Topics in Anthropology (290-0-1)

Topic

Anthropology of Sports

Instructors

Adia Benton
847/491-2852
1812 Hinman #101
Adia Benton is a cultural anthropologist with interests in global health, biomedicine, development and humanitarianism and professional sports. Broadly, She is interested in patterns of inequality in the distribution of and the politics of care in settings “socialized” for scarcity. This means understanding the political, economic and historical factors shaping how care is provided in complex humanitarian emergencies and in longer-term development projects – like those for health. These concerns arise from her previous career in the fields of public health and post-conflict development in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

Meeting Info

ANTHRO Sem Rm 104 - 1810 Hinmn: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

In this course, we will explore an anthropological—which is to say, a cross-cultural, political, economic and social approach--to the study of sports. A starting premise for this course is this: rather than being outside politics (articulated in the plea that athletes ‘just shut up and play ball'), sport has been a means for bolstering nationalism and national belonging; a staging ground for a range of social, political and economic ideologies; and a vehicle for social protest and change. We examine this premise through a close and careful reading of ethnographic and popular texts; together, we will analyze and discuss anthropological theories of value, power, kinship, violence, difference and social hierarchy through the lens of sports.

Learning Objectives

• Demonstrate a general knowledge of the methods and theories of anthropology in and of sports. • Explain how sport has been discussed in relation to categories of social difference: gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, caste, nationality. • Analyze primary and secondary sources in written and oral expressive forms (i.e. short essays, in-class discussion, informal presentations).