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"In Mexican American communities in the central United States, the modern tradition of playing fastpitch softball has been passed from generation to generation. This ethnic sporting practice is kept alive through annual tournaments, the longest-running of which were founded in the 1940s, when softball was a ubiquitous form of recreation, and the so-called "Mexican American generation" born to immigrant parents was coming of age. Carrying on with fastpitch into the second or third generation of players even as wider interest in the sport has waned, these historically Mexican American…mehr
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"In Mexican American communities in the central United States, the modern tradition of playing fastpitch softball has been passed from generation to generation. This ethnic sporting practice is kept alive through annual tournaments, the longest-running of which were founded in the 1940s, when softball was a ubiquitous form of recreation, and the so-called "Mexican American generation" born to immigrant parents was coming of age. Carrying on with fastpitch into the second or third generation of players even as wider interest in the sport has waned, these historically Mexican American tournaments now function as reunions that allow people to maintain ties to a shared past, and to remember the decades of segregation when Mexican Americans' citizenship was unfairly questioned. In this multi-sited ethnography, Ben Chappell conveys the importance of fastpitch in the ordinary yearly life of Mexican American communities from Kansas City to Houston. Traveling to tournaments, he interviews players and fans, strikes up conversations in the bleachers, takes in the atmosphere in the heat of competition, and combs through local and personal archives. Recognizing fastpitch as a practice of cultural citizenship, Chappell situates the sport within a history marked by migration, marginalization, solidarity, and struggle, through which Mexican Americans have navigated complex negotiations of cultural, national, and local identities"--
Produktdetails
- Produktdetails
- Verlag: Stanford University Press
- Seitenzahl: 216
- Erscheinungstermin: 17. August 2021
- Englisch
- Abmessung: 232mm x 154mm x 20mm
- Gewicht: 386g
- ISBN-13: 9781503609969
- ISBN-10: 1503609960
- Artikelnr.: 60102219
- Verlag: Stanford University Press
- Seitenzahl: 216
- Erscheinungstermin: 17. August 2021
- Englisch
- Abmessung: 232mm x 154mm x 20mm
- Gewicht: 386g
- ISBN-13: 9781503609969
- ISBN-10: 1503609960
- Artikelnr.: 60102219
Ben Chappell is Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Kansas.
Contents and Abstracts
Introduction
chapter abstract
The Introduction presents fastpitch softball as a sport that has been
historically of interest to Mexican Americans, who have used it as a
cultural resource to navigate their history and identity in the United
States. A tradition of playing softball in Mexican American communities is
an example of sport as cultural poetics on the vernacular scale.
1Mexican Questions
chapter abstract
This chapter develops the historical frame for fastpitch as part of a long
saga of Mexican people's contested belonging in the United States. This
history examines the expansion of the United States by military conquest
and the attendant racialization of Mexicans for purposes of Anglo
domination. It includes over a century of Mexicans making their home in the
center of what is now the United States, including Kansas, and effectively
creating the region I call mid-América through travel and interaction with
the southern borderlands, mainly Texas. Mexican American fastpitch emerged
close in time to famous moments in political mobilization for civil rights
and equality. Against this backdrop, athletic clubs and tournaments were
among the vernacular organizations through which people have negotiated
questions of belonging and identity.
2Hecho in America con Mexican Parts
chapter abstract
This chapter focuses on softball as a national pastime in the early
twentieth-century United States and the segregated everyday life of barrio
communities as the ground on which Mexican American fastpitch teams and
tournaments emerged. Recognizing how fastpitch is deeply embedded in social
relationships is key to understanding the enduring interest and commitment
to the sport that are evident in Mexican mid-América. Within that social
base, I suggest that softball provided Mexican American communities with a
source of both competition and camaraderie.
3Home Teams: Making Place for Mexican Tournaments
chapter abstract
This chapter digs into specific tournaments, playing fields where they took
place, and the teams that hosted them in order to represent the process of
building a racial tradition of sport. As Mexican American communities did
this, they negotiated a shifting balance between tournaments as barrio
institutions invested in particular people and relationships and as a
staging ground for those interested in bringing their athletic capabilities
to a broader field of competition. The relative merits and limitations of
remaining identified as a "Mexican tournament" as opposed to "opening up"
in different ways remain debatable, even as the boundaries established
under segregation crumble and fade. This remains true for the identity of
tournaments across changing circumstances, as well as for the people
personally and collectively invested in them.
