New racism and old stereotypes in the National Hockey League: the stacking of aboriginal players into the role of enforcer
Author
Faculty Advisor
Date
2012
Keywords
racism in sports, minorities in sports
Abstract (summary)
Tracing the roles played by Aboriginal hockey players in the National Hockey League (NHL) from the mid-1970s to 2010, this chapter takes an historical, longitudinal view to explain the abundance of Aboriginals, that is, Indians, Inuit, and Métis men, in the role of enforcer, a one-dimensional player who does little more than fight. "Stacking" is a term that draws attention to certain social factors that account for the position — or, for the purposes of this chapter, the role — a player is assigned or expected to fulfill as a member of a team. To situate the phenomenon of stacking Aboriginal hockey players as enforcers, the place of Aboriginal peoples within Canada is examined, particularly an historically informed analysis of the concept of Othering within democratic racism. To build the case of the stacking of Aboriginal hockey players, quantitative data is analyzed, with penalty minutes, major penalties, and fights examined for each National Hockey League season in which Aboriginal representation made up at least 1 percent of the league's players. The results indicate that Aboriginal NHL players have disproportionately fulfilled the role of enforcer; these results are considered in relation to the history of the culture of racism in Canada.
Publication Information
Valentine, J. (2012). New Racism and Old Stereotypes in the National Hockey League: The Stacking of Aboriginal Players into the Role of Enforcer. In Darnell, S., Joseph, J. & Nakamura, Y. (Eds.), Race and Sport in Canada. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 107-135.
DOI
Notes
Item Type
Book Chapter
Language
English
Rights
All Rights Reserved