Sports permeates the fabric of our society on all levels and it also is a universal phenomenon expressed in all cultures of the world. It has become the international medium of cultural exchange in the contemporary world. Witness the galvanizing popularity of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games, the World Track and Field Championships in Athens, Greece, and the 1998 Winter Olympics from Nagano, Japan. Americans, indeed people throughout the world, are often consumed by sport. It is no wonder that some refer to sport as the New American Religion. Social scientists can no longer afford to ignore sport as a subject of serious research and discussion. It is shaping cultures, driving economies, and molding politics. Its impact is global, facilitating communication among nations while underscording national, regional, and ethnic identities.

"Few activities bring together physicality, emotions, politics, money, and morality as dramatically as sport. In Brazil's stadiums or parks in China, on Cuba's baseball diamonds or rugby fields in Fiji, human beings test their physical limits, invest emotional energy, bet money, perform witchcraft, and ingest substances, making sport a microcosm of what life is about. The Anthropology of Sport explores not only what anthropological thinking tells us about sports, but also what sports tell us about the ways in which the sporting body is shaped by and shapes the social, cultural, political, and historical contexts in which we live. Core themes discussed in this book include the body, modernity, nationalism, the state, citizenship, transnationalism, globalization, and gender and sexuality"--Provided by publisher.

The evolution of the human species has always been closely tied to the relationship between biology and culture, and the human condition is rooted in this fascinating intersection. Sport, games, and competition serve as a nexus for humanity's innate fixation on movement and social activity, and these activities have served throughout history to encourage the proliferation of human culture for any number of exclusive or inclusive motivations: money, fame, health, spirituality, or social and cultural solidarity. The study of anthropology, as presented in Anthropology of Sport and Human Movement, provides a scope that offers a critical and discerning perspective on the complex calculus involving human biological and cultural variation that produces human movement and performance. Each chapter of this compelling collection resonates with the theme of a tightly woven relationship of biology and culture, of evolutionary implications and contemporary biological and cultural expression.

Dealing with different aspects of movement, sports and physical activity, this text examines the effects such activities has on our culture and the benefits of participation.

One of the more problematic sport spectacles in American history took place at the 1904 World?s Fair in St. Louis, which included the third modern Olympic Games. Associated with the Games was a curious event known as Anthropology Days organized by William J. McGee and James Sullivan, at that time the leading figures in American anthropology and sports, respectively. McGee recruited Natives who were participating in the fair?s ethnic displays to compete in sports events, with the ?scientific? goal of measuring the physical prowess of ?savages? as compared with ?civilized men.? This interdisciplinary collection of essays assesses the ideas about race, imperialism, and Western civilization manifested in the 1904 World?s Fair and Olympic Games and shows how they are still relevant. A turning point in both the history of the Olympics and the development of modern anthropology, these games expressed the conflict between the Old World emphasis on culture and New World emphasis on utilitarianism. Marked by Franz Boas?s paper at the Scientific Congress, the events in St. Louis witnessed the beginning of the shift in anthropological research from nineteenth-century evolutionary racial models to the cultural relativist paradigm that is now a cornerstone of modern American anthropology. Racist pseudoscience nonetheless reappears to this day in the realm of sports.

" Sport Ethnographyis a complete introduction and resource in the emerging discipline of sport ethnography. Written by Robert R. Sands, PhD, an anthropologist well versed in the use of the ethnographic method in sport, Sport Ethnographyis an all-inclusive guide for anyone interested in the field. Sport Ethnographyincorporates methodological case studies to illustrate field techniques in specific sport situations. Sands relays his real-life experiences in sport ethnography, which include confrontations with “surf Nazis” and becoming a tackling dummy for football players. In addition, the book provides you with multiple reference points that include experiences of others trained in fieldwork who explore triathlons and professional wrestling, go behind the TV camera and inside the dugout, and wrap ankles and windsurf. These insights will allow you to perform sport ethnography with greater cultural accuracy. Ethnographic methods and the fundamentals of fieldwork conveyed through examples of sport ethnography give you a familiarity not found in the sea of other ethnography texts. Sport Ethnographyalso addresses the recent controversy, both in anthropology and other social science fields, on what the data actually mean and how you can use the data that are ultimately collected. Professional ethnography is far more than recording behavior through a video lens or a microphone, catching behavior in a snapshot, or describing it in a notebook; it requires a thorough knowledge of fieldwork. Sport Ethnographyprovides you with this comprehensive understanding by presenting detailed information on -participant observation, -culture shock, -cultural relativism, -establishing rapport, -interviewing, -a contemporary definition of ""culture,"" -interpretation of experience, -analyzing and writing about culture, and -an understanding of ethics. Sport Ethnographyequips you with the proper techniques to perform sport ethnography. Through case studies and captivating life experiences, the author will demonstrate how you can apply these techniques in real settings. Sport ethnography is an exciting and expanding field, and Sport Ethnographyis required reading for anyone interested in this discipline. "

Anyone who reads the newspaper, watches television, or listens to casual conversation on the street is aware of the ubiquitous nature of sport. It is everywhere. It flavors our national culture and permeates every corner of our daily lives. Sport in America, as in many countries, is big business, popular culture, and potent politics. It has become its own medium of communication and has important ramifications for international and multicultural relationships. There is no topic that should be of greater interest to social science in general and anthropology in particular than the study of human sport. This volume presents theory, history, practice, and institution of human sport.