The Times, They Need A Changing: Infusing Social Justice Into Kinesiology Requires Collaboration

ABSTRACT

We live in challenging times. The divisions among people related to race, gender, gender identity, religion, and socioeconomic class are becoming more apparent. Past efforts toward social justice and the dismantling of these divisions seem to be losing their momentum and are even negated. As kinesiologists, we each need to commit to standing for social justice with every opportunity we are presented with and most importantly, in our classes. After a review of terms and clarification of ideas related to diversity and social justice, this lecture will present the position that collaboration will provide an effective approach to develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence essential to appropriately address diversity in our professional lives and advocate for social justice. This collaboration should be across disciplines and move us beyond our own research agendas to working with those whose research agendas or areas of expertise are diversity and social justice. Our collective commitment and collaborations will hopefully change the times we are living in to one where each person is respected for who they are, and social justice becomes part of our American fabric.

KEYWORDS:

• Diversity
• higher education
• interdisciplinary
• social justice
• collaboration