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Sport, Migration, and Gender in the Neoliberal Age
by Niko BesnierThis ethnographic collection explores how neoliberalism has permeated the bodies, subjectivities, and gender of youth around the world as global sport industries have expanded their reach into marginal areas, luring young athletes with the dream of pursuing athletic careers in professional leagues of the Global North. Neoliberalism has reconfigured sport since the 1980s, as sport clubs and federations have become for-profit businesses, in conjunction with television and corporate sponsors. Neoliberal sport has had other important effects, which are rarely the object of attention: as the national economies of the Global South and local economies of marginal areas of the Global North have collapsed under pressure from global capital, many young people dream of pursuing a sport career as an escape from poverty. But this elusive future is often located elsewhere, initially in regional centres, though ultimately in the wealthy centres of the Global North that can support a sport infrastructure. The pursuit of this future has transformed kinship relations, gender relations, and the subjectivities of people. This collection of rich ethnographies from diverse regions of the world, from Ghana to Finland and from China to Fiji, pulls the reader into the lives of men and women in the global sport industries, including aspiring athletes, their families, and the agents, coaches, and academy directors shaping athletes’ dreams. It demonstrates that the ideals of neoliberalism spread in surprising ways, intermingling with categories like gender, religion, indigeneity, and kinship. Athletes’ migrations provide a novel angle on the global workings of neoliberalism. This book will be of key interest to scholars in Gender Studies, Anthropology, Sport Studies, and Migration Studies.
Sport, Physical Activity and Criminal Justice: Politics, Policy and Practice (Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society)
by Haydn Morgan Andrew ParkerThis book explores the various ways in which participation in sport and physical activity might contribute to effective solutions within criminal justice systems. Focusing on a range of different sporting and physical activities across an array of social contexts involving both adult and youth populations, the book offers insight into the way in which sport and physical activity is interpreted by participants and practitioners, and how these interpretations relate to broader policy objectives within and across justice systems. It focuses on a series of key issues, including how sport policy (national and international) has developed in recent years in this area; how and to what extent such policy developments have impacted organisations and interventions (both custodial and non-custodial) across sport and criminal justice systems and sectors; and how participant cohorts (such as disadvantaged and/or ‘at-risk’ young people) have experienced these changes. With shifting debates around criminal justice and the need for policy and practical solutions to extend beyond tougher and longer sentencing, this book is important reading for students, researchers, and practitioners working in sport pedagogy, sport-for-development, sport and leisure management, sport coaching, physical education, criminology, youth work, youth studies, social work, and health studies.
Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body: Materialisms, Technologies, Ecologies (Critical Issues in Sport and Society)
by Mary Louise Adams Kiri Baxter Douglas Booth Kyle S Bunds Michael D. Giardina Mariana Clark Simon C Darnell Samantha Frost Simone Fullagar Pirkko Markula Mary G. McDonald Jennifer Sterling Christopher McLeod Matthew G. Hawzen Richard Pringle Oliver Rick Jacob J. Bustad Samantha King Shannon Leigh Jette Katelyn Esmonde David Andrews Carolyn Pluim Gavin WeedonThe moving body—pervasively occupied by fitness activities, intense training and dieting regimes, recreational practices, and high-profile sporting mega-events—holds a vital function in contemporary society. As the body moves—as it performs, sweats, runs, and jumps—it sets in motion an intricate web of scientific rationalities, spatial arrangements, corporate imperatives, and identity politics (i.e. politics of gender, race, social class, etc.). It represents vitality in its productive and physiological capacities, it drives a complex economy of experiences and products, and it is a meaningful site of cultural identities and politics. Contributors to Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body work from a simple premise: as it moves, the material body matters. Adding to the burgeoning fields of sport studies and body studies, the works featured here draw upon the traditions of feminist theory, posthumanism, actor network theory, and new materialism to reposition the physical, moving body as crucial to the cultural, political, environmental, and economic systems that it constitutes and within which is constituted. Once assembled, the book presents a study of bodies in motion—made to move in contexts where technique, performance, speed, strength, and vitality not only define the conduct therein, but provide the very