This book provides an accessible space for interdisciplinary scholarship and narrative through an analysis of the power of media and sports, focusing on the intersectionality of identity, politics, social justice, and social movements within this context. Contributors examine how identities coalesce in sports and discuss the ways in which sports provide spaces for marginalized communities and create unique platforms that shift how society defines identity. Athletes’ identities and actions—and mass media’s representation thereof—can influence both the perceptions of society as a whole and how individuals view themselves, contributors argue. Each chapter delves into how different aspects of identity, including race, gender, disability, and sexuality, have developed and influenced social change, with a strong focus on lived experiences of both scholars and athletes from marginalized communities. Scholars of media studies, communication, sociology, and kinesiology may find this book particularly useful.

Contributions by: Austin R. Anderson, Lisa Carlsen, Daryl A. Carter, William P. Cassidy, Erica María Castaño Salazar, Andrew M. Colombo-Dougovito, Suzanna Rocco Dillon, Tracy Everbach, Eric Knee, Louis Jenkins, Dionne L. Koller, Paula Lavigne, John Loeppky, Frank D. LoMonte, Paolo Lucattini, Maria Elena Mastrangelo, Sandra Melendez-Labrador, Nathan M. Murata, Teveraishe Mushayamunda, Gwendelyn S. Nisbett, Newly Paul, Vincent Peña, Mildred F. Perreault, Warren Perry, Joshua D. Rubin, Stephanie G. Schartel Dunn, Rebekah Sears, Greg Taguchi, Allison R. Tsuchida, Briana Wallace, Karleigh Webb, Karen Weiller-Abels