Dr. Cat M. Ariail

Lecturer

Dr.  Cat M. Ariail
Room 235, Peck Hall (PH)
MTSU Box 23, Murfreesboro, TN 37132
Office Hours

Spring 2022

Mon.-Thurs., 11:30am-1:00pm (virtual)

Or by appointment. 

Departments / Programs

Degree Information

  • PHD, University of Miami (2018)
  • MA, University of Georgia (2013)
  • BA, Sewanee: The University of the South (2009)

Areas of Expertise

Sport

Race

Gender

20th-Century United States

Modern Caribbean

Biography

I am a women's sport historian, with particular interest in issues of race, gender, and national identity in women’s sport in the 20th-century United States and Caribbean. My first book, Passing the Baton: Black Women Track Stars and American Identity, was published by the University of Illinois Press in November 2020.

Publications

Book

Passing the Baton: Black Women Track Stars and American Identity (University of Illinois Press, November 2020).

Book Chapters

"Women's Sport History," with Jaime Schultz and Michelle M. Sikes in Routledge Companion to Sports History, Murray Phillips, Douglas Booth and Carly Adams, eds. (London: Routledge, 2021). 

“‘One of the greatest ambassadors that the United States has ever sent abroa...

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Book

Passing the Baton: Black Women Track Stars and American Identity (University of Illinois Press, November 2020).

Book Chapters

"Women's Sport History," with Jaime Schultz and Michelle M. Sikes in Routledge Companion to Sports History, Murray Phillips, Douglas Booth and Carly Adams, eds. (London: Routledge, 2021). 

“‘One of the greatest ambassadors that the United States has ever sent abroad’: Wilma Rudolph, American Athletic Icon for the Cold War and Civil Rights Movement” in Defending the American Way of Life: Sport, Politics, and the Cold War, Toby Rider and Kevin Witherspoon, eds. (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2018).

Articles

"To 'Look Smart' and Run Fast: Jamaican Track Athletes and the Advertisement of Creole Nationalism at the 1938 Olympic Games," The International Journal of the History of Sport (January 2020).

“Between the Boundaries: The Athletic Citizenship Quest of Carlota Gooden,” The Journal of Sport History 44, no.1 (Spring 2017): 1-19.

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Presentations

"The WNBA, Whiteness, and the Inequalities of Women's Sport," presented at the North American Society for Sport History Conference at the Riverside Hotel, Boise, ID (May 26, 2019).

“To ‘Look Smart’ and Run Fast: Jamaican Track Athletes and the Navigation of Competing Loyalties at the 1948 Olympic Games,” presented at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting at the Hilton Chicago, Chicago, IL (January 3-6, 2018)

“All That Is Gold Doesn&rs...

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"The WNBA, Whiteness, and the Inequalities of Women's Sport," presented at the North American Society for Sport History Conference at the Riverside Hotel, Boise, ID (May 26, 2019).

“To ‘Look Smart’ and Run Fast: Jamaican Track Athletes and the Navigation of Competing Loyalties at the 1948 Olympic Games,” presented at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting at the Hilton Chicago, Chicago, IL (January 3-6, 2018)

“All That Is Gold Doesn’t Glitter: The 1952 U.S. Women’s Gold Medal Relay Victory and the Uncertainties of Female Athleticism” at the 2018 Organization for American Historians Annual Meeting at the Sacramento Convention Center, Sacramento, CA (April 14, 2018).

“With Regard for ‘Race, Creed, or Color’ and Gender: The Citizenship Effects of Black American and Jamaican Women’s Athleticism at the 1948 Olympic Games,” presented at the 2018 Center for Sociocultural Sport and Olympic Research Annual Conference at California State University-Fullerton, Fullerton, CA (March 10, 2018)

“The Rise and Decline of Jamaican Women’s Track and Field, 1946-1956,” presented at the 2017 North American Society for Sport History Conference at California State University-Fullerton, Fullerton, CA (May 28, 2017).

“Willye White’s Flight to Freedom” presented at the 2016 North American Society for the Sociology of Sport at the Hilton Tampa Downtown, Tampa, FL (November 4, 2016).

“Between the Boundaries: The Athletic Citizenship Quest of Carlota Gooden” presented at the 2016 North American Society for Sport History Conference at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (May 30, 2016).

“‘Olympic Quintessence’: Wilma Rudolph and Female Athletic Iconicity” presented at the 2015 North American Society for Sport History Conference at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL (May 23, 2015).

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Research / Scholarly Activity

My next project will examine issues of whiteness, blackness, gender, and sexuality in women's professional basketball in the 20th-century United States.  

Special Projects

Book editor and regular contributor, Sport in American History

Staff writer, Swish Appeal

Courses

History 2010 - United States History I 

History 2010 - United States History I (online)

History 2010 - United States History I (remote)

History 2020 - United States History II

History 2020 - United States History II (online)

History 2020 - United States History II (remote)

History 2030 - Tennessee History