companion to American Sport History written by Steven A. Riess and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-03-26 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to American Sport History presents acollection of original essays that represent the firstcomprehensive analysis of scholarship relating to the growing fieldof American sport history. Presents the first complete analysis of the scholarshiprelating to the academic history of American sport Features contributions from many of the finest scholars workingin the field of American sport history Includes coverage of the chronology of sports from colonialtimes to the present day, including major sports such as baseball,football, basketball, boxing, golf, motor racing, tennis, and trackand field Addresses the relationship of sports to urbanization,technology, gender, race, social class, and genres such as sportsbiography Awarded 2015 Best Anthology from the North American Society for Sport History (NASSH)
Download or read book John Huston as Adaptor written by Douglas McFarland and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2017-01-28 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that understanding Huston’s film adaptations of literary works is essential to understanding his oeuvre as a filmmaker. John Huston as Adaptor makes the case that adaptation is the salient element in Huston’s identity as a filmmaker and that his early and deep attraction to the experience of reading informed his approach to film adaptation. Thirty-four of Huston’s thirty-seven films were adaptations of literary texts, and they stand as serious interpretations of literary works that could only be made by an astute reader of literature. Indeed, Huston asserted that a film director should be above all else a reader and that reading itself should be the intellectual and emotional basis for filmmaking. The seventeen essays in this volume not only address Huston as an adaptor, but also offer an approach to adaptation studies that has been largely overlooked. How an adaptor reads, the works to which he is drawn, and how his literary interpretations can be brought to the screen without relegating film to a subservient role are some of the issues addressed by the contributors. An introductory chapter identifies Huston as the quintessential Hollywood adaptor and argues that his skill at adaptation is the mark of his authorial signature. The chapters that follow focus on fifteen of Huston’s most important films, including The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), The African Queen (1951), The Night of the Iguana (1964), Under the Volcano (1984), and The Dead (1987), and are divided into three areas: aesthetics and textuality; history and social context; and theory and psychoanalysis. By offering a more comprehensive account of the centrality of adaptation to Huston’s films, John Huston as Adaptor offers a greater understanding of Huston as a filmmaker. Douglas McFarland is a retired Professor of English at Flagler College. Wesley King is Assistant Professor of English at Flagler College.
Download or read book Boxing Narrative and Culture written by Sarah Crews and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-10-16 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Boxing, Narrative and Culture: Critical Perspectives is the first interdisciplinary response to the dominant boxing narratives that are produced, performed and circulated in commercial boxing culture. This collection includes global perspectives on boxing. It highlights the diverse range of bodies and communities that engage with boxing practices but are oftentimes overlooked and overwritten by popular narrative tropes and misconceptions of the sport. These interdisciplinary and global perspectives engage with boxing’s shared narrative resources, offering new readings and insights on how and what boxing performs and for whom. The contributors to this collection are academics, artists, amateur boxers, and/or coaches who provide a culture critique of boxing. The work shows how boxing practices are performed and channelled by individuals and communities who access and utilise boxing culture as a means of physical enquiry, political statement, and community building. These contributions challenge the notion that boxing is a sport reserved for masculine bodies adorned as heroes, warriors, or victims of the sport. Exploring key themes in socio-cultural studies including gender, race, community, media and performance, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in physical culture, sport studies, cultural studies, gender studies, cultural geography, critical race theory, labour studies, performance studies or media studies.
Download or read book Come Out Swinging written by Lucia Trimbur and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-25 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A nuanced insider's account of everyday life in the last remaining institution of New York's golden age of boxing Gleason's Gym is the last remaining institution of New York's Golden Age of boxing. Jake LaMotta, Muhammad Ali, Hector Camacho, Mike Tyson—the alumni of Gleason's are a roster of boxing greats. Founded in the Bronx in 1937, Gleason's moved in the mid-1980s to what has since become one of New York's wealthiest residential areas—Brooklyn's DUMBO. Gleason's has also transformed, opening its doors to new members, particularly women and white-collar men. Come Out Swinging is Lucia Trimbur's nuanced insider's account of a place that was once the domain of poor and working-class men of color but is now shared by rich and poor, male and female, black and white, and young and old. Come Out Swinging chronicles the everyday world of the gym. Its diverse members train, fight, talk, and socialize together. We meet amateurs for whom boxing is a full-time, unpaid job. We get to know the trainers who act as their father figures and mentors. We are introduced to women who empower themselves physically and mentally. And we encounter the male urban professionals who pay handsomely to learn to box, and to access a form of masculinity missing from their office-bound lives. Ultimately, Come Out Swinging reveals how Gleason's meets the needs of a variety of people who, despite their differences, are connected through discipline and sport.
Download or read book Host Cities and the Olympics written by Harry H. Hiller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rather than interpreting the Olympics as primarily a sporting event of international or national significance, this book understands the Games as a civic project for the host city that serves as a catalyst for a variety of urban interests over a period of many years from the bidding phase through the event itself. Traditional Olympic studies have tended to examine the Games from an outsider's perspective or as something experienced through the print media or television. In contrast, the focus presented here is on the dynamics within the host city understood as a community of interacting individuals who encounter the Games in a variety of ways through support, opposition, or even indifference but who have a profound influence on the outcome of the Games as actors and players in the Olympics as a drama. Adopting a symbolic interactionist approach, the book offers a new interpretive model through which to understand the Olympic Games by exploring the relationship between the Games and residents of the host city. Key analytical concepts such as framing, dramaturgy, the public realm, and the symbolic field are introduced and illustrated through empirical research from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, and it is shown how the social media and shifts in public opinion reflected interaction effects within the city. By filling a clear lacuna in the Olympic Studies canon, this book is important reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology of sport, urban studies, event studies or urban sociology.
Download or read book Masculinities in Contemporary American Culture written by Thomas Keith and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-01-12 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Masculinities in Contemporary American Culture offers readers a multidisciplinary, intersectional overview of masculinity studies that includes both theoretical and applied lenses. Keith combines current research with historical perspectives to demonstrate the contexts in which masculine identities have come evolved. With an emphasis on popular culture -- particularly film, TV, video games, and music -- this text invites students to examine their gendered sensibilities and discuss the ways in which different forms of media appeal to toxic masculinity.