4Ballplayers in Barrio Life
chapter abstract
This chapter examines the "ballplayer" identity that playing fastpitch
produced in barrio communities. As a kind of discipline of self-making,
being a ballplayer provided Mexican Americans with a resource to counter
racist constructions of Mexicanness. Part of what made the prospect of
being a ballplayer a path to prestige was that it offered a means of
performing valorized and legible versions of masculinity. This process
produced local legends who distinguished themselves on the field. But many
former players maintain that a more important outcome was the camaraderie
among ballplayers and their communities, fostering enduring relationships
that were ultimately more valuable even than victory in the game.
5Men and Women in Gendered Fastpitch
chapter abstract
This chapter further develops the implications of the fact that modern
sport is socially gendered, including softball itself in particularly
complicated ways. Recognizing that fastpitch has been celebrated as a
Mexican American tradition mostly as an activity of men, contrary to the
mainstream of fastpitch today, I highlight some of the women who have
participated in this tradition and claim it as theirs. As the position of
softball in the gender-divided field of sport has changed over the past
century, I argue that the social base of Mexican American fastpitch has
made it a resource that can be shared across generations.
6Between the Lines: Softball as Utopian Form
chapter abstract
This chapter draws on scholarship that treats sport as a symbolic or
narrative idiom to unpack how softball is articulated with Mexican American
experience. I consider the narratives specific to softball and baseball in
terms of the appeal they might hold in a Mexican American context. These
include enactments of individual-collective relationships, opportunity, and
meritocracy that are part of the formal structure of the game. Reading
these narrative forms against the ongoing political dynamics of Mexican
identity in the United States shows the particular relation of softball to
the larger social formation. Despite the fact that softball and baseball
have at times played an ideological role to support unequal social
relations, sport functions differently for Mexican Americans, when the
demarcated space of the playing field takes on utopian meanings in the ways
that it contrasts with social life.
Conclusion: Patriotic, But We Love Our Culture Too
chapter abstract
The conclusion examines the view expressed by people involved in Mexican
American fastpitch that their sport of choice is their "culture,"
understanding that term to signal a legitimate difference from a mainstream
national identity. This discussion underscores that the particular appeal
of fastpitch for its devotees is embedded in the ongoing dynamics of
Mexican American history and experience. Indeed, maintaining a particular
tradition of playing the game is a way to materialize and recognize
people's relation to that history. Participants mark this relationship by
calling it culture.
Introduction
chapter abstract
The Introduction presents fastpitch softball as a sport that has been
historically of interest to Mexican Americans, who have used it as a
cultural resource to navigate their history and identity in the United
States. A tradition of playing softball in Mexican American communities is
an example of sport as cultural poetics on the vernacular scale.
1Mexican Questions
chapter abstract
This chapter develops the historical frame for fastpitch as part of a long
saga of Mexican people's contested belonging in the United States. This
history examines the expansion of the United States by military conquest
and the attendant racialization of Mexicans for purposes of Anglo
domination. It includes over a century of Mexicans making their home in the
center of what is now the United States, including Kansas, and effectively
creating the region I call mid-América through travel and interaction with
the southern borderlands, mainly Texas. Mexican American fastpitch emerged
close in time to famous moments in political mobilization for civil rights
and equality. Against this backdrop, athletic clubs and tournaments were
among the vernacular organizations through which people have negotiated
questions of belonging and identity.
2Hecho in America con Mexican Parts
chapter abstract
This chapter focuses on softball as a national pastime in the early
twentieth-century United States and the segregated everyday life of barrio
communities as the ground on which Mexican American fastpitch teams and
tournaments emerged. Recognizing how fastpitch is deeply embedded in social
relationships is key to understanding the enduring interest and commitment
to the sport that are evident in Mexican mid-América. Within that social
base, I suggest that softball provided Mexican American communities with a
source of both competition and camaraderie.
