The talk will be delivered on Zoom on Friday, December 2, at 4:00pm CST, and is free and open to the public. Please register for the event at this link: https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/95746578015?pwd=OFJWY0M1UGtJYmxWZ05BRy9Ub1h4QT09. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Black Feminism and Sports
Letisha Engracia Cardoso Brown (University of Cincinnati)
Dr. Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cincinnati, where she is also an affiliate of the Africana and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies programs. Dr. Brown’s research centers the experiences of Black women and girls in sports, media, and education. She is a Black feminist sociologist whose work is intersectional and interdisciplinary. Her public scholarship can be found on First and Pen, and her academic work can be found in journals including Race & Social Problems, the South African Review of Sociology, and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Her forthcoming book Say Her Name: Centering Black Feminism and Black Women in Sports is under advanced contract with Rutgers University Press.
Abstract
…Race and gender are firecrackers that ignite America’s social conscience, rattle the cages that bind us—cages that block our passage to equality. It’s a double whammy for African American female athletes since we aren’t the dominant norm—we’re not white. Race and racism loom large and throw a level athletic playing field off-kilter.
Ruth L. Hall
In this presentation on Black feminism and sports, I aim to unpack the intersecting nature of race and gender upon the lived realities of Black women and girls in sports. Drawing primarily from my forthcoming book Say Her Name: Centering Black Feminism and Black Women in Sports, this talk is designed to make you consider deeply the ways in which Black women and girls experience sport as an institution. Specifically, this talk will begin with a discussion of the need of a Black feminist perspective in sports studies, then highlight specific areas of interest including the racialization of gender in sports, athlete activism and the role of Black women and girls, as well the politics of Black hair in sports. My aim in this talk is to give a sample of the work addressed in my forthcoming book, as well as to highlight the existing Black feminist scholarship in the field. Black feminists, within the scope of sociology and other social science and humanities fields, are often regulated to the margins of discussion. This talk is meant to bring Black feminist scholars work, and the lived realities of Black women and girls in sports to the center of discussion. Black feminism is part of the future of sports studies broadly, this presentation is designed to whet the appetite of all who attend.
