Description: Out of Bounds explores the trajectories and challenges of exceptional men and women athletes who later became outstanding academic scholars. The book reports findings from participatory, qualitative research, and problematizes ways we have come to think about the separation and integration of athletic and academic practices - embodied in both institutions and individuals, and reflected through intersecting categories and experiences of race, gender, and social class. Through the provocative and surprising narratives of gifted athletes who became prolific scholars, this book offers significantly new ways of thinking about the connections, contradictions, and possibilities of sports and schools.
Review Quotes: «Many athletes have written about their sports journeys; many professors have applied academic theories to sports; but never before have the two genres merged into a riveting book. Using the life stories of six student athletes - each representing a different race and/or gender and/or class - and deftly applying various academic theories, but always in clear English, Jabari Mahiri and Derek Van Rheenen extrapolate worlds of meaning from their evidence. In so doing, they ask the crucial questions about race, gender, and class in sports, particularly at the intersection of sports and education, and then provide some remarkable answers. This book is essential reading for everyone interested in American sports and education, and it should become a classic in the field.» (Murray Sperber, Professor Emeritus of English and American Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington; Author of 'Beer & Circus: How Big-time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education')