Sports History and Culture MA

The course comprises of four taught modules, plus a 15,000 word dissertation on a subject of your choice selected in consultation with your tutor.

Social and Cultural Themes of Sport

This module examines the development of sport and physical culture in Britain and continental Europe from the 1850s. This includes the emergence of amateurism and the on-going tension between the amateur ethos and the commercialisation of sport as well as the codification, modernisation and globalisation of sporting practices. Particular reference is made to the importance of social divisions, such as class, gender and race.

Sport, Politics and Policy

This module examines the relationship between sport and international politics, and looks at how government public policies have impacted on sport and explores identity politics in sport. The module is based around the history of mega-events such as the Olympic Games and also global sporting institutions like the International Olympic Committee and FIFA. In addition, sport in the Cold War is also examined.

Investigating Sports History: Research Methods

The primary aim of this module is to prepare students for their dissertation. It comprises two mandatory essays a Primary Source Analysis and a Dissertation Plan for which you will receive expert guidance, concerning historiography and methodology.

In addition, to help you specialise, you will choose one from the following:

Sport, Writing and History

The module considers written social and cultural aspects of the representation of sport in Britain and in an international context. The central aim is to promote appreciation of an historical approach to imaginative literature and non-fiction including autobiography, sports journalism and popular writing. This will enable students better to identify and explain long-term changes in the representation of sport and recreation and its transmission to a wide range of readers and audiences.

Football: Past and Present

This module explores the history of the game, from its origins, and its development from both domestic and international perspectives. It is arranged both thematically and chronologically and includes: the origins of football; the early professionalization and commercialisation of the game; the emergence of international football; football and the media; the football manager; football fans; the modernisation of football and global actors, such as FIFA.

The History of Rugby

This module examines the social history of rugby, starting in the mid-19 century and the popularisation of the sport through Tom Brown’s Schooldays to the 1995 professionalisation of rugby union. Using film, oral history and primary sources, the module examines the development of the sport through the perspectives of class, gender and national identity. At each stage the history of the sport is related to the broader history of British society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Note: All modules are subject to change in order to keep content current.

Teaching and assessments

The Sports History and Culture MA allows you to study at your own pace. Study materials for your coursework are accessed via Blackboard. For each module there is a weekly lecture plus on-line reading, in addition to the resources available via the DMU Library. There are module leaders for each module and they will provide input regarding your coursework. Module leaders will be available each week by email, phone or Skype. Alongside set assignments, you are encouraged to suggest your own proposals in preparation for writing your dissertation.

For most modules, there are two types of assessments: a Critical Analysis Assignment and an Essay. The length of the Essay is 5,000 words; Critical Analysis Assignments are 2,500 words in length. For the module, Investigating Sport: Research Methods, you will write a Primary Source Analysis (3,000 words) and a Dissertation Plan (3,000 words). Deadlines will be set for each assessment.

Contact hours

This is a distance learning programme. Full-time students are expected to commit 35 hours a week of study to this programme, which will include reading lectures and secondary sources; writing assessments (critical analysis assignments or essays where appropriate for first three modules); engaging with research methods and historiography; undertaking primary source research and writing of dissertation.

We offer a flexible programme of study for part-time students.