Research: Physical Cultural Studies
Physical Cultural Studies: Program Description
Physical Cultural Studies (PCS) advances the critical and theoretical analysis of physical culture, in all its myriad forms. These include sport, exercise, health, dance, and movement related practices, which PCS research locates and analyzes within the broader social, political, economic, and technological contexts in which they are situated. More specifically, PCS is dedicated to the contextually based understanding of the corporeal practices, discourses, and subjectivities through which active bodies become organized, represented, and experienced in relation to the operations of social power.
PCS identifies the role played by physical culture in reproducing, and sometimes challenging, particular class, ethnic, gender, ability, generational, national, racial, and/or sexual norms and differences. Through the development and strategic dissemination of potentially empowering forms of knowledge and understanding, PCS seeks to illuminate, and intervene into, sites of physical cultural injustice and inequity.
Since physical culture is both manifest and experienced in different forms, PCS adopts a multi-method approach toward engaging the empirical (including ethnography and autoethnography, participant observation, discourse and media analysis, and contextual analysis). PCS advances an equally fluid theoretical vocabulary, utilizing concepts and theories from a variety of disciplines (including cultural studies, economics, history, media studies, philosophy, sociology, and urban studies) in engaging and interpreting the particular aspect of physical culture under scrutiny.
Physical Cultural Studies: Program Purpose
The purpose of this program is to train a new generation of physical cultural studies scholars, who will possess researching and teaching skills appropriate to the demands of faculty positions within major research universities. Moreover, it is expected that, as determined by the focus of their research agendas, students will gain an interdisciplinary experience and understanding that will render them viable candidates for faculty positions in a number of academic domains (i.e. Socio-Cultural Aspects of Physical Activity and Health, the History of Sport, the Sociology of Sport, Cultural Kinesiology, Sport Studies, and Sport Management).
Physical Cultural Studies: Course Offerings
KNES 630 |
Sociology of Sport in Contemporary Perspective |
KNES 689B |
Physical Cultural Studies Research and Writing Seminar |
KNES 684 |
Sporting Hollywood |
KNES 685 |
Sport and Globalization |
KNES 689 |
Basketball and Black Masculinity |
KNES 689 |
Feminist Physical Cultural Studies |
KNES 689K |
Research Design: Physical Cultural Studies |
KNES 689P |
Physical Cultural Studies: Culture/Theory/Articulation |
KNES 689Q |
Sport and the Civil Rights Movement |
KNES 689R |
Sport and Mass Media |
KNES 689V |
Gender and Sport |
KNES 789E |
Cultural Theory, the Body, and Physical Culture |
Physical Cultural Sturies: Faculty Profiles
Andrews, David L
Professor & Graduate Director, Kinesiology
Research Focus : Social Injustices and Inequalities, Sociology of Sport, Health, and Physical Activity
Research Summary : Sports and late capitalism; Cultural Studies; Contemporary cultural theory; Globalization and sport; For more information please see Physical Cultural Studies Website or Dr Andrews' research webpage.
Schultz, Jaime
Assistant Professor, Kinesiology
Research Focus : Feminist Cultural Studies, History of Sport and Physical Activity, Social Injustices and Inequalities
Research Summary : Dr. Schultz is an Assistant Professor in Physical Cultural studies with an affiliate appointment in Women's Studies at the University of Maryland. Her research on sport and physical activity is informed by feminist cultural studies and new cultural history perspectives. She is concerned with narrativity, particularly as it intersects with issues of power including sex, gender, sexuality, "race" and ethnicity. Her research has won awards from the North American Society for the History of Sport, the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, the Sport Literature Association and the International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport. Her publications appear in The Journal of Sport History, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Sociology of Sport Journal, The International Journal of the History of Sport, Aethlon, Sport in Society, and Stadion.
Silk, Michael
Associate Professor, currently on leave this academic year, Kinesiology
Research Focus : Qualitative Research Design and Methods, Social Injustices and Inequalities, Sociology of Sport, Health, and Physical Activity, Sport and Cultural Studies
Research Summary : Michael L. Silk (Ph.D. University of Otago) is an Assistant Professor and a member of the Physical Cultural Studies Research Group in the Department of Kinesiology. For more information see the Physical Cultural Studies website.
Thomas, Damion
Assistant Professor, Kinesiology
Research Focus : Feminist Cultural Studies, History of Sport and Physical Activity, Social Injustices and Inequalities
Research Summary : Dr. Damion is a member of the Physical Cultural Studies Research Group in the Department of Kinesiology. For more information see the Physical Cultural Studies website.
