Complexity,Critique, and Close Reading: Sport History and Literary Studies

This paper identifies where sport history’s treatment of literature intersects with established literary critical perspectives and briefly highlights discipline-specific methodologies that can open up new lines of inquiry for historians interested in literature and sport.     

中国体育文化史研究及其存在的新问题

主要对我国体育文化史研究及其存在的问题进行剖析。一方面,全球化时代带来了政治、经济、文化等多方面的变化,体育史学在这样的语境中也面临着严峻的考验,并逐渐向文化史研究转向;另一方面,也由此带来体育史理论研究的泛化,还存在着不少问题。解决的办法:一要注意克服浮于表面的研究,提高对体育文化史研究的整体认识;二是注意对研究问题的细处和大处的结合;三要处理好远近、纵横和优劣互补的关系。     

Aspiration and Reflection: Sport Historians on Sport History

Abstract

Following the series of Presidential Forum conversation pieces instigated by Kevin Wamsley on the NASSH website, this piece places the context of the collection of comments and criticisms by 29 contributors to this special issue on sport historians reflecting on the field of sport history.     

Towards a Critical Dialogue between the History of Sport,Management History,and Sport Management/Organization Studies in Research and Teaching

This article discusses possibilities for a critical dialogue between the history of sport, management history, and sport management/organization studies. Many historians of sport will find themselves employed in sport management programmes, and these programmes allow the potential to interpret historical perspectives on sport, as well as historical research methods in sport management. This offers possibilities in terms of research as well. However, if historians are to engage in a research and teaching dialogue with sport management, they must also remain critical of some of the discipline’s (and practice’s) central tenets.     

Professing the History of Early Modern Sport

Abstract

This essay traces the author’s career change, from being a critic and historian of the language and literature of France into becoming an historian of early modern sport. It details the steps in this process, the conditions under which the change occurred, the difficulties encountered, and the successes achieved. It concludes with a statement of his methodological approach.     

Aspirational Reflections: The Future of Sport History

Abstract

This article provides a scrambled form of SWOT analysis of the ideas contained in the various contributions to this special issue on sport historians and the field of sport history. The market for sport history, pure and simple, is not in good shape in many places. Yet we must be careful not to confuse trends in employment prospects with shorter term fluctuations in demand. Nor should we conflate national issues with the international situation. One thing is certain: worldwide academia is expanding; surely, there must be opportunities somewhere for sport history. Sport historians may have to be prepared to move geographically or to get a job. Nonetheless, the field of sport history also has many strengths highlighted, and opportunities abound for collaborations, public engagement, and supporting our fellow sport historians across the globe. Instead of allowing the external threats and weaknesses to continue to grow, sport historians should draw on the encouraging aspects contained herein and take advantage of our field’s strengths and opportunities to develop new and creative initiatives which demonstrate the vibrancy and breadth of sport history.     

Crossing Lines: Sport History,Transformative Narratives,and Aboriginal Australia

In this collaborative article, we seek to unsettle the dominance of Western, reconstructionist accounts of Indigenous Australian sport history through reflections on our past research in the Queensland Aboriginal community of Cherbourg. That research focussed on a statue of legendary 1930s cricketer, Eddie Gilbert, and on sport exhibitions in Cherbourg's Ration Shed Museum. Here, we are less concerned with unveiling the ‘true’ account of Australian Aboriginal sporting history, or even a ‘true’ Indigenous representation of events. Rather, we are interested in analysing various perspectives in order to generate a more inclusive and complete account of Aboriginal sport history and the narrative implications of these for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. Central to this endeavour is the positioning of Indigenous knowledge and understanding at the centre of history-making. The article is in two sections: reflections on our past work from the perspectives of the researchers themselves and an Aboriginal academic colleague, followed by a discussion of how those experiences and reflections will inform our pending project on the 1950s and 1960s Cherbourg marching girls teams.     

