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North American Society for the Sociology of Sport :: Société nord-americaine de sociologie du sport :: La Sociedad Norteamericana para la Sociología del Deporte

**   November 5-8, 2008   **   Denver, CO, USA

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Posters | Papers | Panels

After choosing the session to which you will be submitting your paper proposal, please go to the Abstract Submission to submit your abstract. Please do not send your abstract directly to the session organizer. Abstract submission deadline: 25 July 2008.

POSTER SESSIONS

Open Session
Organizer: Bob Rinehart, University of Waikato, rinehart[at]waikato.ac.nz


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PAPER SESSIONS

1. Sport, Non-human Nature and Political Ecology
Sport sociologists have examined outdoor sports like snowboarding, windsurfing, skateboarding, mountaineering and rock climbing. However, analysis tends to focus on how sport is implicated in identity formation and relations of power based on gender, race or class. Non-human nature is typically bracketed out as sport is treated as an essentially social activity. The mountains, rivers, oceans, forests, and urban green spaces where sporting practices take place tend to fall away as part of the background. However, sport practices are always embedded in particular environments, which may have a profound effect on participants' experience. Sport may shape participants' ideas about nature and environmental politics. Events such as the Olympics make claims to environmental sustainability. Star athletes have become involved in environmental campaigns around global warming and wilderness protection. Ecological processes like global climate change may have negative impacts on some sports (such as snowboarding or skiing). Sport may also be problematized because of its negative impacts on local environments or on wildlife. This session welcomes empirical or theoretical papers that address the place of non-human nature within sport and the flows of power that connect sporting practices with non-humans. By engaging in dialog with environmental sociology, geography, environmental studies, Actor Network Theory, or science and technology studies, we can document how sport is a site of political ecology, where non-human nature enters the realm of politics.
Mark C.J. Stoddart, University of British Columbia, mcjs13[at]gmail.com
2. Sport, Aging and Social (In)Justice
In most developed societies, older people constitute an increasing proportion of the demographic. Population statistics from many countries indicate that there will be more people aged 65 and over than under 14 within the next decade. While, at first glance, increased longevity would appear to be a positive feature of modernity, evidence suggests that more people experience prejudice and marginalization on the basis of age than any other form of discrimination. A particular feature of this is the assumption that older people are a burden on a society's resources, with negative implications for the economic performance of modern capitalism. The global trend of aging is, therefore, both a triumph and a challenge (World Health Organization), largely determined by the way that societies view their older population. Public health messages, promoted through various national and international policies, suggest that physical activity may be a solution to the problem of becoming elderly. Such campaigns argue that exercise has the potential to challenge both the actual effects, and dominant ideas about, aging. However, activity statistics demonstrate that involvement in exercise in most developed nations decreases with age. Additionally, the discourse used in many of the active aging campaigns is seen to be paternalistic, (re)producing a moral obligation to exercise without recognizing the structural boundaries constraining physical activity in later life. In turn, this may create a sense of disempowerment, negative self-surveillance, guilt and anxiety for those who are unable or unwilling to make active lifestyle choices. The purpose of this session is to present research which explores the relationship between sporting practices and social (in)justice among aging populations.
Elizabeth Pike, University of Chichester, e.pike[at]chi.ac.uk
3. Teaching Intersectionality
Teaching Intersectionality in the Sport Sociology class. This session will explore ways in which gender, race, sexuality, (dis)ability, age, religion, etc. are understood by students in undergraduate sport sociology courses. The primary purpose of this session is to have professors of sport sociology courses present strategies that they have successfully used in class to help students to critique their self-identity based positionings of these categories and expand their understandings of difference/multiple difference in structures, delivery systems and participation strategies of people and/or groups in sport/physical activity. Many of us have faced the challenge of teaching race in all white classrooms or sexuality in classes where no student will identify as anything other than straight. Many of us have grappled with the students' perception that a discussion about gender means talking about females or that a discussion on religion really has nothing to do with sport. Papers may focus on a single issue strategy such as race or disability or may deal with the broader issue of multiple differences and intersectionality. Presentation of specific classroom activities and/or assignments that have been successfully used to increase student understanding of these issues are particularly encouraged to be included.
Dayna Daniels, University of Lethbridge, daniels[at]uleth.ca
4. Lesbians in Sport: Have We Come A Long Way?
There were numerous sessions at NASSS in the 1990s about Lesbians in sport. NASSS members discussed subtopics such as sexual orientation as a variable, experiences of lesbians in sport, perceived discrimination, plus many others. In the past 5 years, there has been less discussion at NASSS on this topic. Therefore, can we conclude that have we seen changes in sport about lesbian participation and perceptions and therefore we don't need to discuss these issues anymore? Are we more knowledgeable about the intersections of race/class/ethnicity and sexual orientation than we were? Is this still perceived by researchers as a social justice issue?
