Media Diversified
Foregrounding marginalised voices
There’s sport, and then there’s the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It’s an event like no other. Breathtaking feats of athleticism, amidst a backdrop of what Dave Zirin dubbed a “neoliberal Trojan horse”.
High-class sport and social fairness should work in concert, rather than in opposition. Here at Media Diversified, we will explore the aspects of the Games that both rouse our spirits and infuriate us in their injustice. Over the next few weeks we’ll cover the medals, the nationalism, the competition, the corporatisation, the exploitation, and the sporting brilliance of Rio 2016.
Curated by Shane Thomas, featuring articles by Joe Guthrie, Robert Kazandjian, Shireen Ahmed, Christienna Fryar, Amit Singh, Eleanor Lisney, Felipe Araujo and more!
by Shane Thomas Given the panoply of portentous prognostications leading into Rio 2016, received wisdom ultimately deemed this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games as a success: The sport was thrilling; the events passed without much disruption; athletes weren’t ridden by the Zika virus; and Brazil doesn’t appear to be a real-life rendering of The Walking Dead.… Read More
With the Olympics and Paralympics finally complete, some of the writers from Media Diversified’s Rio 2016 series look over the very best and worst of the past six weeks: Shane Thomas writes the ‘Two Weeks Notice’ column at Media Diversified and is one half of The Greatest Events in Sporting History podcast. Twitter: @tokenbg … Read More
by Christienna Fryar For sports fans in the United States, early September brings the return of football[1]: college football; high school football; and of course, the NFL. For all its fanfare, the beginning of the football season can be a fairly perfunctory affair. This season, not so much. From the moment journalists realised that San Francisco… Read More
by Shane Thomas I’m sure you’ve heard of the African aphorism (used to the point of such cliche that one sometimes questions its origins), “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Well, in the Paralympics, get you an athlete who can do both. One of the standout… Read More
by Shane Thomas I’m sure many of us have done at least one thing in our lives that took a substantial amount of time and effort: completing a degree; moving house; or passing your driving test. And when it’s done, we can relax, look back on our achievement and think, “Glad that’s over. Don’t fancy going… Read More
CONTENT NOTE: This piece will briefly touch upon the subject of suicide. by Eleanor Lisney Last Sunday, I woke up to news on Malaysian social media that three Paralympics gold medals had been won at Rio. As a disabled woman with Malaysian roots, I felt very proud. This was a first – Malaysia doesn’t usually… Read More
by Shane Thomas Before Rio 2016 began, we published a piece on what we were looking forward to watching the most. The athlete I singled out was Alan Oliveira, who went into the Paralympics as arguably Brazil’s biggest hope for home success. While the host nation has other accomplished athletes such as Daniel Dias and Terezinha… Read More
by Vilissa Thompson As someone who enjoys sports and has paid closer attention to adaptive sports and disabled athletes, something profound stood out: the over-whiteness of everything. With the Paralympic Games in its fifth day, I wanted to explore how the lack of diversity played a critical role as to who gets the opportunity to make… Read More
by Shane Thomas When Laverne Cox began to achieve a level of fame that made her a regular interview subject, a common question she had to field was whether, as a black trans woman, she saw herself as a role model. Cox rejected the label, before adding the caveat, “but I do like the term possibility… Read More
by Khairani Barokka As commendable as it was for The Guardian to devote its recent editorial to the disparity between the Paralympics’ attention and funding, and the systemic dismissal of disabled peoples lives – through budget cuts to services and atrocious hate crimes – there are certain curious assumptions that still underlie the use of some… Read More
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