FOUL! A Historico-Theoretical Politics of Bio-Intellectual

Property™: Minority-Student-Bodies,

Neoliberal Universities, and Global Sport Capitalism

Jorge Enrique MoragaAMST 507: Contemporary Practices in American Cultural Studies

Dr. Kim Christen23 April 2013

Overview • Background

• Research Questions• Purpose of Study

• Theoretical Framework• Argument

• Methodology• Significance of Study

• References

Background

Research QuestionsWhat is the relationship between minority difference,

corporate universities and neoliberal marketing/consumption of sports?

Have college sport conferences, such as the NCAA, furthered the appropriation of minority

student bodies in an effort to bolster a neoliberal university?

How are minority-student-bodies conceived of and contracted as the bio-intellectual property of

neoliberal corporate entities?

Purpose of Study

Theoretical Framework

College universities as ‘frontiers of capitalism’ (Tsing: 2005, 20) Minority-Student-Bodies, universities and sport

conferences as ‘scale making projects’ (Tsing: 2005, 27)

Contemporary capitalist moment (Global Neoliberalism) commodity circuit approach (West: 2012, 20) ‘hegemonic affirmation of difference’ (Ferguson: 2012, 54) hyper-increase & shifts in IP rights (Coleman: 2013, 71)

Theoretical Framework (cont)

Socio-Cultural Dimensions of IP IP regimes have [trade] marked the body, historically

resulting in the ‘standardization of American culture’ (Coombe: 1998, 6)

Minority-Student-Bodies, Bio-Power, and Bio-Intellectual Property Bio-power as ‘indispensable element in the development

of capitalism’ Bio-Intellectual Property as a “diverse technique for

achieving the subjugation of [student] bodies and the control of [university] populations” (Foucault: 1984, 263)

Argument

Minority-Student-Bodies are the Bio-Intellectual Property of transnational corporations; neoliberal universities are the means of transport by which such identities are appropriated, pacified, and consumed to an American public imaginary.

Methodology

Ethnographic analysis to the WSU ‘Student Athlete Advisory Counsel’ (SAAC) and Cougar Basketball student athletes

Collaborate with WSU Associate Director of Athletics and Student-Athlete Development

Discourse analysis of WSU Full-Program Athletics Contract with Nike, Television media, and NCAA Pac-12 Conference

Research Design & Implementation

3 year plan 1st Yr

Questionnaire Preparation Collect public information: Full-Program Athletic Contract

2nd Yr Student Interviews (SAAC and Cougar B-ball team) Case Studies

3rd Yr Student Interviews Data Analysis Create, design, publicize findings on website Disseminate findings (conferences & website launch)

Significance Of Study

Critique of contemporary corporate funding of higher education and access and equity

Commodification and consumption of minority-difference

New lens to view and deconstruct discursive politics of colorblindness, multiculturalism, and diversity

Realign contemporary assumptions of neoliberal meritocracy and the American Dream via public education.

References Coleman, E. Gabriella. Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking. Princeton: Princeton University Press,

2013.

Coombe, Rosemary J. The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties: Authorship, Appropriation, and the Law. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998.

Ferguson, Roderick A. The Reorder of Things: The University and its Pedagogies of Minority Difference. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.

King, Samantha. “Nike U: Full-Program Athletics Contracts and the Corporate University.” In Sports and Neoliberalism: Politics, Consumption, and Culture, 75-89. Edited by David L. Andrews and Michael L. Silk. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012.

Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. “Restoring the Balance: Dollars, Values, and the Future of College Sports.” 2010.

Silk, Michael L. and David L. Andrews. “Sport and the Neoliberal Conjuncture: Complicating the Consensus.” In Sports and Neoliberalism: Politics, Consumption, and Culture, 1-19. Edited by David L. Andrews and Michael L. Silk. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012.

Silk, Michael L. The Cultural Politics of Post-9/11 American Sport: Power, Pedagogy and the Popular. New York: Routledge, 2012.

Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005.

West, Paige. From Modern Production to Imagined Primitive: The Social World of Coffee from Papua New Guinea. Durham: Duke University Press, 2012.

Zimbalist, Andrew. Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.