The sporting arena is often thought of as an apolitical site. Seemingly outside of the realm of sociohistorical forces, players simply play a game predicated on following rules and competing fairly. Yet to the contrary, sport has never been this alone—it is frequently the place where contentious political issues are laid bare, disputed, and left unresolved. This session addresses the role that religion plays or has played in political expression through sport.
Black athleticism has long been understood as something to be celebrated only in the context of sport, with a value limited to economic productiveness and its ability to entertain. The absurdity of this cultural misreading is most epitomized by “Beastmode,” a popularized brand that signifies centuries of embodied brilliance but is persistently read culturally – via white supremacy – as mere physical (read: brutish) talent. This paper disrupts the historical drama of Black men cast as “beasts” – whether ‘sub-human’ or ‘super-human’ – and instead argues for the theological potential of re-reading Black athleticism as embodied brilliance that can teach us important lessons about humanity, spirituality, and social change.
Muscular Christianity, a social movement that promoted an organic connection between physical health and Christian manhood, began in England in the mid-nineteenth century and quickly globalized. After its decline amidst World War I, many postcolonial scholars deemed muscular Christianity a site of colonial hegemony. Yet, during games of cricket, historian C.L.R. James approached the movement’s ethos of “teamwork, duty, protection of the weak, individual virtue…” (MacAloon, 692) as a way to transcend social constructs like race and class. This paper adapts James’ view within American and Latin American contexts during the Age of Empire in order to illuminate the movement’s resistance and complicity toward the imperial fantasy of a modern world order led by fit Protestant American men. Utilizing an intersectional approach that accentuates race, class, gender and geopolitical relations, this paper examines images and text pertaining to prominent muscular Christians through a hermeneutics of faith and suspicion.
This presentation examines magical objects (anting-anting) associated with Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao, his conversion to evangelical Christianity and his quest for political power. Filipino sports, magic, and politics are framed within traditional Southeast Asian views of power that are significantly different from western views of how power is accrued, activated and demonstrated. Pacquiao's deployment of Filipino talismanic protection and amuletic power has been linked to his success in boxing and politics. The question of Protestant Evangelicalism's presumed anti-magical worldview and how it negotiates a deeply magical/sacramental Filipino culture is considered. Pacquiao's embrace of Evangelicalism resulted in his fall from boxing glory and coincided with his hard turn to the political right. Although evangelicalism is commonly seen as correlative and supportive of right-wing politics, at deeper and culturally specific levels Pacquiao's shift to the right is better interpreted through the ways power is traditionally enacted in Southeast Asia.