Readings

Schedule of Topics and Readings

Go to… Week Two / Three / Four / Five / Six / Seven / Eight / Nine / Ten / Eleven / Twelve / Thirteen / Fourteen / Fifteen / Final Exam

UNIT ONE — 2022 FIFA World Cup: Reflections, Issues, and Analysis

Week One (Jan 17 / 19): Introduction to the Course, WordPress, Zotero

In-class Readings >> Sports History: Views from Historians

  • Group A: Howard, Josh. “Clifton Forge and Back Again.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 34, no. 5–6 (2017): 340–45. doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1383394.
  • Group B: Anderson, Patricia. “On Searching for the Latin American Sportswoman and Finding an Argentine Sports Historian.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 34, no. 5–6 (2017): 315–19. doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1342625.
  • Group C: Moore, Louis. “When I Fell in Love with Sports History.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 34, no. 5–6 (2017): 405–8. doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1372426.
  • Group D: Dichter, Heather. “Animalympics, Or How I Became a Sport Scholar.” The International Journal of the History of Sport, 34:5-6 (2017): 335-339, doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1381088

Week Two (Jan 24 / 26): FIFA 2022 World Cup Unpacked

Week Three (Jan 31 / Feb 2): South America’s Soccer Icons: Messi & Maradona (Argentina), Pelé & “Jogo Bonito” (Brazil)

Week Four (Feb 7 / 9): Dual Nationals – Mexico, USA, and Central America / Looking Ahead: 2026 World Cup and SB LVII

UNIT TWO: Early History of American Sports

Week Five (Feb 14 / 16): “Old Boys’ Schools,” Muscular Christianity & the British/US Missionaries of Sport

  • Feb 14 – Choose either of the two…
    • Miller, Patrick. “The Manly, the Moral, and the Proficient: College Sport in the New South.” The Sporting World of the Modern South, edited by Patrick Miller. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. [Chapter 1] — moved to in-class reading
    • Mangan, J. A. “The Early Evolution of Modern Sport in Latin America: A Mainly English Middle-Class Inspiration?” The International Journal of the History of Sport 18, no. 3 (2001): 9–42. doi.org/10.1080/714001585.
  • Feb 16 – Choose either of the two…
    • Guedes, Claudia. “‘Changing the Cultural Landscape’: English Engineers, American Missionaries, and the YMCA Bring Sports to Brazil – the 1870s to the 1930s.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 28, no. 17 (2011): 2594–2608. doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2011.627200.
    • Sotomayor, Antonio. “The Triangle of Empire: Sport, Religion, and Imperialism in Puerto Rico’s YMCA, 1898–1926.” The Americas 74, no. 4 (2017): 481–512. doi.org/10.1017/tam.2017.86

In-Class Reading >>>

  • Miller, Patrick. “The Manly, the Moral, and the Proficient: College Sport in the New South.” The Sporting World of the Modern South, edited by Patrick Miller. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. [Chapter 1]
  • Dishon, Gideon. “Games of Character: Team Sports, Games, and Character Development in Victorian Public Schools, 1850–1900.” Paedagogica Historica 53, no. 4 (2017): 364–80. doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2016.1270339.

Week Six (Feb 21 / 23): Early Football (Soccer) & Baseball History

  • Feb 21 – Read your group’s selection …
  • Feb 23 – Read your group’s selection …
    • Group A: González Echevarría, Roberto. The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999—Pages 75-111. [Chapter 4]
    • Group B & Group D: Park, Roberta J. “From La Bomba to Béisbol: Sport and the Americanisation of Puerto Rico, 1898–1950.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 28, no. 17 (2011): 2575–2593. doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2011.627199
    • Group C: Gumstead, Robert. “Baseball, the Lost Cause, and the New South in Richmond, Virginia.” The Sporting World of the Modern South, edited by Patrick Miller. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. [Chapter 2]

Week Seven Discussion (Feb 28 / Mar 2): Choose Your Story – Wrestling, NASCAR, Softball, Basketball, Football, or Boxing / Book Club Pt. 1 (Asynchronous Work)

  • Feb 28 – Choose your story (one of the following) and be prepared to lead a mini-presentation:
    • Wrestling: Kyriakoudes, Louis M. and Peter A. Coclanis. “‘The Tennessee Test of Manhood’: Professional Wrestling and Southern Cultural Stereotypes.” The Sporting World of the Modern South. [Chapter 11]
    • Wrestling: Levi, Heather. The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008. [Chapter 3]
    • NASCAR: Rybacki, Karyn Charles and Donald Jay Ribacki. “The King, the Young Prince, and the Last Confederate Soldier: NASCAR on the Cusp.” The Sporting World of the Modern South. [Chapter 12]
    • Softball: Westly, Erica. Fastpitch: The Untold History of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game. New York: Touchstone, 2016. [Chapters 2-4]
    • Basketball: Galindo, David Christopher. “Spurs Fandom in San Antonio: The Baseline Bums and HemisFair Arena, 1973–1993.” Journal of Sport History 49, no. 1 (2022): 37-52. muse.jhu.edu/article/867327.
    • Boxing: Sheinin, David. “Boxing in the Making of a Costeño” Sports Culture in Latin American History. [Chapter 7]
    • Football (and Exercise): Swanson, Ryan. The Strenuous Life: Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of the American Athlete. New York: Diversion Books, 2019. [Chapters 1 & 2]
  • Mar 2 – BOOK CLUB Pt. 1
    • Powell, Robert Andrew. This Love Is Not For Cowards: Salvation and Soccer in Ciudad Juárez. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2012. [Introduction, Chapters 1-3]
    • Elsey, Brenda and Joshua Nadel. Fútbolera: A History of Women and Sports in Latin America. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019. [Introduction, Chapter 1]
    • Ruck, Rob. Raceball: How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latin Game. Boston: Beacon Press, 2011. [Introduction, Chapters 1-2]
      • Today is an asynchronous class, which means classwork is 100% remote. By the end of today, March 2, post a 300-450 word reaction piece to the Introduction and first chapter(s) of your assigned course textbook on the course blog. Give your post a unique name tied to your reflective analysis. Choose “Book Club” as the category before publishing.

