Episode 37: Olympic Sport on the New Plantation with Tezira Abe

In this episode, Johanna and Nathan are joined by Tezira Abe to discuss non-revenue/Olympic sport in US higher education and the racist dynamics that shape American college athletics. Tezira was the first Black athlete on the University of Texas Austin women’s golf team and a recent graduate of the University of Michigan law school.

The episode explores the racist culture of golf inside and outside of universities and the myriad challenges confronting campus athletic workers, whether or not they produce significant revenue for universities. It concludes with a discussion of college sport during the pandemic, including Tezira's efforts to steer the University of Texas in a more ethical direction, the current #WeAreUnited and College Athlete Unity movements, and the failure of the mainstream media to acknowledge the centrality of Black leadership to both current and historical efforts to produce a more just model of college sport.

You can find a discussion of one of the racist incident's Tezira experienced at the University of Texas here. You can find the article she wrote for the Michigan Law Review on NCAA liability for concussion-related injury here. You can find Billy Hawkins' book The New Plantation here.

 

For a transcription of this episode, please click here. (Credit @punkademic)

After listening to the episode, check out our most recent pieces on the college football:

"Canceling the College-Football Season Isn't Enough" published in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“'We are being gaslit': College football and Covid-19 are imperiling athletes” in The Guardian

“Canceling the college football season is about union busting, not health” also in The Guardian

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@Nkalamb

@EndofSportPod

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