The study of sports as a lens through which to explore social and ethical paradoxes of American life. Does the amateur ideal make sense today? The history of athletics in ancient Greece, Victorian England, and America. College, Olympic, and professional athletics. Athletic competition as a social, spiritual, educational, and commercial institution. The relation of recent trends, including the democratization and internationalization of higher education, to the amateur ideal.
Meeting time: Thursdays, 1-3pm
Requirements: Weekly short response papers based on the reading, and one 10-page research paper due at the end of the course, with a draft due earlier. The research project will be on a topic of your own choosing related to the history and contemporary culture of college sports. The Harvard Archives are a rich resource; students in this seminar often tell original, untold stories about the history of their favorite sports based on Harvard archival records.
Students should expect to be active discussants and engaged readers, calling relevant news stories to the attention of their fellow students.