Politics of Sport

Politics of Sport
Dr. William L. Rosenberg
Fall 2008

This course is designed to introduce the student to the concepts and issues related to the study of the politics of sport. The material in this course comes from a variety of disciplines and schools of thought. Material will be presented chronologically as well as by sport and by various domains of study including ethnicity, gender, race, nationalism, globalism, economics and class.

General Reading Assignments

Sport and Society - Week 1

· The Structure of Sport
· Victorian and Edwardian Sporting Values
· Themes in the History of Sport up to the Twentieth Century
· Sport and Society
· Sport, War, and the Three Orders of Feudal Society: 700-1300
· Teaching Sport as History, History Through Sport
· Sport and Politics: Kings and Countries: The historical tradition of political involvement in sport
· What is Amateur Sport?
· Olympiad (Film)
· Spirit of the Games (Film)

Olympics - Week 2 & 3

· Sport and Politics: IOC
· Olympic Games (Politics of Sport)
· Olympic Games Primer
· Massacre (Politics of Sport)
· The Olympic Movement as an Example of the Interdependence between Sport and Politics
· Hitler’s Pawn (Film)
· One Day in September (Film)

Ethnicity and Class - Week 4

· Ethnicity and Sport
· What’s in a Name? A Historical Look at Native-American Nicknames and Symbols at Three U.S. Universities
· The Politics of Boxing: Resistance, Religion, and Working Class Assimilation
· Joe Louis as a Key Functionary: White Reactions Toward a Black Champion
· Max Schmeling: Righteous Ring Warrior?
· The Second Louis-Schmeling Fight - Sport, Symbol, and Culture
· Sport and the Working Classes
· Argentina’s Left-Wingers
· Organized Sport and Organized Labour: The Workers’ Sports Movement
· The Fight: Joe Lewis and Max Schmeling (Film)
· Unforgiven Blackness (Jack Johnson film)

Race and Sport - Week 5 & 6

· A Tribute to Jackie Robinson
· African Americans in the Sports Arena
· Black Athletes at the Millennium
· Blasphemy! Curt Flood’s Suit of Baseball
· Diamond in the Rough: Baseball and the Study of American Sports History
· Jack Johnson and White Women: The National Impact
· Race Relations sociology of sport and the new politics of race and racism
· A Student Without Peer: The Undergraduate College Years of Paul Robeson
· The Black Athlete in Big-Time Intercollegiate Sports 1941-1968
· Glory in Black and White (Film)
· Fists of Fury: The Story of the ’68 Summer Olympics (Film)

Gender and Sport - Week 7

· Sport and Gender
· NCAA certification program does little to improve gender equity
· Good Sports? Historical Perspective on the Political Economy of Intercollegiate Athletics in the Era of Title IX, 1972-1997
· Billie Jean King Documentary (Film)

Sports and Global Issues - Week 8

· Sport and politics and injustice - Zimbabwe
· Cricket and Politics in Colonial - India
· Soviet Sport and Soviet Foreign Policy
· :03 seconds to Gold (Film)

Sport and National Politics - Week 9

· Sport in Politics - Politics in Sport: Stalinism in Poland in the years 1949-1956
· Richard M. Nixon: The Psychic, Political and Moral Uses of Sport
· Move to political arena not a stretch for some ex-jocks
· Boxer Muhammad Ali and Soldier Idi Amin as International Political Symbols
· Fields of Fire: Sports in the 60’s (Film)
· Jim Brown: All American (Film)

Economics of Sport - Week 10

· Buying the Games (BBC Transcript)
· City and Sport Marketing Strategy: The Case Of Athens 2004
· The Economic Impact of the Olympic Games
· 2002 Olympic Winter Games: Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Impact (Utah)
· Micheal Leeds (Video)