AMS 2200 Playing in the USA

If there is something we learned since the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. is that people need sports. For a large segment of the population that crosses all sorts of identities, sports are important, even vital. Why is that the case? And what does that tell us about the U.S. society? Perhaps, it is because play, as Johan Huizinga suggests, has “a significant function” (= there is some sense to it) and gives meaning to action. Consequently, play provides us with a tool to explore fundamental structures of both western civilization and American society and, in the guise of sports, to examine the American character, its myths, symbols, values, beliefs, achievements, and failures. To achieve this goal, we will look at literary and cultural representations of several sports and work our way through them theoretically, historically, and thematically. We will read novels and poems about baseball and love, and about football, violence, and war. We will watch movies and documentaries about boxing, race, whiteness, masculinity, and femininity. We will talk about football and concussions. We will use a variety of essays to talk about sport and politics.

This course counts as an elective for the American Studies (AMS) minor.

Credits

4

Prerequisite

None

Course Types

AMS Minor (elective)

Offered

• Spring

Notes

Will apply for Core Curriculum - Civilization slotting once course is approved.

1. Be able to critically analyze and dissect the representations of sport and their connections to the larger cultural and societal context.
2. Understand how modernity and a capitalist economy shape identities.
3. Understand how the construction of a narrative about a group/people/subject through literature and popular culture in a modern society happens and operates.