Zoom Link: UGS 303: Communicating America through Baseball Spring 2021 Tu/Th, 12:30-2:00, online Professor: Michael L. Butterworth, Ph.D. (he/him/his) E-mail:
[email protected] Discussion Sections: F, 9:00-10:00, online (61792) F, 10:00-11:00, online (61793) F, 11:00-12:00, online (61794) F, 11:00-12:00, online (61780) F, 12:00-1:00, online (61785) F, 1:00-2:00, online (61790) Twitter: @BurntO_Butterwo Office: CMA 7.138B Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00-11:00 and by appointment Office Phone: 471-1931 UGS 303: Communicating America through Baseball, Spring 2021, 1 Zoom Link: Course Description: It is the “national pastime,” or the “American game.” We know that it is as “American” as motherhood and apple pie. It has occupied the attention of sports fans, academics, popular writers, and politicians alike, all of whom seem eager to hail the game’s special link to the nation. It is celebrated as a romantic metaphor for life’s seasons, for its pastoral imagery that evokes an agrarian past, and above all, as an ideal institution of liberal democracy. In short, baseball has earned a unique place in American history and culture. However, rarely do we ask how baseball came to be the national pastime or why it is important to the public to think of a given sport as a reflection of national identity. This course, therefore, looks to baseball as a lens through which we can analyze, understand, and even critique American culture. It argues that baseball's history constitutes a myth that works alongside other myths that have shaped people and ideas in the United States.