Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 18:53:16 +0200
Subject: SV: Wacquant on boxing


It seems as the term 'unspeakable barbarisms', put in scare quotes by Elanie
Power, might need some investigation. Does L/Wacquant use this term himself?
There are some fairly articulate boxers around (Nelson Mandela, for
instance) - doesn't their speech count? Or are they excluded from Civilised
Discourse by way of being barbaric? It might be interesting to think of
boxing's 'unspeakable barbarism', according to the original poster(?) -
whose name I don't have here - in terms of Bourdieu's discussion of sports
aesthetics in, e.g.

Bourdieu, Pierre. "How can one be a sports fan?" The Cultural Studies
Reader. Ed. Simon During. London: Routledge, 1993. 339-356.

or

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1990. “Programme for a Sociology of Sport.” In Other
Words: Essays Towards a Reflexive Sociology. Transl. Matthew Adamson.
Cambridge: Polity Press. 156-167.

Best wishes,
Torgeir Fjeld

>
> Oh my. Such inflammatory language.
>
[...]
 Loic
> Wacquant is that, in the best tradition of work influenced by
> Bourdieu, his
> deepest interest is in the 'unspeakable barbarisms' and violences of
> poverty and racism, particularly in the inner cities of the U.S., and
> boxing is one way to finding out about and understand that -  in an
> 'embodied' way. Since boxing is definitely a classed and raced activity,
> then you need to understand the context (in a Bourdieusian way) to
> understand its appeal.
>
> Please don't grind your personal ax against boxing on Wacquant's
> back. Read
> some of his work instead.
>
> Elaine Power
>
>
>
> >And so I ask, well, why would Lacquant subject himself to that?  If
> >he doesn't relish his own participation, then he's quite a
> trooper. And if
> >he does, then the appeal of this unspeakable barbarism for him demands
> >explanation.  And I think I'm entitled to an answer.
> >
>
>
>
>
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