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  3. The race narrative in basketball : exposed by the 2014 NBA draft
Title

The race narrative in basketball : exposed by the 2014 NBA draft

    Item Description
    Limited Access
    The author(s) chose to restrict access to this thesis to current Whitman students, faculty, and staff. Please log in to view it.
    Linked Agent
    Creator (cre): Lippi, Dominic Gerard
    Advisor (adv): Hayes, Heather Ashley
    Department (dpt): Whitman College. Rhetoric Studies
    Date
    December 12, 2014
    Graduation Year
    2015
    Abstract

    This paper reveals a racialized narrative existing within the media coverage surrounding the 2014 NBA Draft. The TV analysts for the NBA Combine and NBA Draft, along with player interviews, expose this narrative through the discussion of players’ potential and projection of how they will play in the NBA. The analysts are covering these players for the first time on a professional level, before the players have even competed in an NBA game, meaning this event serves as the operative factor in the reputation and discourse surrounding of these athletes going forward. I reveal how white players are assumed to be high character and hard working players, while black players are assumed to be elite athletes and raw talents. My exposition of this racialized narrative reaffirms the culturally implicative conclusions drawn in existing studies by scholars within rhetoric’s subfield of race and sports, in regard to identity construction, racial stereotyping, and societal constructs. Furthermore, evidence to the lasting effects of this racialized narrative is shown by telling statistics of each race’s chances of receiving a job in the NBA after their playing careers are over.

    Subject
    National Basketball Association
    Racism in sports -- United States
    Athletes, Black
    Athletes, White
    Mass media and sports -- Typecasting
    Stereotypes (Social psychology) in mass media
    Professional athletes -- Press coverage
    Narratives -- Media
    Rhetoric
    Academic theses
    Whitman College 2015 -- Dissertation collection -- Rhetoric Studies
    Geographic Subject
    United States
    Genre
    Theses
    Extent
    46 pages
    Permanent URL
    http://works.whitman.edu/20151068
    Rights
    http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
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