Brenda A. Riemer, Eastern Michigan University, briemer[at]emich.edu
5. Effective Techniques for Teaching the Sociology of Sport
This session will feature presentations of, for example, techniques that work in the classroom or of books that work in this course. Each of us has one or more techniques that we use that are particularly effective. Also, most of us are familiar with textbooks that we use in our sociology of sport courses. However, some of us prefer to use"non-traditional" books as teaching tools, so a presenter might describe one or more "non-traditional" book(s) that s/he uses and explain why the book is successful.
Michael Malec, malec[at]bc.edu
6. Reform Movements in College Sport
Representatives of various reform groups will present their views on the current state of college sport, and how their organization defines the problems and proposes to remedy them.
Michael Malec, Boston College, malec[at]bc.edu
7. Gender, Race and Sport: Intersections
Gender and Race interact and operate to structure opportunities and exclusion in sporting spaces. Papers submitted to this session will explore ways in which the social forces of race and gender contribute to the structural hierarchies within sporting spaces and sporting institutions.
Ann Travers, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, atravers[at]sfu.ca
Robert Pitter, Acadia University, robert.pitter[at]acadiau.ca
8. Theorizing a "Multi Paradigmatic" Sport Sociology
In order to embrace a "multi paradigmatic" sport sociology, this session welcomes papers that discuss, critique, re-frame, and embrace a variety of theoretical perspectives applicable to scholarship in the sociology of sport. Papers may directly address theory as their central tenet of discussion or, alternatively, build a theoretical framework in a pragmatically-oriented paper. We strongly encourage scholarship that examines the ontological, epistemological, methodological, or axiological assumptions underpinning sport sociology within this session. The panel's broader goal is to promote critical reflexivity amongst sport sociologists. It is hoped that this session will spark dynamic discussion and debate amongst scholars of contrasting theoretical orientations.
Jennifer Hardes, The Ohio State University, hardes.1[at]osu.edu
Jeffrey Montez de Oca, DePauw University, montezde[at]gmail.com
9. "Bodies that Matter": Exercise and Social Change
Socio-cultural research on exercise has multiplied in recent years. For example, studies demonstrate how the commercial fitness industry promotes an obsession with a narrowly defined body ideal. On the other hand, exercisers resist this culturally defined, oppressive image. As a result, exercise emerges as a contradictory experience: participants recognize the oppressiveness of the current body ideal, yet work relentlessly toward it. Despite these critical research insights, there has been only superficial change in the ways fitness is mediated and practiced: the orientation toward the body ideal dominates the industry. In this session, we explore ways to critically engage with resistant fitness politics or with transformative research agendas that recognize exercise performances as ways of creating social change.
Pirkko Markula, University of Alberta, pirkko.markula[at]ualberta.ca
Eileen Kennedy, Roehampton University, e.kennedy[at]roehampton.uk
10. Sport-Related Social Movements and Social Justice: Theory, Methodology, Activists Accounts and Projects
This year's NASSS theme, Sport as Peace/Social Justice, challenges us to consider the ways and means by which sport promotes or inhibits social justice. Social movements are the pivotal force for social change. Over the past two decades a number of sport-related social movements have persevered against great odds to win some successes and bring about positive social change on behalf of social justice.
The study of sport-related social movements is rich with questions involving theory, methodology, accounts of activists' strategy and tactics. It also has potential for the sharing of personal experiences in social movements.
There will be wide latitude in considering presentations for this session from empirical, data-based papers to theoretical, methodological, reflective, and so forth forms of papers.
George H. Sage, University of Northern Colorado, ghsage[at]comcast.net
11. Beyond Beckham and Jordan: International and Historical Perspectives on Sports Celebrity
Sports stars are an omnipresent part of many societies worldwide, a fact that has generated significant discussion in popular and academic circles. However, much of this discussion has neglected both the roles that sports stars play in societies outside of Euro-American settings and the historical evolution of sports celebrity as a transnational phenomenon. By exploring sports stars and stardom from more diverse historical or international perspectives, this paper session seeks to complement existing scholarship, thereby furthering our understandings of today s increasingly globalized celebrity cultures. Although presenters are especially encouraged to consider sports stars or stardom in relation to the conference theme of "Sport and Peace/Social (In)Justice," papers addressing sports celebrity in international, historical, or comparative contexts more generally are also welcome.
Dennis J. Frost, Xavier University, frostd[at]xavier.edu
12. Hybrid Bodies and Social Change in Popular Culture
This session invites papers concerning representations of the body in popular culture including literature, film, television, new media and video gaming technologies. It aims to explore the politics of transgression and hybridity in relation to racialized, gendered, abilized, sexualized, and/or technologized bodies under the conditions of late capitalism. Topics may include but are not limited to: the body as an interface of new technologies and consumer ideologies; the role of new media in subverting and/or (re)producing discourses of corporeality and citizenship; performances in popular culture that disrupt boundaries between self and other; tropes of the body (such as the cyborg) and identity-based politics; and the disruptive identitarian possibilities of multiplicity.