reason for the body’s being within those economies and environments. In so doing, the contributors look to how the body moving for and about rational systems of science, medicine, markets, and geopolity shapes the social and material world in important and unexpected ways. In Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body, contributors explore the extent to which the body, when moving about both ostensibly active body spaces (i.e., the gymnasium, the ball field, exercise laboratory, the track or running trail, the beach, or the sport stadium) and those places less often connected to physical activity (i.e. the home, the street, the classroom, the automobile), is bounded to technologies of life and living; and to the political arrangements that seek to capitalize upon such frames of biological vitality. To do so, the authors problematize the rise of active body science (i.e. kinesiology, sport and exercise sciences, performance biotechnology) and the effects these scientific interventions have on embodied, lived experience. Contributors to Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body will be engaging a range of new and emerging theoretical perspectives, including new materialist, political ecology, developmental systems theory, and new material feminist approaches, to examine the actors and assemblages of movement-based material, political, and economic production. In so doing, contributors will vividly and powerfully illustrate the extent to which a focus on the fleshed body and its material conditions can bring forth new insights or ontological and epistemological innovation to the sociology of sport and physical activity. They will also explore the agency of the body as and amongst things. Such a performative materialist approach explicates how complex assemblages of sport and physical activity—bringing into association everything from muscle fibers and dietary proteins to stadium concrete or regional aquifers—are not only meaningful, but ecological. By focusing on the confluence of agentive materialities, disciplinary technologies, vibrant assemblages, speculative realities, and vital performativities, Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body promises to offer a groundbreaking departure from representationalist tendencies and orthodoxies brought about by the cultural turn in sport and physical cultural studies. It brings the moving body and its physics back into focus: recentering moving flesh and bones as locus of social order, environmental change, and the global political economy.
Sport Policy and Development: An Introduction
by Daniel Bloyce Andy SmithWho makes sport policy and why do we need it? What is the purpose of sport development programmes? Sport Policy and Development answers these questions and more by closely examining the complex relationships between modern sport, sport policy and development and other aspects of the wider society. These important issues are explored via detailed case studies of key aspects of sport policy and sport development activity, including: school sport and physical education social inclusion health elite sport sporting mega-events. Each case study demonstrates the ways in which the sport policy and development fields have changed, and are continually changing in response to the increasing political, social and cultural significance of sport. The book helps the reader to understand the complexities of the sport policy-making process, the increasing intervention of government in the sport policy and development fields, and how the short-term, ever-changing and frequently contradictory political priorities of government come to impact on the practice of sport policy and development. Accessible and engaging, this textbook is an invaluable introduction to sport policy and sport development for students, practitioners and policy-makers alike.
Sport, Power, and Society: Institutions and Practices: A Reader
by Robert E. WashingtonThis comprehensive collection examines the culture of sport and its relationship with various social institutions. The editors first provide a broad overview of the field and describe the ways in which the concept of sport as a meritocratic contest is undermined by the powerful social structures within which it is embedded. Sections focus on political economy, violence, the media, education, politics, fans and community, and the body. Primary readings from noted scholars in each section address current issues such as the presence of big-time sports in educational institutions; the effects of corporate media; race and class relations; professional athletes? ties to politics; and how sports alter perceptions and practices regarding beauty and health. In addition, entertaining and provocative essays from journalists supplement academic readings and spotlight key issues. Section introductions from the editors connect the readings to a theoretical framework that explores the perspectives of new institutionalism, cultural hegemony, social capital, and symbolic interaction and cultural construction. Providing a cohesive foundation for a wide range of readings, Sport, Power, and Society is a must-have resource for understanding the current issues and debates surrounding the interactions of sport and society.
