Section One: The Fundamentals

A) Keywords

Exercise 1:

Briefly (in 100 words or less) define one of the keywords in the padlet (including one that you. may have added yourself).

Colourblindness:

Colourblindness is known as a vision deficiency where someone struggles to identify different colours. In regards to race, it involves not focusing on the colour of a person’s skin as a way to ignore differences and end racism. Although some use colourblindness as a way to advocate that everyone is considered equal regardless of their ethnicity and skin colour, ignoring someone’s race does not exclude the systemic racism that impacts many people around the world and instead overlooks the problem at hand. Instead, It is important to recognize people’s race and address the inequalities to make a more equitable society.

B) Representing Race

Exercise 2: Notebook Prompt 

In about 50-70 words, consider Joel Bervell’s question: why do we feel the need to extrapolate the athleticism of one Black athlete to all Black people when we do not do the same for white athletes?

Try to think of examples when this happens, making sure to reflect on your own positionality.

The reason that people tend to extrapolate the athleticism of one black athlete to all black athletes can be represented by our history of narratives, stereotypes, and other biases that have been ingrained into society over time.

I think an example when this happens is when we see a tall black person, people may assume that they either play or would be good at basketball just because of their height as other tall black athletes are naturally good at basketball. When we see a tall white person, it is not automatically assumed that they are good at basketball. This correlates to the stereotypes that have existed for a long time.

C) Gender, Race & Sport 

Exercise 3: Notebook Prompt

What are some strategies for resistance that Rajack and Joseph identify in their article as a means of pushing back against and resisting misogynoir?

The use of social media:

• It used to vilify women of colour, but now celebrates connections to Haiti, and amplifies resistance to racism.
• Newer media has the power to shift representations. 
  • Misogynoir is being captured by individuals whose collective voices force media platforms, companies, and individuals to be more accountable for their actions. 

The case study of Naomi Osaka also provides an opportunity to complicate the way female athletes, and players of African descent, are represented.

Section Two: Making Connections

A) Athlete Activism

Exercise 3: Padlet Prompt

 Do athletes have a responsibility to use their platform for social change? Why or why not? Please remember to record your response in both the padlet below and in your Notebook.

I feel athletes do have some responsibility to use their platform for social change even though they do not have to. This is because sports can be seen as a place for both cultural and political conflict and many people who are fans of certain athletes or support them, want to listen to what they have to say to social change/ongoing issues. In the past, there has been controversy among many people such as celebrities and athletes for not using their platform to address current issues that cause them to experience a lot of hate or negative perceptions about them and their beliefs for not saying anything. In a way, this takes away the real benefits of athletes using their platform for real social change as many people just expect them to that it can affect the genuine desire to promote change or not. 

B) Athlete Activism & Feminism

Exercise 4: Complete the activities 

Exercise 5: Notebook Prompt 

What do the authors of the article call for as a way of challenging how mainstream sports journalism privileges neoliberal feminist concerns? (100 words max.)

In the article, a way of challenging how mainstream sports journalism privileges neoliberal feminist concerns is by focusing more on women’s voices in sports over men’s. This is because in many mainstream sports, capturing the majority of the attention. Overall, men’s voices are heard over women’s, causing women to be considered invisible and not acknowledged as much.
Another way is to advocate for equal pay as women already make less than male athletes, but black women make even less money than other women. It is about advocating for women’s rights and calling out/eliminating systemic racism.

C) Corporate social justice 

Exercise 6: Padlet Poll

Module Assignment (submit as part of notebook and separately through Blackboard mini assignment #1 portal)

Introduction:

The TV show I have chosen to analyze for this assignment is called; “All American” which focuses on the life of a high school football player named Spencer who is balancing his life through two very different communities; Beverly Hills & South Crenshaw. What is important about using a TV show to showcase athletes speaking out is that it uses media to showcase sports and the impact it has on people, as well as those from marginalized communities. This allows people to develop a greater understanding of how sports are played, and organized within a society (Haynes & Boyle, 2009). 

What strategies do athletes employ to speak out?

This show portrays real-life issues regarding race and other social issues such as police brutality, gang violence, mental health, and racial inequality. Within the show, there are a variety of strategies to speak out including using sports as a platform, public advocacy, community engagement, standing up to authority, advocacy/mentorship, and even taking action beyond the field. These strategies help allow the characters to address current social issues while also working on their activism for change. 

What is the commentary on athletes using their voices in these shows? 

Within the show, the athletes use their voices to showcase both the power and challenges that come from standing up and speaking out. Since the show focuses on young athletes from marginalized backgrounds, they need to speak on their challenges while also using their platforms to allow for real change to occur. As mentioned in one of the readings, racism can be trivialized and put down the game for those playing or watching (Hylton, 2010). This promotes the concept of athletes becoming role models which occurs in real life sports as well.  When they use their platforms or stand up for social movements, they inspire others, stand up for people as well as themselves, and advocate for change to occur.

How do race and/or gender or other *identities inform this representation?

Social structures and inequality impact communities to interact with one another as a result of an uneven/limited amount of wealth, and public sphere (Rozaitul et al., 2017). This show allows the characters and athletes to represent and share their stories addressing how race, class, and gender impact and influence the lives of the athletes/characters within the show. Although many of them come from marginalized backgrounds, they form a sense of community belonging as seen especially from Spencer and his involvement in improving his neighbourhood. Another important aspect is the queer identity which is portrayed within the show as there is a character named Coop who is a part of the LGBTQ+ community as being queer. This representation is important as it helps to reject the traditional norms of feminism and embrace this fluid gender expression.

How do these representations shape how we understand the sports themselves?

One of the main takeaways from this show is the importance of how we understand sports and its correlation to identity, and social justice. The many themes and topics explored throughout this series showcase what it is like to be an athlete which is similar to the many different complex experiences that many athletes in real face as well such as mental health, racism, class, gender, etc. Overall, its challenge to social norms throughout the two different communities of Beverly Hills and South Crenshaw showcases the inequities that many sports have on people who are often marginalized while also showing how to navigate a world through determination and resilience.

References:

Haynes, R., & Boyle, R. (2009). Chapter 6The Race Game: Media Sport, Race and Ethnicity. In Power Play. Edinburgh University Press.

Hylton, K. (2010). How a turn to critical race theory can contribute to our understanding of ‘race’, racism and anti-racism in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45(3), 335–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690210371045

Rozaitul, M., Dashper, K., Fletcher, T., Watson, B., & Long, J. (2017). Gender justice?: Muslim women’s experiences of sport and physical activity in the UK. In Sport, Leisure and Social Justice (1st ed., Vol. 1, pp. 70–83). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315660356-6