Dr. Carter-Francique’s Features
Webinar events
The Muhammad Ali Center (2022 July 14-15) - Athletes and Social Change Forum: Athletes and Social Change: Creative Expression
American Association of University Women (2022 March 19) - “Title IX: What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You”
University of North Carolina: Center of Sport Business and Analytics (2021 October 15) - Let’s Sweat! A Critical Race Theory spotlight on the health of sport
The Muhammad Ali Center (2021 July) - Athletes and Social Change Forum “Collective Action: Amplifying the Political Power of Athletes and Sport”
The Ohio State University “The Sports and Society Initiative”
(2021 May 20) - Intersectionality of Change Session 4: Reporting Out, Moving Forward Webinar
(2021 March 25) - Intersectionality of Change Session 2: Taking Action, Making Change
Racism and Football: Media, Leadership, and Coaching (2020 December 3) - Oseminars (Anti)Racism in Sport Seminars
Tucker Center for Girls and Women in Research (2020 October 19) - Distinguished Lecture Series - Black Women in Sport: Voices of Resistance & Athlete Activism
Positive Coaching Alliance (2020 September 24) - College Culture Respect: Why college athletics impacts more than their campuses. Sports Can Battle Racism Roundtable
Sports Philanthropy Network - Townhall on Racism (2020 July 1) - Townhall on Racism
Podcasts features
“The State of Equity and Equality in Sports”|KCBS Radio In Depth w/ Mary Hughes. (2023 July 16) | Diversity, equity, and inclusion. These are terms that have become very familiar to all of us in almost every aspect of our lives, from the workplace to our political conversations and beyond. And those words are part of our sports world as well. As more and more athletes, coaches, and organizations speak out over the injustices being faced, both on the court or field, and off. But even with changes happening slowly but surely, how fare have we actually come when looking at equality in sports?
Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique on "Tavis Smiley". Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique on "Tavis Smiley" (2022 March 30) | Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique - Associate Professor at San Jose State University (SJSU) in the department of African American studies. She also serves as the executive director for the Institute for the Study of Sport, Society and Social Change (ISSSSC) at SJSU. She joins Tavis for a conversation on the intersection of sports, society and social justice (Hour 3)
How The Burden On Black Athletes Reflects The Experience Of Black America (2021 August 4) - WBUR: On Point w/ Jonathan Chang & Meghna Chakrabarti. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and tennis star Naomi Osaka have recently dropped out of the world's top competitions. They've cited concerns about their mental health. Harry Edwards and Akilah Carter-Francique say, as Black athletes, those women bear a special burden. "We’re in a space where as Black people, either you are invisible and you are silenced in a space, or you are rendered superhuman, which also gives this notion of invincibility, that we don’t have pain, we don’t have emotion," Carter-Francique says. "It’s a devaluation of their humanity." "Between the economic demands of a sport, the fear of Black advancement in the white mainstream, the aspiration of Black society that are placed upon the shoulders of athletes, that’s a lot that the white athlete doesn’t have to deal with," Edwards adds. Today, On Point: the unique burden on Black athletes.
Women Athletes Fight Sexualization; A Look At The Paralympic Refugee Team (2021 August 2) - NPR: Here & Now. The head of Olympic broadcasting services announced that journalists' news feeds wouldn't highlight sexualized images of female athletes during the Tokyo Olympics. We speak with Akilah Carter-Francique, executive director of the San Jose State University's Institute for the Study of Sport, Society and Social Change. And, the Paralympics are just around the corner. We talk with Shahrad Nasajpour, a discus thrower who is among the six athletes on the Paralympic Refugee team this year.
Recruited! with Dr. Beau Houston (2020 December 18) - Lift Every Voice: Student-Athlete Organizing w/ Dr. Akilah Carter Francique. Do you know how powerful your voice is? I do. It means everything. Today's episode describes how Black women athletes have used their platforms to advocate for fairness and justice throughout history.
Tucker Center Talks (2020 December 10) - Dr. Nicole LaVoi, University of Minnesota. Black Athlete Activism. LaVoi talks to colleague Dr. Akilah Carter Francique, Executive Director for The Institute for the Study of Sport, Society and Social Change (ISSSSC) at San Jose State, which continues the legacy and dialogue about athlete activism and the influence of sport in effecting positive social change. Akilah was part of a scholarly panel for the Fall 2020 Tucker Center Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) where she talked about various types of rage experienced by Black women. We hear her talk more in depth about how she came to frame her remarks around rage, using anger as information as well as healing, and answer some audience questions we didn’t get to during the live lecture.
The Accidental Geographer (2020 November 2) - SJSU Provost Vin Del Casino, with Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique, Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Sports, Society, and Social Change, discusses the growing field of sports and society studies and examine how it can be applied to much broader questions of race, identity, and politics in the United States.
BBC News The Documentary Podcast (2020 July 26) - The most important thing, the least important thing. Why is watching sport so important to us as a species? And what happens when that experience is taken away from us? Award-winning sports journalist and broadcaster Clare Balding explores why sport plays such a crucial role in shaping society, speaking to a field of global experts and elite sportspeople, including the sociologists Akilah Carter-Francique, Mahfoud Amara and Ramachandra Guha; anthropologist Leila Zaki Chakravarty; and philosophers Heather Reid and Andy Martin.