Sean Brayton, Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Lethbridge, sean.brayton[at]uleth.ca
Brad Millington School of Human Kinetics, University of British Columbia, bmill[at]interchange.ubc.ca
13. NASSS Challenges and Prospects and the Status of Sport Sociology
Papers in this session will focus on: (1) major aspects of the organizational development of NASSS and its significant current challenges and prospects as a professional organization; (2) an assessment of the current and future status of sport sociology as a scholarly discipline; and (3) the relationship between (1) and (2). Topics might include the size and diversity of the membership of NASSS; future growth prospects of NASSS; the role of NASSS in developing sport sociology in the future; the status of graduate programs in sport sociology, physical cultural studies, and sport studies; external and internal institutional support for graduate students and young faculty members interested in sport and physical cultural studies; undergraduate courses currently taught in these areas; the backgrounds of faculty members teaching these undergraduate courses; research support; and publication outlets.
Howard L. Nixon II, Towson University, hnixon[at]towson.edu
14. Perspectives in the Sociology of Sport
Like the elephant and the blind men visual metaphor, perspectives—theoretical, methodological, and substantive—bring certain features of sport in society to the frontstage and relegate other facets of sport to the backstage. In other words, perspectives "frame" our view of sport in society. Consistent with this year's theme of "Sport and Peace/Social (In)Justice, papers highlighting the strengths and/or weaknesses of various perspectives in the sociology of sport are welcomed.
Wib Leonard, Illinois State University, wleonard[at]ilstu.edu
15. Volunteers as leaders of sport associations - opportunities and challenges of voluntary sport systems
Recreational sports systems that operate outside of educational institutions tend to have a pyramid structure with the clubs at the base and regional and umbrella organizations above them. All are based on the principles of autonomy, democracy and solidarity as well as volunteerism. Sports organizations from the club to the federation level are run by volunteers who are elected for a certain period and supported by employed staff, mostly administrators. Although the voluntary leaders' positions are called honorary offices (Ehrenämter), the holders of these offices are responsible for their organization and take the final decisions. Several studies show that voluntary leaders of sport organizations are predominately male and middle class with an above average education and a long-term commitment to sport (Doll-Tepper, Pfister & Radtke 2005). Voluntary leadership influences the recruiting and election of leaders, the manner of governance and processes of exclusion and inclusion. Further questions concern the impact of the voluntary sport model on the gender and age of the leaders, on their motivations and social capital, as well as on the culture of organization as a whole.
In this session, theoretical approaches and empirical studies about volunteerism and leadership shall be presented and discussed.
Gertrud Pfister, Institute of Exercise and Sport Sciences, GPfister[at]ifi.ku.dk
16. Sport and Scholar-Activism
This session will examine the evolution of scholar-activism and liberation sociology as applied in the domain of sport. Papers will address the relevance of scholar-activism for academics, practitioners and advocates working in the field of sport and social justice.
Eli A. Wolff, Northeastern University, e.wolff[at]neu.edu
17. Obesity discourse and biofascism
Obesity science and its dominant discourse act as a fascist structure in the sense that they rely on a process that is saturated by ideology and intolerance regarding certain types of evidence, alternative discourses, and non-normative knowledge and ways of knowing. The process at play operates hand-in-hand with prevailing power structures that all sustain scientific assertions in the same direction: that of the dominant ideology regarding the physical and the social body. This session invites papers dealing with a radical critique of obesity discourses and their discursive effects.
Genevieve Rail, University of Ottawa, genrail[at]uottawa.ca
18. Obesity and Physical Activity
This session invites papers that touch on issues related to physical activity in a time when discourses of a so-called "obesity epidemic" are so dominant. How is physical activity impacted? How are people recruiting/changing physical activity in the private and public fight against obesity? What consequences is this having on physical activity practices?
Genevieve Rail, University of Ottawa, genrail[at]uottawa.ca
19. Sport and New Media
This session invites scholars working on topics involving the so-called new media and sport. Topics may include but are not limited to discussions of sport video games, the "posthuman," the social and cultural implications of new media use, changes to sport media in the digital age, video game theory, and so forth.
Darcy C. Plymire, Independent, darcyplymire[at]mac.com
20. Physical Activities and Sport Narratives
This session is intended for researchers who are worried about crafting their qualitative research in more engaging and alternative ways of representation. In this vein, narratives are research texts that are written to represent multiple voices, research participants as well as researchers, but in a storied fashion which make them interesting and understandable to multiple audiences (Markula & Denison, 2005). Narrative research has become increasingly popular to allow for problematic issues to be discussed by researchers as well as sport practitioners. Therefore, the aim of this session is to stimulate critical reflections around physical activity and sport using narratives as a way to analyze research projects as well as an innovative way to represent them. All narratives derive from real life experiences, but they can be constructed in a variety of ways into a story. For example, a narrative can be based on a researcher s personal experience. Alternatively, the researcher can decide to compile other people s experiences into a narrative (Markula & Denison, 2005). In this session both categories are welcome.
Montserrat Martin, University of Vic, m.martin[at]uvic.cat
21. Structural (in)equality in Youth Sport: Interrogations of Privilege and Constraint
Examining youth sport from a global perspective, Coakley and others have noted participation in youth sport is a privilege. Taking a "local" (i. e. "Western") perspective, sport often is positioned within discursive frameworks as empowering and liberating for youth, especially for members of minority groups (gender/race/class). Papers in this session will critically examine and interrogate the potential for youth sport to address issues of social (in)justice and (in)equality in "local" and/ or global contexts. Submissions may be empirical, theoretical or argumentative.
