When Women Rule the Court : : Gender, Race, and Japanese American Basketball / / Nicole Willms.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Rutgers University Press Complete eBook-Package 2017
• VerfasserIn: Willms, Nicole,
• Place / Publishing House: New Brunswick, NJ : : Rutgers University Press, , [2017]; ©2017
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Series: Critical Issues in Sport and Society
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (258 p.) :; 10 photographs

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction. "This Is What We Do" -- 1. "Everybody Plays": The Inclusiveness of J-L eague 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" -- Acknowledgments -- Methodological Appendix -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index