Tucker Center Gender Equity Summer Internship Program

Eri (they/her) is a master’s student studying sport sociology in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Minnesota. After earning her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in sociology from Northeastern University in 2023, she became committed to centering sporting cultures in her scholarship and activism. Eri is a former competitive synchronized figure skater, having represented the US as a Senior National Team member for 3 years with the Haydenettes, based in the Greater Boston area. Today, Eri is a coach for the Northernettes Synchronized Skating Teams in the Twin Cities, working with the National Qualifying level teams. Her experience as a Queer, Asian diasporic athlete in the particularly gendered and racialized sport of figure skating informs much of her academic work. 

Her scholarly interests lie at the intersection of sport studies and Asian American studies, where they aim to explore the experiences, constructions of, and meaning-making around Asian diasporic athletes in dominant elite sporting cultures and institutions. They seek to tackle questions surrounding surveillance, imperialism, resistance, and liberation within sport and physical culture. Through this work, they hope to strengthen the political consciousness of Asian diasporic athletes and (re)imagine liberatory models of sport. They are thrilled to engage in collaborative research and public scholarship with the Tucker Center Team this summer!