Antiblackness and Carcerality: Implications for the Study of College Athletics

Abstract

We frequently frame criticisms of college athletics in terms of labor exploitation and/or legacies of racism. Though these remain necessary and foundational analytical frames, there are other important frameworks through which we must analyze college athletics to fully understand how and why inequity and racism is both rationalized and compounded. Antiblackness and carcerality—and their deep interconnection—are two such perspectives that both complement and complicate other approaches to the study of college athletics. This paper discusses these two essential theoretical frameworks and demonstrates the nuance that using them in college athletics research provides through several exemplars.