Jules Boykoff

Jules Boykoff (born September 11, 1970) is an American academic, author, and former professional soccer player. His research focuses on the politics of the Olympic Games, social movements, the suppression of dissent, and the role of the mass media in US politics, especially regarding coverage of climate change issues. Boykoff has written six books on the Olympic Games. His work has been featured in ''Al Jazeera'', ''Jacobin'' and ''The Guardian'' among other publications. He has written the book, NOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Beyond.

Life and work

Soccer career

At the age of 19, he played for the United States men's national under-23 soccer team in the 1990 Toulon Tournament. Boykoff played two years for the University of Wisconsin before crossing to the University of Portland. After graduating he was drafted in 1993 by indoor soccer team Portland Pride of the now folded Continental Indoor Soccer League. He also played in the now defunct National Professional Soccer League with team Milwaukee Wave. In all he played four seasons of indoor professional soccer.

Academic career

Boykoff is a professor of Politics and Government at Pacific University, Oregon. He was also a visiting professor at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington during the 2004–05 school year."Sochi Games Are Apt Venue for Athlete Activism"
/ref> Topics taught by Boykoff include US politics, the politics of surveillance, mass-media and politics, and the politics of literature and poetry. In November 2006, he spoke at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, "COP 12". In ''An Inconvenient Truth'', Al Gore mentioned work Boykoff co-authored with his brother Maxwell Boykoff (Oxford University, Environmental Change Institute) on US media coverage of global warming.

Boykoff is also co-editor of ''The Tangent'', a politics and art zine, and runs The Tangent Reading Series in Portland, Oregon. Al Jazeera, New Left Review, the Jacobin and the Guardian have featured his articles.

In a shared article with Dave Zirin, Boykoff has defended anti zionist left wing protests against Israel during the Israel-Hamas war as well as the use of the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free". In the article they wrote that liberal media was promoting Israel's "Big lie" on the war. The two also accused Israel of having weaponized the holocaust for decades. They contended the left wing protests were not antisemitic.

Critique of the Olympic Games

Boykoff lived in London in the lead-up to and during the 2012 Summer Olympics and in Rio de Janeiro as a Fulbright scholar during preparations for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

In July 2019 he interviewed two women in Tokyo who were displaced by the 1964 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Bibliography

Books

Nonfiction

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Poetry

* ''Once Upon a Neoliberal Rocket Badge'': Edge Books, 2006. I ISBN 978-1890311216
* ''The Slow Motion Underneath (Hot Dream)'', collaboration with Jim Dine: Steidl, 2009. I ISBN 9783865216939
* ''Hegemonic Love Potion'': Factory School, 2009. I ISBN 978-1600010620
* ''Fireworks'': Tinfish Press, 2018. I ISBN 978-0998743875

References

External links

Pacific University Faculty Page

Interview in Pacific Magazine

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boykoff, Jules
American political scientists
Living people
American sustainability advocates
Pacific University faculty
Whitman College faculty
1970 births
American men's soccer players
Portland Pride players
Milwaukee Wave players
Wisconsin Badgers men's soccer players
Portland Pilots men's soccer players
University of Portland alumni
Men's association football players not categorized by position
National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players
United States men's youth international soccer players
Soccer players from Madison, Wisconsin
Continental Indoor Soccer League players
20th-century American sportsmen