Sport and History

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Why is the modern Olympic movement such a powerful cultural force? How did it come to play such a dominant and pervasive role in global society? What are its beginnings? What are its ideals? How has it evolved between its revival in 1896 into the 21st century? What does the organizational, sporting, political, economic, scientific and cultural investment in such an event reveal about human beings and human society? How should it adapt to transgenderism? How does it impact the intersection of global society and ecology? Given the climate emergency, extreme commodification of sport and human beings amidst festering global inequalities, should such an event continue to be staged? With the advancement of robotics and posthumanism, what is the future of sport as we have long known it? HY2247 Sports and History is designed to offer an entry point into all of these questions and much more. It aims to help students enter into contextually informed critical discussions in response to all and any questions that will bubble forth in the lead up to Paris 2024. In so far as Paris 2024 is a microcosm of global values and happenings, students will be guided to weigh on the big questions confronting human society through the vantage of sports. The topics and themes considered in this course centered on the intersection of sports and society encompass diverse themes and topics, among which are: sports and being human, sports and the human ethos, sports and politics, sports and money; sports and human rights, sports and drugs, sports and gender, sports and ecology, and also the more future inclined sports and transhumanism.