Full Description
During more than forty years, Bruce Kidd has combined careers as an internationally ranked athlete, coach, sports administrator, professor and dean with critical scholarly and popular writing about sport, often on the issues in which he has been directly involved. Frequently called 'the conscience of Canadian sport', he defines his perspective as that of 'critical support': while he can be savage about the inequalities and abuses of power in contemporary sport, he seeks to reform sports so that many more people can enjoy their potential benefits.
This book provides a sampling of Professor Kidd's scholarly writing. The issue begins with Kidd's reflection on the ways in which 'sport' is constituted by 'society' and a lifetime of simultaneous scholarship and intervention. The rest of the issue is organized around three themes: the Canadian sport system, the Olympic Movement, and his 'recovery projects', historical writing that brought long-forgotten earlier initiatives and episodes back into public understanding. In each case, Kidd provides a brief introduction of 1000-1500 words that sets the context for the original article and provides an update on the subject matter.
This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.
Contents
1. Introduction: My Life as a Scholar-Activist Section 1: The Canadian Sport System 2. Canada's 'National Sport' (1968) 3. The Canadian State and Sport: The dilemma of Intervention (1980) 4. The Philosophy of Excellence: Olympic performances and the Canadian state (1988) 5. Toronto's SkyDome: The World's Greatest Entertainment Centre (1995) 6. Muscular Christianity and Value-Centred Sport: The legacy of Tom Brown in Canada (2006) Section 2: The Olympic Movement 7. The Myth of the Ancient Olympics (1984) 8. Canadian Opposition to the 1936 Olympics in Germany (1978) 9. The Olympic Movement and the Sports Media Complex (1987) 10. 'Seoul to the World, the World to Seoul'... and Ben Johnson (1990) 11. A New Orientation to the Olympic Games (1991) 12. The Culture Wars of the Montreal Olympics (1992) 13. Psychological Aspects of the Experiences of Athletes in the Olympic Villages (1996) 14. The Global Sporting Legacy of the Olympic Movement (2002) 15. Another World is Possible: Recapturing alternative Olympic histories (2005) Section 3: Recovery Projects 16. In defence of Tom Longboat (1983) 17. 'Making the Pros Pay' for Amateur Sports: The Ontario Athletic Commission 1920 - 1947 (1995) 18. Girls Sports Run by Girls (1996) 19. Workers' Sport, Workers' Culture (1996)
