Student-Athletes’ Experiences with Racial Microaggressions in Sport: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis

Despite growing research on racial microaggressions as a subtle but prevalent form of racial discrimination, research on microaggressions in sport and their effects on the psychosocial wellbeing of athletes is scarce. Moreover, some researchers question the legitimacy of microaggressions due to their subtle nature and inconsistency in how they are experienced (Lilienfeld, 2017). The purpose of this study was to examine U.S. collegiate student-athletes-of-color experiences with racial microaggressions in sport through a new theoretical lens, Foucauldian poststructuralist theory. We theorized microaggressions as an example of the daily panoptic gaze that leads to self-surveillance and the production of normalized individuals (Foucault, 1995). Eight student-athletes-of-color participated in two interviews: a two-person focus group interview followed by an individual interview. The interviews were analyzed deductively using Sue’s (2010) microaggression typology followed by a Foucauldian discourse analysis (Willig, 2013). The results illustrated how student-athletes-of-color experiences and subjectivities were racialized. Within sport, the sport as transcending race discourse was widely circulated and legitimized through various sporting practices, which limited athletes’ ability to perceive and acknowledge race and microaggressions. This study sheds light on how racial microaggressions manifest in the lives of student-athletes and how the discourses and practices we take for granted constitute racial subjectivities

Collaboration and knowledge exchange between scholars in Britain and the empire, 1830–1914

In recent years there has been a growing interest among historians in the British Empire as a space of knowledge production and circulation. Much of this work assumes that scholarly cooperation and collaboration between individuals and institutions within the Empire had the effect (and often also the aim) of strengthening both imperial ties and the idea of empire. This chapter argues, however, that many examples of scholarly travel, exchange, and collaboration were undertaken with very different goals in mind. In particular, it highlights the continuing importance of an ideal of scientific internationalism, which stressed the benefits of scholarship for the whole of humanity and prioritized the needs and goals of individual academic and scientific disciplines. As the chapter shows, some scholars even went on to develop nuanced critiques of the imperial project while using the very structures of empire to further their own individual, disciplinary and institutional goals

Geographically touring the eastern bloc: British geography, travel cultures and the Cold War

This paper considers the role of travel in the generation of geographical knowledge of the eastern bloc by British geographers. Based on oral history and surveys of published work, the paper examines the roles of three kinds of travel experience: individual private travels, tours via state tourist agencies, and tours by academic delegations. Examples are drawn from across the eastern bloc, including the USSR, Poland, Romania, East Germany and Albania. The relationship between travel and publication is addressed, notably within textbooks, and in the Geographical Magazine. The study argues for the extension of accounts of cultures of geographical travel, and seeks to supplement the existing historiography of Cold War geography

A Golden Age of Security and Education? Adult Education for Civil Defence in the United States 1950–1970

A number of authors consider that the early period of US security and education (1950–1970) was in some way a ‘golden age’ where there was a prevailing societal orientation towards civil defence. This is supported, to some extent, through ‘Duck and Cover’ type activities in schools and in community preparedness efforts. This article considers whether this portrayal is necessarily correct in the case of adult education. From an analysis of previously classified historical archives in the US National Archives II at the University of Maryland, I consider the success of the civil defense adult education programme (CDAE), and earlier adult education courses, from 1950 to 1970. Rather than being a ‘bottom-up’ process, CDAE was imposed on educators directly through an executive order. There was considerable resistance to the CDAE from other areas of government, from states and from students. CDAE had limited success only so much as the Department of Health and Welfare (DHEW) was able to reconcile it with their own educational objectives. The article concludes by considering the implications of these findings for contemporary adult education for emergencies