Out of bounds? Racial discourse on college basketball message boards

Abstract

While the frequency of overt racism has decreased in most public spaces, being replaced by more subtly racialized narratives, the Internet appears to be an exception where explicit racism continues to proliferate. Online message boards dedicated to US collegiate basketball are sites where groups dominated by white male users discuss the lives and performances of young, primarily black, student-athletes. Against this backdrop, the current study investigated the racialized nature of discourse on college basketball message boards in cases where players were involved in disciplinary incidents. We found that, although overt mention of race was rare in these spaces, racialized assumptions and expectations often still shaped interpretations of players' actions. Reasons for the presence of such 'colour-blind' discourse are discussed.