In this occasional series, we ask instructors to discuss how they engage students in the great questions of our time.
Lisa Shannon
Lecturer
Department of African American Studies
Social Justice in Sports
Q. How did you get interested in teaching this subject?
A. I have been a sports fanatic most of my life. My brother played basketball, football, and ran track in high school and later played football in college. I went to universities that were big on sports. We’ve been in sports in some capacity since I can remember, so as an educator, I always wanted to do something with the activism that I saw in athletes. I think people put athletes in a box and say “Oh, they’re just there to entertain us.” But being an African American person, and then being an African American woman in the academy, I began to realize that the impact that athletes have had on social injustice issues has been phenomenal.
Q. What are some of the goals you set for students in this class?
A. First, I want them to understand what sport is and the health benefits of sports, individually and as a group—being active, being fit, keeping yourself moving a lot, making sure you’re walking. Then sport as a group: understanding that people look at sports as entertainment, and although it is, it is also a social platform, and how people use this platform. That’s asking students to be open-minded, to look at how sports are actually used, and the impact that sports have had on society. It’s important for people to see the power of groups coming together, and although you may just be one student at Georgia State, Georgia State’s collective is 52,000-plus. So, if people come together and use their voice together, we can impact anything that we feel is unjust. And to me, that’s using sports as the platform or as the rubric for students to know that they have power.
Q. What can students expect to get out of this class?
A. Their biggest assignment is to choose one athlete—they can choose someone famous who we know about or they can choose their mom—they can choose anyone they want. However, they must show how this athlete used their platform for societal change
Everybody has a thumbprint. Everybody has an imprint. To me that means that you have your purpose to change society. If you don’t fulfill your purpose, then you have betrayed your generation and the generations behind you. This comes from philosopher Frantz Fanon. So, one of the things that I want students to get out of every course that I teach is to try to get students to realize their impact. And so, I tell students that no one has ever done it before because you’re the one who’s supposed to do it.
Q. Which aspects of your class do you think your students find most interesting?
A. Students didn’t realize how much sports have impacted society. I think students have learned how these scholars, how these athletes have worked to change the lives of women, the lives of all people, especially African Americans. I think this course itself is showing how athletes are role models, by just being athletes. A little child sees them on a sports platform, and they automatically become role models, whether they planned to or not. That is having an impact.
—Interview by Victoria Pitter. Photo courtesy of Lisa Shannon.