NASSS 2018 Conference - Vancouver

McDonald (2005) considered whiteness not as a stable, predictable project, or stagnant identity, but “a fluid set of practices” that simultaneously produce identifications with and are imperfectly reiterated by bodies, especially ‘white’ bodies, with important consequences in regard to life, opportunity, and psychic security” (p. 250). Even though overt individual racial prejudice declines, higher education remains as a setting where structural racist patterns and procedures persist (Guess, 2006). Gusa (2010) used “White Institutional Presence” to describe the practices, traditions, and perceptions of knowledge that are taken for granted as the norm at institutions of higher education. Working in this type of unfriendly, sometime hostile environment put extra stress on people from minority backgrounds (Ahmed, 2017). Moreover, (graduate) students and young scholars in sport sociology may face even more stress considering that their praxis often pose challenges to white institutional presence. Therefore, this panel discussion will focus on the following questions:
How should young scholars/students in their respective institutions cope with whiteness? What are the strategies available for us to take care of mental health?