Sport, Power, and Society
by Robert E. Washington David KarenThis comprehensive collection examines the culture of sport and its relationship with various social institutions. The editors first provide a broad overview of the field and describe the ways in which the concept of sport as a meritocratic contest is undermined by the powerful social structures within which it is embedded. Sections focus on political economy, violence, the media, education, politics, fans and community, and the body. Primary readings from noted scholars in each section address current issues such as the presence of big-time sports in educational institutions; the effects of corporate media; race and class relations; professional athletes' ties to politics; and how sports alter perceptions and practices regarding beauty and health. In addition, entertaining and provocative essays from journalists supplement academic readings and spotlight key issues. Section introductions from the editors connect the readings to a theoretical framework that explores the perspectives of new institutionalism, cultural hegemony, social capital, and symbolic interaction and cultural construction. Providing a cohesive foundation for a wide range of readings, Sport, Power, and Society is a must-have resource for understanding the current issues and debates surrounding the interactions of sport and society.
Sport, Public Broadcasting, and Cultural Citizenship: Signal Lost? (Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society #25)
by Jay Scherer David RoweThis book examines the political debates over the access to live telecasts of sport in the digital broadcasting era. It outlines the broad theoretical debates, political positions and policy calculations over the provision of live, free-to-air telecasts of sport as a right of cultural citizenship. In so doing, the book provides a number of comparative case studies that explore these debates and issues in various global spaces.
Sport, Racism and Social Media (Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society)
by John Price Lee Hall Daniel Kilvington Neil Farrington Amir SaeedRacist abuse may at one time have been hurled across the sports stadium or scrawled on a wall. But in today’s social media world it can be published to millions, from almost anywhere, in an instant. Sport, Racism and Social Media provides the first significant, academic account of how social media is shaping the nature of racisms in sport. Among the questions it addresses are: How, and why, is racism being expressed across different social media platforms and sporting contexts? To what extent is social media providing new platforms for traditional prejudices or actually creating new forms of racism? How can campaigners, authorities and individuals best challenge and counter these forms of racism? Combining analysis of social media content with in-depth interviews with athletes, fans, campaigners and officials, and including extensive case studies of soccer, boxing, the NHL, the NBA, and cricket, the book provides important new insights on a familiar but ever changing story. It is essential reading for any student, researcher, media professional, administrator or policy-maker with an interest in sport, new media or the issue of racism in wider society.
Sport, Rules and Values: Philosophical Investigations into the Nature of Sport (Ethics and Sport)
by Graham McFeeSport, Rules and Values presents a philosophical perspective on issues concerning the character of sport. Discussion focuses on three broad uses commonly urged for rules: to define sport; to judge or assess sport performance; and to characterize the value of sport - especially if that value is regarded as moral value. In general, Sport, Rules and Values rejects a conception of the determinacy of rules as possible within sport (and a parallel picture of the determinacy assumed to be required by philosophy). Throughout, the presentation is rich in concrete cases from sport, including cricket, baseball, American football, soccer and ice-skating. Detailed consideration of some ideas from classics in the philosophy of sport, especially writings by Bernard Suits and William Morgan, contextualizes this discussion. Overall, this work exemplifies the dependence of philosophical considerations of sport on ideas from philosophy more generally. Thus it sketches, for example, the contrast between rules and principles, an account of the occasion-sensitivity of understanding, and the place of normative and motivating reasons within practical reasoning.Sport, Rules and Values represents a distinctive conception, both of sport and of its philosophical investigation, which will appeal to all those with an interest in philosophy and ethics of sport.
Sport, Sexualities and Queer/Theory (Routledge Critical Studies in Sport)
by Jayne CaudwellThe first book focusing exclusively on this subject, Sport, Sexualities and Queer/Theory captures the newest and best writing on an emerging focus of study that brings in perspectives from a number of disciplines including sports studies, gender studies, sociology, cultural studies, lesbian and gay studies, and queer studies. An accessible introduction to this dynamic field, this is an explorative analysis of lesbian, gay, transgender, transsexual and intersex people’s experiences of sport as well as a rigorous theoretical consideration of sociological and political issues. Bringing together in a single source an exciting array of contributions, this is an ideal source of inspiration for anyone involved in this rapidly growing field, and fills a need for an excellent introduction to the main themes and issues.
