Instructor: Dr. Audrey McCluskey
1:00-2:15 PM TR WH 108
P: Senior status as Afro-American Studies major

This course which fulfills the senior seminar requirement in Afro-American Studies, will examine
the intersection of race and sport in America.  Specifically, we will interrogate how racial
constructions infuse different levels of the iconography of sport.  Beginning with a discussion of
its historical role in culture, we will apply relevant social science tools in our examination of the
evolution and increasing significance of sport in America.  We will raise critical questions about
the meaning and prominence of sport in African American culture and in society at large.  Such
questions will include: What are some of the significant historical flashpoints for examining
racialized athletic performance?  What are the social and  political implications of status
assignment based upon athletic performance, specifically for an oppressed people?  How do issues
of class and gender affect our valuing of sport?  We will use a variety of sources including
folkloric, literary, historical, anthropological, and sociological as well as popular culture (film,
music, television, etc.) in order to provide an interdisciplinary seminar experience in which
students will be encouraged to apply their cumulative skills and specific areas of study in
designing and executing original research projects.  Other requirements include two short
reflection papers and two exams.

The required readings will be a compendium of articles, stories, essays, biographies, and
autobiographies in the course packer, and two or three books including Days of Grace by Arthur
Ashe and The Last Shot by Darcy Frey.  There will also be films one of which may be scheduled
outside of class time.