Sports Culture

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course will examine the role and importance of sports in different societies and cultures, in the present and the past. Sports are often thought of as trivial, or as unimportant games to amuse young people. But in the wealthiest countries, sports represent huge portions of GDP and are important topics of daily conversation. Almost half the world watched the 2010 football/soccer World Cup. Sports have been compared to religions in their ability to unite people and to inspire fanatical devotion. The academic study of sports is interdisciplinary, with contributions from psychologists, historians, gender studies scholars, sociologists and anthropologists. This course will take an interdisciplinary approach while emphasizing anthropologys focus on culture, on the experience of participants, and on both symbolic and political-economy aspects of sports. Topics will include Race and Performance, Sports and Rituals, Sports as Moral Education, Gender and Sexuality in Sport, Sports and Nationalism, Globalization of Sport, the Olympics, and Sports Stars and the Media. Students will be expected to do a research project for the course.