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Course Info for FYSM - 158 - 01, Fall 2026
Class number: 3380 Title: Rhetoric of Sports and Fitness Department: First Year Sem & Colloq
Career: Undergraduate Component: Seminar Session: Regular
Instructor's Permission Required: Yes Grading Basis: Graded Units: 1.00
Enrollment limited to 15 Current enrollment: 15 Available seats: 0
Start date: Tuesday, September 8, 2026 End date: Wednesday, December 23, 2026 Mode of Instruction: In Person
Schedule: TR: 1:30PM-2:45PM, 115V - WC Instructor(s): O'Donnell, Tennyson
Prerequisite(s): Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
Distribution Requirement: Meets FirstYr Seminar Requirement
Course Description:
The United States is saturated with fitness culture—from TikTok influencers and algorithm-driven training trends to wearable tech and polarized diet communities. What it means to be healthy and fit is constantly produced, curated, and consumed across digital platforms. In this course, we analyze the rhetoric of sports and fitness culture through its many rich and ridiculous forms. We examine how meaning and value are constructed through language and media, including metaphors, visual imagery, platform conventions, branding, and digital discourse practices, with attention to how these rhetorics shape norms around health, identity, and power. The course has two goals: to develop critical tools for analyzing contemporary fitness and sports discourse, and to make our own informed interventions into that culture.