When Women Rule the Court
258 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
10 photographs
Paperback
Release Date:28 Aug 2017
ISBN:9780813584157
Hardcover
Release Date:28 Aug 2017
ISBN:9780813584164
When Women Rule the Court
Gender, Race, and Japanese American Basketball
Rutgers University Press
Winner of the 2018 North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Book Award
For nearly one hundred years, basketball has been an important part of Japanese American life. Women’s basketball holds a special place in the contemporary scene of highly organized and expansive Japanese American leagues in California, in part because these leagues have produced numerous talented female players. Using data from interviews and observations, Nicole Willms explores the interplay of social forces and community dynamics that have shaped this unique context of female athletic empowerment. As Japanese American women have excelled in mainstream basketball, they have emerged as local stars who have passed on the torch by becoming role models and building networks for others.
For nearly one hundred years, basketball has been an important part of Japanese American life. Women’s basketball holds a special place in the contemporary scene of highly organized and expansive Japanese American leagues in California, in part because these leagues have produced numerous talented female players. Using data from interviews and observations, Nicole Willms explores the interplay of social forces and community dynamics that have shaped this unique context of female athletic empowerment. As Japanese American women have excelled in mainstream basketball, they have emerged as local stars who have passed on the torch by becoming role models and building networks for others.
Willms has combined solid research with clear prose to craft an exemplary study that is smart in execution and fresh in its perspective. When Women Rule the Court is unlike any other on the market and will make contributions to multiple fields.
Willms provides a meaning-laden sporting milieu with multi-generational investments, complex social formations, and kinship networks of Japanese American basketball that complicates femininity, ethnicity, ability, and nation. This book challenges hyper-hetero-masculinized readings of sport through spectacular athletes and everyday sporting cultures.
This book will make a strong contribution to multiple fields. It will inspire discussions about the intersection of gender and race, the process of racialization and the production of ethnic identity through sport, and the role of iconic female sporting stars in the empowerment of young girls.
Willm takes us through how her sociological imagination for the J-Leagues was ignited leading to her becoming enthralled with Japanese American women’s basketball in California....A very good depiction of a subculture and how it has grown and endured....Recommend[ed]...to anybody interested in basketball, not only scholars involved in the sociology of sport.
Willms has combined solid research with clear prose to craft an exemplary study that is smart in execution and fresh in its perspective. When Women Rule the Court is unlike any other on the market and will make contributions to multiple fields.
Willms provides a meaning-laden sporting milieu with multi-generational investments, complex social formations, and kinship networks of Japanese American basketball that complicates femininity, ethnicity, ability, and nation. This book challenges hyper-hetero-masculinized readings of sport through spectacular athletes and everyday sporting cultures.
This book will make a strong contribution to multiple fields. It will inspire discussions about the intersection of gender and race, the process of racialization and the production of ethnic identity through sport, and the role of iconic female sporting stars in the empowerment of young girls.
Willm takes us through how her sociological imagination for the J-Leagues was ignited leading to her becoming enthralled with Japanese American women’s basketball in California....A very good depiction of a subculture and how it has grown and endured....Recommend[ed]...to anybody interested in basketball, not only scholars involved in the sociology of sport.
NICOLE WILLMS is an assistant professor of sociology at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
Introduction: “This Is What We Do”
1 “Everybody Plays”: The Inclusiveness of J-League Basketball
2 "In JA Circles, Girls And Boys Are On Equal Footing”: The (Re)negotiation of Gender in J-League Basketball
3 “Women Who Took Sports Beyond Play”: How Japanese American Women’s Basketball Went to College
4 “We’re Turning Them Into Stars!” The Japanese American Female Basketball Player as Icon
5 “You Play Basketball?” Ruling The Court as An Unexpected Athlete
6 Conclusion: “It’s A Testament of What The Japanese Leagues Can Do for Young Girls”
Acknowledgements
Methodological Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
1 “Everybody Plays”: The Inclusiveness of J-League Basketball
2 "In JA Circles, Girls And Boys Are On Equal Footing”: The (Re)negotiation of Gender in J-League Basketball
3 “Women Who Took Sports Beyond Play”: How Japanese American Women’s Basketball Went to College
4 “We’re Turning Them Into Stars!” The Japanese American Female Basketball Player as Icon
5 “You Play Basketball?” Ruling The Court as An Unexpected Athlete
6 Conclusion: “It’s A Testament of What The Japanese Leagues Can Do for Young Girls”
Acknowledgements
Methodological Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
