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Unicorns, rainbows, and unicorn magic: storying new knowledge of black masculinities within the WWE
This paper examines the story arc of a trio of Black male wrestlers called the New Day within the World Wrestling Entertainment industry (WWE) who go from militant nationalists, stereotypical singing/dancing preachers, and finally to self-described unicorns bringing magic back to the WWE. Wrestling...
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| Format: | Default Article |
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2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/2134/24754977.v1 |
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| _version_ | 1818436265943498752 |
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| author | Nik Dickerson |
| author_facet | Nik Dickerson |
| author_sort | Nik Dickerson (13218084) |
| collection | Figshare |
| description | This paper examines the story arc of a trio of Black male wrestlers called the New Day within the World Wrestling Entertainment industry (WWE) who go from militant nationalists, stereotypical singing/dancing preachers, and finally to self-described unicorns bringing magic back to the WWE. Wrestling is used to explore anti-Blackness, Black masculinity, and conceptions of the human/humanity. Drawing on Katherine McKittrick's Black methodological intervention of textual accumulation to interrogate issues of race, masculinity, and sexuality within their performances, I argue the group's unique position as wrestlers allows us to conceptualize the trio as “writers” of fiction; a position that when read through Kevin Young's concept of storying provides insight into a Black creative practice engaging in alternative worldmaking and rewriting understandings of the human outside of a Western European framework. I advocate that the stories of the New Day not only provide glimpses into new genres of being human, but also forms of Black manhood(s) outside of a patriarchal framework. |
| format | Default Article |
| id | rr-article-24754977 |
| institution | Loughborough University |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | Figshare |
| spelling | rr-article-247549772024-01-09T00:00:00Z Unicorns, rainbows, and unicorn magic: storying new knowledge of black masculinities within the WWE Nik Dickerson (13218084) Commercial services Sports science and exercise Sociology Cultural studies Black masculinity Wrestling Black methodology Genres of human Storytelling <p dir="ltr">This paper examines the story arc of a trio of Black male wrestlers called the New Day within the World Wrestling Entertainment industry (WWE) who go from militant nationalists, stereotypical singing/dancing preachers, and finally to self-described unicorns bringing magic back to the WWE. Wrestling is used to explore anti-Blackness, Black masculinity, and conceptions of the human/humanity. Drawing on Katherine McKittrick's Black methodological intervention of textual accumulation to interrogate issues of race, masculinity, and sexuality within their performances, I argue the group's unique position as wrestlers allows us to conceptualize the trio as “writers” of fiction; a position that when read through Kevin Young's concept of storying provides insight into a Black creative practice engaging in alternative worldmaking and rewriting understandings of the human outside of a Western European framework. I advocate that the stories of the New Day not only provide glimpses into new genres of being human, but also forms of Black manhood(s) outside of a patriarchal framework.</p> 2024-01-09T00:00:00Z Text Journal contribution 2134/24754977.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Unicorns_rainbows_and_unicorn_magic_storying_new_knowledge_of_black_masculinities_within_the_WWE/24754977 CC BY-NC 4.0 |
| spellingShingle | Commercial services Sports science and exercise Sociology Cultural studies Black masculinity Wrestling Black methodology Genres of human Storytelling Nik Dickerson Unicorns, rainbows, and unicorn magic: storying new knowledge of black masculinities within the WWE |
| title | Unicorns, rainbows, and unicorn magic: storying new knowledge of black masculinities within the WWE |
| title_full | Unicorns, rainbows, and unicorn magic: storying new knowledge of black masculinities within the WWE |
| title_fullStr | Unicorns, rainbows, and unicorn magic: storying new knowledge of black masculinities within the WWE |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unicorns, rainbows, and unicorn magic: storying new knowledge of black masculinities within the WWE |
| title_short | Unicorns, rainbows, and unicorn magic: storying new knowledge of black masculinities within the WWE |
| title_sort | unicorns, rainbows, and unicorn magic: storying new knowledge of black masculinities within the wwe |
| topic | Commercial services Sports science and exercise Sociology Cultural studies Black masculinity Wrestling Black methodology Genres of human Storytelling |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/2134/24754977.v1 |