Cheryl Cooky, California State University, Fullerton, ccooky[at]fullerton.edu
22. Sport and film
In recent years the relationship between sport and film has been increasingly prevalent in books and journals both within and outside of sport studies (e.g., Baker, 2006; McDonald, 2007; Poulton & Roderick, 2008). In this session we seek to continue this critical engagement and seek papers that examine the ways in role of sport films can be a vehicle for Peace/Social (In)Justice. However we welcome papers that explore all aspects of sport film, from the production of sport film and genres of film making, to films as texts, and explorations of how film is watched by audiences, from different fan communities to engagements with forms of spectatorship. We also welcome papers that explore the intersection of gender, race, sexuality and nation in film texts, and/or how these texts are read according to identity, context and readership.
  1. Baker, A. (2006). Contesting identities: sports in American film. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
  2. McDonald, I. (2007). Situating the Sport Documentary (Vol. 31, pp. 208-225).
  3. Poulton, E., & Roderick, M. (Eds.). (2008). Introducing Sport in Films. London: Routledge.
Belinda Wheaton, University of Brighton, b.wheaton[at]brighton.ac.uk
Jayne Caudwell & Ian McDonald, University of Brighton, b.wheaton[at]brighton.ac.uk
23. The Changing Nature of Masculinity
This session addresses a growing finding within sport and gender studies: namely, as homophobia decreases among university-aged white men, a more inclusive form of masculinity is emerging to compete with the traditional, orthodox form for cultural hegemony. Central to this thesis is the notion that homophobia has served as an ordering principle of masculinity, stratifying men in to a hierarchy of positions from a dominant, orthodox, or hegemonic form of heteromasculinity, to a marginalized and subordinated status. However, the utility of homophobia is at least partially nullified in a gay-positive culture. In this session we use multiple ethnographies to show that today's university-aged men are restructuring desirable forms of masculinity in youth peer culture.
Eric Anderson, University of Bath, EricAndersonD[at]aol.com
24. Sport and Social Justice through Diversity and Intersecting Experiences
This session will address and uncover shared and intersecting experiences of minority and marginalized populations in the struggle for social justice in and through sport. This session will present papers that examine the learned experiences and parallel journeys of individuals and groups to work together or apart toward the promotion of equality and human rights.
Eli A. Wolff, Northeastern University, e.wolff[at]neu.edu
25. Sporting Landscapes
This session examines the multiple spaces and places where sport is played, consumed, managed, etc. From locker rooms, playing fields, retail stores, town squares, and nations, as well as the margins of these sites, sport and sporting figures are interpreted within the context of their physical and cultural geographies. Simultaneously, sport and sporting figures impact their geographies.
Maureen Smith, Sacramento State University, smithmm[at]csus.edu
26. Sport and Sustainability
The concern for sport's impact on the environment has become mainstream. Commitments to sport and sustainability are expressed in global organizations such as the United Nations Environment Program and the IOC as well as in more local efforts such as surfers against sewage. In addition, a variety of supporting trades have developed to meet these needs, such as architectural and design firms specializing in green sport venues. This session welcomes papers addressing the relationship of sport and environmental practices.
Becky Beal, California State University, East Bay, Summer Email: bbeal[at]pacific.edu
27. "Ain't I a Woman?": African American Females and Sport
Sojourner Truth, at a women's convention in 1851, delivered a speech that challenged the notions of women's inferiority, and simultaneously pointed out the inequities between Black and White females. In response to a male heckler, who Truth responded, "Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen them most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?" This session examines the experiences of African American female athletes, who face similar 21st century hecklers. Strong African American women, in both sport and society, are often called upon to defend their femininity, while also facing expectations because of their race.
