Abstract
This paper examines how Black athletes tactically use hypervisibility in white-dominant sports spaces to advance social justice causes, focusing on professional tennis player Naomi Osaka’s 2020 U.S. Open mask-wearing protest as a case study of what I term Performative Symbolic Resistance (PSR). Using the PSR analytical framework, I conduct a critical rhetorical analysis of Osaka’s seven-match protest during which she wears masks bearing names of Black victims of police brutality and racial violence. Data collection involves analyzing pre-match and post-match interviews, social media communications, video footage, and responses from victims’ families. I examine how Osaka’s protest meets PSR criteria by evaluating who performs the act (a marginalized individual), what/how it is performed (non-verbal embodied protest), when (kairotic moments between warmups and matches), where (tennis court as white-dominant space), why (police brutality and systemic racism), and intentionality (her stated goals). I apply theories of hypervisibility, positionality, and group consciousness to situate her actions within broader contexts of Black athlete activism. This research demonstrates how Black athletes navigate the burden of racial performance while transforming sports venues into sites of resistance. Osaka’s tactical use of hypervisibility reveals the power of embodied protest in forcing public engagement with social justice issues within spaces that demand conformity. The findings contribute to understanding whether sporting institutions can accommodate dissent and whether athlete activism can effectively catalyze social transformation. This work raises critical questions about the future relationship between sport and social justice movements.
Presenters
Alicia HatcherAssistant Professor of African American Rhetorics and Literacies, Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition, Syracuse University, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Sporting Cultures and Identities
KEYWORDS
PERFORMATIVE SYMBOLIC RESISTANCE, HYPERVISIBILITY, NAOMI OSAKA, BLACK ATHLETE ACTIVISM, WHITE-DOMINANT
