An ethnography of black collegiate sprinters: A formal model of cultural identity and the identity complex
type: CreativeWork
description: "This is a formal study of social and cultural identity in a population of black collegiate sprinters. I combine the theoretical perspectives of cognitive science and sociocultural anthropology to propose a cognitive model of a system of social relations that will handle effectively the very complicated ways in which being black can figure in being a sprinter. On a methodological level, I propose that a form of ethnography, which I have labeled ""experiential positivism"" (intensive participant observation to the point where the participant observer can at least hope to possess some of a real participant's cognitive understandings and intuitions by which the activity is ordered), can generate the required kinds of empirical data for formulating and testing formalized models of social reality."
abstract: "This is a formal study of social and cultural identity in a population of black collegiate sprinters. I combine the theoretical perspectives of cognitive science and sociocultural anthropology to propose a cognitive model of a system of social relations that will handle effectively the very complicated ways in which being black can figure in being a sprinter. On a methodological level, I propose that a form of ethnography, which I have labeled ""experiential positivism"" (intensive participant observation to the point where the participant observer can at least hope to possess some of a real participant's cognitive understandings and intuitions by which the activity is ordered), can generate the required kinds of empirical data for formulating and testing formalized models of social reality."
author: Sands, Robert Russell
language: eng
keywords: Anthropology, Cultural, Education, Physical, Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
date published: 2011-05-07T12:51:32Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:16Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/20864