“I Am Getting the Hell Out of Here”: Race and Racism in the Kinesiology Graduate Student Research Experience
Loading...
Authors
Minhas, Gagandeep Kaur
Date
2024-03-18
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
kinesiology , graduate socialization , research experiences , racism , whiteness , critical race theory , epistemological racism
Alternative Title
Abstract
This thesis operationalizes the tenets of critical race theory to analyze how race and racism shape the research experiences of kinesiology graduate students. Literature on racism in kinesiology emphasizes the discipline’s prevailing culture of whiteness, focusing largely on undergraduate students and faculty members. I conduct an in-depth analysis of the graduate socialization process to better understand the replication of kinesiology’s culture of whiteness across a site that is crucial to the reproduction of disciplinary norms and practices, and to contribute a more unambiguous commitment to equity. Drawing on interview data conducted with seven racialized and six white graduate students at the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies (SKHS), Queen’s University, I offer two main arguments: First, I identify kinesiology’s dominant epistemologies as a point of inquiry into the systemic failures of graduate studies. I argue that epistemological racism frames kinesiology graduate student conceptualization and engagement with ideologies of race in the research process. Second, by expanding on my finding that every racialized participant contemplated departure from the discipline, I demonstrate how whiteness orientates racialized students to the margins of kinesiology. This orientation of racialized students is seen at multiple points in the graduate socialization process. I argue that departure is itself an object that racialized students inherit upon their entry into the white institution. Furthermore, I identify how the “inclusion” of racialized students in kinesiology, which allows them to fulfill “diversity” aspirations of the institution, showcases how their arrival (and eventual departure) converges with, rather than alters, white racial privilege. I conclude by highlighting the interplay between epistemological norms and graduate socialization norms. This interplay ultimately maintains kinesiology as a space where settler colonial epistemologies are normalized and thus affirm the dominant white population. So, if kinesiology maintains its predominately white composition, epistemological racism continues to flourish, and vice-versa. I encourage readers to not move too quickly from the instances of racism noted in this thesis, since my hope for this inquiry to undermine rather than legitimize racism in kinesiology is a relational responsibility between the reader and myself.
Description
Citation
Publisher
License
Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Queen's University's Thesis/Dissertation Non-Exclusive License for Deposit to QSpace and Library and Archives Canada
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
Queen's University's Thesis/Dissertation Non-Exclusive License for Deposit to QSpace and Library and Archives Canada
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.