CFP: 20.4.2012, Sport and other Leisure Industries Special Edition of Sport in History
6.2.2012
Call for Papers: Sport and other Leisure Industries Special Edition of Sport in History
We are seeking articles for a special edition of the journal Sport in History that examines the relationship between sport and other leisure and/or cultural industries.
Although sport’s distinctiveness as a form of leisure, due to its emphases on physicality and competitiveness, is undeniable, the study of sports history has become somewhat ghettoised from other aspects of leisure history. Moreover, while the cultural turn in sports history has encouraged a new emphasis on texts and their representation of sport, less attention has been devoted to the wider commercial configurations that have promoted sport’s appropriation by, and of, other leisure and cultural forms. This special edition will therefore seek to partially redress this gap by showcasing research that examines sport’s place within the broader entertainment business. Our aim is to encourage a dialogue between sports historians and social and cultural historians working in other areas and disciplines.
As such, we are particularly keen to receive articles on the history of sport’s relationship with culture and leisure industries, especially where these links have been hitherto relatively unexplored.
For example, how has sport as a business compared to or interacted with publishing, the fairground, theatre, cinema, shopping for pleasure, music, etc? We welcome papers covering a diverse range of historical periods, including the recent past (providing they offer a suitably historical perspective), and geographical contexts, both British and non-British.
The issues that suitable articles could cover include (but are not limited to):
How have entrepreneurs and show-people utilised and sought to capitalise on sport?
How have sportspeople, clubs and governing bodies utilised and sought to capitalise on the culture industry?
Has sport’s relationship with other culture and leisure industries transformed the nature of either or both?
The relationship between labour issues in sport and other culture and leisure industries.
The nature of competition and co-operation between sport and other leisure industries
Comparative studies between sports and other leisure industries.
Relationships between sport and other culture and leisure industries at a local level.
Relationships between sport and other leisure industries at a transnational level.
If you are interested in contributing to this special edition, please send an abstract for your paper (c. 300 words), and a brief biography, to diongeorgiou(AT)hotmail.co.uk
by Friday 20th April. We will then select the most suitable abstracts and ask their contributors to write up articles for the journal, to be sent into us by Summer 2013, with the special edition due to be published in 2014.
Guest Editors,
Dion Georgiou and Ben Litherland