Sports History: Reflections on My Journey So Far

Abstract

In this article, I reflect on my journey into sports history and my career path so far. I also discuss my experiences as part of the British Society of Sports History.     

Researching up and across in physical education and sport pedagogy: methodological lessons learned from an intergenerational narrative inquiry

Of issue in this paper are the ways in which different forms of narrative may be of value in undertaking research in potentially thorny situations. The project that inspired this paper saw 30 Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (PESP) Early Career Academics (ECAs) from more than 20 universities across Australasia, North America and Europe, provide narrative accounts of their ongoing academic experiences. From these stories, three letters seeking advice and guidance from leaders in the field were constructed. Following further feedback from the ECAs, the 3 letters were sent to 11 professors in the PESP field with a request to respond, also in letter form. The composite letters and the professorial responses were then the subject of a symposium at an international PESP conference. While the larger project engages with questions of being and becoming an academic in the neoliberal university, this paper is primarily concerned with methodological issues, including our steps and missteps with narrative, inquiry and the field. More specifically, the focus is on narrative as both the method and phenomena of study. As such, we consider issues associated with using dialogue as data, the provocation of participants, as well as both the presentation and representation of data and the relative power of the participants. In doing so, we critically engage with issues of anonymity (or lack thereof), the practice of ‘researching up’ and finally reach the conclusion that the careful approach to data generation, treatment and presentation necessitated by this project, should be a more regular feature of all qualitative inquiry.     

When I Fell in Love with Sports History

Abstract

‘When I Fell in Love with Sports History’ is a story about mentorship, research, and a new direction for sports history. The story emphasizes the need to identify and then mentor students from underrepresented backgrounds to introduce them to sports history. Moreover, the piece examines the need for sports history scholars to use social media more to expand turn social media into an extended classroom to introduce people to sports history.     

A Short Run: Australian Sports History on the 40th Anniversary of the Biennial Sporting Traditions Conference

Abstract

The 40th anniversary of the biennial Sporting Traditions Conference provides a timely opportunity to examine the health of sports history in Australia. This paper identifies three methods through which we can take the temperature of the field and judge its wellbeing. Usually neglected, the first approach is to explore the teaching of sports history in Australia. The second is an analysis of the individuals who have presented to the 21 Sporting Traditions conferences held since 1977 and the content of their papers. The third method is to consider the impact of research in Australian sports history through citations and the other methods used by the Commonwealth of Australia to judge research quality. All three methods support the conclusion that after 40 years sports history’s future in Australia remains far from secure.     

Sports tribes and academic identity: teaching the sociology of sport in a changing disciplinary landscape

Using data from 15 semi-structured interviews with UK-based early/mid-career academics, this paper offers an empirically informed assessment of how lecturers teaching/researching the sociology of sport are managing their careers in a changing higher education landscape. Those interviewed were involved in the delivery of sociological content to a range of sports-themed courses with the interviews focusing on the changing fashions in studying sport (including a rapid increase in enrolment on certain sports-themed courses), and on the nature of the relationships with colleagues working in the same area (i.e. sport), but who teach/research it from a different discipline. The paper draws upon the processes of individualisation which lay at the root of reflexive modernisation to better understand the lived experiences of those interviewed. Using the metaphors of tribes, doors and boundaries, I assess the extent to which those interviewed felt there were opportunities for an interdisciplinary pedagogic approach to ‘sport’. The paper explores the relationship between the sociology of sport and its parent discipline (i.e. sociology) and where it might feature in a future (post-disciplinary?) landscape.