Joshua Vadeboncoeur

Assistant Professor of Sport Management

Dr. Joshua D. Vadeboncoeur is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management in the Godbold College of Business at Gardner-Webb University. He is a three-time graduate of the University of Florida, having earned his B.A. in political science (2014), M.S. in sport management (2016), and Ph.D. in sport management (2021).

Prior to Gardner-Webb, Dr. Vadeboncoeur served two years as a Lecturer of Sport Management at the University of North Carolina, Asheville.

His research has appeared in such publications as the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, Managing Sport and Leisure, Quest, Journal of Sport for Development, Qualitative Sociology Review, and Societies.

Dr. Vadeboncoeur resides in Canton, North Carolina, with his wife Jessica (a university professor) and their dog Duke (a rambunctious, yet affable coonhound). The three of them can be often found along the streams and trails of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Education

Ph.D., Sport Management, University of Florida, 2021

M.S., Sport Management, University of Florida, 2016

B.A., Political Science, University of Florida, 2014

Research Summary

Dr. Vadeboncoeur’s research is located at the intersections of race, sport sociology, and social geography. Prominent themes in his research include (a) examining people’s experiences and meaning making processes in sport participation; (b) exploring the social construction and social production of sporting spaces; and (c) reevaluating the epistemological, ontological, and axiological implications of sport-based research.

Currently, his primary interest is in examining the wider impact of stock car racing, exploring its societal, economic, and cultural significance within the American context. To this end, he is working on a book manuscript that challenges myths associated with stock car racing, small-town culture, and American society.

Selected Publications

Vadeboncoeur, J. D. (2023). “(De)constructing NASCAR Space”: A Black Placemaking Analysis of

Fan Agency, Mobility, and Resistance. Societies, 13(2), 1-22.

Vadeboncoeur, J. D. (2022). Whiteness and the Black Fan Imagination: Making Meaning of

Whiteness within the Geographies of NASCAR. Qualitative Sociology Review, 18(2), 48-71.

Vadeboncoeur, J. D., Bopp, T., & Singer, J. N. (2021). Is reflexivity enough? Addressing reflexive embodiment, power, and whiteness in sport management research. Journal of Sport Management, 35(1), 30-43.