Did You See That?
When I Went Down, a Whole Country of Wrestling Fans Went With Me!: Dusty Rhodes, Professional Wrestling, and American Identity View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session James Davis
Professional wrestling exists in a unique liminal, space. Despite the fact that performances produced and scripted, the performers themselves are required to use super-heroic feats of athleticism to protect one another and tell complex, often epic stories. And while there's a long list of highly skilled professional wrestling performers, few were able to connect with audiences like the legendary Dusty Rhodes. When Dusty Rhodes died in 2015, Dave Zirin, the author of A People’s History of Sports in the United States, wrote that Dusty was a point of “unity in [the] post-Jim Crow south [of the] 70s-80s,” arguing that despite the fact that professional wrestling was a misunderstood and maligned performance style, Dusty was able to communicate across boundaries of race and class. This paper examines how Dusty Rhodes, aka The American Dream, transcended the conventions of his disposable, populist genre to capitalize on a consistent media presence and develop an identity that obliterated barriers between race and class, ultimately serving as a critical tool to examine the inequities of American identity.
Featured "So Who Watched the Game Last Night?": Examining the Role of Sport in Everyday Workplace Interactions
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Stephanie Foxton
Sports organisations play a key role in shaping society. They in turn both shape and are shaped by various factors (Cunningham, 2010). Despite an overt agenda encouraging social inclusion and cohesion in local communities, exclusionary practices remain commonplace in sports organisations as well as sport more generally. This exclusion is well documented, with many sports maintaining dominant and restrictive gender norms that influence who is included, excluded, or marginalised. Against this backdrop this paper examines how layered sociocultural norms regarding sport, sexuality and gender, impact workplace interactions and team dynamics within a regional sports organisation in New Zealand. Analysis of naturally occurring workplace interactions, supplemented by ethnographic observations and follow up interviews, illustrates how team members draw on the wider sociocultural norms of sport when interacting. These norms are arguably rooted in cisheteronormative and cisheteropatriarchal ideologies. Consequently, everyday discourses produced by members of the team perpetuate binaries between male and female, with many team members aligning with masculine norms. By studying language use within the team over a prolonged period, we gain insight into how interactional norms evolve as organisational priorities change (i.e. a greater focus on inclusive practices). While discursive strategies, such as humour, are used by members of the team to challenge gendered discourses, the hegemonic and hierarchical positioning of masculinities continues to pervade their practices. By examining the impact of layered norms (from micro interactional to macro-level societal norms), we can better understand how, and possibly why, inequalities and hierarchies in organised sport persist.
"Get Off Your Phone for 90 Minutes for Goodness Sake”: Commentary on Mobile Technology Use during Matchdays at Anfield Stadium View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Felipe Bertazzo Tobar
Tourists, whether avid football fans or casual visitors are increasingly drawn to iconic football stadiums like Anfield, home of Liverpool FC, to experience match days, often promoted as unique spectacles. However, the globalization and commodification of football have introduced tensions between tourists and long-time local supporters. This study investigates how technology—implemented by both clubs (e.g., WiFi) and individuals (e.g., selfie sticks, iPads, and phones)—disrupts locals’ traditional match-day experiences. Through fieldwork at Anfield and an online ethnographic study of the ‘Red and White Kop’ fan forum, it examines the impacts of these disruptions on social rituals, atmosphere, and community among Liverpool fans. Drawing on Georg Simmel’s and Émile Durkheim’s theoretical frameworks, the study reveals that the (over)use of mobile technology exacerbates a divide between loyal fans and tourists, affecting match-day rituals and eroding the sense of collective identity in the stands. By highlighting these shifts, the study deepens the understanding of the evolving relationship between local fans and tourists in modern football culture. It also emphasizes the need for policies to balance the preservation of traditions and atmosphere with the demands of a globalized audience in the English Premier League.