Maureen Smith, Sacramento State University, smithmm[at]csus.edu
28. Media representation of minor sports
The major sports dominate the media coverage of athletic events. In turn, the media marginalize the minor sports, for example lacrosse, field hockey, swimming, etc. This session opens up conversations about marginalized sports. It will discuss how the media approach minor sports, broadly defined, and how the media's presentation of the sports, whether through text or image, either (re)constitutes or challenges ideals of race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Melissa C. Wiser, The Ohio State University, wiser.13[at]osu.edu
29. Locating the possibility of collaborative methodologies, new languages and knowledges in the Sport for Development and Peace Movement
This session invites contributions that examine the relationships between the increasingly corporatized academy, as well as the ever more donor-driven, professionalized and neoliberalized sport for development and peace (SDP) non-governmental organization (NGO) sector (Nagar & Benson, 2006). Sport has recently been advocated as a low-cost tool to contribute to international development priorities as outlined by the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (SDP IWG, 2007). Yet, sociologists, development practitioners and policy makers have only begun to focus their attention on how NGOs execute SDP projects, and in which circumstances SDP may yield benefits. The goal of this session is to add to this growing body of literature by examining the relationships among academics, activists, practitioners and participants in development interventions. A related interest is exploring the messiness of SDP practices and policies, where the intended benefits of SDP interventions are not necessarily reflected in project outcomes. This is in part due to limited reflection on the recurring challenges in SDP practices and policies, where the knowledges that dominate and languages that exclude emanate from the academy, the international aid bureaucracy, and practices embedded in colonial and postcolonial hierarchies (Nagar & Benson, 2006). For example, most current research on SDP does not use collaborative methodologies, and perhaps reinforces unequal power relations between academics, practitioners and SDP program participants. Thus, SDP may in fact serve to foster injustice in lieu of promoting social justice through sport. How can we work to meld the knowledge of: a) activists; b) SDP participants (those on the receiving end of SDP interventions); c) critics ["whose primary medium for learning about and changing the world is text" (Li, 2007, p. 22)]; and d) programmers [those who frame problems in terms amenable to technical solutions (Li, 2007, p. 7)]? Are the roles of the participant, critic, activist and programmer necessarily distinct? Is sport unique as a development intervention or can critics, programmers, activists and participants in SDP learn from other interventions that have sought to foster social justice? In particular, we welcome: 1) contributions that address theoretical and methodological challenges in studying SDP NGOs (or any related stakeholder within the SDP movement); 2) papers discussing how SDP policies and practices may be formed in a more just way by using an egalitarian language of alliances, coalitions, and solidarity (Abu-Lughod, 2002); or 3) contributions that examine the sport/peace/justice nexus using a (feminist) postcolonial approach.
Lyndsay Hayhurst, University of Toronto, lyndsay.hayhurst[at]utoronto.ca, Email Summer: lyndsay.m.c.hayhurst[at]gmail.com
Donald Njelesani, University of Toronto, donald.njelesani@utoronto.ca, Email Summer: donald.njelesani@gmail.com
30. Deviance, Sport and Social Control: The Construction and Dismantling of the 'Deviant' Athlete.
This panel session attempts to stimulate productive ways of thinking about deviance and social control in sport. Welcoming a wide range of methodological and theoretical approaches, papers presented would ideally investigate the dynamics, tensions, and constructions of deviance and social control in modern sport. Exploring deviance from multiple angles would likely include not only individual but institutional practices that create, negotiate and maintain an array of deviant definitions. Current media attention devoted to performance enhancing substance use offers a particularly apposite study of competing images and discourses of the deviant athlete. Additional approaches would perhaps consider individual acts of resistance to hegemonic sporting practices. The goals of this session are to disseminate current research that encourages innovative ways of thinking about sport and deviance as well as offering productive avenues for creating more just and inclusive forms of sport.
Ophir Sefiha Arizona State University, ophir.sefiha[at]asu.edu
31. The Strengths Perspective and Promising Practices: Maintaining Strengths and Addressing Challenges
The Strengths Perspective, which originated in Social Work, begins with an analysis of the strengths existing in a given situation, as well as the factors that limit the furthering of those strengths. This approach assumes that any group of individuals - however "marginalized" they might appear - are already demonstrating strengths; this approach thus puts the group in question at the centre of the analysis, rather than the group with more "power". One of the ways to look for "next steps" in this perspective is to identify "promising practices" - examples where such strengths are already in evidence and/or some of the challenges are being actively reduced. Promising practices could thus be a case study where the strengths are being actively maintained, a case study where the challenges for optimizing strengths are being effectively addressed, or some combination of the two. Papers submitted for this session would thus adopt a particular approach towards their analysis - focusing on existing strengths in the situation being analyzed, challenges to enhancing those strengths, and promising practices that provide insight on furthering these strengths. I have found this approach to knowledge very rewarding in workshops with Aboriginal peoples, and I encourage those who might be interested in exploring it further to submit a paper addressing some aspect of it.
Victoria Paraschak, University of Windsor, parasch[at]uwindsor.ca
32. Sport, physical activity, and neoliberalism in Canada
As one of the most dangerous ideologies of the 21st century, neoliberalism is as a breeding ground for militarism, the ongoing dismantlement of the state and public services, the ascendancy of consumerist values, the decline of democratic politics and meaningful political debate, and the construction of a subjectivity framed through discourses of the active, responsible, entrepreneurial self (Giroux, 2004). While Canadians have been confronting many aspects of this agenda for over two decades, these issues have been amplified in recent years thanks to a resurgence of right wing politics. At the federal level, for example, the Conservative Party of Canada, lead by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, continues to decimate publicly funded social programs (e.g., healthcare, education, social support programs for low-income families, etc.), while tax cuts (especially for corporations) and the unabashed militarization of Canadian society continue at a breakneck pace. The most conspicuous effect of such policies, however, has been the widening gap between rich and poor Canadians. Building on the conference’s theme of social justice, this session interrogates the effects of such a polarizing neoliberal agenda on the lived realities of Canadians with a particular focus on sport and physical activity.
