More Than the Game: An Episodic Study of Sports and Agency in U.S. History

Catalog description

On 17 July 2010, the Iroquiois Nationals Lacrosse Team officially withdrew from the World Lacrosse League Championship tounament in Manchester, England, because the United Kingdom refused to reognize the team's Haudenosaunee passports. "We are representing a nation," explained team spokesperson Tonya Gonella, "we are not going to travel on the passport of a competitor." The refusal of both sides to make concessions so that the team could compete revealed that the contest in Manchester represented much more than just a game. This course examines the history of athletes and activism and considers how sports reflected and sometimes helped to shape broader cultural, social, political, and economic realities. By examining certain pivotal episodes, this class appraises how individual—and sometimes collective—acts of athleticism helped racialized minorities to critique and challenge the logics of exclusionary systems and mores.