Sports, Health, and Society

3 units

Sports is a lens onto social issues of health, fitness, and the body. Case studies in this course deal with injury and abuse, the role of medicine and pharmaceuticals, corporations and mass media, gendered aggression, doping scandals, disabled athletes, trans athletes, and video games, among other topics. A wide range of sports will be covered, including basketball, American football, college athletics, sumo wrestling, martial arts, ordinary activities like running and exercise, and mass spectacles such as the Olympics. By adopting cross-cultural and intersectional approaches, this course will consider how race, gender, and other social contrasts shape ableisms, body norms, violences, and hard-driving business interests in sports and society.