Globalization of Sport

This course will address the intertwined relationship between globalization, sport, and development from a critical global perspective. This course highlights the extent to which contemporary sport cultures are the result of an interplay between local, regional, national, international and global forces. This is achieved by demonstrating how sport governing bodies, spectacles, practices, and products, are both expressive of local conditions, while simultaneously being influenced by the workings of global economic, political, and cultural forces. The specific aim of the course is to encourage students to consider how various international sport mechanisms are experienced as manifestations of the global-local nexus. We will explore the international character of professional and amateur sports including international competitions, league expansions beyond national boundaries, and the movement of athletes. Such a cross-cultural examination will nurture, not only a comparative understanding of various national sport cultures, but also a more nuanced and sensitive understanding of the derivation and experience of cultural difference within the era of globalization.