Sport, Activism, and Ethics: Historiographical Perspectives

in Kinesiology Review

Click name to view affiliation

Douglas Booth Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, Canada

Search for other papers by Douglas Booth in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
*
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/kr.2021-0035
Keywords:
narrative; politics; social change; social justice; voice
First Published Online:
22 Feb 2022
In Print:
Volume 11: Issue 3
Page Range:
220–228
Restricted access

Athletes have long been activists, but the historical presentation and understanding of that activism is complex, constantly shifting, and wrought with contradictions and paradoxes. In this article, I call attention to facts and narratives around social justice, including how kinesiology and its subdisciplines embrace and afford opportunities to women and racial and ethnic minorities and casts them in their visions for the future. Neither raw statistics of (under- or over-) representation nor promises of a brighter future are likely to have any impact or contribute to understanding until they are presented in coherent narratives that include, or are preferably created by, affected voices. Only when kinesiology is producing a critical volume of these narratives can it truly claim to be contributing to social justice.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

Kinesiology Review

Cover Kinesiology Review

  • Andrews, D. (2008). Kinesiology’s inconvenient truth and the physical cultural imperative. Quest, 60(1), 45–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.2008.10483568

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bachynski, K. (2020). #MeToo, Larry Nassar, and sexual abuse in youth sports. In F. Jacob (Ed.), Sports and politics (pp. 119–40). De Gruyter Oldenbourg.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Barnes, S., & McDonald, M. (2021). Race, racism, and racial entanglements. In M. Phillips, D. Booth, & C. Adams (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of sport history (pp. 161–168). Routledge.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Belson, K. (2020, June 5). As Trump rekindles N.F.L. fight, Goodell sides with players. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/sports/football/trump-anthem-kneeling-kaepernick.html

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Berkhofer, R. (1995). Beyond the great story: History as text and discourse. Harvard University Press.

  • Blutstein, H. (2021). Games of discontent: Protest, boycotts, and politics at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. McGill Queen’s University Press.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Booth, D. (2005). The field: Truth and fiction in sport history. Routledge.

  • Booth, D. (2010). Beyond history: Racial emancipation and ethics in apartheid sport. Rethinking History, 14(4), 461–481. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642529.2010.515803

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Booth, D. (2016). Disentangling race: Re-narrating apartheid sport? The International Journal of the History of Sport, 33(15), 1866–1883. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1319359

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Booth, D. (2020). Colin Tatz: Sports criticism, history and a “compulsion to repair a flawed world.” Sporting Traditions, 37(1), 13–33.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bryant, H. (2020, August 26). The reality of black pain is breaking sports’ status quo. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29749948/the-reality-black-pain-breaking-american-sports-status-quo

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Carlos, J., & Zirin, D. (2011). The John Carlos story: The sports moment that changed the world. Haymarket Books.

  • Carpentier, F., & Lefèvre, J. (2006). The modern Olympic movement, women’s sport and the social order during the inter-war period. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 23(7), 1112–1127. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523360600832387

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Carrard, P. (1991). Poetics of the new history: French historical discourse from Braudel to Chartier. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Collins, T. (1998). Rugby’s great split. Frank Cass.

  • Creswell, J., Draper, K., & Maheshwari, S. (2018, September 26). Nike nearly dropped Colin Kaepernick before embracing him. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/sports/nike-colin-kaepernick.html

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Cronin, M. (2010). Reflections on the cultural paradigm. Sporting Traditions, 27(2), 1–13.

  • Curthoys, A., & Docker, J. (2006). Is history fiction? University of New South Wales Press.

  • Davis, A. (2020). No more games: Understanding the latest wave of athletic activism. The American Historian. https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2020/history-for-black-lives/no-more-games-understanding-the-latest-wave-of-athletic-activism/

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Desai, A. (2019). The race chase: The colour of cricket transformation in South Africa. Africa Review, 11(2), 122–136.

  • Dichter, H. (2021). Sport and politics. In M. Phillips, D. Booth, & C. Adams (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of sport history (pp. 136–143). Routledge.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Donnelly, P. (2010). 1968 and all that: Social change and the social sciences of sport. Sport in Society, 13(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430430903377649

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Eaglestone, R. (1998). The “fine risk” of history: Post-structuralism, the past and the work of Emmanuel Levinas. Rethinking History, 2(3), 313–320. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642529809408967

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Eaglestone, R. (2004). The Holocaust and the postmodern. Oxford University Press.

  • Edwards, H. (1969). The revolt of the black athlete. Free Press.

  • Elcombe, T. (2005). Reformist America: “The oberlin experiment”—The limits of Jack Scott’s “athletic revolution” in post-1960s America. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 22(6), 1060–1085. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523360500286767

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Elton, G. (1991). Return to essentials: Some reflections on the present state of historical study. Cambridge University Press.

