As we work through this semester, you'll each be engaged in individual or co-authored small-scale research projects to explore an issue or problem of sports in society. Examining sociological patterns in sports necessitates nimble questions at the intersections of complex cultural relationships. Probing the boundaries of historically-situated "local particulars of some abstract social phenomenon" (Dyson & Genishi, 2006), there are many directions one might follow. You might consider how the institution of sports affects human behavior and discourse.. How do popular media representations and localized, community-based instantiations of sports differ? How do dominant cultural assumptions around race, economics, and gender influence people's attitudes and expectations about how sports are (or should be) lived? How do how sports influence the ways race, gender, and class are experienced? In what ways might sports embody past-in-present social formations, which reflect both the historicized legacies and cultural transformations that continually shape individuals' notions of self and society. What course of inquiry and particular questions you follow should emerge from genuine interest to better understand something happening in the social realm of sports.
In class this Monday Feb 2, bring a list of some topics or issues you might want to explore this semester (having thought about why this is of interest to you and why it would be of research interest). We will brainstorm ideas and begin formulating questions. As you practice your hand with different tools of social inquiry, there are many literature sources to turn for support.
One place to begin is Creswell's (2007) QUALITATIVE INQUIRY & RESEARCH DESIGN: Choosing Among Five Approaches. This book offers a comprehensive and student-friendly introduction to major paradigms, social theories, and inquiry methods across five approaches to qualitative research: Narrative Research, Phenomenology, Grounded Theory, Ethnography, and Case Study approaches. Full copy of this text is available online at:
Also, talk to me early and often about your professional interests and academic curiosities
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