Beyond the Mat: Centering the Literacy Experiences of Black Girls in Gymnastics through Sista Circles

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 9:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Radical Youth Literacies: Black Resistance, Disability, and Liberation

Abstract

Sports is often seen as the "Great Equalizer", but for Black girls, it is also a space where race, gender, and body politics intersect. Rooted in Black Girls’ Literacies Framework and Intersectionality Methodology, this study asks: How do Black girl competitive gymnasts make meaning and navigate their intersectional identities through the sport? Data comes from three themed interactive sista circles focused on identity development and representation, including video-recorded discussions, collaborative writing, and multimodal artifacts like poems and vision boards. Findings reveal that participants used literacy to name themselves on their own terms, reclaim representation, and imagine otherwise. This project affirms gymnastics as a literacy space where Black girls resist marginalization, build community, and author new narratives through expressive and embodied meaning-making.

Author

• Tamara N. Moten, Wesleyan College