My research critically examines how power and ideology operate through sport and sports media. With theoretical and methodological diversity, my interdisciplinary research agenda aims to articulate the linkages between sport, race, media, activism, and social movements. The common thread of my work is exploring the question of what sport can tell us about ‘everything else.’
I am currently writing a book entitled “Beyond a Kneel: How Social Movements Harness the Power – and Problems – of Sport.” This monograph builds on my dissertation work, which collaborated with Know Your Rights Camp (KYRC), founded by athlete-activist Colin Kaepernick. I use KYRC as a case study to analyze the emergence of Sporting Social Movement Organizations (SMOs), referring to organizations that mobilize a connection to sport/athletes to pursue social, political, or cultural change in a coordinated, strategic, and sustained manner. My research with KYRC includes micro-level analyses of the models, strategies, challenges, and institutional logics of Sporting SMOs, as well as how (digital) critical pedagogy through sport is formulated, mobilized, and received by Black and Brown communities. At the macro level, Wallace’s research examines what KYRC reveals about transgressive potentials of sport, Black (commercial) politics, and the fractures of neoliberalism within contemporary America.
My previous research has been published in Media, Culture, and Society; Communication and Sport; Journal of Sport and Social Issues; International Journal of the History of Sport; and more. I have also begun numerous research projects exploring how – and with what effects – sport and sports media has adapted to the attention economy.
I received my Ph.D. (‘24) and M.A. (‘17) in the Physical Cultural Studies program in the Department of Kinesiology at University of Maryland. Prior, I received my B.A. in Sociology and Sports Communication from Bradley University