Black Collegiate Athletes and the Neoliberal State

This study analyzes sociocultural productions of power, knowledge, identity, and resistance through the lens of race in collegiate athletics. Drawing on research at multiple institutions, the author examines the lived experiences of current black student athletes pursuing their education and competing for elite NCAA Division 1 athletic departments. The author situates the experiences of black athletes within the complexities of the American dream, arguing that neoliberal beliefs and practices have perpetuated racial inequality through the system of collegiate sport.

A former college and professional athlete, Bimper (Colorado State Univ.) is currently a faculty member in African American studies and a university administrator. Between his personal experiences and his interviews with college athletes and sport administrators, he more than proves his case that college athletes are harmed in a sport system that is embedded in a higher education system where both systems operationalize the recruitment of workers into a hyper-capitalistic machine. Although his thesis is couched in theory, his points are critically important. Bimper asserts that athletes of color suffer the greatest harms in historically white institutions because opportunities for white athletes differ given historical and structural racism. Athletes recognize that they are being used as cogs in a hyper-commercialized sports machine that is used to perpetuate the status quo and often feel that they have to fight for their education. Those who are athletes of color know that while they might be exceptional in their sport, outside of athletics they are vulnerable to the effects of racism. Athletes who protest injustices fear, and often face, backlash and punishment despite their contributions of unpaid labor as college athletes. This is a challenging and thought-provoking book that, while a little heavy on theory, is spot-on in its critique of college sports. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers.-- "Choice", In this text, Dr. Bimper skillfully examines and explicates the position and power of sport in the microcosm of American life. He provides an adept assessment of the neoliberal forces that have sought to place a Band-Aid on the cancer of racism using sport as a sedative. This author provides a compellingly unique perspective as he adjusts and readjusts his lens from a student athlete, to a professional athlete, to an athletic administrator and finally through the eyes of accomplished academic. The author provides the reader with a view that few can offer while providing a thought-provoking journey into the depth of race and sport.--Louis Harrison, University of Texas at Austin, Albert Y. Bimper Jr.'s participant observer approach towards the continuum of the black athletic experience from youth to college to professional is timeless and necessary in our critical analysis of education, race, and sport. The transparency of Bimper's educational identity through the cultural gauntlet of race and sport will hopefully spread to inspire more student-athletes from all backgrounds to invest in what I deem the 'scholar-baller' identity, which will allow them more options for a second career after sport terminates on the fields of play.--C. Keith Harrison, University of Central Florida

Albert Y. Bimper Jr. is assistant vice president and associate professor of African American studies at Colorado State University.