Canadian Sport History * 07/16/96 Canadian Sport History Dr. Kevin B. Wamsley 11/16/2018 *

Outline - Methodology Sport History Problems and issues

Why study sport?

How do we study sport?

History in the Making… 2 1 11/16/2018

What is History? - elements 1. Past 2. Evidence 3. Interpretation 11/16/2018

What is history? “A reconstruction of the past from evidence available in the present.”

History: The Key Processes Research Analysis Writing

What do historians study? What do you think of when you hear the word “history”? What did you study in high school?

Chronology Politics Economy National Government Military Social – daily life situated in broader contexts

From Caroline Ware, The Cultural Approach to History “ I know history isn’t true Hinnessy, cause it ain’t like what I see every day in Halstead Street. If a man comes along with a history for Greece or Rome that’ll show me the people fightin’, getting’ drunk, makin’ love, getting’ married, owin’ the grocery man, and bein’ without hard coal, I’ll believe there was a Greece or Rome but not before…. History is a post mortem examination. It tells you what a country died for. But I’d like to know what a country lived for!”

Problems Evidence Sources Interpretation

Example: from the Ancient World to the Present Ancient Egypt Greek philosophers Christians Middle Ages Greek to Latin 19th century Latin to German, French, English To 2004

Understanding History “…only a part of what was observed in the past was remembered by those who observed it; only a part of what was remembered was recorded; only a part of what was recorded has survived; only a part of what has survived has come to the historian’s attention; only a part of what has come to their attention is credible; only a part of what is credible has been grasped or can be expounded or narrated by the historian” ~ Louis Gottschalk

Getting Lost in the Trenches World War I - Original Message Sent: “ENEMY ADVANCING ON THE WEST FLANK, PLEASE SEND REIFORCEMENTS” World War I - Original Message Delivered: “ENEMY IS DANCING ON A WET PLANK FOR 3 AND 4 PENCE”

The Classroom Trenches 1989 - U of A: “The Indians are against me and please send me to the forcement” 1989 - U of A: “I want to play minnie, minney, minney moe” 1991 - U of C: “88 is on the way, please bring reinforcements” 1992 - U of C: “Charlie Nash is the best tennis player in the world”

Continued 1993 - U of C: “My name is Franz, what happened to Hertz?” 1994 - U of C: “The hosts of the past, below the masts, makes something different” 1995 - U of C: “It’s not history, it’s nothing like go, go, go 1996 - U of C: “Now there is only time for sport and entertainment”

Continued 1998 - UWO: “The sun, the moon, the boot! The shoe” 1997 - UWO: “Dancing under broken men” 1998 - UWO: “The sun, the moon, the boot! The shoe” 1999 – UWO “Of the event that happened last night.” 2004 – UWO “something about sports management & exercise” 11/16/2018

The Historical Process - Some Problems History has gender biases History is about winners, not losers History has race biases History has subject biases

How do we avoid some of these problems A consciously applied framework of analysis Class – gender – race Critical

“we need to ask what interests and coalitions of interests gave specific shape to the development of modern sport. We need to ask how the development of sport has affected the lives of men and women in different parts of Canada. We need finally to ask how contemporary sport in Canada is both influenced by and an influence on developments in other Canadian Institutions.”

Where do we go from here? Sport in the Ancient World Sport in the Middle Ages Europe and the Renaissance Aboriginal games New France The English Organized Sport