Term: 1 (not offered every term)
Grades: 11, 12, PG
Most nations of the world have government agencies specifically responsible for the regulation of amateur and professional sports. Sports are an integral part of the public and political sphere even when teams and leagues are privately owned and operated. Furthermore, depending on the time and place in history, sports often evoke the intense emotions usually associated with nationalism, race, ethnicity, social class, religion, and gender. Sports can be used to study the various social and political forces in any society. This might well have something to do with how we relate to historical sports figures and how we understand the “rules” of competition, cheating, and corruption. In this course we examine essential themes such as the function of sport in society, the status and influence of top-flight professional athletes, the role of sport in collective and individual memory and the consequences of the globalization of sport. Students will use different lenses to assess the increasing intersection of sports and politics and also how race and gender are intimately intertwined with sport. Students can expect to evaluate historical texts, primary sources, memoirs, pictures and film.