Cultural Studies of Sports

Sports operate as a central cultural institution in communities throughout the world. In this course we will offer a critical investigation into the social and cultural roles of sports in the contemporary United States and beyond. We will analyze the role of sports in shaping cultural meanings by asking the following questions: What constitutes a sport? How should sports be defined? What role do sports play in people’s everyday lives? How do sports reflect and reproduce social differences? Students will be expected to write about sports informed by their own fieldwork observations.