  • Elton, G. (2002). The practice of history (2nd ed.). Blackwell.

  • Evans, R. (1997). In defence of history. Granata.

  • Farred, G. (2004). The black intellectual’s work is never done: A critique of the discourse of reconciliation in South Africa. Postcolonial Studies, 7(1), 113–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/1368879042000210649

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Farred, G. (2018). The burden of over-representation: Race, sport, and philosophy. Temple University Press.

  • Field, R. (2015). Playing for change: The continuing struggle for sport and recreation. University of Toronto Press.

  • Field, R. (2021). Sport and activism. In M. Phillips, D. Booth, & C. Adams (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of sport history (pp. 82–89). Routledge.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Finney, P. (2008). Hayden White, international history and questions too seldom posed. Rethinking History, 12(1), 103–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642520701838926

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Futterman, M. (2021, July 6). She protested on a medal podium. Will the Olympics ban that? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/06/sports/olympics/berry-podium-anthem-protest.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hartmann, D. (2003). Race, culture, and the revolt of the black athlete: The 1968 Olympic protests and their aftermath. University of Chicago Press.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Haskell, T. (1998). Objectivity is not neutrality: Explanatory schemes in history. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

  • Hill, J. (2003). Sport and politics. Journal of Contemporary History, 38(3), 355–361. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009403038003001

  • Hylton, K. (2020). Black lives matter in sport . . .? Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, 40(1), 41–48. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-07-2020-0185

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • International Olympic Committee. (2021, April 21). IOC Athletes’ Commission’s recommendations on Rule 50 and athlete expression at the Olympic Games fully endorsed by the IOC Executive Board [Media release]. https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-athletes-commission-s-recommendations-on-rule-50-and-athlete-expression-at-the-olympic-games

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Jenkins, K. (1999). Why history? Ethics and postmodernity. Routledge.

  • Jerome, V., & Parker, S. (2010). The conservative vision of the amateur ideal and its paradoxical whitening power: The story of Valerie Jerome in 1950s and 1960s Canadian track and field. Sport in Society, 13(1), 12–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430430903377664

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kansteiner, W. (2009). Success, truth, and modernism in Holocaust historiography: Reading Saul Friedländer thirty-five years after the publication of metahistory. History and Theory, 47(2), 25–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2303.2009.00497.x

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Keh, A. (2021a, July 2). Olympics allows protests, but not during events or on medals stand. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/sports/olympics/olympics-protests-tokyo.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Keh, A. (2021b, July 20). Power game: Thomas Bach’s iron grip on the Olympics. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/sports/thomas-bach-tokyo-olympics.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kidd, B. (2021). Sport and international relations. In M. Phillips, D. Booth, & C. Adams (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of sport history (pp. 143–151). Routledge.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kuhn, T. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.

  • Leigh, M., & Bonin, T. (1977). The pioneering role of Madame Alice Milliat and the FSFI in establishing international track and field competition for women. Journal of Sport History, 4(1), 72–83.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Lévinas, E. (1969). Totality and infinity: An essay on exteriority (A. Lingis, Trans.). Duquesne University Press.

  • Lévinas, E. (1978). Otherwise than being or beyond essence (A. Lingis, Trans.). Kluwer Academic.

  • Liberti, R., & Smith, M. (2015). (Re)Presenting Wilma Rudolph. Syracuse University Press.

  • Longman, J. (2018, September 6). Kaepernick’s knee and Olympic fists are linked by history. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/sports/kaepernick-nike-kneeling.html

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Longman, J. (2021, June 17). A quiet demonstration and a long shadow. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/17/sports/olympics/wyomia-tyus-athlete-protests-racism.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • MacLean, M. (2021). Reflexivity in sport history. In M. Phillips, D. Booth, & C. Adams (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of sport history (pp. 16–23). Routledge.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Marston, S. (2020). The revival of athlete activism(s): Divergent black politics in the 2016 presidential election engagements of LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick. In F. Jacob (Ed.), Sports and politics (pp. 119–40). De Gruyter Oldenbourg.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Moore, K. (1991a). The 1968 Olympics: A courageous stand. Sports Illustrated, 75(6), 60–75.

  • Moore, K. (1991b). The 1968 Olympics: The eye of the storm. Sports Illustrated, 75(7), 60–72.

  • Munslow, A. (2006). The Routledge companion to historical studies. (2nd ed.). Routledge.

  • Munslow, A. (2007). Narrative and history. Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Nathan, D. (2002). Saying it’s so: A cultural history of the Black Sox scandal. University of Illinois Press.

