symposiums and conferences シンポジウム・学会

In the middle of the 1990s, Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein suggested the existence of racial differences in intelligence in their controversial book, The Bell Curve, while in late 2007, Nobel prize winning American molecular biologist James Watson was forced to resign after commentingthat he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa.”  During this whole period, the relationship between human categorizations such as “race” and the inheritability of intelligence has received great attention from the press.  If I were to situate what both Murray/Herrnstein and Watson discussed, that is intelligence, as a “positive,” what could be situated as a “negative” is “athleticism,” for while the debates about the origin of intelligence have received regular attention, the debates about that of athleticism seem to have lurked in the shadows.  However, it should not be overlooked that some physiologists and genealogists have actually been seriously tackling the possibility of a particular human group having natural athletic superiority, although their studies have caused a great deal of scandals and controversies, as they were severely blamed for supporting the myth of “black athleticism,” which implies that “blacks are born with natural athletic superiority.” This paper is an attempt to examine the recent discourses on “race” and human athletic ability that circulated widely in the U.S., with a particular focus on this myth.  First, I will trace the historical origins of this myth back to the era from the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century.  Then I will point out the factors that caused the revival of thenature-versus-nurture debateparticularly in the sporting world of the 1990s.  After explaining these historical and social conditions, I will discuss the representation of black athleticism in Hollywood films by examining how these movements have affected racial representation.  Comparing the transformation of the black images shown in Hollywood films with the objectives and content of race-related reform initiatives by the collegiate and professional athletic institutions, I will suggest the possibility of linkage between representation and social activism.