Sport, Politics and the Engaged Historian

Abstract

Historiography on the intersection of sport and politics is a vast field within which six major areas can be identified. 1. German, Italian and — to a lesser extent — Japanese historians have written extensively about the role of sports under fascist regimes. 2. There have also been numerous efforts to analyse the role of sport in communist societies (as well as considerable attention to `workers' sports' in the 1920s and 1930s). 3. Many historians have dealt with sport and the politics of race and ethnicity (especially, but not exclusively, in South Africa, the USA, Australia and Ireland). 4. European and American historians have also written extensively and with considerable passion about the politics of gender discrimination. 5. The Olympic Games, which their founder intended to be a political force, have been a fifth focus of historical scrutiny. 6. A small but prolific group of French and German neo-Marxist historians and sociologists have argued that modern sports are a mirror image of capitalist institutions and are, therefore, inherently repressive. These are all areas of intense and intensive historical attention.