{"product_id":"mexican-american-fastpitch-identity-at-play-in-vernacular-sport-hardback-9781503609969","title":"Mexican American Fastpitch; Identity at Play in Vernacular Sport (Hardback) 9781503609969","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eMexican American Fastpitch\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eIdentity at Play in Vernacular Sport\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eBen Chappell (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781503609969\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 17 August 2021\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e216 pages, 18 halftones\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.486 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"Ben Chappell's \u003ci\u003eMexican American Fastpitch\u003c\/i\u003e is among the best ethnographies about Mexican Americans. Documenting the rich story of a community that has been too often overlooked in terms of vernacular tradition and geographic location, he pushes anthropologists and Chicanx Studies scholars to reconsider our academic notions of 'culture' and 'ethnic\/racial' identity and performance. Chappell's evocative description made me a fan of a sport that I previously knew little about.\"\u003cbr\u003e  —Michael L. Trujillo, University of New Mexico \"Fast-pitch softball provides a social space unique to Mexican Americans. It supplies elements vital to the community: a place where traditions, language, and culture thrive. It is a vehicle for \u003ci\u003eleyendas\u003c\/i\u003e who have inspired generations. Ben Chappell's work informs us that local sport is a powerful tool for community uplift and solidarity.\"\u003cbr\u003e  —Jorge Iber, Texas Tech University\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Mexican American communities in the central United States, the modern tradition of playing fastpitch softball has been passed from generation to generation. This ethnic sporting practice is kept alive through annual tournaments, the longest-running of which were founded in the 1940s, when softball was a ubiquitous form of recreation, and the so-called \"Mexican American generation\" born to immigrant parents was coming of age. Carrying on with fastpitch into the second or third generation of players even as wider interest in the sport has waned, these historically Mexican American tournaments now function as reunions that allow people to maintain ties to a shared past, and to remember the decades of segregation when Mexican Americans' citizenship was unfairly questioned. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this multi-sited ethnography, Ben Chappell conveys the importance of fastpitch in the ordinary yearly life of Mexican American communities from Kansas City to Houston. Traveling to tournaments, he interviews players and fans, strikes up conversations in the bleachers, takes in the atmosphere in the heat of competition, and combs through local and personal archives. Recognizing fastpitch as a practice of cultural citizenship, Chappell situates the sport within a history marked by migration, marginalization, solidarity, and struggle, through which Mexican Americans have navigated complex negotiations of cultural, national, and local identities.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e  1. Mexican Questions\u003cbr\u003e  2. Hecho in America con Mexican Parts\u003cbr\u003e  3. Home Teams: Making Place for Mexican Tournaments\u003cbr\u003e  4. Ballplayers in Barrio Life\u003cbr\u003e  5. Men and Women in Gendered Fastpitch\u003cbr\u003e  6. Between the Lines: Softball as Utopian Form\u003cbr\u003e  Conclusion: Patriotic, But We Love Our Culture Too\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Stanford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52610602008856,"sku":"9781503609969","price":72.89,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/mexican-american-fastpitch-identity-at-play-in-vernacular-sport-hardback-9781503609969","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}