Sport Stars: The Cultural Politics of Sporting Celebrity
by David L. Andrews Steven J. JacksonIn a culture obsessed with celebrity, sportmen and women are some of the highest profile figures. We are fascinated by sport stars' lifestyles, love lives, and earning power. Sport Stars investigates the nature of contemporary sporting celebrity, examining stars' often turbulent relationships with the media, and with the sporting establishment.Through a series of case studies of sporting stars, including Diego Maradona, Michael Jordan, Venus Williams and David Beckham, contributors examine the cultural, political, economic and technological forces which combine to produce sporting celebrity, and consider the ways in which these most public of individuals inform and influence private experience.
Sport Tourism (Sport in the Global Society)
by Heather GibsonThe study of sport tourism is on the cusp of moving from a descriptive phase of research into an analytical phase. Consequently, many academics and graduate students are searching for theories upon which to ground their work. This book draws upon theories and concepts from sociology and anthropology (the socio-cultural perspective), sport and tourism studies, and business studies. One of the dangers of a new area of study is that the body of knowledge is built on a range of seemingly unrelated studies. By grounding work in a theoretical perspective, future work can be linked to, and contribute to building a cohesive understanding of various aspects of sport tourism. This book is an edited collection written by some of the top scholars working in a particular domain throughout the world, providing a compendium of theories and concepts that can be used to frame research on various aspects of sport tourism.This volume was previously published as a special issue of the journal Sport in Society.
Sport- und Gesundheitstourismus 2030: Wie die „Generation plus“ den Markt verändert
by Pamela Heise Michaela Axt-GadermannDieses Fachbuch fokussiert auf das sport- und gesundheitstouristische Nachfrageverhalten der "Generation plus". Einer Konsumentengruppe in ihrer zweiten Lebenshälfte, die mit einer großen Neugier in Bezug auf sich selbst und die Welt und einem Plus an Interessen, Anspruch und Kaufkraft ausgestattet ist. Durch die sich wandelnden soziodemographischen, ökonomischen und klimatischen Rahmenbedingungen ergeben sich auch im Bereich der Freizeit- und Tourismusbranche signifikante Änderungen zu den bisherigen Nachfrage- und Angebotsstrukturen. Destinationen, die sich bereits jetzt mit der wachsenden Zahl reifer Touristen beschäftigen, stellen ihre Weichen in Richtung Zukunft.Das Buch greift vor dem Hintergrund des demographischen Wandels aktuelle touristische Entwicklungen und zukünftige Herausforderungen auf, denen sich Destinationen und Anbieter im Sinne der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit stellen müssen. Das Buch richtet sich durch die Symbiose aus Theorie und Praxis im Sinne eines Handlungsleitfadens u.a. an Entscheider und Produktentwickler im touristischen Destinations- und Eventkontext, an Lehrende und Studierende sowie an alle, die eine anregende Lektüre suchen.
Sport und Selbstkonzept I: Grundlagen und Entwicklung (Basiswissen Lernen im Sport)
by Rüdiger HeimSeit langem wird dem Sport eine förderliche Wirkung auf das Selbstkonzept, insbesondere im Kindes- und Jugendalter, zugeschrieben. Allerdings sind die entsprechenden wissenschaftlichen Befunde mittlerweile weit verzweigt und unübersichtlich. Dieses Lehrbuch gibt einen kompakten Überblick über die sportbezogene Selbstkonzeptforschung und ihre theoretischen wie empirischen Erträge. Im Mittelpunkt dieses ersten Bandes steht eine übersichtliche Darstellung des mehrdimensionalen Modells des Selbstkonzepts und seiner Entwicklung sowie der Bedeutung für das Sportengagement.
Sportengagements türkisch-muslimischer Migrantinnen
by Ursula ZenderUrsula Zender untersucht, weshalb türkisch-muslimische Migrantinnen im organisierten Sport in Deutschland so stark unterrepräsentiert sind. Sie geht der Frage nach, welche Faktoren den Zugang zum Sport im Allgemeinen und zum Sportverein im Besonderen bestimmen und fokussiert dabei Kultur, Religion, traditionelle Geschlechterrollen, die Herkunftsfamilie und die Offenheit der Sportvereine. Ihre Arbeit ist sozialisationstheoretisch ausgerichtet und beleuchtet mithilfe der Dokumentarischen Methode die Bedeutung von Sportengagements im Lebenslauf türkisch-muslimischer Migrantinnen.
