On being a non-white academic in physical education and sport pedagogy

ABSTRACT

Conversation regarding the challenges and pressures that Early Career Academics (ECAs) face in the current context of the neoliberal university sector has begun to grow generally, and in the field of Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (PESP) in particular. However, the additional challenges faced by non-white PESP academics in their early careers have, as yet, been absent from the ECA conversation. In this paper, I draw upon my own experiences as a non-white, female ECA with English as an additional language (EAL), working in the field of PESP in a developed English-speaking country, to explore racialised discourses and practices in the academia. To do so, I make use of a critical whiteness lens and an autoethnographic approach. In the analysis of the narratives, I invite others to reflect on how race is socially constructed, on the ‘extra effort’ that non-white academics with EAL must expend in order to survive colour-blind academia, and on the limited options for agency among non-white ECAs. The paper concludes with reflections on how academics need to open the dialogue ‘just a bit more’ to include non-white academics in the conversation about ECAs working in neoliberal university contexts to create spaces for equitable work.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-white
• early career academic
• physical education and sport pedagogy
• othering
• autoethnographic approach

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. While in most of the literature the concept of ‘whiteness’ is capitalised, I refuse to capitalise it throughout this paper, as it would only reinforce the dominant and privileging position that it already has. Similarly, I also refuse to capitalise ‘other’ in order to not create hierarchies of any sense.

2. Race is understood as a social construct more than a physical essentialism throughout this paper.

3. For example, universities are not subscribed to the major journals in PESP. Because of their costly prices (compare to an Argentine academic salary and the cost of life), it is quite difficult to buy particular access to the journals.

4. New appointed academics are often required to undertake a ‘probation period’ (usually between 1 and 3 years), in which they need to demonstrate successful progression during that time, generally measured by teaching evaluations and research outputs.