Jay Scherer, University of Alberta, jay.scherer[at]ualberta.ca
Lisa McDermott, University of Alberta, lisa.mcdermott[at]ualberta.ca
33. Mascots: The Issue is Unresolved
The issue regarding Native Americans, animal rights, and other groups has long been a heated discussion. This has included issues such as the appropriateness, honor vs. harm of heritage, beliefs compared to perception, and financial gain regardless of personal or psychological impact. Intercollegiate, interscholastic and professional athletics teams/organization are intertwined within this debate which has continued for nearly four decades. The NCAA was finally forced into action regarding the debate recently, and institutions have conceded, have fought, spent millions of dollars, and also refused to give in to the ruling of the member-based association. WHY? It is clear that what we do is more important and definitively right. The investigation of this issue remains an active discussion until it is completely resolved. The education of this issue, mascots, should be explained again until a proper understanding is achieved.
E. Newton Jackson, Jr., Florida A&M University, newton.jackson[at]famu.edu
Charles Crowley, California University of PA, charles_crowley[at]excite.com
34. Olympism and Social Justice
This session will share papers and research that examine the philosophy of Olympism and its impact and influence on social justice and social change. Papers that explore the theory and/or the practice of Olympism in and through sport are welcome. This session will aim to address the place of the sporting ideals, principles and standards embodied in Olympism, and the ways in which these ideas work to further social justice and social change throughout the sporting community and within society on the whole.
Eli A. Wolff, Northeastern University, e.wolff[at]neu.edu
35. Athletes Young & Old: Poems and Poetic Prose
A diverse selection of poems and poetic prose will be read. The authors include old masters such as Jack London and Walt Whitman, modern masters such as Pat Conroy and Billy Collins, and many lesser-known men and women writers who have written forcefully about sport. Some of the writings are about the youthful thrill, exuberance, and joy of sport ("Ungirded hips are swung and flowerlike they toss themselves.") Other selections are about the older athlete recalling times when he or she was light of heart and limb. Some of those recollections are warmly nostalgic while others address the sadder issue of coping with fading fame and death ("They have slipped away from fields of glory and gone to where no ovations are"). The contrasting perspectives of these pictured words can help us better understand the breadth of the sporting experience. Come and enjoy.
Scott Melville, Eastern Washington University, smelville[at]ewu.edu
36. Sport and the Urban Condition
For the first time in human history, the earth s population is more urban than rural; the majority of world s six billion people now live in cities. Between 2000 and 2025, according to the estimates of the United Nations, the world's urban population will double, to reach five billion and city-dwellers will rise from 47 percent to over 61 percent of the world's population. This session on Sport and the Urban Condition will extend the rich and diverse sociology of sport literature that explores the numerous connections between sport and the city. Welcomed are papers that address sport in the urban context, which may include but are not limited to issues such as: community and identity formation; place promotion; governance; environmental policy and condition; mega-events; sport development; regeneration policy; land use and infrastructure development; race and space; and, urban social justice.
Kimberly S. Schimmel, Kent State University, kschimme[at]kent.edu
37. Separate Is Not Equal: Social Change and Athletes with Disabilities in Sport
This session welcomes research examining the inclusion, acceptance, and rights of athletes with disabilities in sport. Papers are encouraged that take a critical look at the struggle of athletes with disabilities, and also encourages work that explores the perceived oxymoron of sport and disability in communities around the world. This session will address the valuing of all athletes with disabilities at all levels—from grass roots participation to inclusion within the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement. This session will look at historical, current and future social change with respect to athletes with disabilities in the sporting environment. Papers are encouraged that introduce new lines of inquiry advancing progressive thinking and action.
Eli A. Wolff, Northeastern University, e.wolff[at]neu.edu
38. Coaching Cultures and Discourses
Every aspect of the coaching act, from conditioning and athlete development, to coach-athlete relationships and theories of training, is somehow influenced by power relations and the social construction of knowledge. However, when it comes to educating coaches, concerns over the social nature of coaching are often overlooked. This gap in understanding coaching as a human endeavor affords sport sociologists interested in coach education, sport ethics and performance enhancement the opportunity to enhance coaches' effectiveness by analyzing coaching from a sociocultural perspective. Such a concentration, with a specific emphasis on the problematization of coaching knowledges and coaching identities, is the focus of this session.
Jim Denison University of Alberta, jim.denison[at]ualberta.ca
39. Challenges in Qualitative Research in the Sociology of Sport
In our professional training and our own work, we often read/think about research methods in the abstract, sometimes at the expense of potentially fruitful discussions of how research plays out on the ground. In this session, we propose to make how sociologists do research the object of inquiry. We welcome contributions that explore the potentials and limitations of relatively new/under-utilized research methods (e.g., visual methods, autoethnography), and those that consider ongoing challenges (e.g., power, ethics, reflexivity) in more mainstream qualitative methods.
