Race, Racism, and Physical Education

• In Event: Research in K-12 Education and Athletics: Past, Present, and Possibility

Abstract

Dr. Colette Cann is an assistant professor of Education in the Department of Education at Vassar College. Her paper presentation will explore the intersection of race, racism, and physical education in K12 schools while examining possibilities for future research. This paper presents a current literature review of research that explores the intersection of race, racism, and physical education in K12 schools, with a particular focus on Black and White male students. A plethora of research explores racism in higher education, including studies of the racialization of school mascots, the overrepresentation of White coaches of Black athletes and self-perceptions of athletes given racialized interactions on the field and court. This particular literature review focuses on the K12 level to better understand how present research thinks about how race plays out in a classroom setting focused on athleticism and learning.

The theoretical framework for this piece is informed by Critical Race Theory (CRT) in education. Critical race theory identifies five tenets that hold together research and methodological concerns: the centrality of race and racial injustice to the distribution of necessary resources in the U.S. and the intersectionality of race and racism with other aspects of identity and experiences of oppression (gender and sexism, sexuality and heterosexism, class and poverty). Three distinct areas arise in the literature on race and K12 physical education courses. The first considers how physical education coaches differently perceive the abilities of Black and White male students in physical education courses. A second body of literature considers how students perceive themselves and their own abilities in athletics and academics. The third area that this literature review covers looks at culturally relevant physical education and considers the strong role that it might play in undermining the proliferation of the limited and limiting stereotypical images of Black male youth.

Dr. Cann completed her Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Studies in the field of Education at U.C. Berkeley. Prior to entering the doctoral program at U.C. Berkeley, she taught high school mathematics and coached volleyball at Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton, CA, as well as served as academic advisor for incoming students from East Palo Alto. She continued to teach in Oakland and Marin City during her graduate career. While in graduate school, she was a member of the Diversity Project, conducting the quantitative analyses of data regarding equity and race concerns at Berkeley High School. Her research interests include the racialization of media representations, interracial dialogue and the re-construction of racial identities of college age youth. Her dissertation explored the topic of teacher tracking at the secondary level in mathematics. She has recently co-authored a book with fellow presenter Dr. Eric DeMeulenaere entitled Reflections from the Field: How Coaching Made us Better Teachers.

Author

• Colette Cann, Vassar College