3Home Teams: Making Place for Mexican Tournaments
chapter abstract
This chapter digs into specific tournaments, playing fields where they took
place, and the teams that hosted them in order to represent the process of
building a racial tradition of sport. As Mexican American communities did
this, they negotiated a shifting balance between tournaments as barrio
institutions invested in particular people and relationships and as a
staging ground for those interested in bringing their athletic capabilities
to a broader field of competition. The relative merits and limitations of
remaining identified as a "Mexican tournament" as opposed to "opening up"
in different ways remain debatable, even as the boundaries established
under segregation crumble and fade. This remains true for the identity of
tournaments across changing circumstances, as well as for the people
personally and collectively invested in them.
4Ballplayers in Barrio Life
chapter abstract
This chapter examines the "ballplayer" identity that playing fastpitch
produced in barrio communities. As a kind of discipline of self-making,
being a ballplayer provided Mexican Americans with a resource to counter
racist constructions of Mexicanness. Part of what made the prospect of
being a ballplayer a path to prestige was that it offered a means of
performing valorized and legible versions of masculinity. This process
produced local legends who distinguished themselves on the field. But many
former players maintain that a more important outcome was the camaraderie
among ballplayers and their communities, fostering enduring relationships
that were ultimately more valuable even than victory in the game.
5Men and Women in Gendered Fastpitch
chapter abstract
This chapter further develops the implications of the fact that modern
sport is socially gendered, including softball itself in particularly
complicated ways. Recognizing that fastpitch has been celebrated as a
Mexican American tradition mostly as an activity of men, contrary to the
mainstream of fastpitch today, I highlight some of the women who have
participated in this tradition and claim it as theirs. As the position of
softball in the gender-divided field of sport has changed over the past
century, I argue that the social base of Mexican American fastpitch has
made it a resource that can be shared across generations.
6Between the Lines: Softball as Utopian Form
chapter abstract
This chapter draws on scholarship that treats sport as a symbolic or
narrative idiom to unpack how softball is articulated with Mexican American
experience. I consider the narratives specific to softball and baseball in
terms of the appeal they might hold in a Mexican American context. These
include enactments of individual-collective relationships, opportunity, and
meritocracy that are part of the formal structure of the game. Reading
these narrative forms against the ongoing political dynamics of Mexican
identity in the United States shows the particular relation of softball to
the larger social formation. Despite the fact that softball and baseball
have at times played an ideological role to support unequal social
relations, sport functions differently for Mexican Americans, when the
demarcated space of the playing field takes on utopian meanings in the ways
that it contrasts with social life.
Conclusion: Patriotic, But We Love Our Culture Too
chapter abstract
The conclusion examines the view expressed by people involved in Mexican
American fastpitch that their sport of choice is their "culture,"
understanding that term to signal a legitimate difference from a mainstream
national identity. This discussion underscores that the particular appeal
of fastpitch for its devotees is embedded in the ongoing dynamics of
Mexican American history and experience. Indeed, maintaining a particular
tradition of playing the game is a way to materialize and recognize
people's relation to that history. Participants mark this relationship by
calling it culture.
Contents and Abstracts
Introduction
chapter abstract
The Introduction presents fastpitch softball as a sport that has been
historically of interest to Mexican Americans, who have used it as a
cultural resource to navigate their history and identity in the United
States. A tradition of playing softball in Mexican American communities is
an example of sport as cultural poetics on the vernacular scale.
1Mexican Questions
chapter abstract
This chapter develops the historical frame for fastpitch as part of a long
saga of Mexican people's contested belonging in the United States. This
history examines the expansion of the United States by military conquest
and the attendant racialization of Mexicans for purposes of Anglo
domination. It includes over a century of Mexicans making their home in the
center of what is now the United States, including Kansas, and effectively
creating the region I call mid-América through travel and interaction with
the southern borderlands, mainly Texas. Mexican American fastpitch emerged
close in time to famous moments in political mobilization for civil rights
and equality. Against this backdrop, athletic clubs and tournaments were
among the vernacular organizations through which people have negotiated
questions of belonging and identity.
