Feminist Applied Sport Psychology

From Theory to Practice

Leeja Carter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138483064
• eBook ISBN: 9781351055925
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Psicologia applicata

With an emphasis on women and transwomen athletes and exercisers of color, Feminist Applied Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice introduces the reader to feminist, black feminist, and womanist sport psychology, offering an alternative and powerful approach to working with athletes.

Covering core concepts, applied skills, and research methods, the book includes useful features throughout, such as discussion questions and definitions of key terms. It is organized into three sections covering, firstly, feminist theory, history, movements, and their importance in applied sport psychology; secondly, the intersection of race, class, and gender, and the integration of intersectional considerations into sport psychology; and finally, in-depth case studies of feminist sport psychology in action, each of which offers strategies for best practice.

Feminist Applied Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice is important reading for feminist-centred students and practitioners in performance and sports domains, and exercise psychology and anybody with an interest in feminist approaches to working with women of diverse backgrounds.

SECTION III

Essays on practice and research

9

“IS THIS WHERE WE TELL OUR STORIES?”

Exploring black women’s health experiences through storytelling

Leeja Carter

The purpose of this chapter is to share the author’s experience delivering a series of qualitative focus groups where the discussions organically transformed into storytelling discussions, how the views of Black women were centered and shared as valid positions shaping the way in which the research was informed (Sallah, 2011), the importance of this distinct form of qualitative method, and the unique evolution of this method throughout the study as it created a sense of belonging, bond, and community as well as challenged the author’s positionality, cultural understanding, and competence.

My stories: what brought me to Black women’s health research

William Henry Carter Jr., divorcee, father of three, grandfather to five, brother, friend, visionary, truth seeker, and my father. He was born, raised, lived, and died in Chester, Pennsylvania. My father challenged me to not only ‘see’ race and be educated on my blackness, but to understand the systems that conspire to oppress Black people.

One of my last conversations with my father (prior to his death in 2008) was in his Chester apartment. I was 23 years old and just received my Masters degree in psychology. I was so proud of myself and felt a new sense of confidence. The summer after graduation, I was at my father’s apartment relishing in my educational achievement by talking to him about my career and educational goals: I knew I wanted to get a doctoral degree and was on the fence regarding if it would be in sport or health psychology. As I’m talking to my father, he stands up and walks to the window of his apartment; his apartment was on the ground level and faced a “busy” 9th street just off a major street in Chester, called Kerlin Street. What made the street so busy was the foot traffic: the feet of drug dealers, addicts, women directing children, and kids playing in between. Every hour or so a police cruiser would literally drive up onto my father’s lawn or the lawn next to him to patrol and clear out some of the “traffic”. So, in that moment of me relishing in my accomplishment he walks over to the window and he opened the curtain very wide and said “so what you gonna do about this.” Pointing to the traffic outside. I couldn’t answer the question. I had no answer. There wasn’t a chapter in my Biological Basis of Behavior textbook on how to answer his question, or at least I didn’t catch it.

My father’s query has stayed with me and has motivated my work and womanist spirit. His question is at the intersection of class, race, gender, and health and has caused me to view the determinants of Black women’s health through a critical and intersectional lens. In 2014 I began what would be the foundation of my feminism and a foundational piece of work for me: stories of Black women’s embodiment of strength, survival, health, healing, trauma, and the use of stories to create supportive spaces of sisterhood. It didn’t start out this way; however, the work began simply to address a research question around the connection between stress coping, physical activity, and the embodiment of strength among Black women.

Exploring the complexity of strength through Black women’s stories

Critical race theory and feminist thought recognizes that women of color’s experiences have historically been defined by dominant white patriarchal standards. Messages around women’s bodies, health experiences, and how women experience themselves have been largely reported through white and male standards removing the reality and truth of women’s experiences. For Black women’s health, their experiences are addedly redefined, removed, or ignored in health research. Storytelling is a qualitative method grounded in both critical race theory and feminism that provides a counter story to the dominant narrative about health. Further storytelling allows the participant to share their complex and unique intersectional realities. Women of color experience racial, gender, and classed-based oppression that may influence their access to health resources and adherence to healthy behaviors. However, methods for providing health professionals and researchers a culturally sensitive tool to elevate Black women’s complex, differing experiences are lacking in the health literature. Storytelling permits the participant to share their stories around a particular topic in order to understand their reality and truth and better explain their conditions of health.

In developing a conceptual framework linking stress and coping response to health behaviors in 2014 the author performed a non-research project consisting of focus groups in Benton Harbor, Michigan (BH) to explore Black women’s: 1) definition of the superwoman ideal and 2) perceptions of work, family, and general life obligations as barriers to physical activity engagement and health. The focus groups in Benton Harbor, Michigan were completed through a partnership with a local faith-based organization and due to my affiliation with researchers at the local community hospital. A follow-up to the Benton Harbor focus groups was an Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved research study from March 2015 to June 2018, exploring the same experiences of Black women residing in New York City (NYC). Two primary differences between the BH project and NYC project were: first, the NYC project also explored women’s early recollections of physical activity; and second, women in the NYC project began sharing their stories via story telling and less question and answer.

