Desi Hoop Dreams: Pickup Basketball and the Making of Asian American Masculinity

by Stanley Thangaraj

South Asian American men are not usually depicted as ideal American men. They struggle against popular representations as either threatening terrorists or geeky, effeminate computer geniuses. To combat such stereotypes, some use sports as a means of performing a distinctly American masculinity. Desi Hoop Dreams focuses on South Asian-only basketball leagues common in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, to show that basketball, for these South Asian American players is not simply a whimsical hobby, but a means to navigate and express their identities in 21st century America.

The participation of young men in basketball is one platform among many for performing South Asian American identity. South Asian-only leagues and tournaments become spaces in which to negotiate the relationships between masculinity, race, and nation. When faced with stereotypes that portray them as effeminate, players perform sporting feats on the court to represent themselves as athletic. And though they draw on black cultural styles, they carefully set themselves off from African American players, who are deemed too aggressive. Accordingly, the same categories of their own marginalization masculinity, race, class, and sexuality are those through which South Asian American men exclude women, queer masculinities, and working-class masculinities, along with other racialized masculinities, in their effort to lay claim to cultural citizenship.

One of the first works on masculinity formation and sport participation in South Asian American communities, Desi Hoop Dreamsfocuses on an American popular sport to analyze the dilemma of belonging within South Asian America in particular and in the U.S. in general. Instructor's Guide"

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2015

Reviews

[Ishan Mainali · Rating 5 out of 5]

not a lot of scholarship centers around desi masculinity, which makes me grateful towards Stanley Thangaraj for doing that work. the book was insightful in understanding how different groups of south asian american men understood masculinity and embodied them. overall, a very insightful read!

[amy]

this book did a rlly good job of deconstructing desi masculinity, specifically how desi men feel as though they must perform a type of hyper-masculinity in order to combat the trope of the emasculated asian man trope. its discussion surrounding how that trope is perpetuated through the model minority myth was rlly interesting as well. unfortunately the scene in which the author describes these mens different grinding techniques in immense detail will be forever imprinted in my mind

[daniel dillon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely worth reading for anyone interested in (South) Asian American and Gender Studies, with a heavy dose of Critical Race and the Anthropology/Sociology of Sports. I have my critiques, of course, but nothing major, which is a testament to how well researched, written, and argued this book is.

[jellyfishiii]

when men are so misogynistic they almost circle back around and become gay.

but also appreciated my prof’s outlining of how theorists brought race as an intervention in queer theory. he really was just like everything goes back to race. and he was right.

[Mills College Library]

796.323 T3671 2015