Carly Adams University of Lethbridge, carly.adams[at]uleth.ca
Jason Laurendeau, University of Lethbridge, jason.laurendeau[at]uleth.ca
40. The Black Athlete in Higher Education: Community Involvement and Socio-political Activism
The historical role of the Black athlete has depth and breadth in community involvement and socio-political activism. From the highlighted presence of Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, and Jackie Robinson, the black athlete historically was an integral part for advancing the community of learning and outreach. Black athletes historically had a visible presence and were leaders during the Civil Rights movement and Black student movements in the sixties. The term community comes from the Latin word communitat. This definition means a unified body of individuals with a stated commonwealth. This includes interacting within a population of various kinds of individuals in a common location.
This session will explore the challenges of black athletes that grow up in predominately Black communities and are recruited from them to play at predominately white institutions in predominantly white communities. Their migration to these institutions often involves community involvement, where athletes are representing the university in some capacity. Thus, this session intends to engage Black athletes community involvement and whether socio-political activism is a part of the activities they participate in within these new communities.
Billy Hawkins, University of Georgia, bhawk[at]uga.edu
Fritz Polite, University of Tennessee, fpolite[at]utk.edu
41. Racism and Sport: New Perspectives
Increasingly, scholars and activists have recognized the complex the articulations of race and sport. This session invites papers that critically examine the racial politics of sport in understudied social contexts, from novel vantage points or through the application of new theories and methods. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to, new racism, Asian Americans, color-blind racism, indigenous peoples, queer theory, performative approaches, and autoethnography.
C. Richard King, Washington State University, crking[at]wsu.edu
42. Technologies of Gender & Physical Culture
We organize this session around Teresa de Lauretis' (1987) contention that gender, both as a representation and self-representation, is the product of various social technologies (p. ix; see also Balsamo, 1999; Cole, 1994). We invite papers that address various technologies, or forms of knowledge and practice that shape the gendered body in and through physical culture.
Jaime Schultz, University of Maryland, jschu[at]umd.edu
Sarah Rebolloso McCullough, University of California - Davis, smcc[at]ucdavis.edu
43. Performance Enhancement: Who Frames the Meaning?
Patterns of human social behavior are defined differently based on the culture, subculture or social institution that frames the meaning. For example, the consumption of various mind-altering substances is labeled either legal or illegal not based on science and health issues, but based on a moral judgment of whether the substance is "good" or "bad." Of course, this moral judgment is influenced by economic forces as well.
To what extent has this same framework applied to sport and ergogenic aids? The intervention of scientifically-derived uses of training techniques, nutritional programs, diet supplements, innovative equipment and apparel have had a profound effect on performance enhancement. Of course, in competitive sport, performance enhancement is the key to gaining or maintaining an edge on the competition. Some of the interventions have enjoyed mainstream cultural approval. Others have been labeled as cheating. Both Hughes and Coakley (1991)might explain this disconnect in the context of over-conformity to the "sport ethic." Others might emphasize the profit motivated need to maintain the perception of the "purity" of sport.
How are labels derived? What might be the origin(s) and motive(s) for defining some performance enhancement interventions as "morally wrong" and others as "creative competitive edge"? I invite papers that would discuss these questions and/or issues related to the definition/construction of performance enhancement in American or international sport.
Chris Grenfell, California State University, San Bernardino, cgrenfel[at]csusb.edu
44. Women and Contact Sport
For many years women have been advancing in traditional and non-traditional female sport. One area of non-traditional female sport is contact sport. Much of the literature seems to focus on women participating in traditional female sports such as gymnastics. With the debut of female wrestling in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games and the eruption of women participating in ice hockey it would appear that women are drawn to physical sports. This session will explore women s participation in contact sport in keeping with the NASSS initiative of diversity in sport. The exploration of women in contact sport will open up another avenue in the general literature of gender and sport. This session is open to a call for papers on women in contact sport.
Giovanna Follo, Emporia State University, giovanna.follo[at]gmail.com
45. Challenges to the Gender Binary in Sport
Papers in this session explore issues relating to the role of sport in promoting the ideology of the two sex system, related social inequalities, and instances of resistance to binary-based sporting practices and notions of sex difference.
Ann Travers, Simon Fraser University, atravers[at]sfu.ca
46. Fandom, Fan Groups and Political Possibility
The focus of this session will be on individual fans and organized fan communities and the ways in which they possess, attain and disavow political and economic power. Various scholars including Néstor García-Canclini and Henry Jenkins suggest that traditional sources of identity such as religion and the nation compete with identities formed around shared interests and cultural commodities (aka fandom). This panel intends to probe the possibilities of fan-based political and social identity in a global context.
Matthew Guschwan, mguschwa[at]indiana.edu
47. How Elusive is The Elusive Sports Fan?
Irving Rein, Philip Kotler, and Ben Shields, authors of The Elusive Fan: Reinventing Sports in a Crowded Marketplace (NY:McGraw-Hill, 2006) make the case that "sports are a multibillion-dollar global business that will continue to grow by leaps and bounds into the foreseeable future. The bad news is: It's never been harder to attract, engage, and retain the sports fan." This session will feature presentations of contemporary research which specifically address issues related to the attraction, engagement, and retention of sports fans. Presenters will speak to how fans connect to a sport. For example, to what extent do "star connections" explain fan loyalty? Perhaps "place connections" do a better job of explicating the phenomenon of allegiance. Rather than being attracted to the star power of a celebrity athlete or successful team, maybe fan identification is best explained by place identification, that is, the home team as collective representation of a local community. Whether its "star connection", "place connection" or some other "connection point", understanding the fan decision-making process should prove valuable to anyone with a recreational or scholarly interest in sport fans.
