Making Model Minorities of African Athletes: Origin Stories, Hard Workers, and Humanitarians

• In Event: 023 - Regular Session. Black and African Americans

Abstract

Black immigrants tend to have a more favorable reception in the West because they do not reflect the racial history of Western countries back at itself (Osirim 2008; Vickerman 1999; Waters 1999). In this paper I use discourse analysis and a cultural studies approach to examine Western media discourses concerning the backgrounds of black migrant athletes, focusing on times when they are discursively constructed as exceptional individuals, or model minorities. With the prestige that comes with being an athlete, it becomes understandable how black African migrant athletes, particularly those who succeed early in their careers, are seemingly welcomed with open arms. This 'welcoming', however, is really a tendency to portray the foreign black Other in a child-like, simple-minded, or innocent manner. As my data show, it is precisely the foreign Otherness, for example the lack of 'Americanization', which privileges the African athlete above other black athletes. Hegemonic discourses on the backgrounds, or 'origin stories', of these athletes often rely on stereotypes of Africa while the humanitarian efforts of black African athletes often see them problematically positioned as saviors of Africa. Because of their experiences and wealth attainment in the West, I argue that they are regarded as being well conditioned to solve the problems of their respective African countries. These discursive processes ultimately reinscribe the West as Africa's benefactor, while simultaneously (re)locating the African athlete in Africa, as a foreigner to the West, and remarginalizing native black communities for failing where Africans have 'succeeded'.

Author

• Munene Mwaniki, Western Carolina University