From the Olympic games, to American Crossfitters preparing for the “zombie apocalypse,” to female bodybuilders in Iraq, this course examines athletic and symbolic possibilities of the human body in global perspective. The course offers an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing identities, rituals, and power. Case studies from around the world demonstrate how sports intersect with many facets of human experience such as gender, politics, and religion. Theories of power illuminate how the sporting body can be a site of critical resistance to ongoing violence within patriarchy, capitalism, and colonialism.