Deconstructing Sport History: A Postmodern Analysis

SUNY series on Sport, Culture, and Social Relations

SUNY series on Sport, Culture, and Social Relations CL Cole and Michael A. Messner, editors Alan M. Klein, Little Big Men: Bodybuilding Subculture and Gender Construction Todd W. Crosset, Outsiders in the Clubhouse: The World of Women’s Professional Golf, Winner, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) Book Award Wanda Ellen Wakefield, Playing to Win: Sports and the American Military, 1898–1945 Laurel R. Davis, The Swimsuit Issue and Sport: Hegemonic Masculinity in Sports Illustrated Jim McKay, Managing Gender: Affirmative Action and Organizational Power in Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand Sport Juan-Miguel Fernandez-Balboa (ed.), Critical Postmodernism in Human Movement , Physical Education, and Sport Genevieve Rail (ed.), Sport and Postmodern Times Shona M. Thompson, Mother’s Taxi: Sport and Women’s Labor Nancy Theberge, Higher Goals: Women’s Ice Hockey and the Politics of Gender, Winner, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) Book Award Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Inside the Olympic Industry: Power, Politics, and Activism C. Richard King and Charles Fruehling Springwood, Beyond the Cheers: Race as Spectacle in College Sport David L. Andrews (ed.), Michael Jordan, Inc.: Corporate Sport, Media Culture , and Late Modern America Margaret Gatz, Michael A. Messner, and Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach (eds.), Paradoxes of Youth and Sport 265 Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, The Best Olympics Ever? Social Impacts of Sydney 2000 Anne Bolin and Jane Granskog (eds.), Athletic Intruders; Ethnographic Research on Women, Culture, and Exercise Ralph C. Wilcox, David L. Andrews, Robert Pitter, and Richard L. Irwin (eds.), Sporting Dystopias: The Making and Meanings of Urban Sport Cultures Robert E. Rinehart and Synthia Sydnor (eds.), To the Extreme: Alternative Sports, Inside and Out Eric Anderson, In the Game: Gay Athletes and the Cult of Masculinity Pirkko Markula (ed.), Feminist Sport Studies: Sharing Experiences of Joy and Pain Murray G. Phillips (ed.), Deconstructing Sport History: A Postmodern Analysis Alan Tomlinson and Christopher Young (eds.), National Identity and Global Sports Events: Culture, Politics, and Spectacle in the Olympics and the Football World Cup Caroline Joan S. Picart, From Ballroom to DanceSport 266 SUNY series on Sport, Culture, and Social Relations SPORTS STUDIES / CULTURAL STUDIES DECONSTRUCTING SPORT HISTORY A Postmodern Analysis Murray G. Phillips, editor Foreword by Alun Munslow This groundbreaking collection challenges the accepted principles and practices of sport history and encourages sport historians to be more adventurous in their representations of the sporting past in the present. Encompassing a wide range of critical approaches, leading international sport historians reflect on theory, practice, and the future of sport history. They survey the field of sport history since its inception, examine the principles that have governed the production of knowledge in sport history, and address the central concerns raised by the postmodern challenge to history. Sharing a common desire to critique contemporary practices in sport history, the contributors raise the level of critical analysis of the production of historical knowledge, provide examples of approaches by those who have struggled with or adapted to the postmodern challenge, and open up new avenues for future sport historians to follow. “The editor highlights some of the important limitations of sport history as it is currently practiced and argues that postmodern theory could be incorporated more effectively into our field’s methodology. The book assembles contributions from respected and talented scholars who employ a variety of approaches to illustrate the potential contributions of postmodern theory to sport history.” — Eric Reed, Western Kentucky University Murray G. Phillips is Senior Lecturer in the School of Human Movement Studies at The University of Queensland, Australia. He is the author of From Sidelines to Centre Field: A History of Sports Coaching in Australia. A volume in the SUNY series on Sport, Culture, and Social Relations CL Cole and Michael A. Messner, editors State University of New York Press www.sunypress.edu SPORTS STUDIES / CULTURAL STUDIES DECONSTRUCTING SPORT HISTORY A Postmodern Analysis Murray G. Phillips, editor Foreword by Alun Munslow This groundbreaking collection challenges the accepted principles and practices of sport history and encourages sport historians to be more adventurous in their representations of the sporting past in the present. Encompassing a wide range of critical approaches, leading international sport historians reflect on theory, practice, and the future of sport history. They survey the field of sport history since its inception, examine the principles that have governed the production of knowledge in sport history, and address the central concerns raised by the postmodern challenge to history. Sharing a...