Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Encroachment: College Athletes’ Experiences With Identity Development As Affected By Media Representations Of Social Justice Demonstrations, Madison Remi Vanwalleghen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to understand how communication and identity are experienced by Black university athletes in asking about their experiences and how they gauge mainstream media portrayals of Black NFL athletes making verbal or physical statements about or in protest of social injustice, racism, and inequality in America. I interviewed five university athletes identifying as Black/African American or Mixed- Race using media representations of Black NFL athletes’ protests since the NFL has dominated mainstream media headlines regarding recent athletes’ protests, especially in connection to the Black Lives Matter social movement. I also used several theories to interpret the data …