{"id":141382,"date":"2022-09-28T11:41:49","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T17:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=141382"},"modified":"2022-09-28T11:41:50","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T17:41:50","slug":"centering-the-center-for-critical-sport-studies-7-questions-with-jeff-montez-de-oca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=141382","title":{"rendered":"Centering the Center for Critical Sport Studies: 7 Questions with Jeff Montez de Oca"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Center for Critical Sport Studies at UCCS is a home for scholars across fields and disciplines to study sport from a critical social science perspective.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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For many, sports may be a pastime, a form of entertainment, a competition or even way to form identity \u2014 and the study of sport is just as varied. For scholars in the sport studies field, sports are a lens through which to examine challenging social issues, from ethics and inequality to the interactions between individuals and for-profit corporations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This interdisciplinary lens is at the heart of the Center for Critical Sport Studies at UCCS. Founded in 2015, the center has become a home for scholars across fields and disciplines to study sport from a critical social science perspective. Its faculty have published research on topics spanning the exclusion of transgender athletes from competition; patriotism, politics and religious expression in sport; the political forces that shape outdoor sports, like mountain biking and climbing; the wellbeing and mental health of athletes; and the appropriation of \u201cwoke\u201d liberal values by large sports leagues, like the NFL, for political. financial and reputational gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The center\u2019s interdisciplinary scholarship is critical, said Jeffrey Montez de Oca, director of the center and Professor of Sociology at UCCS, because of the many factors that shape and interact with the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSport itself, as a set of practices and institutional relationships, sits at the intersection of many of other institutions, such as mass media, health, education, business and commerce, politics and urban planning, to name just a few,\u201d he said. \u201cTherefore, a sport scholar needs to engage a variety of different fields in order to understand something that most people think of as \u2018just entertainment\u2019 and a banal aspect of everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more, we sat down with Montez de Oca to discuss the mission and vision of the Center for Critical Sport Studies at UCCS, and its goals for the future. Read Montez de Oca\u2019s interview below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1. Describe how and why the Center for Critical Sport Studies was started.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Late one night in 2014, Jeffrey Scholes from the Department of Philosophy here at UCCS called me up and said that we should start a sport sociology research center. Since it was not something I wanted to take on alone, I reached out to Spencer Harris, Associate Professor of Sport Management, to conceptualize and found a research center that would form a space for cross-college collaboration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem we faced as sport scholars at UCCS was that we were individual scholars spread across the campus in different departments. Simply stated, we lacked a home where we could come together to create synergies. So, the goal from the start was to create a home for a group of interdisciplinary scholars who all studied sport from critical social science perspectives. The only requirement for membership is that a person needs to be associated with UCCS, whether they are a faculty or student, and be actively engaged in social science research on sport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since our founding in 2015, we have been joined by Jay Coakley in the Department of Sociology, Elizabeth Daniels in Psychology, Rebecca Wood in Anthropology and Jessica Kirby in Health Sciences, who has been a driving, dynamic force as the Assistant Director. And, in fall 2022, we will be joined by Brett Siegel from Communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. How does the Center’s work align with your own background?<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Jeffrey Montez de Oca is the Director of the Center for Critical Sport Studies at UCCS and a Professor of Sociology.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

With a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, a master’s degree in cinema studies and a Ph.D. in sociology, my training is profoundly interdisciplinary and grounded in the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies. As you can see, interdisciplinarity is a hallmark of both the Center and my own biography. I would add that it is also a hallmark of sport studies. This is appropriate because sport itself, as a set of practices and institutional relationships, sits at the intersection of many of other institutions, such as mass media, health, education, business and commerce, politics and urban planning, to name just a few. Therefore, a sport scholar needs to engage a variety of different fields in order to understand something most people think of as \u201cjust entertainment\u201d and a banal aspect of everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Share a project, piece of research or initiative the Center has advanced that you\u2019re proud of.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since the initial goal of the Center was to create a home for a group of sport scholars housed in different departments, disciplines and colleges, I am most proud of how we have created a mutually supportive space. Our meetings are typically held off campus in convivial spaces where we can enjoy each other\u2019s company as well as expertise. This allows us to support each other in a variety of ways but especially mentoring and professional guidance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several research projects have been launched from the Center, such as research on NFL marketing that Jeff Scholes, several students and I did, and the research Jessica Kirby did with Jay Coakley on women\u2019s wrestling. We also organized a tremendous series on sport and ethics in 2016 as well as an event on eSports in 2018 that involved eSport scholars and a tournament played between college clubs from around the western states. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Center for the Critical Study of Sport is not just an institute engaged in scholarly research, it is also a space where ambitious scholars come together to find healthful support and get re-energized for the many rigors of academic life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. What do you see as the next big topic or issue the Center will tackle in the next year?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Given the interdisciplinarity of CCSS and our diverse interests, it is not in our nature to take on a single big topic or issue. We like to believe that through our various projects, we collectively advance our mission to make sport more democratic, accessible and humane. You can see how we put our values and ethics into practice through a few of our current projects:<\/p>\n\n\n\n