In Duelism: Confronting Sport through Its Doubles, we adopt a consciously interdisciplinary approach to sport that accounts for its centrality and multiplicity of meaning in society. To that end, this collection mirrors the many corollaries of sport studies through diverse critical viewpoints that explore a broad range of sports and their relationships. Together, we assert that sport is best understood alongside broader issues or concepts that can be thought of as its doubles, since each helps to define the parameters of what it means to critically consider sport in society. For example, do we have an ethical responsibility to intervene in the current concussion crisis and does this intervention necessitate eradication of certain sporting practices, or even entire sports? Additionally, what is the changing role of sport in the wake of Covid-19? And furthermore, how are traditional understandings of the relationships between sport and race, gender, or nation being variously collapsed or expanded in contemporary society? In Duelism, we collectively seek to answer such questions and others like them. By inviting critical attempts to treat sport studies as an evolving, interdisciplinary field of research, we have endeavored to create a collection of emerging sport scholarship that reflects the multifaceted, contentious, and vital nature of sport, both in society and as an area of study.
