Asians and Pacific Islanders in American Football: Historical and Contemporary Experiences

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Description

This book sheds light on experiences relatively underrepresented in academic and non-academic sport history. It examines how Asian and Pacific Islander peoples used American football to maintain a sense of community while encountering racial exclusion, labor exploitation, and colonialism. Through their participation and spectatorship in American football, Asian and Pacific Islander people crossed treacherous cultural frontiers to construct what sociologist Elijah Anderson has called a cosmopolitan canopy under which Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and people of diverse racial and ethnic identities interacted with at least a semblance of respect and equity. And perhaps a surprising number of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have excelled in college and even professional football before the 1960s. Finally, acknowledging the impressive influx of elite Pacific Islander gridders who surfaced in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, it is vital to note as well the racialized nativism shadowing the lives of these athletes.

Reviews

Weaving a tale of outsider (and in this case Asian and Pacific Islander) participation in this uniquely American mainstream sport was little short of a brilliant stroke. Against the often shortsighted and error-filled back/white sport binary, this study is an absolute essential read for anyone who champions the human spirit. -- Joel Nathan Rosen, Moravian College
Joel S. Franks has crafted a well-researched and engaging narrative that should appeal to scholars and sports fans alike. While the long presence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders on the gridiron will surprise many, all readers will benefit from reading this study, especially because it provides an insightful analysis of ethnic identity and racism in the United States as it traces the history of American football. -- C. Richard King, Washington State University

Author Bio

Joel S. Franks teaches Asian American and American studies at San Jose State University.