HIS32790 Sport: A modern history

Academic Year 2021/2022

Sport is central to life in the modern world. Why do people play sport, watch sport, talk about sport, dream about sport? And why do they choose the sports that they choose? This module examines the modern passion for sport and seeks to explain this passion. It assesses to what extent the straightforward pursuit of pleasure overwhelms everything else when people chose to engage with sport. But it also looks at how such choices are defined (or refined) by the influence of ideology and tradition, class and gender, commerce and geography, education and employment. From the colosseums of the Roman Empire to the stadia of the twenty-first century, this module will consider the creation of the modern sporting world and will analyse the place of sport within the context of social, cultural, political and economic change.
The module aims to:
1. To introduce students to various ideas and manifestations of modern sport and to situate these within the evolution of modern society
2. To place sport within a political, social, cultural and economic context
3. To examine the commercialisation of sport
4. To discuss the relationship between sport and the media
5. To discuss the impact of sport in a local, national and international context
6. To understand the complex relationship between continuity and change in the development of the modern sporting world
7. To explore the ways in which various interest groups seek to use sport and sporting organisations

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of sport in the modern world
2. Be able to analyse the forces that have shaped the creation of modern sport
3. Assess the historiography of sport
4. Present aspects of the historical debate on sport and modern society orally and engage in discussion
5. Write scholarly essays and produce other work appropriate for a Level Three student of History
6. Interrogate the place of sport in a local, national and international context

Indicative Module Content:

Each week is devoted to a particular aspect of the modern sporting world:

1. The Modern Sporting World: An Overview

2. The Bullfight: Tradition and Modernity

3. Empires of Sport: Britishness and Americana

4. Native Games: Identity and Sport

5. Gender: Equality and Opportunity?

6. Class: Divides of Play

7. Money: The Gamble

8. Media: Television and the Transformation of Sport

9. The State: How the Modern state uses sport

10. The Future: From Climate Change to Gaming

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

22
Specified Learning Activities

105
Autonomous Student Learning

95
Total

222
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This is a small-group, seminar-based module. It is taught through a two-hour seminar. The advance reading and other material offer an introduction of the week’s topic, focusing upon key historical trends, debates and events. The weekly seminar is focused upon individual active / task-based learning by means of class debates, discussion and student presentations. Advanced research, writing and citation skills are developed through a combined individual student presentation on primary sources and written essay, and a semester-long 3,000 word research project. Autonomous learning is advanced through student-led debate and discussion of set primary sources and / or student presentations each week. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Project: Semester-long research project: this is a paper of 3,000 words, based on work undertaken throughout the trimester Week 12 n/a Graded No

40
Essay: A mid-term essay of 2,000 words will be submitted in Week Eight and must draw on at least four weeks of the readings of the module Week 8 n/a Graded No

30
Continuous Assessment: Students are graded on their contribution to seminars throughout the trimester, including in-class exercises Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

30

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students will receive oral feedback on their course participation. This will be done on a collective basis. After the midterm essay, students will receive individual written feedback on their work. Students will receive oral feedback on their research project throughout the trimester, culminating in a meeting before the submission of the final draft. Feedback on the end-of-trimester research project will be given by appointment in one-to-one meetings.