African American Studies Commons^™

"Athleticated" Versus Educated: A Qualitative Investigation Of Campus Perceptions, Recruiting And African American Male Student-Athletes, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative investigation of student narratives (N= 167) about the contemporary issue of recruiting high-profile African American male student-athletes. Participants were asked to view a scene on recruiting from the film, The Program (1994). Participants were then presented with questions regarding a recruiting trip by an African American football player to a traditionally white campus. Findings indicate that both Black and White students perceived the African American male student-athletes in the film scene to be more "athleticated" than educated. They were also perceived as stereotypical sex-objects. "When athletes (especially male) show up …

A Day In The Life Of A Male College Athlete: A Public Perception And Qualitative Campus Investigation, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

Perceptual confirmation paradigm (PCP) rooted in social psychology, can be implemented to frame sport science research questions (Stone, Perry, & Darley, 1997). Public perception of college athletes’ lives has been scarcely investigated in the sport sciences (Keels, 2005) using the PCP to prime stereotypes. The purpose of this study was to prime stereotypes about a day in the life of a college athlete by using qualitative inquiry to assess college students’ (N = 87) perceptions. Participants provided written responses about a day in the life of a college athlete. Two different college athlete targets were used “Tyrone Walker” (n = …

Mainstreaming And Integrating The Substance And Spectacle Of Scholar-Baller: A New Game Plan For The Ncaa, Higher Education And Society, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

The purpose of this chapter is to theoretically and empirically capture the cultural divide between education and sport and entertainment in American society. The NCAA Academic Reform Movement has evolved from holding individuals accountable to presently monitoring institutions and their retention and graduation success of college student athletes. This movement will require a deeper examination of how culture influences academic attitudes and lifelong learning. Based on empirical data from different methodologies, this chapter proposes that student athletes; especially African American males, are often stereotyped with few strategies to empower their academic and athletic identities. The Scholar-Baller Paradigm is designed to …

Faculty And Male Student Athletes In Higher Education: Racial Differences In The Environmental Predictors Of Academic Achievement, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

Studies have examined the impact of environmental variables on academic achievement among student athletes in the revenue-generating sports of men’s basketball and football. However, while evidence concerning the positive impact of male student athlete and faculty interaction is virtually unequivocal, we are not certain whether the benefits accruing from particular types of interaction vary across different racial/ethnic groups. This study explores the relationship between male Black and White student athletes and faculty as well as the impact of specific forms of student athlete– faculty interaction on academic achievement. Data are drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s 2000 Freshman Survey …

Undermining Individual And Collective Citizenship: The Impact Of Felon Exclusion Laws On The African-American Community, S. David Mitchell

S. David Mitchell

Felon exclusion laws are jurisdiction-specific, post-conviction statutory restrictions that prohibit convicted felons from exercising a host of legal rights, most notably the right to vote. The professed intent of these laws is to punish convicted felons equally without regard for the demographic characteristics of each individual, including race, class, or gender. Felon exclusion laws, however, have a disproportionate impact on African-American males and, by extension, on the residential communities from which many convicted felons come. Thus, felon exclusion laws not only relegate African-American convicted felons to a position of second-class citizenship, but the laws also diminish the collective citizenship of …

Faculty And Male Football And Basketball Players On University Campuses: An Empirical Investigation Of The "Intellectual" As Mentor To The Student Athlete, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

No abstract provided.

Transforming National Identity In The Diaspora: An Identity Formation Approach To Biographies Of Activists Affiliated With The Taiwan Independence Movement In The United States, Weider Shu

Weider Shu

Located within the literature on racial/ethnic identity formation theory, especially the transformational stages developed by William E. Cross in his “Psychology of Nigrescence,” the purpose of this dissertation is to interpret and analyze the biographical information of six selected activists affiliated with the Taiwan Independence Movement (hereafter TIM) in the United States, especially their experiences of identity shifting from Chinese identity to Taiwanese identity.

