Thinking through sport, analyzing whiteness

Abstract

In the lead article of this issue, ‘Sport as Contested Racial/Ethnic Terrain: Processes of Racialization in Dutch Sport Media and Sport Policy,’ Jacco Van Sterkenburg and Annelies Knoppers offer a cogent analysis of racialized sporting discourse in the Netherlands demonstrating to a wider audience the important role that sport plays in promoting contemporary meanings and practices regarding race/ethnicity. This commentary points out some key issues raised by Van Sterkenburg and Knoppers, notes some gaps in their argument while also discussing questions that the authors raise for those interested in challenging the power of whiteness in and beyond the world of sport.

Keywords:

• Dutch sport
• race
• ethnicity
• whiteness
• power