  • National Academy of Kinesiology. (2021). Theme of annual meeting. https://nationalacademyofkinesiology.org/Content/Documents/National%20Academy%20of%20Kinesiology%20Program%202021.pdf

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • National Center for History in the Schools. (1996). History standards. University of California. https://phi.history.ucla.edu/nchs/preface/significance-history-educated-citizen/

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Norman, M. (Director). (2008). Salute [DVD]. Paramount Pictures.

  • Novick, P. (1988). That noble dream: The “objectivity question” and the American historical profession. Cambridge University Press.

  • O’Callaghan, L. (2001). Sport and nationalism. In M. Phillips, D. Booth, & C. Adams (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of sport history (pp. 150–160). Routledge.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Peel, A. (2010). The athlete as Sisyphus: Reflections of an athlete advocate. Sport in Society, 13(1), 20–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430430903377680

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Phillips, M., Booth, D., & Adams, C. (2021). The Routledge handbook of sport history. Routledge.

  • Pogash, C. (2020, June 16). Asian Art Museum to remove bust of patron. That’s just a start. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/arts/design/avery-brundage-bust-asian-art-museum.html

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Posel, D. (2008). History as confession: The case of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Public Culture, 20(1), 119–141. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-2007-019

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Reid, E. (2017, September 25). Why Colin Kaepernick and I decided to take a knee. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/opinion/colin-kaepernick-football-protests.html

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Schultz, J. (2011). The physical activism of Billie Jean King. In S. Wagg (Ed.), Myths and milestones in the history of sport (pp. 203–223). Palgrave Macmillan.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Smith, M. (2009). Frozen fists in speed city: The statue as twenty-first-century reparations. Journal of Sport History, 36(3), 393–414.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Smith, M., & Jamieson, K. (2017). The way we never were: Postracial kinesiology and America. Kinesiology Review, 6(2), 167–177. https://doi.org/10.1123/kr.2017-0007

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Smith, T., & Steele, D. (2007). Silent gesture: The autobiography of Tommie Smith. Temple University Press.

  • Sparkes, A. (1992). The paradigms debate: An extended review and a celebration of difference. In A. Sparkes (Ed.), Research in physical education and sport (pp. 9–60). Routledge.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Strong, T. (1990). The idea of political theory. University of Notre Dame Press.

  • Suze, A. (2010). The untold story of Robben Island: Sports and the anti-apartheid movement. Sport in Society, 13(1), 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430430903377706

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Tatz, C. (1995). Obstacle race: Aborigines in sport. University of New South Wales Press.

  • TePoel, D., & Nauright, J. (2021). Black lives matter in the sports world. Sport in Society, 24(5), 693–696.

  • Thompson, E.P. (1995). The poverty of theory: Or an orrery of errors. Merlin.

  • Tosh, J. (1991). The pursuit of history: Aims, methods and new directions in the study of modern history (2nd ed.). Longman.

  • Tygiel, J. (1983). Baseball’s great experiment: Jackie Robinson and his legacy. Oxford University Press.

  • Tygiel, J. (2000). Past time: Baseball as history. Oxford University Press.

  • Tyus, W., & Terzakis, E. (2018). Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus story. Akashic Books.

  • Vahed, G., & Desai, A. (2021). Inside the cricket change room: Undressing whiteness in South Africa. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 39(2), 199–213.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Vertinsky, P. (2009). Mind the gap (or mending it): Qualitative research and interdisciplinarity in kinesiology. Quest, 61(1), 39–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.2009.10483599

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Vertinsky, P. (2021). Searching for balance: A historian’s view of the fractured world of kinesiology. Kinesiology Review, 10(2), 126–132. https://doi.org/10.1123/kr.2020-0061

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Ward, G. (2006). Unforgivable blackness: The rise and fall of Jack Johnson. Knopf.

  • White, H. (1972). The structure of historical narrative. Clio, 1(3), 5–20.

  • White, H. (1973). Metahistory: The historical imagination in nineteenth-century Europe. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

  • White, H. (2005). The public relevance of historical studies: A reply to Dirk Moses. History and Theory, 44(3), 333–338. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2303.2005.00327.x

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • White, H. (2014). The practical past. Northwestern University Press.

  • Wiggins, D.K. (2016). The color of my writing: Reflections on studying the interconnection among race, sport, and American culture. Journal of Sport History, 43(3), 306–320. https://doi.org/10.5406/jsporthistory.43.3.0306

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Wiggins, D.K. (2021). Looking back at kinesiology’s future: The need for both focused frogs and visionary birds. Kinesiology Review, 10(4), 372–382. https://doi.org/10.1123/kr.2021-0036

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Zirin, D. (2021). The Kaepernick effect: Taking a knee, changing the world. The New Press.

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 1616 999 213
Full Text Views 66 22 1
PDF Downloads 94 39 1