Empire of Hoop: Basketball as American Culture

3 units

“Yeah, I live here,” basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once said of the United States, “but it’s not really my country.” The same might be said of basketball; born in Massachusetts in 1891, the game is globally popular such that it belongs to everyone and no one. Since Dr. James Naismith invented it, basketball has been embraced as a progressive form of athletic expression by people across boundaries of race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and cultural heritage. Tellingly, the game serves social justice icons like Abdul-Jabbar just as surely as the forces of nationalism he rejected. In this course, we will consider the history, myths, and culture of basketball, and ask: What does basketball tell us about America and Americans? What does it obscure? Who benefits from the game? What are its consequences? From Naismith to Brittney Griner, pick-up ball to the Harlem Globetrotters, we will examine the cultural features of the game and reflect on its impact on billions of people, both in the U.S. and around the world.