While contending that the essence of national identity --- especially the elements relevant to the construction of subjective meaning --- has often been neglected by most of the students of nationalism, the basic theoretical concern of …

Labels Of African American Ballers: A Historical Contemporary Investigation Of African American Male Youth's Depletions From America's Favorite Pastime 1885-2000, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

No abstract provided.

College Students' Perceptions, Myths, And Stereotypes About African American Athleticism: A Qualitative Investigation, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

Examining the ‘natural’ athlete myth and utilizing the recent literature on cultural/social factors in athleticism, this study through survey research examines the myth of the ‘natural’ African American athlete. Participants consist of 301 university students from a large, traditionally White, midwest institution. The primary research question is to determine the attitudes of college students in terms of how they perceive the success of the African American athlete in certain sports. The purpose is to assess participants’ perceptions of the African American athlete and their opinion as to whether or not African American athletes are superior in certain sports (football, basketball, …

African American Student Athletes' Perceptions Of Career Transition In Sport: A Qualitative And Visual Elicitation, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

This study focuses on 26 African American athletes and explores their perceptions of athletic career transition. Participants consisted of student athletes from a United States National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division IIA institution in the Southeastern region. Participants completed the Life After Sports Scale (LASS), a 58-item inventory utilized to qualitatively and quantitatively examine seven different domains which influence perceptions of the career transition process. The scope of this inquiry examines the qualitative domain of the LASS in which participants were visually primed with a narrative description of a student athlete that has made transition out of sport successfully. Five …

Scholar Or Baller In American Higher Education? A Visual Elicitation And Qualitative Assessment Of The Studentathlete's Mindset, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

Eminent scholar Harry Edwards (2000) has articulated three major realities of African American males in sports: a) The presumption of innate, race-linked black athletic superiority and intellectual deficiency; b) media propaganda portraying sports as a broadly accessible route to African American social and economic mobility; and c) a lack of comparably visible, high-prestige African American role models beyond the sports arena. Driven by labeling theory (Becker, 1963; Goffman, 1959), eight African American male student athletes were surveyed and interviewed. The last two points of Edwards' scholarship were investigated. "We have pretty good historical data and quantitative data about African American …

African American Racial Identity And Sport, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to synthesize and apply African American racial identity theory and related research to the development of sport and physical activity patterns and preferences in African American youth. Historically the African American over-representation in particular sports phenomena has been examined genetically, anthropocentrically, physiologically, sociologically, and psychologically. The profusion of explanations is a testimony to the complexity of this phenomena. This manuscript provides yet another compelling perspective. Cross [(1995) The psychology of Nigrescence: revising the Cross Model, in: J.G. PONTEROTTO et al. (Eds) Handbook of Multicultural Counseling (Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage)] outlines the metamorphic …

Who Can A Baller Trust? Analyzing Public University Response To Alleged Student-Athlete Misconduct In A Commercial And Confusing Environment, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

No abstract provided.

The Image Of Paul Robeson:Role Model For The Student And Athlete, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

No abstract provided.

Black Athletes At The Millenium, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

No abstract provided.

Themes That Thread Through Society: Racism And Athletic Manifestation In The African-American Community, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

The purpose of this article is to examine and critically analyze the impact of sport in the African-American community. This critique of the social and behavioral outcomes of sport in the African-American community will include philosophical, historical, and sociological inquiry most affecting the plight of the African-American male in academics and athletics. Data on the perceptions of contemporary African-American men participating in sport in higher education will also add more support to the conclusion that race and sport are socially constructed in society.

Relativism, Reflective Equilibrium, And Justice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

THIS PAPER IS THE CO-WINNER OF THE FRED BERGER PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW FOR THE 1999 AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BEST PUBLISHED PAPER IN THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS.

The conflict between liberal legal theory and critical legal studies (CLS) is often framed as a matter of whether there is a theory of justice that the law should embody which all rational people could or must accept. In a divided society, the CLS critique of this view is overwhelming: there is no such justice that can command universal assent. But the liberal critique of CLS, that it degenerates into …