课程概况
Sports play a giant role in contemporary society worldwide. But few of us pause to think about the larger questions of money, politics, race, sex, culture, and commercialization that surround sports everywhere. This course draws on the tools of anthropology, sociology, history, and other disciplines to give you new perspectives on the games we watch and play. It’s the new and improved version of Professor Orin Starn’s original “Sports and Society” for Coursera, which drew more than 40,000 students. We will focus on both popular sports like soccer (or “football,” as anyone outside America calls it), basketball, and baseball, and also lesser-known ones like mountain-climbing and fishing. You will never watch or think about sports in the same way again.
课程大纲
第 1 周 Getting Started! Games, Play, and Sports
What You Need to Know About the Class
Homo Ludens and the Universality of Play
The Lure of Playing Games
Sports and the Invention of the Modern World
Sport of the Week: Capoeira, Made in Brazil
Quiz: Week 1 Quiz
第 2 周 Globalization, Nationalism, and the Politics of Sports
The Sporting Life on a Shrinking Planet
Nations and the (Mis)Uses of Sports
The Rise and Decline of the Activist Athlete
Sport of the Week: American Football, A Violent Mystery
Quiz: Week 2 Quiz
第 3 周 Race, Cultural Identity, and the Sports World
The Color Line in American Sports
Warriors, Braves, R-s, and the Native American Mascot Debate
Genes, Culture, and the Changing Geography of Sports
Zinedine Zidane, Bruce Lee, and Postcolonial Sports
Sport of the Week: Golf, A Boring Sport for Rich White Men in Plaid Pants?
Quiz: Week 3 Quiz
第 4 周 Gender, Sexuality, and the Rise of Women's Sports
The Rise of Women's Sports
How Far Have Women's Sports Come?
The Long Sporting Life of Homophobia
The Transgender Athlete
Sport of the Week: The Fitness Revolution and the Duty to Exercise
Quiz: Week 4 Quiz
第 5 周 Why Do We Care So Much about Sports?
The Pleasures and Perils of Sports Fandom
The Young, the Old, and the Matter of Age in Sports
Sport of the Week: The Mass Entertainment Complex of Big-time American College Sports
Quiz: Week 5 Quiz
第 6 周 The Megabusiness of Sports
How Sports Become a Megabusiness
Sport of the Week: Sports Video Games (if they count as a sport!)
Quiz: Week 6 Quiz
第 7 周 Outdoor Sports, Extreme Sports, and the Search for Adventure
Outdoor Sports and the Lure of Nature
Extreme Sports and Dancing with Death
Sport of the Week: Skateboarding, Life on the Edge
Conclusion: Some Final Thoughts
Quiz: Week 7 Quiz
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