UNIT THREE: Bodies as Contested Spaces

Week Eight Discussion (Mar 7 / 9): Sport, Race, & Ethnicity

  • Mar 7 – Read your group’s selection …
  • Mar 9 – Read your group’s selection …
    • Group C: Richey, Jeffrey. “The Macaquitos Affair: Soccer, Blackness, and Brazil as Argentina’s Racial Other, 1919-1929.” Radical History Review no. 125 (2016): 116-136. ISSN 0163-6545
    • Group D: Scott, Jermaine. “”A Black School Is Not Supposed to Win”: Black Teamwork at Howard University, 1970–74.” Journal of Sport History 46, no. 3 (2019): 347-362. muse.jhu.edu/article/738515.

Week Nine Discussion (Mar 21 / 23): Masculinity & Femininity

  • Mar 21 – Read your group’s selection …
    • Group B: Donoghue, Michael. “Roberto Durán, Omar Torrijos, and the Rise of Isthmian Machismo.” Sports Culture in Latin American History. [Chapter 1]
    • Group D: Owenby, Ted. “Manhood, Memory, and White Men’s Sports in the American South.” The Sporting World of the Modern South. [Chapter 13]
  • Mar 23 – Read your group’s selection …
    • Group C: Gils, Bieke. “Flying, Flirting, and Flexing: Charmion’s Trapeze Act, Sexuality, and Physical Culture at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.” Journal of Sport History 41, no. 2 (2014): 251-268. muse.jhu.edu/article/557776.
    • Group A: Liberti, Rita. “‘We Were Ladies, We Just Played Like Boys’: African American Women and Competitive Basketball at Bennett College, 1928-42.” The Sporting World of the Modern South, edited by Patrick Miller. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. [Chapter 6]

In-Class Reading >>> Taylor, Katie. “‘Here’s the Football Heroine’: Female American Football Players, 1890–1912.” Sport in History (2020). DOI: 10.1080/17460263.2020.1814399

Week Ten Discussion (Mar 28 / 30): Feminine Struggles / Book Club Discussion: Futbolera

  • Mar 28 – Group A & Group B: Lehman, Ken. “Fighting on the Edge: Cholitas Luchadoras in Bolivia’s Cholo” Sports Culture in Latin American History. [Chapter 2]
  • Mar 28 – Group C & Group D: Cerón-Anaya, Hugo. Privilege at Play: Class, Race, Gender, and Golf in Mexico. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. [Chapter 6]
  • Mar 30 – BOOK CLUB: Elsey & Nadel’s Futbolera – only those students reading this book attend today’s class; all others work on their own on their research/digital project

Week Eleven Discussion (Apr 4 / 6): Book Club Discussion: Soccer in Ciudad Juárez Pt. 2 & USWNT (2023 FIFA World Cup) + Lab Day

  • Apr 4 – BOOK CLUB: Powell’s Soccer in Ciudad Juárez. [Chapters 8-11] – only those students reading this book attend today’s class; all others work on their own on their research/digital project
  • Apr 6 – BOOK CLUB: Ruck’s Raceball – only those students reading this book attend today’s class; all others work on their own on their research/digital project

UNIT FOUR: Sports & International Relations

Week Twelve Discussion (Apr 11 / 13): Sports & the State

Week Thirteen Discussion (Apr 18 / 20): Class Presentations

  • Apr 18 – None
  • Apr 20 – None

Week Fourteen Discussion (Apr 25 / 27): The Two Escobars: an ESPN 30 for 30 film (Watch & Critical Analysis)

  • None

Week Fifteen Discussion (May 2): Course Wrap-Up / Digital Project Presentations 2.0 (Final)

BONUS READINGS

Choose one of the following to read. Post your reflections on the course website as a blog post with the category “Extra Time”

Racing – Challenging Gendered Norms

Weightlifting – Sport As International Politics

  • Schelfhout, Sam, and John Fair. “Lifting ‘Round the World’: The Goodwill Weightlifting Tours of 1955.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 35, no. 10 (2018): 1008–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2019.1576637.

Canada

Soccer (Uruguay)

  • Thompson, Wright. “Portrait of a Serial Winner: A Journey in Pursuit of Luis Suárez, Who – When He-s Not Biting Opponents – Is the Most Beautiful Player in the Game.” ESPN[dot]com (May 27, 2014).

Soccer (USA)

Football

Basketball

Baseball

Business of Sports

North Carolina

Tennis

Sex & Abuses of Power in Sports

Violence & Fandom

Reading Day: May 4

Final Exam Day: May 11, 8am-10:30am

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