2Hecho in America con Mexican Parts
chapter abstract
This chapter focuses on softball as a national pastime in the early
twentieth-century United States and the segregated everyday life of barrio
communities as the ground on which Mexican American fastpitch teams and
tournaments emerged. Recognizing how fastpitch is deeply embedded in social
relationships is key to understanding the enduring interest and commitment
to the sport that are evident in Mexican mid-América. Within that social
base, I suggest that softball provided Mexican American communities with a
source of both competition and camaraderie.
3Home Teams: Making Place for Mexican Tournaments
chapter abstract
This chapter digs into specific tournaments, playing fields where they took
place, and the teams that hosted them in order to represent the process of
building a racial tradition of sport. As Mexican American communities did
this, they negotiated a shifting balance between tournaments as barrio
institutions invested in particular people and relationships and as a
staging ground for those interested in bringing their athletic capabilities
to a broader field of competition. The relative merits and limitations of
remaining identified as a "Mexican tournament" as opposed to "opening up"
in different ways remain debatable, even as the boundaries established
under segregation crumble and fade. This remains true for the identity of
tournaments across changing circumstances, as well as for the people
personally and collectively invested in them.
4Ballplayers in Barrio Life
chapter abstract
This chapter examines the "ballplayer" identity that playing fastpitch
produced in barrio communities. As a kind of discipline of self-making,
being a ballplayer provided Mexican Americans with a resource to counter
racist constructions of Mexicanness. Part of what made the prospect of
being a ballplayer a path to prestige was that it offered a means of
performing valorized and legible versions of masculinity. This process
produced local legends who distinguished themselves on the field. But many
former players maintain that a more important outcome was the camaraderie
among ballplayers and their communities, fostering enduring relationships
that were ultimately more valuable even than victory in the game.
5Men and Women in Gendered Fastpitch
chapter abstract
This chapter further develops the implications of the fact that modern
sport is socially gendered, including softball itself in particularly
complicated ways. Recognizing that fastpitch has been celebrated as a
Mexican American tradition mostly as an activity of men, contrary to the
mainstream of fastpitch today, I highlight some of the women who have
participated in this tradition and claim it as theirs. As the position of
softball in the gender-divided field of sport has changed over the past
century, I argue that the social base of Mexican American fastpitch has
made it a resource that can be shared across generations.
6Between the Lines: Softball as Utopian Form
chapter abstract
This chapter draws on scholarship that treats sport as a symbolic or
narrative idiom to unpack how softball is articulated with Mexican American
experience. I consider the narratives specific to softball and baseball in
terms of the appeal they might hold in a Mexican American context. These
include enactments of individual-collective relationships, opportunity, and
meritocracy that are part of the formal structure of the game. Reading
these narrative forms against the ongoing political dynamics of Mexican
identity in the United States shows the particular relation of softball to
the larger social formation. Despite the fact that softball and baseball
have at times played an ideological role to support unequal social
relations, sport functions differently for Mexican Americans, when the
demarcated space of the playing field takes on utopian meanings in the ways
that it contrasts with social life.
Conclusion: Patriotic, But We Love Our Culture Too
chapter abstract
The conclusion examines the view expressed by people involved in Mexican
American fastpitch that their sport of choice is their "culture,"
understanding that term to signal a legitimate difference from a mainstream
national identity. This discussion underscores that the particular appeal
of fastpitch for its devotees is embedded in the ongoing dynamics of
Mexican American history and experience. Indeed, maintaining a particular
tradition of playing the game is a way to materialize and recognize
people's relation to that history. Participants mark this relationship by
calling it culture.
Introduction
chapter abstract
The Introduction presents fastpitch softball as a sport that has been
historically of interest to Mexican Americans, who have used it as a
cultural resource to navigate their history and identity in the United
States. A tradition of playing softball in Mexican American communities is
an example of sport as cultural poetics on the vernacular scale.
