Feeling the Ghosts of Sports’ Racialized Emotional Discourse in the Social Studies Classroom

In this chapter, we posit that a critical analysis of the ghosts embedded in athletes’ racialized emotional discourses can illuminate critical insights about democracy, race, and power in social studies classrooms. Drawing from Black Feminist Hauntology and theories of racialized emotions, we examine the racialized emotional discourses of Brittney Griner and Reggie Jackson. Employing methods of critical poetic inquiry, we use their racialized emotional discourses to create poems that illustrate how the enduring legacies of antiBlackness, colonialism, and racialized exclusion continue to haunt not only sports but also broader societal structures, inclusive of social studies education. We conclude by offering strategies to social studies educators on how to incorporate critical discussions of athletes’ racialized emotional discourses into instruction to foster justice-oriented pedagogies.