Enrol on ACORN | Email wgsi.comms@utoronto.ca for more information
Enrol in this undergraduate special topics upper-level seminar being offered in the Winter 2024 semester; offered Tuesdays 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Course Description:
This course explores the world of sports from a feminist cultural studies angle. Through a selection of key concepts and case studies, we examine questions of representation, identity, political economy, policy and regulation, and audiences and fandoms to consider the role of sports in various cultural and geopolitical contexts. What do sports cultures teach us about what it means to be human? How are athletic bodies gendered, racialized, and regulated? What can we learn about shifting gender ideologies from movements for trans and nonbinary inclusion in elite sports? What can we learn about empire, migration, and diaspora from the game of cricket? What insights into capitalism and labour can we derive from athlete sponsorships, sports betting, or sneakers? This course looks at sports from many angles, including professional leagues like the WNBA, mega-events like the Olympics, fitness classes, sports journalism, and sports movies and other media. Readings will touch on a variety of fields connected to feminist cultural studies, including Black feminism, trans studies, Indigenous studies, disability studies, and media/fan studies. Together, we’ll consider how sports worlds are shaped by local and global power relations, and how sports-related struggles are enmeshed in broader movements for social justice.