Making Sport History

How does the historian's approach to the history of sport differ from those trained in the social sciences or in physical education? All three have contributed significantly to the remarkable amount of research in sports history in the last generation. But what is the relationship between them? Why, in particular, have historians become interested in sport? Which topics have historians chosen to study in sports history? How has their work influenced the wider world of history and been influenced by it? This important new collection of work by some of the world's leading sport historians seeks to answer these questions and more, offering a fascinating overview of the evolution, current condition and future prospects of the discipline of sport history.

Pascal Delheye studied physical education, sport management and history. His doctoral research, for which he won the Young Investigators Award of the European College of Sport Science in 2003, focused on the academization of physical education. After postdoctoral research at the universities of Leuven and Berkeley, he became head of the Research Centre for the History of Sport and Kinesiology at KU Leuven in 2008. After an internal reorganization in 2012, he has broadened his focus to sport policy within the newly founded Policy in Sports and Physical Activity Research Group. He is also coordinator of the courses in sport management and dance.

Introduction Pascal Delheye Part One: A Child with Different Mothers: Sport History between Physical Education and History 1. Sport Historiography? An Overview through the Eyes of a Physical Educator Roberta Park 2. Historians and the History of Sport Richard Holt Part Two: In Search of a Paradigm: Methodological Opportunities and Battles 3. History and Sport Studies: Some Methodological Reflections on Undergraduate Teaching Martin Polley 4. Sport History: Modern and Post-Modern Approaches Douglas Booth Part Three: Establishing a Scientific Community: Scholarly Organisations and Journals 5. Building a Sport History Community: Scholarly Organisations and Congresses Roland Renson 6. Finding the Path: Academic Journals in the Field of Sport History Thierry Terret Part Four: White Male Sport History: Tackling the Scientific Establishment 7. Mixed Fortunes in an Academic Environment: The Institutional Gendering of Sport History Patricia Vertinsky 8. Imperialism, Race and the History of Sport Peter Horton Part Five: Commentaries: Views from the Outside 9. Making Sport History: A Commentary Allen Guttmann 10. Making Histories: Sport, Science and Medicine Vanessa Heggie 11. Which Place for the History of Sport? Geert Vanpaemel Epilogue John Nauright