This four year SSHRC Insight Grant has the goal of gaining understanding of the portrayal of Canadian elite athlete mother intersecting identities in media stories in the digital landscape. The stories of Canadian elite athlete mothers are explored in two digital media sources (i.e., news media and Instagram) using a novel theory (i.e., narrative inquiry) and methodology (i.e., narrative analysis of big and small stories). By studying athlete mother’s identities in stories in digital spaces, we (a) offer contemporary insights into personhood (i.e., identity) and how society views motherhood and sport through a highly used, but understudied, medium for interaction (i.e., digital media), and (b) open new avenues (i.e., digital storytelling in narratives for recommendations to build capacity in digital literacy for stakeholders (e.g., academics, policy makers) related to gender equity and sport.

The project has 3 objectives: 1) to gain understanding of how Canadian elite athlete mother identities are portrayed in stories in digital media spaces and narratives; 2) to gain understanding of the implications (e.g., psychosocial, behavioural, ideological) of intersectional identity meanings (e.g., race, sexuality, age, (dis)ability) portrayed in digital stories, and 3) make recommendations from study findings, that enhance digital literacy to support inclusive athlete mother identity stories, in the digital landscape.