Sportgeographie: Ökologische, ökonomische und soziale Perspektiven
by Paul Gans Michael Horn Christian ZemannVom Lauf im Park bis zu Olympischen Spielen – Sport hat viele Facetten und die Wirkungen auf Umwelt, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft sind immens. Sport braucht dabei immer Räume: Stadien, Sportplätze und Schwimmhallen, Berge und Wälder, Parks, Straßen oder Industriebrachen. Individualisierung und Lifestyle differenzieren den Sport mit neuen Anforderungen an die Nutzung des Raumes.Ökologisch wirkt Sport im Spannungsfeld Natursport und Naturschutz oder wenn Großveranstaltungen neue Infrastrukturen benötigen und zehntausende Menschen anziehen. Ökonomische und soziale Effekte können erheblich sein, sind oft aber nur von kurzer Dauer. Dies führt zur Frage der Nachhaltigkeit. Was bewirkt Skibetrieb in Zeiten des Klimawandels? Was kosten sportliche Großereignisse, welche Effekte entstehen auf Einkommen und Arbeitsmarkt? Was trägt Sport zu Integration, Empowerment, Image und Identität bei? Und wie können Kommunen und Regionen dies in die Planung von Sportstätten und in die Sport- und Stadtentwicklung integrieren? Das erste Buch, das Sport und Geographie aus Perspektiven der Nachhaltigkeit umfassend vereint, behandelt Wirkungen und deren Ursachen systematisch, bietet Definitionen wichtiger Konzepte und bezieht Breitensport, Trendsport und Natursport ebenso ein wie Spitzensport. Basierend auf langjähriger Forschung beleuchten die Autorinnen und Autoren aus unterschiedlichen Disziplinen die Entwicklungen sportlicher Aktivitäten und ihre Raumansprüche. Als Lehrbuch bietet dieser Band einen linearen Einstieg und Überblick. Im Sinne eines Sammelbands kann jedes Kapitel für sich gelesen werden. Die Erkenntnisse sind gleichermaßen nützlich für Forschende und Studierende der Fächer Geographie, Sportwissenschaft, Sozialwissenschaft und Wirtschaftswissenschaften sowie der Raum-, Regional- und Stadtplanung.
Sportgeschichte in Deutschland - Sport History in Germany: Herausforderungen und internationale Perspektiven – Challenges and International Perspectives (Bildung und Sport #22)
by Michael Krüger Annette R. HofmannDer Band enthält deutsch- und englischsprachige Beiträge zu aktuellen Themen der sporthistorischen Forschung, die aus dem Internationalen Kongress für Sportgeschichte 2018 in Münster hervorgegangen sind. Das Themenspektrum reicht von deutschen und europäischen Aspekten der internationalen Sportgeschichtsforschung bis zu Beiträgen von japanischen, koreanischen und chinesischen Autorinnen und Autoren.
Sporting Blackness: Race, Embodiment, and Critical Muscle Memory on Screen
by Samantha N. SheppardSporting Blackness examines issues of race and representation in sports films, exploring what it means to embody, perform, play out, and contest blackness by representations of Black athletes on screen. By presenting new critical terms, Sheppard analyzes not only "skin in the game," or how racial representation shapes the genre’s imagery, but also "skin in the genre," or the formal consequences of blackness on the sport film genre’s modes, codes, and conventions. Through a rich interdisciplinary approach, Sheppard argues that representations of Black sporting bodies contain "critical muscle memories": embodied, kinesthetic, and cinematic histories that go beyond a film’s plot to index, circulate, and reproduce broader narratives about Black sporting and non-sporting experiences in American society.
