To help celebrate March Madness, the Education in Zion Gallery will host Mikaela Dufur, associate professor from the Department of Sociology, who will discuss sportsmanship during a lecture Wednesday, March 6, at noon, in the gallery, located in the Joseph F. Smith Building on the Brigham Young University campus.
The presentation is titled “How Not to Get Ejected from March Madness: The Impact of Sportsmanship, Character and Honor.” The lecture will open with some video examples of bad sportsmanship and then segue into social psychology theories about how people use boundaries between in-groups and out-groups to help them feel better about themselves.
Sports use the same kinds of rituals as religion, said Dufur, and sometimes result in the same kinds of fervor, and those things can combine to make people feel so attached to their favorite teams that it leads them to behave badly instead of behaving well.
She will close the lecture by discussing how to improve sportsmanship.
Dufur holds a bachelor’s degree in English from BYU and master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology from Ohio State University. She has published about race and gender in sports by examining collegiate basketball coaches’ career paths, player experiences in the NFL, the effects of Title IX and international migration of rugby players.
In keeping with the theme set by Dufur’s presentation, the gallery’s Family Home Evening programs March 11 and 25 will feature the history of LDS Church sports and include a fun trivia game.
The Education in Zion Gallery documents the rich history and heritage of education in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Monday and Wednesday nights the gallery stays open until 9 p.m. Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Learn more at www.educationinzion.byu.edu
Writer: Heather Seferovich
