Sports and Politics
December 15, 2018
Verso Books
20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, New York 11201

Dr. Clarence Jefferson Hall Jr., Assistant Professor of American and Environmental History,
Queensborough Community College, CUNY, New York, USA
Dr. Frank Jacob, Professor of Global History, Nord University, Norway

In cooperation with
Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, New York Office and Verso Books, New York

9:30 Welcome Notes

9:45-11:15 Exploitation
Refusal to Participate: African Americans and the Proposed Olympic Boycott, 1934-1935
Stanley Arnold, Associate Professor, Department of History, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb,
Illinois

A Consideration of Sporting Boycotts: Scotland, South Africa, and the 1986 Commonwealth
Games
Fiona Skillen, Lecturer in Sport and Event Management, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow,
Scotland
Matt McDowell, Lecturer in Sport Policy, Management, and International Development, Moray
House School of Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland

The Pixie and the Golden Girl: Zola Budd, Caster Semenya, and the Dilemmas of Race and
Gender in South African Athletics
Derek Catsam, Professor of History and Kathlyn Cosper Dunagan Professor in the Humanities,
University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Odessa, Texas

11:25-13:15 Environment
Desegregation and Exploitation at the Astrodome
Seth Tannenbaum, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, Temple University, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania

Sport, Politics, and Robber Barons: How and Why Melbourne Became the “World’s Sporting
Capital”
Tom Heenan, Professor, School of Literatures, Languages, Cultures, and Linguistics, Monash
University, Melbourne, Australia

The Olympic Games and Japan’s Changing Environment: An Historical Overview
Robin Kietlinski, Associate Professor of History, LaGuardia Community College / CUNY, Long
Island City, New York

13:15-14:00 Lunch Break

14:00-15:00 Roundtable (5-8 minute short presentations, followed by Q&A)
Unpaid Field Labor: The Talent Drain Of Exploited Black Collegiate Athletes
Bijan C. Bayne, Freelance columnist, Washington, D.C.

“Change Starts with Us”: The Issue of Media Representation of Athletes’ Activism for Black Lives
Nicole Hirschfelder, Associate Professor of American Studies, University of Tubingen, Tubingen,
Germany

The Revival of Athlete Activism(s): Divergent Black Politics in the 2016 Presidential Election
Engagements of LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick
Steve Marston, Research Associate, Department of American Studies, Franklin & Marshall
College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Soccer, Stereotypes, and Anti-Semitism: Memorializing & Mediating Nazi Ideology in International
Sport
Courtney Cole, Assistant Professor of Communication, Regis College, Weston, Massachusetts

15:00-16:00 Stereotypes
In the Land of Dreamy Dreams: Tennis and the Nexus of Class and Race in New Orleans, 1876-
1976
Thomas Aiello, Associate Professor of History and African American Studies, Valdosta State
University, Valdosta, Georgia

Hegemonic Masculinities in the NHL
Francesco Collura, Graduate Student in Communication and Culture, Ryerson University, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada

16:15-17:45 Scandals
Paul Powell, Otto Kerner and the Corruption of Illinois Racing
Steven Riess, Professor Emeritus of History, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, Illinois

Feasting in a Time of Famine: The English Premier League in an Age of Austerity
David Webber, Senior Lecturer in Football Studies, Solent University, Southampton, England

#MeToo, Larry Nassar, and Sexual Abuse in Youth Sports
Kathleen Bachynski, Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University Langone Medical Center, New
York, New York