A Sporting Chance: Achievements of African-Canadian Athletes
by William Humber Spider JonesOver the years, Canadians have smugly asserted their country’s more tolerant culture in race relations. Yet as this story of African-Canadian participation in sports demonstrates, the record is far more troubling. In reality, Canada’s record in matters of race was a disturbing blend of occasional good intentions and ugly practices. The study of the Black athletic experience in Canada is not only a revealing portrait into our past, but also one more demonstration of some time-honoured truths about human achievement and the necessity of the public will to provide open and fair forums for equal access to participation. Presented in a chronological sequence, individual sports are presented along with the leading athletes who brought grace and a determination to achieve. Included are George Dixon, Sam Langford, Reuben Mayes, Ray Lewis, Sam Richardson, Dr. Phil Edwards, Jackie Robinson, Harry Jerome, Earl Walls, Donovan Bailey, Sylvia Sweeney, Molly Killingbeck, Herb Carnegie, Jamaal Magliore, Perdita Felicien and Jarome Iginla, to name but a few of the fine athletes who form a part of Canada’s sports heritage. "As Canada’s foremost baseball historian, Bill Humber has chronicled another fascinating chapter from Canada’s rich sports history. This is an excellent read – entertaining, educational and expertly researched. As my pal Don Cherry might say: ’Two thumbs up, Bill.’"– Brian McFarlane, Sports Family Ltd.
Sporting Events in China as Economic Development, National Image, and Political Ambition (Politics and Development of Contemporary China)
by Marcus P. ChuThis book analyzes the motivations of the Chinese authorities to pursue the international sporting events. It investigates the 21 oft-underappreciated sporting events governed by FIFA, FINA, FIBA, IAAF, and other international organizations, and linking them with the calculus of the Chinese authorities to push forwards economic development, polish national image, and realize the supreme leaders’ political ambitions. The author therefore sheds important light on the intertwined nature of sport and politics in the Chinese state and reveals how pervasive the sporting events’ roles have been in China’s domestic politics and international relations. This book’s broad scope is expected to attract the subscriptions of the academics, think tanks, diplomats, government officials, and international sporting organizations.
Sports and City Marketing in European Cities (EURICUR Series (European Institute for Comparative Urban Research))
by Leo van Berg Erik BraunIn our increasingly global and commercial world, where once sport would only have been seen by a few thousand on the terraces it is now watched by many millions via satellite. This mass global audience is invited not only to watch the sporting event, but also to visit the city where it takes place. Such events may help promote the host city as a tourist destination and business location. City governors are becoming increasingly aware of the possibilities of using sport as an instrument of reaching objectives of urban management. This engaging book investigates the state of the art of sports and city marketing in five European cities: Rotterdam, Barcelona, Helsinki, Manchester and Turin. In each of these cities, the book examines how sports (accommodations, clubs and events) have been made an instrument of city marketing and how the cities have attempted to maximize their potential through sports and city marketing policies. A comparison of the findings highlights the merits or disadvantages of sports clusters and strategic co-operation in sports and city marketing.
Sports and Human Rights (Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Rights #10)
by Andreas R. Ziegler Sophie Weerts Véronique BoilletBased on a series of themes and case studies, this book aims to illustrate the impact of sports policies and practices on individuals and their identities, and to analyze the potential solutions offered by International human rights law (IHRL) for these infringements. It bridges the gap between IHRL and sports studies, and will be useful to scholars in both fields, especially those unfamiliar with each other’s work. Furthermore, by investigating the context of sport and its governance, this collection offers a series of valuable insights, enabling the development of an interpretation of ‘law in context’ for legal scholars in the field of human rights. As the governance and regulation of sport are seen as illustrations of other forms of normativity, this book also contributes to the conversation about the transnational dimension of law and legal orders. In this respect, it illustrates that normative autonomy in the field of sport, associated with the idea of lex sportiva, tends to be relative regarding IHRL. The sporting environment is not disconnected from major contemporary social issues: it constitutes a public space in which injustices can be denounced, but also the theater in which prejudices are perpetuated against various parties, such as athletes or workers. IHRL commonly addresses attacks on individual dignity and social justice issues by guaranteeing rights to individuals and offering them protection mechanisms. In this context, can IHRL solve the problems encountered in the sporting environment? This is the question that animates this volume. This is an open access book.
