Listed in: Colloquia, as COLQ-351
Robert T. Hayashi (Section 01)
Sports command a central role in American culture. The media intensively cover professional and amateur competitions and elevate star athletes to celebrity status. Municipalities offer generous financial incentives to attract professional sports franchises to their cities, and families devote significant resources to make their children into better athletes. American colleges and universities offer scholarships to prospective students based on athletic prowess, a practice uniquely widespread in the United States. Athletics are commonly touted by these and other institutions as a pathway to molding character and even an American identity. Scholars and media have increasingly criticized this outsized role of sport in American society. In this course we will examine recent scholarship on the domestic and global influence of American sport, including in relation to issues such as educational equity, race relations, gender identity, and colonialism. We will speak with sports studies scholars about their research. We also will work collaboratively with library and other instructional staff during the semester.
This course is part of a model of tutorials designed to enable students to engage in substantive research with faculty in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. Therefore, we will pay close attention to research methodologies especially when conducting interdisciplinary research. Students will explore their own research topic and develop a research plan for pursuing the topic in-depth.
Limited to six students. Open to sophomores and juniors. Spring Semester. Professor Hayashi
How to handle overenrollment: Preference will be given to American Studies majors and students with prior coursework in sports studies.
Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: regular short reading responses, participation in class discussions, small group collaboration, producing an annotated bibliography, research prospectus and oral presentation.
Section 01
Th 1:00 PM - 3:45 PM CHAP 210