On being a non-white academic in physical education and sport pedagogy

Abstract

ABSTRACTConversation regarding the challenges and pressures that Early Career Academics (ECAs) face in the current context of the neoliberal university sector has begun to grow generally, and in the field of Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (PESP) in particular. However, the additional challenges faced by non-white PESP academics in their early careers have, as yet, been absent from the ECA conversation. In this paper, I draw upon my own experiences as a non-white, female ECA with English as an additional language (EAL), working in the field of PESP in a developed English-speaking country, to explore racialised discourses and practices in the academia. To do so, I make use of a critical whiteness lens and an autoethnographic approach. In the analysis of the narratives, I invite others to reflect on how race is socially constructed, on the ‘extra effort’ that non-white academics with EAL must expend in order to survive colour-blind academia, and on the limited options for agency among non-white ECAs. The paper concludes with reflections on how academics need to open the dialogue ‘just a bit more’ to include non-white academics in the conversation about ECAs working in neoliberal university contexts to create spaces for equitable work.