Sports and Physical Exercise in Early Modern Culture: New Perspectives on the History of Sports and Motion
by Rebekka Von Mallinckrodt Angela SchattnerIt is often assumed that a recognisably modern sporting culture did not emerge until the eighteenth century. The plethora of physical training and games that existed before 1700 tend to fall victim to rigid historical boundaries drawn between "modern" and "pre-modern" sports, which are concerned primarily with levels of regulation, organization and competitiveness. Adopting a much broader and culturally based approach, the essays in this collection offer an alternative view of sport in the early modern period. Taking into account a variety of competitive as well as non-competitive forms of sport, physical training and games, the collection situates these types of activities as institutions in their own right within the socio-cultural context of early-modern Europe. Treating the period not only as a precursor of modern developments, but as an independent and formative era, the essays engage with overlooked topics and sources such as court records, self-narratives, and visual materials, and with contemporary discussions about space, gender and postcolonial studies. By allowing for this increased contextualization of sport, the collection is able to integrate it into more general historical questions and approaches. The volume underlines how developments in early modern sport influenced later developments, whilst at the same time being thoroughly shaped by contemporary notions of the body, status and honour. These notions influenced not only the contemporary sporting fashion but the adoption of sports in elite education, the use of sports facilities, training methods and modes of competition, thus offering a more integrated idea of the place of sport in early modern society.
Sports and the Racial Divide, Volume II: A Legacy of African American Athletic Activism
by Michael E. Lomax and Billy HawkinsContributions by Amy Bass, Ashley Farmer, Sarah K. Fields, Billy Hawkins, Kurt Edward Kemper, Michael E. Lomax, and David K. Wiggins In Sports and the Racial Divide, Volume II: A Legacy of African American Athletic Activism, Michael E. Lomax and Billy Hawkins draw together essays that examine evolving attitudes about race, sports, and athletic activism in the US. A follow-up to Lomax’s Sports and the Racial Divide: African American and Latino Experience in an Era of Change, this second anthology links post–World War II African American protest movements to a range of contemporary social justice interventions. Athlete activists have joined the ongoing pursuit for Black liberation and self-determination in a number of ways. Contributors examine some of these efforts, including the fight for HBCUs to enter the NCAA basketball tournament; Harry Edwards and the boycott of the 1968 Olympic Games; and US sporting culture in the post-9/11 era. Essays also detail topics like the protest efforts of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick; the link between the Black Power movement and the current Black Lives Matter movement; and the activism of athletes like Lebron James and Naomi Osaka. Collectively, these essays reveal a historical narrative in which African Americans have transformed the currency of athletic achievement into impactful political capital.
Sports Crazy: How Sports Are Sabotaging American Schools
by Steven J. OvermanSports Crazy: How Sports Are Sabotaging American Schools exposes the excesses of middle and high school sports and the detrimental effects our sports obsession has on American education. Institutions are increasingly emulating college and professional sports models and losing sight of a host of educational and health goals.Steven J. Overman describes how this agenda is driven largely by partisan fans and parents of athletes who exert an inordinate influence on school priorities, and he explains how and why school administrators shockingly and consistently capitulate to these demands. The author underscores the incongruity of public schools involved in an entertainment business and the effects this diversion has on academic integrity, learning, life experience, and overall educational outcomes.Overman examines out-of-control school sports within the context of a school’s educational mission and curriculum, with telling reference to impacts on physical education. He explores as well the outsized place of interscholastic sports beyond the classroom and scrutinizes the distorted relationship between intramural or recreational sports and elitist, varsity athletics. Overman’s chapter on tackle football explains many reasons why this sport should be eliminated from the school extracurriculum and replaced by flag or touch football.Overman presents a brief history of interscholastic sports, and he compares and contrasts the American experience of school-sponsored sport to the European model of community-based clubs. Which approach better serves students? Overman recommends reforms in the context of a radical proposal to phase out interscholastic sports in favor of an intramural or club model. This approach would alleviate such problems as elitism and gender bias and reign in hypercompetitiveness while freeing schools to educate students rather than provide public entertainment.