Abstract

In the United States the anthropology of sport has received little attention since the 1990’s. This paper explores anthropology, sport, and the use of ethnographic methods to expose some of the benefits anthropologists may receive by incorporating sports into their analysis of cultural systems. Using examples of player jerseys and team names this paper explores issues of symbolism gleaned through the methods of ethnography, specifically participant observation, to determine the cultural meaning of these jerseys and team names for recreational sport participants in two Latino communities in the U.S. urban areas of San Diego County and Los Angeles, California. Ethnography is a powerful research tool often utilized in social science contexts outside of sport and the purpose of this paper is to propose its use in anthropology of sports research.