Merrill J. Melnick, mmelnick[at]brockport.edu
48. Communication in and through sport
This session, which focuses on research pertaining to the varied aspects of sport communication, invites papers that examine communication within and through sport. Topics open for consideration range from investigations of sport communication personnel, production systems, conditions, and institutions to analyses of texts, representations, meanings, and audiences.
Paul M. Pedersen, ppederse[at]indiana.edu
49. Sports Media Audiences
Fandom research has long been a part of sports scholarship. Further research on the spectrum of sports media audiences is critical to better understanding the relationship between sports and culture. This session will focus on exploring the individual process, experience and meaning-making involved in sports media consumption. All methodologies are welcome and work investigating the consumption/incorporation of all media forms, including new and non-traditional media, are encouraged.
Erin Whiteside, eew10[at]psu.edu
50. Access and (in)equality in intercollegiate sport
This session invites papers that critically examine issues that are permeating collegiate sport. College sports are clearly a big business and generate billions of dollars for the NCAA. However, even though collegiate sports are held in such a high regard by many, there are many problems that exist within the current structure of NCAA sports. Topics in this session may include, but are not limited to, access to an education, clustering of majors, rule breaking by coaches, racial and gender issues, Title IX compliance, the APR, and so forth.
Amanda Paule, pauleama[at]msu.edu
51. Gender and Sexuality
This session will examine the intersections of gender and sexuality within collegiate sport. The papers in this session will focus on issues that face college athletes in regards to their gender identification as well as sexual orientation.
Meghan Murphy and Sarah Landry, megmurphy421[at]yahoo.com
52. Academics and the Sports Media
Given the recent interest in national and international publications often eschewing the resources of those academics who study sport, this session would explore various methods for getting news, research, and other information to the sports media. In addition, sports media representatives would be invited to participate in the discussion portion of the session. As a former sports writer and sports editor for newspapers, I will moderate the session.
Ken Muir, muirkb[at]appstate.edu
53. Open Paper Session
If your paper doesn't seem to fit in any of the above sessions, submit your abstract to this session.
Bob Rinehart, University Waikato, rinehart[at]waikato.ac.nz


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INVITED PANEL AND ROUNDTABLE SESSIONS

1. The Impact of Dr. Harry Edwards's Scholarship and Activism on the Research of Scholars in the Discipline of Sport Studies—Invited Session
The Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement birthed many footsoldiers that emerged as generals of social change and progress. Dr. Harry Edwards emerged as one of those generals in the fight for social justice. As the architect for the Olympic Project for Human Rights, Dr. Edwards's activism targeted racial apartheid in the US and in South Africa, as well as the racial injustices occurring in the sport industry. His scholarship, The Revolt of the Black Athlete, Black Student, The Struggle that Must Be, and Sociology of Sport, were seminal pieces for scholars interested in race, sport, and the discipline of sport sociology.
This panel is comprised of sport sociologists and sport historians who have been and are influenced by the scholarship and activism of Dr. Harry Edwards. This panel session is threefold:
  • Panelists will present areas where their research is fueled by the ideals of Dr. Edwards.
  • Panelists will discuss how Dr. Edwards's scholarship and activism has influenced the field of sport studies.
  • Panelists will also discuss how their research expands upon Dr. Edwards in an effort to continue the fight for social justice in sport and in the broader society.
Billy Hawkins, University of Georgia, bhawk[at]uga.edu
Fritz Polite, University of Tennessee, fpolite[at]utk.edu
2. Intersectionality and Sport Studies — Invited Roundtable
C. Richard King, Washington State University, crking[at]wsu.edu
3. Physical Cultural Studies: Performative Articulations and Political Interventions
Michael D. Giardina, University of Illinois, mdgiardina[at]gmail.com
Joshua I. Newman, Towson University
This session brings together a wide array of theoretical, methodological, ontological, and epistemological perspectives in order to further chart and explore the diverse landscape of the emergent field of 'physical cultural studies.' As such, we call on authors to intervene into what has been described as the field's limits as little more than 'decorative sociology' and to instead carefully articulate through example the political interventionism(s) of [physical] cultural studies' transgressive past with a disciplinary future that continues to interrogate the body as a site of radically-contextual dialecticism and intertextual convergence—but one that also makes use of gendered, sexualized, racialized, and classed bodies in developing rigorous, reflexive, and empirically-reciprocal forms of performative research. Here at the collision of theory and method, the cultural politics of researcher performativity and the politics of representation governing the research act are brought to the fore. Thus, it is our hope that this space might be used not only to highlight the divergent topical and paradigmatic trajectories of physical cultural studies, but also, and at the same time, to discuss the 'messier,' or 'hands-on,' side of doing critical cultural analyses of the body and its attendant derivations.


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