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2018 NASSS Annual Conference
Sport Soundtrack: Sport, Music, & Culture
KO

Kristi Oshiro

Texas A&M University
Beyond the Black-White Binary: Illuminating the Voices of Female Student-Athletes of Color
Beyond the Black-White Binary: Illuminating the Voices of Female Student-Athletes of Color
Racism and sexism has and continues to permeate college sport. Reflecting the dominant white male culture, scholarship in sporting spaces has generally failed to capture the lived experiences of “women and people of color, and most specifically ignores women who are people of color” (Bruening, 2005, p. 330). Thus, this population has remained silenced, marginalized, and understudied historically and in contemporary times. Troubled by the lack of decolonial feminist theorizing in discussions on sport, race, and gender, Ratna (2018) encouraged scholars to reconsider and re-frame their analysis of difference, particularly relating to women of color in sport. Building off of Bruening’s 2005 piece, this study aims to show how decolonial feminist thinking, and innovative methods of data collection can be applied to illuminate the voices and lived experiences of these individuals. More specifically, we highlight techniques for sampling diverse populations, and the utility of personal narrative to counter the dominant methodological approaches to the study of college sport. This research has implications for theory and practice, including how we engage with, better understand, and meet the needs of female student-athletes of color from an intersectional perspective as we continue to work towards decolonizing college sport, and the study thereof.