“Is this where we tell our stories”

In August 2014 I moved to Brooklyn, New York and sort to continue my research. Building on recent work (Woods-Giscombe, 2010; Black & Woods-Giscombe, 2012) exploring the relationship between strength and health amongst Black women and having just received IRB approval I set out to recruit Black women for a series of focus groups exploring Superwoman ideal (i.e., how Black women define and embody being strong) and the health implications to this embodiment. The focus groups consisted of 3–7 women at a time and lasted approximately two hours for each group. Initially (the first 3–4 groups) the groups maintained their intended format of a semi-structured interview with answers to the questions delivered in a less story telling manner. Regardless of the format, however, these groups were powerful; women shared the complexity and paradox of ‘strength’, the generational transmission of this role within Black families and communities, and perceptions of its connection to health behaviors. Groups were emotional, spiritual, and liberating (Carter & Rossi, 2016). Many women shared that they appreciated participating in the focus groups, as “they never have had a space to just talk about being a Black woman” (Carter & Rossi, 2016). During and after the groups new friends were made, information about living and accessing health resources in NYC were exchanged, and community among Black women strengthened.

As word of the focus groups traveled, women began emailing me as well as attending the focus groups and asking, “is this the group to talk about your story.” When this question was first posed to me during a check in at a focus group (i.e., during the registration time preceding the actual group discussion), I asked the participant to elaborate on what information she received about the purpose of the group as I wanted to be sure she was in the right place. She informed me that her friend told her that the focus groups were where a group of women got together to talk about themselves and their personal stories of being Black women. That description of the focus groups blew my mind, as this wasn’t the purpose or format. However, it did speak to the power and catharsis experienced among attendees. I informed the woman this was an aspect of the groups and she can certainly “share her story” but we’d be talking about Black women’s strength.

This interaction occurred before the first of several story and truth telling groups. Interestingly, the first story telling group started the same as the initial (non story telling) groups, there was nothing that would have clued me to participants reshaping the group in this way. Just as with earlier groups, this focus group started with the chairs arranged in their usual circle and myself along with the participants sitting in the circle. Each woman went around and shared her name and a bit about herself. I then asked the first question, “what is your earliest recollection of physical activity” with participant 1, Patricia, first sharing her experience in Trinidad prior to immigrating to the United States, the challenges of navigating the healthcare system in New York City, and the importance of positive thinking. Her follow up response discussed her early experiences in the U.S. and New York City, and experiencing the loss of her son:

When I came here, I went to school, I get my certificate to work with camps. They was paying three dollars and thirty five cents an hour. But I know I had my five kids so I had to do what is necessary so I could support my kids. My son here in New York (Clears throat) his father died before he was three and I bought him here and some people had me choose him to do break dancing. He went to France for three months and then when he came back to New York a guy was mistaken him for another guy and shoot my son dead. And then they tell me mistaken identity. How could you kill somebody and then they talk about it was a mistake identity. People walk around in this world now and they just do things that people don’t expect them to do. Why would you shoot somebody and then realize after it’s not the person you want to shoot? The people who did [the] Bridge movie in France, was here waiting to take my son back. All I have [is] a contract but I sign for him before.

Patricia’s response was a departure from how previous participants responded to questions. Previously, women responded in a more conversational manner amongst each other giving shorter, more direct responses. Patricia’s initial and follow-up responses (occurring in sequence and without interruption from group members) were lengthy and provided in a more story telling format. One initial observation is that Patricia was approximately 70 years old (she mentioned being in her 70s) and she was given reverence by myself and all others in the group; meaning, her voice was considered most important and honored as a respected elder in the community. After she shared her experience, women began to share more complex experiences that intersected with health, race, gender, class, nationality, and other identities. However, the ways in which women shared there lived experiences differed drastically in comparison to the first few groups: women sharing their experiences through stories provided deeper context, history, and detail to women’s experiences. Further story telling is a culturally normative form of communicating among Black people, shifting the format from white, patriarchal methods of conversing to that which is community-focused, critical and feminist oriented. Also, through doing this method Black women controlled the space and how their experiences were shared. Of note, it built rapport among group members as the stories were not only answers to interview questions but captured moments in women’s lives. After this particular focus group discussion the rapport and sense of community that was created culminated in prayer at the end of the group: we collectively prayed for each other, our health, well being, and futures and thanked the Lord for bringing us all together.

Being present is more than being there

Over the course of the next two years, I listened to women share their stories of ‘being strong’ and began feeling dissonant. I was spending hours and days devoted to other Black women’s lives and stories many of which were similar to my own and women in my family, but I had never asked my mother, sister, or other women in my life about their stories of strength. I also began to question if I could be completely present in the research if I hadn’t known mine and other’s stories. If I’m not aware of my own story, how can I fully listen to others; or understand them? In a very organic fashion and I can’t tell you the exact day or impetus, I began journaling about my Black, womanhood: the trauma, shame, confusion, empowerment, healing, and everything in between. I also began talking more deeply and intentionally with the women in my life. I wanted to know their stories. Who is my mother, my sisters, or even my niece?

Final thoughts

My father’s question laid the foundation for my racial and gender health advocacy work, however, I still had (and have) work to do in order to build an awareness of how to do socially justice and community health work, know the needs of Black women, and further understand my positionality in the work. Through this reflexive practice I reconnected to why I do this work. Performing this project was transformational for me on many levels. First, it forced me to consider how I, as a researcher, center and elevate Black women’s experiences, my motives for performing the research, and how I am holding myself accountable to community. Sitting with women as they share and create community transcended mere research, and forced me to move pass reducing it to ‘research.’ We created a community. I challenge researchers who perform feminist research to hold space with themselves prior to and during their research in order to maintain accountability, be sure you are ethically and a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• SECTION I: Feminist applied sport psychology
• SECTION II: More than gender
• SECTION III: Essays on practice and research
• Index