Narrative Methods in Sport History Research: Biography,Collective Biography,and Prosopography

Historical research is a widely debated topic as historical knowledge is continually evolving and there is no definable recorded structure. The interpretational nature of the discipline highlights the tensions between ‘fact based’ analysis and the ‘fictional’ viewpoint which is at the heart of social science investigation. Contemporary narrative has gained acclaim from a generation of academics who demonstrate the balance between empiricism and postmodernity in their search for historical ‘truth’, helping to validate biographical methods within the sport history sphere. Biography has long been a respected source for historical inquiry, however, collective biography and prosopography; the study of connections between individuals; have been judged as lesser instruments due to their ambiguous nature and lack of socio-historic use. This paper examines the narrative methodologies employed within the field of sport history and proposes new directions within biographical research for the sport historian to consider.     

体育史学与体育社会学关系辨析

体育史学和体育社会学在研究对象和研究方法上的针对性与侧重面是不同的 ,这反映了二者的差异。但从社会学的角度对体育史进行研究 ,却又显示出二者的密切关系。它既是当代体育史学研究日益深化的表现 ,又是体育社会学研究对象进一步扩展的要求。从根本上讲 ,体育史学必须采取社会学的某些研究方法 ,才能达到对体育历史文化的全面而深入的研究。二者是既有密切联系又有区别的体育科学中的重要分支。     

Making Sport History in the (Semi)Periphery: The Portuguese Perspective

Abstract

Sport is one of the most important phenomena in Portuguese contemporary life. Yet, in the late twentieth century, there were more historical studies about antique clocks and potatoes than on sport. Portuguese historians ended up successively underrating its place in history, placing sport in a kind of scientific (semi)periphery, with political history becoming the core of the matter. Sport, however, is an extremely important element in any serious attempt to reconstruct contemporary history, popular culture and what it means to be Portuguese. This paper analyses the history of the Portuguese historical writing and academic research on sport history, also its emergence, development, and contemporary position in the historiography of a (semi)peripheral country, in a comparative way with the Centre. The concept of (semi)periphery is employ to describe both the situation of sport history in Portugal and the Portuguese (sport) historiography in the international context.     

A Life Surrounded by Sport History,as a Non-Sporting Critical Feminist

Abstract

I am a historian, specialized in sport history and in women’s history, and started my research career in Finland in the mid-1970s. The main framework of my research has been popular movements and voluntary organizations in sport, from the nineteenth century to nowadays, with a social historical, grassroots and minority emphasis. Class, gender, language and ethnicity have been the main points of view in my work. In my paper, I discuss less my relation to sport history as science and its theories and methods. Instead, I approach the subject more as a personal process: how I, as a non-sporting woman, came into sport history and women’s history in sport, and which circumstances and contacts have been forming my research interests and life. At the end, I discuss sport historians’ contemporary relation to the understanding of (sport) history and its representations, asking how is the responsibility of the past affecting our ways to understand and interpret the past.     

韩国跆拳道史学的研究范式与方法

奥运会的正式竞赛项目跆拳道在作为竞技体育项目的发展道路上光彩夺目,同时关于跆拳道的学术研究也随之不断增加,其中,韩国跆拳道史学研究更成为了体育学界关注的焦点。为了进一步完善韩国跆拳道史学研究,运用文献资料法、逻辑分析法以及访谈法等研究方法,对韩国跆拳道史学研究的范式、研究方法的特征进行分析,并对日后跆拳道史学研究的方法提出建议。研究得出：迄今为止韩国的跆拳道史学研究在方法上存在片面性及合理性的问题。韩国跆拳道的史学研究可分为跆拳道的形成过程与发展过程两方面,对跆拳道形成过程方面的研究可采用考据、历史比较法、口述史方法对跆拳道第一代传习者以及最初的技术体系进行分析研究;对跆拳道发展过程方面的研究可采用历史比较法、统计法、马克思主义研究方法等,对跆拳道发展过程中的竞技化、海外传播等领域进行研究。     

体育口述史研究基本问题探析

体育口述史是运动“生命”或体育事件的诉说,能够丰富体育史的研究,激活体育学术全新的活力,在访谈中完成思想、观点的传递和史料的挖掘。体育口述史要注重访谈者、受访者和口述资料三者的关系,厘清体育回忆录、访谈等与体育口述史的区别,正视精英体育人物和群众体育口述史的不同价值与意义。研究认为:体育口述史研究要注重其“史”学特性,最大的独特性是运动场景的再现;体育口述史注重“对话式”的访谈,采访者必须历史在场;体育口述史作为一种方法的价值在于弥补、纠偏、发掘史料,有其严格的操作过程,其理论与实践研究尚处于起步阶段,需要一批具有史学功底的学者介入,从时空维度还原口述者的运动情境和体育事件现场。     

