Women, Sport, and Film Course
Fall 2004

 

Sponsored by the Department of Athletics and Physical Education at Bryn Mawr College,
with support from the Center for Science in Society at Bryn Mawr College and the Serendip website

A six part series that will explore the role of women and sport as seen through documentaries and popular film. Sport films have traditionally used men and male sports to narrate a story. We will view six films to learn about classical film structure and if women's sports films challenge that structure.

This course will be taught by Amy Campbell, Bryn Mawr College Director of Athletics and Physical Education since 1999. Professors Lisa Saltzman (History of Art) and Jennifer Horne (English) will join us for discussions on three occasions.

To promote a richer and broader discussion, students will participate in on-line discussion twice/week, following the viewing of a film once/week. Organization of the on-line forums and of web materials is the responsibility of Paul Grobstein, director of the Center for Science in Society at Bryn Mawr College, and Ann Dixon, BMC '83, Serendip's webmaster, both co-founders of the Serendip website. In addition to their weekly forum writing, students will prepare a 3 page final paper related to the material of the course which will be posted together with other course materials as a contribution to continuing discussion of issues related to women and sport.

Bryn Mawr has a long and storied history of supporting sport and physical education. Constance Applebee, Bryn Mawr's first director of physical education was responsible for bringing field hockey to the United States and oversaw its rise in the early 1900's as a rigorous outdoor team sport for women.

The effort to discuss the issues that affect women's sport, more than a century after Constance Applebee first developed the physical education and sport programs at Bryn Mawr, reflects an understanding that sport and the culture of sport are pervasive features of contemporary society. They mirror and refract, in ways both positive and not, society's image of women.

Understanding the culture of sport and how women are portrayed through film and documentaries is important to the broader understanding of the role women play in today's society.

At Bryn Mawr, the course will meet from 7 pm to 10 pm on successive Tuesdays beginning October 26 in Thomas 110.


Schedule Web Links Bibliography Forum Web Papers



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