1Mexican Questions
chapter abstract
This chapter develops the historical frame for fastpitch as part of a long
saga of Mexican people's contested belonging in the United States. This
history examines the expansion of the United States by military conquest
and the attendant racialization of Mexicans for purposes of Anglo
domination. It includes over a century of Mexicans making their home in the
center of what is now the United States, including Kansas, and effectively
creating the region I call mid-América through travel and interaction with
the southern borderlands, mainly Texas. Mexican American fastpitch emerged
close in time to famous moments in political mobilization for civil rights
and equality. Against this backdrop, athletic clubs and tournaments were
among the vernacular organizations through which people have negotiated
questions of belonging and identity.
2Hecho in America con Mexican Parts
chapter abstract
This chapter focuses on softball as a national pastime in the early
twentieth-century United States and the segregated everyday life of barrio
communities as the ground on which Mexican American fastpitch teams and
tournaments emerged. Recognizing how fastpitch is deeply embedded in social
relationships is key to understanding the enduring interest and commitment
to the sport that are evident in Mexican mid-América. Within that social
base, I suggest that softball provided Mexican American communities with a
source of both competition and camaraderie.
3Home Teams: Making Place for Mexican Tournaments
chapter abstract
This chapter digs into specific tournaments, playing fields where they took
place, and the teams that hosted them in order to represent the process of
building a racial tradition of sport. As Mexican American communities did
this, they negotiated a shifting balance between tournaments as barrio
institutions invested in particular people and relationships and as a
staging ground for those interested in bringing their athletic capabilities
to a broader field of competition. The relative merits and limitations of
remaining identified as a "Mexican tournament" as opposed to "opening up"
in different ways remain debatable, even as the boundaries established
under segregation crumble and fade. This remains true for the identity of
tournaments across changing circumstances, as well as for the people
personally and collectively invested in them.
4Ballplayers in Barrio Life
chapter abstract
This chapter examines the "ballplayer" identity that playing fastpitch
produced in barrio communities. As a kind of discipline of self-making,
being a ballplayer provided Mexican Americans with a resource to counter
racist constructions of Mexicanness. Part of what made the prospect of
being a ballplayer a path to prestige was that it offered a means of
performing valorized and legible versions of masculinity. This process
produced local legends who distinguished themselves on the field. But many
former players maintain that a more important outcome was the camaraderie
among ballplayers and their communities, fostering enduring relationships
that were ultimately more valuable even than victory in the game.
5Men and Women in Gendered Fastpitch
chapter abstract
This chapter further develops the implications of the fact that modern
sport is socially gendered, including softball itself in particularly
complicated ways. Recognizing that fastpitch has been celebrated as a
Mexican American tradition mostly as an activity of men, contrary to the
mainstream of fastpitch today, I highlight some of the women who have
participated in this tradition and claim it as theirs. As the position of
softball in the gender-divided field of sport has changed over the past
century, I argue that the social base of Mexican American fastpitch has
made it a resource that can be shared across generations.
6Between the Lines: Softball as Utopian Form
chapter abstract
This chapter draws on scholarship that treats sport as a symbolic or
narrative idiom to unpack how softball is articulated with Mexican American
experience. I consider the narratives specific to softball and baseball in
terms of the appeal they might hold in a Mexican American context. These
include enactments of individual-collective relationships, opportunity, and
meritocracy that are part of the formal structure of the game. Reading
these narrative forms against the ongoing political dynamics of Mexican
identity in the United States shows the particular relation of softball to
the larger social formation. Despite the fact that softball and baseball
have at times played an ideological role to support unequal social
relations, sport functions differently for Mexican Americans, when the
demarcated space of the playing field takes on utopian meanings in the ways
that it contrasts with social life.
Conclusion: Patriotic, But We Love Our Culture Too
chapter abstract
The conclusion examines the view expressed by people involved in Mexican
American fastpitch that their sport of choice is their "culture,"
understanding that term to signal a legitimate difference from a mainstream
national identity. This discussion underscores that the particular appeal
of fastpitch for its devotees is embedded in the ongoing dynamics of
Mexican American history and experience. Indeed, maintaining a particular
tradition of playing the game is a way to materialize and recognize
people's relation to that history. Participants mark this relationship by
calling it culture.