Tucker Center Talks (2020 July 17) - Dr. Nicole LaVoi, University of Minnesota. Inequalities for Black Women in Coaching, Mentorship and Academia. LaVoi talks to colleagues Dr. Joyce Olushola-Ogunrinde (U of Houston) & Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique about their work as scholars, advocates, activists and mentors as black women in academia. Specifically they discuss barriers for black women in coaching, lack of representation, the power of being fully and authentically seen, and the untold stories of the women that came before them.
The Athletic: The Keith Law Show (2020 June 29) - Keith Law on Race & Unrepresented Groups in Baseball w/Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique. Law is joined by Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique, Associate Professor at San Jose State University in the Department of African American Studies and the Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Sport, Society, and Social Change at SJSU to discuss major obstacles for Black athletes in America, the ways MLB could increase Black youth participation in baseball, barriers preventing Black athletes from pursuing coaching roles, and how major sports leagues could create more director-level opportunities for women.
Sport Philanthropy Podcast (2020 June 18) - Roy Kessel of Sport Philanthropy Network (SPN) w/ Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique. The Sports Philanthropy Network’s mission is to assist athletes, teams, leagues and other sports organizations harness the power of sports to do good things in their communities. We love programs which focus on social change, education, opportunity, empowerment and other social causes. We also love helping other non-profits benefit from our experience so that we can help them find athletes to assist them in their outreach and fundraising efforts.
Men Creating Change (2020 April 6) - SJSU Mosaic, discuss the documentary “Living Thinkers: An Autobiography of Black Women in the Ivory Tower” and the complexity of being a Black female academic. Joining us are Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique, Executive Director of Institute for the Study of Sport, Society and Social Change at San José State University and an Associate Professor for the African American Studies Department; Armani Donahue, Program Coordinator of the African American/Black Student Success Center at SJSU; Jasmine Brown and Monique Clark of the Black Female Project (http://www.blackfemaleproject.org/). Note: Recorded 2020 February 28.
NPR Source of the Week (2015) with Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique’s most current research focuses on African-American girls and women in sport and physical activity in terms of access and opportunity, mentoring, as well as mediated images and narratives.
Articles, features & Topic conversations
Scholars Respond to the Death of a University Administrator (2024 January 17) by Arrman Kyaw | Diverse Issues in Higher Education
From the Women’s World Cup to Wimbledon, a Victory Everyone Can Share (2023 August 7) by Vanessa Friedman | The New York Times
Sex Sells: The Self-Sexualization Pressures on Female College Athletes and the “Othering” of Women in Sports (2022 December 14) | Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University
'You might as well do you': Serena Williams and the never-ending struggle to balance work, family (2022 August 16) by Marco della Cava | USA Today
Sport Scholars Debate the ‘Price’ of Athletic Success at HBCUs (2022 April 25) by Autumn Arnett | Diverse Issues in Higher Education
AAUW online event will celebrate 50 years of Title IX (2022 March 3) by Staff Report | The Morgan Hill Times
The Winter Olympics don't really represent the world: Costs, climate and quotas keep the majority off the podium (2022 February 22) by Amy Woodyatt | CNN Sports
Experts dissect Beijing Olympics boycott (2022 February 17) by Evan Reinhart | SJSU News
Q&A: Executive Director Akilah Carter-Francique and Executive Assistant Beth Doyle talk about ISSSSC (2021 December 21) by Melisa Bivian | San José Earthquakes - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Years After #MeToo Movement, Women Athletes Are Still Fighting Sexualization (2021 August 2) by Jane Clayson & Allison Hagan | WBUR Radio: Here & Now
For years, female athletes have had their clothing policed. Now, they're fighting back (2021 July 31) by Amy Woodyatt | CNN
Female athletes grab spotlight at Olympics with political and social demonstrations (2021 July 27) by Antonio Planas & The Associated Press | NBC News
Female athletes grabbing spotlight at Olympics with political and social demonstrations (2021 July 27) by The Associate Press & Antonio Planas | Today
It’s About Creating Equity.’ The Significance of German Gymnasts' Full-Length Unitards at the Tokyo Olympics (2021 July 25) by Sanya Mansoor | Time Magazine
The Sexualization Of Women In Sports Extends Even To What They Wear (2021 July 23) by Sharon Pruitt-Young | National Public Radio (NPR)
Chutes and Ladders: Black Women ADs’ Long Journey to the Top (2021 May 24) by Dr. Amira Rose Davis | Arizona State University Global Sport Matters
ISSSSC Hosts Panel Discussion of Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Sports (2021 March 16) by Julia Jackson | San Jose State University
Catawba Sport Management Participates in ’21 NC Sport Management Symposium (2021 March 10) by Catawba College | Catawba College
Women athletes honored in panel (2021 February 23) by Ruth Naomi Aguilar | San Jose State University
Race conditions how emotions can be expressed (2020 November 13) by Charles Hallman | Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Tucker Center’s all-sistahs panel talks sports and rage (2020 October 28) by Charles Hallman | Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Some Student Athletes Playing a Leading Role When It Comes to Social Justice Advocacy (2020 August 20) by Lois Elfman | Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Study shows HBCU teams penalized more than others (2018 November 19) by Sean Keeler | Arizona State University Global Sport Matters