HIST2122 - 01 - Sports & the Making of the Modern World

(HI) Historical Inquiry (H) Historical Consciousness

Megan Rapinoe and Colin Kaepernick remind us that sports, politics, and society have long been deeply connected, despite cries from some people to "keep politics out of sports." This course will explore the history of sports in the making of the modern world. We will examine the beginning of organized sports, such as golf and rounders (aka, baseball), as early as 15th-Century Europe and the perception of health and social benefits of participation. We will also consider how sports began to shape - and be shaped by - the Industrial Revolution and emergence of Capitalism in the 19th Century, birthing what we know as professional athletes and athletics. Modern sports history will include topics, such as: sports & resistance; how sports history provides insights into the complexities of race, gender, and social status; the modern athlete and extreme wealth; the ongoing politicization of athletes; among many other topics. Living in a sports-crazed region will allow us to explore sports history, including private tours of Fenway Park with the Red Sox official historian, Gordon Edes; exploring the Brookline neighborhood where the first Country Club in America was built in an impoverished immigrant neighborhood in Brookline, introducing the United States to golf, Mathews Arena at Northeastern University, and the Boston Bruins Museum to augment our examination of integration and professional sports.