Taking Charge of the Future of Sport History by Anticipating, Adapting and Advocating
By Douglas Brown Thanks to all of the authors who have already shared their views on this topic. You have articulated very clearly, and very eloquently, the challenges that confront the field of sport history in post secondary educational institutions. I agree with these explanations of the current state of affairs and don’t feel that…
Taking Charge Begins at Home
By Daniel A. Nathan Reading and re-reading the contributions to this NASSH President’s Forum has been illuminating and, to be candid, sometimes disheartening. I have learned a great deal from the previous five commentaries. And so I commend NASSH President Kevin Wamsley for initiating this dialogue and for asking people from different backgrounds and national…
Sport History, Neoliberalism and Survival
By Murray Phillips In responding to Kevin Wamsley’s Forum about the future of sport history, I will address what constitutes the field. Sport history, in my opinion, has three interrelated and constituent parts: sport history is an intellectual pursuit like other academic endeavours; sport history manifests in a number of ways – scholarship, conferences and…
Doing Sports History in a Hostile World
By Malcolm MacLean If we want to ensure that “sport history [is] supported as an important area of research”, as Kevin Wamsley asked his brief to contributors to this forum, we need to be institutionally savvy and politically sharp. Now that we’re all up to speed on sucking eggs… Sport, like many other forms of…
The History of Sport beyond Sports History
By Tony Collins Why do sports history? This is a question both for historians and students – and of course for university administrators. Across the Anglophone world the humanities, and history in particular, are under attack as universities embrace a free-market model of tertiary education. Departments are shrinking, jobs are becoming more scarce, and the…
