Social Justice and Physical Education in the United States: The Need for New Maps

Abstract

This paper is a reflection, a critique, and, hopefully, an inspiration to think about how future generations can reshape physical education in the United States. To do so, we first pay homage to our pioneers, who, we argue, were transformative leaders because they used research to respond to the sociopolitical issues of their time. In saying this, we reflect on how these ideas from that time were critically important but have also been developed for a different time, place, and demographic of people. We then trace the social justice research in the United States by highlighting the promises and pitfalls of current scholarship because it often asks “tough questions” but provides “weak solutions.” To conclude, we believe that the future of physical education needs to be about allowing those “new voices” to become the future leaders of our field. In so doing, they will change the landscape of physical education knowledge, movement, and practices.