Manifest in many forms in American society, race is perhaps nowhere
more evident than in the arenas of athletic competition. On the
surface the black athlete is perhaps the most visible integrated
racial subject in the U.S.--seen in all facets of the media, cheered
by millions of fans, and teamed with white counterparts. To some
the projection of the black athlete on TV, the sports page or the
cereal box is a reassurance that minorities are understood and accepted
in the U.S. However, while often hailed as an icon of racial progress,
paradoxically, the black athlete creates a potentially injurious
basis for all other ideas about blackness and black identity.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
David Wiggins, Glory Bound: Black Athletes
in a White America
Walter LeFeber, Michael Jordan and the New
Global Capitalism
Buzz Bissinger, Friday Night Lights: A Town,
a Team, and a Dream
David Remnick, King of the World: Muhammad
Ali and the Rise of an American Hero
Jules Tygiel, The Jackie Robinson Reader:
Perspectives on an American Hero
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
· Attendance & Discussion (25%): Students are
expected to attend all classes, prepared to intensely discuss the
assigned readings. Beginning with the October 12th class, each week
a different set of students (groups of 2 or 3) will lead discussion.
As well, every student is expected to bring to each class one or
two typewritten questions for discussion. These questions will be
turned in for attendance credit, therefore late work will not be
accepted. In addition, students are asked to frequently read and
contribute to the class online discussion, located on the course
web page (http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/amy.bass)
- click on the photo of Ali to enter. This online forum will be
the primary means of communication with the professor while she
is in Sydney, Australia.
· Olympic Journal (20%): Students will create a personal
journal of their "media" experience with the Olympic Games
in Sydney, Australia. See the hand-out for specifics.
· Paper (30%): Students will complete the writing
of a research paper on a topic of their choice, but ideally derived
from some facet of their Olympic journals. Papers are due on December
13th; late work will not be accepted without proper notification
from the administration. The papers should be ten pages in length,
and should incorporate ideas from class discussions, readings, and
films.
· Presentations (25%): Each student is asked to give
a 15-minute presentation of their research from their final papers
to the class on the last day.
TOPIC & READING SCHEDULE:
August 30th: Introduction
· get syllabus & review Olympic journal assignment
· reading assignment: everyone reads all of David
Wiggins, Glory Bound, due October 11th
· discussion assignment: each student (pair up if necessary)
prepare to present a chapter in Wiggins
September 6th: Video Presentation
· watch The Journey of the African American Athlete,
parts I & II
· discuss film online
· sign up for individual meetings with professor for week
of October 4th
September 13th: No Class
· begin gathering materials for journals
· try to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony on September
15th (check local listings)
· gather media reactions (sportswriters, etc.) to Opening
Ceremony
· discuss online
September 20th: No Class
· follow Olympics & work on journals
· discuss online
September 27th: No Class
· follow Olympics & work on journals
· discuss online
October 4th: Individual Meetings
with Professor, Champlain Valley Hall #320
October 11th : Wiggins Presentations
& Discussion
· Olympic Research: bring journals & collected materials
to class
· Wiggins Reading Presentations: be able to summarize the
author's argument (five minutes each)
October 18th: What Did Baseball Do?:
Jackie Robinson
· read Tygiel, pages 1 - 144
· discussion questions on Tygiel due
October 25th: Robinson continued
· read Tygiel, pages 145-278
· discussion questions on Tygiel due
· brief paragraph outlining research papers due, including
a list of sources
November 1st: He Was So Pretty: Ali
· read Remnick, parts I & II, including the prologue
· discussion questions on Remnick due
November 8th: Ali continued
· read Remnick, parts III & IV, including the epilogue
· Video Presentation & Discussion: When We Were Kings
· discussion questions on Remnick due
November 15th: How do you lose those
Varsity Blues?
· read Bissinger, chapters 1 to 8, including the preface
& prologue
· discussion questions on Bissinger due
November 22nd: No Class - Have
a Good Holiday!
November 29th: High School Football
cont.
· read Bissinger, chapters 9-16, including the epilogue and
the afterword
· discussion questions on Bissinger due
· Video Presentation & Discussion: Varsity Blues
December 6th: His Air Up There:
Michael Jordan
· read all of LaFeber (it's not that long!)
· discussion questions on LaFeber due
December 13th: Presentations
on Final Papers & End-of-the-Semester Celebration!
OLYMPIC VIEWING ASSIGNMENT
This course begins with a close and studied 'mixed media' observation
of the Olympics in Sydney, Australia. As the Olympics unfold, you
are asked to create a personal journal based on multiple
sources: U.S. television news, NBC coverage of the Olympic games,
Canadian television, domestic and foreign news publications, the
internet, and local Plattsburgh news--don't limit yourself to just
one. Collect as many primary documents as you can--newspaper clippings,
magazine articles, and so on--as ideally your journals will become
the source for longer research papers. You should base your journal
on the following questions:
Who are the stars of these Olympics?
Do early favorites fulfill their prescribed roles? Who are the
surprises?
What sports seem to dominate media coverage
of the Games? What sports are left out? Why?
How are sports different from one another,
in terms of who does them and how they are perceived? Are some
sports "richer" than others? Are some "whiter"
than others? Are some dominated by only a few countries? Is there
a difference in how team sports and "individual" sports
are represented?
How are Olympic athletes "amateurs"?
Are they? Where does a commercial role enter the Olympic arena?
How are identities - nation, race, class, gender,
age, ethnicity - demonstrated, described, and performed?
What is the role of the media in creating an
athlete's identity?
How do nations position themselves around their
athletes? What nations seem to dominate the media coverage?
How is aboriginal culture represented during
the Sydney Olympics? What kinds of associations does the American
media make?
What is your favorite Olympic moment? Who is
your favorite Olympic athlete? Are these choices unexpected? What
is "favorite" about them?
To get a good background on who and what to watch, check out Olympic
web site put together by NBC at www.nbcolympics.com, especially
the athlete biographies. Some notable athletes to consider (NB:
this list was compiled before the Olympic teams were set - there
is a (slight) chance some of these athletes did not qualify for
the Games):
