Call for Sessions for Annual Conference

North American Society for the Sociology of Sport
La Sociedad Norteamericana para la Sociologia del Deporte
Societe Nord-Americaine de Sociologie du Sport

Call for Session Proposals
The 2018 Annual Conference for the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport will be held, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. October 31-November 3, Hyatt Regency.

The Conference Program Committee would like to invite proposals for session topics:

Sport Soundtrack: Sport, Music, and Culture

As early as the first Olympic Games, sport has moved to the harmonies of music. In and throughout the event music has been used to frame the games through the “Olympic Hymn”, “Bulger’s Dream”, and “Summon the Heroes”. Appreciatively, each representative host country has framed the Games with their nation’s musical expression soundtrack. Across the globe, sport and music occupy the same space to set the tone of a sporting event, serve as a backdrop for a performance, support an athlete in their development and preparation, or facilitate the delivery of fitness training. Sport and music as cultural institutions share a bond, some might say they have a symbiotic relationship as they have worked together to elevate the production and consumption of their respective products. Sport and music forge communities, imbue national pride, and promote cultural identities.

We invite members to submit sessions that “promote, stimulate, and encourage the sociological study of play, games, sport and contemporary physical culture”. Supporting the NASSS mission, sessions may also reveal how sport and music challenge the social, economic, and political landscape that often illuminate inequities of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, ability, age, and religious ideologies. Session submissions may also demonstrate how the relationship between sport and music (i.e. Alternative, Blues, Chant (Rhythmic Expression), Classical, Country, Dance, Disco, Fitness & Workout, Folk, Funk, Gospel, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop/Rap, Instrumental (Marching Bands/Pep Bands), Jazz, Latin, Movie scores, Opera, Orchestra, Popular, Punk, Reggae, Religious, R & B/Soul, Rock, Techno, Tex-Mex/Tejano, World & etc.) have influenced career industries such as medicine, psychology and counseling, media and film, event management, marketing & public relations, journalism, engineering and technology, fashion, and beyond.

We encourage session organizers to illicit creativity and innovation in the development of topics. We also encourage sessions that challenge dominant ideologies and hegemonic structures. This call will generate session topics for conference participants to choose from during the Call for Abstracts in April. Session organizers for included sessions are responsible for accepting or declining participants to their sessions.

Session Formats
Proposed session topics are due April 1, 2018. Please note the following different format options:

• Traditional paper presentation sessions (4 – 5 papers per session). These sessions will be open to submissions of well-developed research during the call for paper abstracts.
• Completed paper presentation sessions, whereby the entire session is pre-constituted (4 – 5 already selected papers fitting with the session topic). For these sessions, include the name, institutional affiliation, and title of each presenter along with the session abstract. The individual paper abstracts for these sessions will be due at the same time as other abstracts. These sessions can also include a commentator, who should be listed in the session proposal.
• Panel sessions, with a focused theme to be addressed by a panel of discussants. Session organizers should include the names and institutional affiliations of panel members along with the session abstract.
• Roundtable sessions, which can include less developed, preliminary or exploratory research. These sessions can include 4 – 5 presenters for 5 minute introductions of research, followed by discussion among those presenting and conference attendees who join the roundtable. These sessions can be open for abstract submissions or can be pre-constituted. Pre-constituted sessions should include the names and institutional affiliations of all presenters. Abstracts for pre-constituted sessions will be due at the same time as all other abstracts.

All session proposals must include the name, institutional affiliation, and email address of the session organizer; a title (10 words maximum); and a brief abstract (150 words maximum) that describes the session and ideally how the session fits into the conference theme. Indicate which type of session you are submitting for consideration. For pre-constituted sessions, include the names, titles and institutional affiliations of the presenters in the session.

Submission Process
Submit session proposals online at: http://www.nasss.org/2016-call-for-sessions/ by April 1, 2018.

Questions
Direct any questions to the Conference Committee Chair, Akilah Carter-Francique at [email protected]

Timeline
Session organizers will be notified of the acceptance of their proposed session on or before April 1, 2018. The Call for Abstracts will be released on April 1, 2018. Deadline for submission of individual Paper Abstracts is June 1, 2018. Session organizers will notify authors of abstract acceptance and submit their completed sessions (4-5 papers/presentations) no later than June 15, 2018. Final completed session submission is due July 1, 2018.

Vancouver +1 Initiative
In partnership with the Diversity and Conference Climate Committee Chair, Dr. Algerian Hart, the 2018 Conference Committee is pleased to continue the “+1” initiative. The goal of this initiative is to expand the audience for the NASSS conference to include those who have never attended the NASSS conference or who have not attended for some time. NASSS members are encouraged to invite a +1; this can be a colleague, student, peer, or friend who has never been to NASSS and to invite them to register and participate in the conference. As you are considering organizing a session and/or submitting an abstract, we encourage you to bring to your +1 to Vancouver!

Share the Call
Feel free to distribute this Call for Sessions and the coming Call for Abstracts with your colleagues, other academic networks, organizations and listservs.