About this course: Sports play a giant role in contemporary society worldwide. But few of us pause to think about the larger questions of money, politics, race, sex, culture, and commercialization that surround sports everywhere. This course draws on the tools of anthropology, sociology, history, and other disciplines to give you new perspectives on the games we watch and play. It's the new and improved version of Professor Orin Starn's original "Sports and Society" for Coursera, which drew more than 40,000 students. We will focus on both popular sports like soccer (or “football,” as anyone outside America calls it), basketball, and baseball, and also lesser-known ones like mountain-climbing and fishing. You will never watch or think about sports in the same way again.
Created by: Duke University
Taught by: Orin Starn, Professor
Cultural Anthropology
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Getting Started! Games, Play, and Sports
7 videos, 7 readings
Graded: Week 1 Quiz
WEEK 2
Globalization, Nationalism, and the Politics of Sports
7 videos
Graded: Week 2 Quiz
WEEK 3
Race, Cultural Identity, and the Sports World
9 videos
Graded: Week 3 Quiz
WEEK 4
Gender, Sexuality, and the Rise of Women's Sports
9 videos
Graded: Week 4 Quiz
WEEK 5
Why Do We Care So Much about Sports?
6 videos
Graded: Week 5 Quiz
WEEK 6
The Megabusiness of Sports
4 videos
Graded: Week 6 Quiz
WEEK 7
Outdoor Sports, Extreme Sports, and the Search for Adventure
6 videos
Graded: Week 7 Quiz
FAQs
How It Works
Coursework
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Creators
Duke University
Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The university has a strong commitment to applying knowledge in service to society, both near its North Carolina campus and around the world.
Ratings and Reviews
informative and helpfull
surprisingly interesting and apropos considering I do not watch nor participate in any traditional team sports. Not just about the big sports.
Simple, informative, and useful.
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JF
The content and delivery of the course were excellent. Professor Orin Starn is a star educator: knowledgeable, entertaining, funny, engaging, and very accessible.