Review: Sport and Society: 7-week Course from Duke University at Coursera

I have recently completed Sports and Society at Coursera, one of the internet’s largest platforms for MOOCs (massive open online courses).  Written by a professor of anthropology at America’s Duke University, the 7-week introduction to the sociology of sport has been running for four years and is offered free of charge, with the option of buying a certificate of completion at US$50.00. This was not my first foray into online learning - I have completed an MA and CertHE costing several thousands of dollars and years of study - but this was my first opportunity to participate in a free MOOC.

As an educator myself, I understand the demands of creating and running a course.  The writer/professor in question obviously gets a good bit of professional milage out of this course, even if there is no direct financial remuneration.  That is to say, there is an incentive for creators to produce engaging material and to follow through in managing delivery of the course.  On the other hand, creators are likely to have other obligations and cannot justify spending large amounts of time on what is essentially community service. You can see this push and pull at work in this course, which is well designed and written, if only for a general audience, but has been left to run itself.

Book review: Klein, A. (1991). Sugarball: The American Game, The Dominican Dream.

Klein, A. (1991). Sugarball: The American Game, The Dominican Dream. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.

Alan Klein is a Professor of Sociology-Anthropology at Northeastern University who has published extensively on the intersections of sport, economy, politics and culture among Dominicans, Mexicans, Native Americans, and North Americans.  Sugarball was his first book-length project, an investigation of baseball in the Dominican Republic, which since the 1950s has been a regular and frequent supplier of high caliber baseball talent to the US professional league.  

In an Appendix Klein reviews his approach to data collection, which included extended periods of residence in Dominican baseball camps observing and interviewing managers, coaches, and players, teaching English classes to prospects, and following players home on weekends to witness their home life. He also engaged in observation at Dominican ballparks, interviewed fans, and surveyed baseball coverage in the local press.  He does not comment on his Spanish ability except to note that he was sometimes required to carry out interviews in Spanish and occasionally act as translator.  Taken together with his survey of local newspapers, this suggests a high level of fluency.