PLTC318

“It’s just a game.” Countless sports fans mutter this mantra to calm themselves in the heat of a contested sporting event. But it isn’t just a game. From the birth of the modern Olympic movement to #BlackLivesMatter protests at various sporting venues, even a cursory survey of American—and indeed global—history shows the challenge of separating politics and sports. This seminar explores how sports shaped domestic and international politics throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Students investigate how sports celebrities became intrinsically linked with the civil rights movement in the United States, the Middle East conflict, anti-Soviet resistance, and the recent movement against anti-BIPOC police violence. In addition to an in-depth survey of the key issues and debates surrounding sports and politics, students are encouraged to explore their topics of interest in further detail.

Any 100-level or 200-level course in politics or sociology. PLTC 218 Statistics for Political Analysis (or equivalent in other discipline) will be useful but not required to enroll in the course.