The Racialized Political Economy of Sport in Higher Education

• In Event: The Racialized Political Economy of Education: Explorations of Antiblackness Across K–16

Abstract

The state of intercollegiate athletics is one of the most polarizing topics in public higher education today. However, many critiques neglect the socio-historical trajectory of the relationship between athletes and the institution of sport. This study, grounded in Wynter’s perspective of the Human (1994, 1997), evaluates the policies and practices that create and maintain the stratification of power and bodily labor within intercollegiate athletic departments. I build upon the foundation laid by critical higher education scholars (Boggs & Mitchell, 2018; Dancy, Edwards, & Davis, 2018; Mustaffa, 2017; Stein, 2016) who argue that the foundation of American higher education is intrinsically linked to anti-Blackness; thus maintaining the stratification of power upheld by the value of Whiteness.

This structural analysis pays particular attention to disentangling the intersectional nuance of Black male bodily labor and White women’s accrual of capital. White women in sport play the role of ‘Border Beckys’ (Ignatiev & Garvey, 2014), wherein their proximity to people of color provides an awareness to difference and results in a desire to separate themselves from the system of oppression that impacts the POC community, however their actions provide insight into the difficulty in dismantling and resisting a system they continuously benefit from. Ultimately, this work builds upon a legacy of Whiteness as property (Harris, 1993; Haney-Lopez, 1996). I add to our understanding of the valuing and devaluing of Black bodies within society at large, emphasizing our historical dehumanization through labor exploitation and domestication. It is my hope this paper help combat the revisionist history (Stein, 2016) of wielding Whiteness within the institution of sport and the neoliberal university.

Author

• Rachel Roberson, University of California - Berkeley