延续和变迁的中国社会与女子体育

我国女性为中国竞技体育的腾飞起到了汗马功劳。要理解她们的成就,就必须从历史和社会的发展角度来剖析社会、体育和性别文化之间的复杂关系。新中国成立不久,体育和女性问题都受到党和国家的高度重视,国家和省市体育运动委员会、专业运动队相继成立;婚姻法、宪法和劳工法等相继出台,女性的社会地位和生活发生了根本性的变化。女性开始走出家庭、进入社会,并进入世界竞技体育舞台。然而,国际和国内政治对我国女子竞技体育的发展带来了直接的影响。中国脱离和重新进入国际奥委会、大跃进和文化大革命等政治运动对我国的女子竞技体育产生了错综复杂的影响。改革开放以后,平均主义“大锅饭”被打破,体育走在了向商业化和竞争性经济转轨的前列。社会、体育和女性地位之间的关系是复杂、变化的动态关系。     

安徽省社区体育发展的历史回顾

安徽省社区体育发展虽然只有几年的时间，却呈现出起步快、规模大、功能全的发展势头，并从一个社会分化程度较低、社会观念单一、社会空间狭窄的发展环境，逐步进入了一个社会分化加快、社会组织化程度提高、社会阶层多元化的发展环境。     

Writing Swiss Sport History: A Quest for Original Archives

Abstract

Writing Swiss sport history was never an actual aim in my career; but, while I was doing my PhD in Switzerland, its archives eventually seduced me and convinced me to move from writing about European medical history to writing more sports-based histories on every level (local, national, or international). Mainly empirical, my work has always been focused on the way individuals are slowly building entire institutions around sports (creating rules, administrations, and competitions). Moreover, this passion opened a complete new world full of possibilities where documents are scattered between German, French, and Italian. Thus, to me, empirical-based research were never ‘naïve’, as the explanatory potentials of sport are very strong. And regarding this amazing potential, I always felt dedicated to pursue every possible effort, to identify new archives, to take this history to a higher epistemological level and to spread these results beyond academic circles.     

Sport History Relevance and How We Need to Engage

Abstract

It is important to question the relevance of sport history and to recognize our failings and our successes if we are to ensure the genre develops and contributes to society. While sport historians recognize the value, outside of this sphere, it is apparent that the subject is not always recognized for its significance. In this paper, it is argued that sport historians have a responsibility to engage more with the media and the public, while seeking opportunities to collaborate with sports organizations to ensure the subject is relevant and can develop. It is also argued that minority groups are under-represented in the sport history community, arguing that it is incumbent upon sport historians to ensure greater engagement and promotion of these groups. The paper concludes by urging those engaged in sport history to promote the discipline and develop opportunities for others.     

Historiography,Cultures of Remembrance and Tradition in German Sport

Erinnerungskultur (culture of remembrance) is a widely discussed notion in German historiography. First, the meaning of Erinnerungskultur, including the specific role of academic historiography of sport, is described and explained with respect to sport and sport historiography. One main objective is to reveal the diversity of cultures of sport history and the specific obligations of academic historiography. Second, the actors of sport memories and/or Traditionspflege (heritage) are characterised, and, third, some controversial and perennial debates that permeate German sports history are explained and interpreted, especially that of Carl Diem, internationally known as ‘Mister Olympics’ of 1936. All in all, the paper provides an overview of the mainstreams, cultures and politics of history in Germany with respect to sport.     

History of Sport in Brazil and in South America: Visibility for New Looks

Abstract

This article details my views about sport history in Brazil and South America. I suggest that there is a long path to tread and more efforts to perfect our initiatives are necessary. Nevertheless, I think that we already have interesting contributions to perspectives on the history of sport. To make them known, we need to extend, from both sides, our communication efforts. To this end, it seems necessary to me that we, South American and Ibero-American historians, become closer and more integrated with each another. Perhaps this will be a contribution to the renewal of a world history of sport tradition.