Learning objectives
The aim of this course is to analise the part Great Britain had in the formation of modern sport, and to stress how this global phenomenon is crucial in the definition of both social and cultural identity of Great Britain.
Course unit content
Sporting Britannia. The invention of modern sport.
The aim of this course is to analise the part Great Britain had in the formation of modern sport, and to stress how this global phenomenon is crucial in the definition of both social and cultural identity of Great Britain. The codification of most moderns sports occured during the Victorian age as a result of many major changes in British culture, society, and material conditions of life, which will be the subject of our lessons.
Bibliography
Enrico Martines, Sporting Britannia (lecture notes)
Richard Holt, Sport and the British, London, Routledge, 2008.
Norman Davies, Isole. Storia dell’Inghilterra, della Scozia, del Galles e dell’Irlanda, Bruno Mondadori Economica, 2004.
Asa Briggs, L’Inghilterra vittoriana, Editori Riuniti, 1978.
Readings:
Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays.
Charles Dickens, Pickwick Papers.
Charles Dickens, Epsom, in Household Words, June 7th 1851.
C.L.R. James, Beyond a Boundary, London, Serpent's Tail, 2000.
David Morley, Kevin Robins (eds.), British Cultural Studies. Geography, Nationality, and Identity, Oxford University Press, 2001.