Cultural Boarding Bodies: Status, Style, and Symbolic CapitalPierre Bourdieu  Philosopher-historian-anthropologist, 1930-2002  1970s-90s wrote and lectured about sport and social class  thought about sport and how the body in sport expresses largely unconscious and unquestioned formations such as social class, gender and nationality. The snowboarding body is a symbol of status, a system of social marking, and a site of distinctionsA Riddle  A father and son have a car accident and are both badly hurt. They are both taken to separate hospitals. When the boy is taken in for an operation, the surgeon says 'I can not do the surgery because this is my son'.  How is this possible?Bourdieu  Habitus: everyday practices (dispositions, appreciations, tastes) inculcate a specific orientation onto the body. (embodiment, embodied, internalized). Novice and core boarders; styles of participation; performativity  Capital  Field  These three generate practices (the cultural boarding body in action)Terms  Habitus – “a set of acquired schemes of dispositions, perceptions, and appreciations” that shape our “practices and give them meaning.” – It takes time to embody cultural knowledge, which then informs decisions and actions that we make  Capital – different forms of power held by social agents – Cultural capital  Field – a system of “social positions occupied by individuals or institutions” doing the same activity – Often privilege different forms of capital over others, and have their own practices for accessing capital  Practice – generated by habitus, field, and capital – They “(re)make the world which makes them.” Capital: different forms of power held by people, institutions, agents. Power: (examples) economic (wealth) cultural (artistic taste) linguistic (vocabulary and pronunciation) social (social connections) academic (degrees, qualifications) corporeal (physical attractiveness) symbolic; also called “distinction” (prestige)Symbolic power  Snowboarders may gain distinction/prestige/symbolic capital through commitment, physical prowess, risk-taking.  Margins http://www.graysontrays.com/blog/ Field: structured (but also highly fragmented) system of social systems and power relations.  “every class and its factions have distinct tastes or preferences for cultural goods and consumption. . . Taste unites and separates these classes or groups” (Thorpe, p. 117). Practice: distinctions in the snowboarding body, including use of various kinds of capitalFrom Thorpe  Different tastes and styles create divisions in the snowboarding population – Language  “Snowboarding language is becoming increasingly technical and obscure. While cultural identity can be imitated, only those with high cultural knowledge recognize the difference between a ‘Kasserroll’, a ‘switch ally-oop mc-twist’ and a ‘corked backside five.’” – Dress  “up on the hill there are few things that distinguish the hard-core rippers from the weekend warriors. It used to be clothes, it used to be style and it used to be easy. But now, with everyone looking the part … you are forced to use more nontraditional means.” 129 – Commitment  “Members cannot buy their way into the core of the culture.” 133From Thorpe  Different tastes and styles create divisions in the snowboarding population – Physical Prowess  “The pursuit of boarding experience and competence is at the core of the snowboarding value system.” 134 – Risk-taking  “accounts construct professional riders as heroes for risking physican injury and tolerating pain. … Philippa claimed: ‘I’ve broken stuff in my back and I’ve broken my ankle, and bad strains and I’ve blown my knee out. But I have been quite lucky. I’ve been injury free, really.’” 135Some problems with Bourdieu’s ideas about distinction, capital, practice  Reduces all activities to struggles for distinction with reference to social stratification.  Do individuals seek legitimacy through signs, objects, styles with fierce dedication that is actually a “rhetoric of despair” (Louis Althusser)?  Is the sporting field itself a mere means toward achieving the larger goal of winning distinction, prestige and status within the broad societal context?  Seems to sanction stereotyping and racial profilingThink about…  Race is a key component in the socialization process – What race am I?  How do I know what race I am?  Who told me? – What other races are there? – Are races really all that different and easily distinguishable?  Apartheid South Africa  In a lot of ways, race affects how sports affect us (and vice-a-versa) – Aescton and JacekOn distinction, practice, field “. . .extreme sports participants are said to have come from the margins of society to initiate sporting and cultural revolutions in the US and across the globe” (Kyle Kusz, Revolt of the White Athlete, 2007. p. 2). This cultural shift moved whiteness from being economically and socially normative, privileged and valued, to seeming alternative, different and underprivileged. “a new variant of contemporary cultural racism” in which Whites are shown to be economically unprivileged, socially marginalized, pioneers, and/or revolting against mainstream American ideals (alternative music, trouble with the law, grunge clothing, etc.)  Kusz argues that culturally, this sensibility then serves to re-gain white normativity and dominance.Perhaps sport, thought of as wholly separate and distinct from the realm of politics, is precisely one of the best cultural vehicles for promoting its reactionary politics while not seeming to be ideological at all. (Kusz) How do we change our habitus?“The snowboarding body: A site of distinction”  dress  lingo  race  performative, embodied cultureWhite Wash 1. Main issues of the film 2. How is it applicable to the cultural study of snowboarding? 3. Ideas about race and cultural studies from the experts in the film 4. Lifestyle, Capital, Embodiment, Habitus, Field, Practice, Fun/Nature/LiminalClips  20:11 – surfing in Ghana “Why did they stop surfing along the coast of west Africa?” “but today we kind of think that blacks can’t swim…”  21:00 – interviewing kids in the city. “I don’t know any black people that surf…”  27:00 –