Sports as a Cultural Phenomenon

From philosophy and history, to social, communicational, cultural,

and literary studies and sport as a performing art: 

analysis of sports is  a means of defining our worlds.

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Sports have been an important component of American culture over the last one hundred years.  When we examine sports as culture, we have an opportunity to consider the experience of many groups of people.  One event in a sporting venue may have ramifications for society at large.  This blog will connect sports and their role in American society from historical to contemporary perspectives, which we'll call "playing it forward."

I'm so glad you're sharing this literacy learning experience with me.  You've made a good decision to join other people who are interested in sports and sports' connections to society.  You're going to learn a lot!

How is sports a mirror of society?

How can sports be a mechanism to improve society?

The objective of this blog is to examine--- critically---  the changing relationship between sports and popular culture.  Sports in contemporary society have great potential and an intrinsic promise for positive change.

We will connect the fun of sports to new understandings about how identities become constructed and distributed in society. This blog will expose you to the influence and power of sports in contemporary American popular culture. We'll explore the social, cultural, and political meanings of the sporting spectacle as well as the impact of technologies (both old and new and between) on sports performance and spectatorship.

We will also examine the politics of sports, including popular icons such as the representation of gender, race, and ethnicity;  national identities and globalization; sports subcultures and lifestyle sports;  and depictions of sports and athletes.   The blog will include economic dimensions of sports media such as production and marketing, such as the consumerization of youth sports, childrens' toys, labor issues, and athletes’ legal rights. 

You will learn to develop discourse analysis and content analysis techniques so you can unpack the subtexts behind sports media messages. And, due to the essential nature of sports culture in the 21st century, we will examine a variety of texts:  print (poetry, short stories, drama, full-length fiction and non-fiction); visual and  audio  mass communications (television, film, commercials, live talk radio, podcasts); and, new media (Web 2.0, social networking sites, blogs, RSS feeds).

This blog opens up a variety of ways of interpreting the intersection of sports and popular culture.  You are encouraged to participate as an analyst of sports culture.  We will call these exchanges of ideas "dialogicality."  Sure, we'll probably present differing interpretations about and points of view on a sports topic.  In all discussions, all I ask is that each person should show respect to the comments and positions of fellow participants.