ABSTRACT
Over the years the field of sport studies has become increasingly interdisciplinary, having established early roots in departments of kinesiology and physical education before branching out to include historians, geographers, and sociologists, as well as scholars in literature, film, and cultural studies. Borderlands have always been the subject of attention from a small cadre of historians, as evidenced in academic journals such as the Journal of Borderland Studies established in 1986 and in occasional special issues in the American Historical Review and Journal of American History, interest has grown in recent years in the face of rapid globalization, the international flows of peoples and capital, and concerns about border security. Large research initiatives such as the $4.8 million Borders in Globalization project funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada beginning in 2013 exemplify the renewed interest in the social, economic, and cultural history of borderlands and include among other things the study of borderland sporting life.
