ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9521-1894
Year
2024
Season
Fall
Paper Type
Doctoral Dissertation
College
College of Education and Human Services
Degree Name
Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)
Department
Leadership, School Counseling & Sport Management
NACO controlled Corporate Body
University of North Florida. Department of Leadership, School Counseling & Sports Management
First Advisor
Dr. Elizabeth Gregg
Second Advisor
Dr. David Hoppey
Third Advisor
Dr. Mark Halley
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Andrea L. Buenaño
Department Chair
Dr. Kristi Sweeney
College Dean
Dr. Daniel Dinsmore
Abstract
When intercollegiate athletic participants were permitted the right to profit off of their name, image and likeness (NIL), the landscape of college sports was fundamentally changed. This qualitative explanatory case study investigated one consequence of that change: the discourse of amateurism. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has historically identified participants in the athletic programs it oversees with the word “student-athlete.” In the years since the word was first introduced, its meaning has generally been static. In short, the linguistic sign “student-athlete” has been signified in and by the discourse to reflect the amateur status of collegiate sport participants, emphasizing the participants’ student identities over their athletic identities (Byers, 1995; Smith, 2021; Southall et al., 2023). Such an emphasis has historically been wielded by the NCAA and its member institutions as justification for the revenue generated by the labor of sport participants, who are not paid a typical salary or wage (Bok, 2008; Hawkins, 2010).
Where the NCAA and its member institutions generate the most profit from this free labor centers in big-time college sports, namely in men’s Division I football bowl-eligible programs (Zimbalist, 2023). Most often, these program participants are Black and African American men (NCAA Demographics Database, 2024). However, now equipped with the ability to be paid as a direct result of their participation in collegiate sport, whether or discursive meaning of the word “student-athlete” truly reflects the experiences of the supposed amateurs is highly debatable. Thus, this study aimed to understand how Black males participating in big-time college football programs while engaged in NIL activities perceive of their identity as both students and athletes.
Semi-structured interviews with four Black men participating in Southeastern Conference (SEC) football programs while engaged in NIL activities were analyzed using an a priori coding strategy. That strategy allowed for the application of African American rhetorical theory to best understand the ways the participants signified the meaning of the word “student-athlete” alongside the words “student” and “athlete.” Drawing from the theoretical work offered by Gates (1989), the signifyin(g) processes of the four participants were analyzed by tracing their employment of various African American rhetorical codes. Upon identification and further analysis of the ways such codes were implemented in communicative events, a rhetorical analysis of their usage was performed. While the four study participants each self-identified as a student, an athlete, and a student-athlete, a rhetorical analysis of this self-identification revealed alternative meanings of these three words.
As signified by the participants, the meanings embedded in these three words starkly contrast the same three words signified within the discourse of amateurism. Specifically, the study participants signified the word “student” to mean a necessary engagement with academics; the word “athlete” to mean a physical and mental engagement in athletic activities; and the word “student-athlete” to mean a simultaneous, co-existence of both signified “student” and “athlete” activities. The findings of this study are thus offered to better contextualize the student-athlete experience, especially as it is constructed by Black men participating in big-time college football programs who financially benefit from their name, image and likeness.
Suggested Citation
Beaudrie, Mikayla, "Rhetorical (re)inscription practices among black intercollegiate football participants in the era of name, image and likeness" (2024). UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 1294.
https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/1294
Included in
Africana Studies Commons, Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Higher Education Commons, Higher Education Administration Commons, Language Description and Documentation Commons, Other Educational Administration and Supervision Commons, Other Legal Studies Commons, Other Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Rhetoric Commons, Sports Studies Commons
