CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Fourth International Conference
June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland

Sport, Globalisation & Corporate Nationalisms

Organiser: Steven J. Jackson

Giardina, Michael D. (University of Illinois, USA) THE STYLISH NIHILISM OF POSTMODERN BLACKNESS, OR, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALLEN IVERSON PLAYS ONE-ON-ONE WITH HUEY FREEMAN WHILE LISTENING TO CORNEL WEST'S "SKETCHES OF MY CULTURE"?
My paper elucidates the dynamic tensions currently circulating within black popular culture as articulated to its growing entrenchment, acceptance, and stylized exploitation within mainstream America. Building on the work of Denzin, hooks, and Gilroy, I take as my example three separate ­ yet ultimately interrelated ­ sites of representation and contestation: the celebrity subjectivity of NBA star Allen Iverson; the subversive social and political character of Huey Freeman and ­ through his recently released rap CD ­ the public intellectuality of Cornel West. It is my argument that the commercial commodification of hip-hop culture in the late 1990s ­ and the "neo-nationalistic, essentializing, [and] masculinist" (Denzin, 2001) identity politics such a move facilitated ­ has divorced from any political connotations the inherent cultural meanings within black culture (cf, Carrington, 2001). Specifically, these three examples represent the growing complexity inherent in the war(s) being waged over what gets to "count" as "acceptable" [read: profitable] black culture in mainstream discourses about commodified) American identity.

Desmarais, Fabrice (University of Waikato, New Zealand) SIGNS OF NEW ZEALANDNESS IN SPORT IMAGERY TELEVISION ADVERTISING
This paper's argument is based on analysis of a corpus of New Zealand television commercials that used sport imagery. The analyses show how New Zealand advertising professionals often placed products or brands within a national sporting framework. Messages were articulated around national signs related to sport such as national sport endorsers, national sport situations, and other sport related objects and viewers/consumers were encouraged to think about these products in terms of how they fit into their socio-national universe. Sporting signs were linked to the development of culturally determined ideal characters. Particularly, national celebrity sport endorsers were given to viewers/consumers as models of dedication to country and consumption. The way most national sport endorsers were presented taught viewers that the search for success should be done through the nation's values and that viewers, as consumers, could participate in these values by consuming the right products.

Jackson, Steven J. (University of Otago, New Zealand) SPORT, ADVERTISING & CORPORATE NATIONALISM: THE NEW ZEALAND ALL BLACKS, ADIDAS & RESISTING THE APPROPRIATION OF INDIGENOUS CULTURE
The culture industries, including contemporary advertising and marketing corporations have created a "new culture of enterprise that enlists the enterprise of culture" (Harvey, 1987). As a consequence no meaning or sign system remains sacred. This paper explores how one global company, Adidas, appropriated aspects of indigenous (Maori) culture in New Zealand within its advertising campaigns. Specifically, the paper examines the commodification of the Maori haka within Adidas' global advertising campaign. In turn, the paper examines the subsequent forms of resistance that emerged via cultural and legal battles by particular Maori tribes. Through a critical analysis of the commercial exploitation of the haka I hope to illustrate politics and complexity of globalization and the new corporate nationalism.