The Guard's Three Bodies: Linsanity, Celebrity and National Identity

Combs, Matthew Tyler; Wasserstrom, Jeffrey Ν.

doi:10.1080/09523367.2013.806910

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Much of the research that frames Lin in explicitly political terms focuses on his status as a transnational symbol. His U.S. citizenship, Taiwanese parentage, and Chinese ethnicity have resulted in multiple claims to, and distinct constructions of, his identity (Combs & Wasserstrom, 2013). For example, Lin's Taiwanese roots have made him a powerful symbolic figure in Taiwan's construction of national identity.…”

Section: Jeremy Linmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Lin's Taiwanese roots have made him a powerful symbolic figure in Taiwan's construction of national identity. Emphasizing Lin's Taiwanese-ness while downplaying his American-ness has been consistently recognized as characteristic of Taiwanese media (Chiang & Chen, 2015;Combs & Wasserstrom, 2013;Su, 2014). Chiaoning Su (2014) contends that Taiwanese media have unambiguously construed Lin as a national hero, whose success and fame created positive visibility for the nation.…”

Section: Jeremy Linmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A significant factor in Taiwan's insecure national identity may be its contentious relationship with China. Taiwan's fervent desire to claim Lin for themselves indicates its hunger for global visibility, which has eluded it for so long under China's long shadow (Chiang & Chen, 2015;Combs & Wasserstrom, 2013;Su, 2014).…”

Section: Jeremy Linmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

“I Haven’t Done Anything to Be Polarizing”: Jeremy Lin’s Strategic Appropriation of Black Masculinity

Wong¹

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This thesis investigates the appropriation of Black masculinity by Asian American basketball player Jeremy Lin. Subjecting media coverage to a combination of content analysis and critical discourse analysis uncovers the presence of four appropriative themes of Asianness: (a) the supraethnic viability of Asianness; (b) the necessary defeat of Blackness; (c) the disallowance of anti-Asian sentiment; and (d) the presence of a helpful Black cohort. These themes are themselves given meaning by five racially magnetized frames that position Asian Americans in opposition to Blackness across multiple dimensions: (a) Asian Americans as model minorities; (b) Asian American men as emasculated; (c) Asian Americans as invisible; (d) Asian Americans as forever foreign; and (e) Asian and Black Americans as enemies. The results of this study suggest that Asian American men benefit from the appropriation of Blackness, but that this benefit is contingent upon their ability to uphold heterosexist, white supremacist ideologies. Keywords: Jeremy Lin, basketball, race

show abstract

Section: Jeremy Linmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Jeremy Linmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

“I Haven’t Done Anything to Be Polarizing”: Jeremy Lin’s Strategic Appropriation of Black Masculinity

Wong¹

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As the scholarly attention to Lin has increased, I have wondered about how and why an Asian-American athlete eventually became a significant academic subject. More Some scholars identify the intensive media attention paid to Lin as an unprecedented media hype that has never before been paid to any other Asian American athletes (Combs & Wasserstrom, 2013;Pan, 2012;Park, 2014;Su, 2014;Yep, 2012a).…”

Section: American Sporting Figures?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These scholars assert that Lin's Asian American identity and its transcendence have the ability to cut across national boundaries. Matthew Combs andJeffrey Wasserstrom (2013, p. 1261) refer to Lin as "a transnational figure," and examine how Lin's identities were differently created in the U.S., China, and Taiwan. More specifically, they argue that, while Lin's story in the U.S. focused on issues regarding race, his story in China and Taiwan emphasized Lin's Chinese and Taiwanese identities.…”

Section: American Sporting Figures?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Consuming sporting Orientals

Joo¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSDuring my six years in Iowa, I have met great faculties, colleagues, and friends. Without their support and consistent encouragement, I could not have finished this research. First of all, I would like to thank my committee members, Susan Birrell, Thomas Oates, Catriona Parratt, Mary Trachsel, and Travis Vogan. They were very supportive of my research. My adviser Susan spent so much time discussing my research and guiding me with her wisdom and insight. I want to especially thank Mary. She was always willing to discuss my research with me and met with me weekly for almost four years, which has been invaluable. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their love and support. iii ABSTRACT This research assesses cultural meanings attributed to Asian American sport celebrities, focusing specifically on former professional tennis player Michael Chang and professional golfer Michelle Wie. This work will examine how they are represented in mainstream American media and how their images have been used in various advertising campaigns. A key assumption of this research is that cultural stakeholders are involved in their particular media representations. Given that Asian American athletes have occupied peripheral positions in American sport, media and their invisibility in advertising campaigns, the recent commodification of Asian American athletic bodies is worth examining in greater detail. Drawing on Susan Birrell and Mary McDonald's (1999, 2000) "reading sport" methodology, I critically read their representations in mainstream media and television commercials to explore the complexity and particularity of the articulation of power lines surrounding these Asian American sport celebrities. The "reading sport" methodology emphasizes the particularity of power relations and interdependence of lines of power. Accordingly, I situate his or her representations in the different contexts that each athlete had to encounter. Chang's representation is situated within the conservative climate of post-Reagan America, and Wie's representation is situated within the context neoliberal racism and postfeminism. This study provides a broad understanding of the media representations of Asian American athletes and their different ideological functions in different contexts. Given that there have been a serious lack of studies regarding Asian American athletes, this iv study seeks to extend the existing body of knowledge about Asian American athletes and their multiple representations. v PUBLIC ABSTRACTIt is hardly surprising to see Asian American athletes in American sports and watch them in mainstream media. Given that one of the stereotypes about Asian Americans is their athletic inferiority to other races, they have been grossly underrepresented in sport media. However, their presence in American sports and media seems to reflect the inclusiveness of American sports as well as tolerance for Asian Americans. More specifically, their representations appear to celebrate their racial differences and the cultural diversit...

show abstract