Sport mega-events are more than just large-scale gatherings and celebrations of human athletic achievement; they are also arenas through which groups and individuals perform, reinforce, challenge and disrupt identities, power and status.
Sport is widely recognised as a practice through which normative ideas of gender are both reinforced and challenged, and this is magnified in the context of sport mega-events with their associated global media attention, elite performance, and social and cultural relevance. Mega-events are gendered entities, positioning athletes in relation to one of two binary sex positions – male or female – whilst also pushing the boundaries of what we see and accept as a recognisably gendered male or female body. Mega-events thus represent an important context through which to explore questions related to sex, gender and identity.
As sport mega-events become ever more prominent in popular culture, and are used by governments as a tool of soft power and to stimulate national and regional development, critical analysis of some of the issues related to mega-events is increasingly important. This edited collection will be the first to draw together critical research on gender, sport and mega-events in one volume in order to enable sustained consideration of many key issues related to this important sporting and cultural phenomenon.
There is much debate about what constitutes a ‘mega-event’, with discussions covering factors such as visitor numbers, media coverage, costs and impacts. This book takes a broad perspective on what a sport mega-event is, and welcomes submissions that consider a wide range of events such as the FIFA World Cup, Gay Games, Commonwealth Games, Maccabiah Games, PanAm Games, Paralympics, the Asian Games, and any other large sports event that has reach and importance, in terms of participation and/or media coverage.
Chapter proposals are invited covering a range of issues including, but not limited to:
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- Bodies, gender and sport mega-events
- Celebrity, gender and sport mega-events
- Disability, gender and sport mega-events
- Fans/spectators, gender and sport mega-events
- Femininities, sport and mega-events
- Gender, sexuality and sport mega-events
- Intersectional analysis
- Masculinities, sport and mega-events
- Media representations of athletes at mega-events
- Non-binary thinking about genders, sexualities and sport mega-events
- Race, gender and sport mega-events
- Sexual harassment, abuse and sport mega-events
- Sex-testing of athletes at mega-events
- Sport mega-events, gender and Islam
- Workers, gender and sport mega-events
- Gender and volunteers at sport mega-events
Chapter proposals are invited to be sent to the editor at k.dashper@leedsbeckett. Proposals should include chapter title, a 500-word synopsis of the chapter content (topic, focus, empirical or conceptual basis, and core argument), author(s) name and affiliation, and 100-word author bio.
Contribution details and timelines
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- Submission of chapter proposals: 01 July 2019
- Notification of acceptance: 19 July 2019
- Chapters should be a maximum of 7000 words (including references) and will be subject to peer review
- Submission of full chapters: 31 January 2020
- Revised chapter submissions: 30 June 2020
About the editor
Dr Katherine Dashper is Reader in the School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University, UK. She has published widely in relation to gender, sport and events, and is co-editor of Sex Integration in Sport and Physical Culture (Routledge, 2017), Sports Events, Society and Culture (Routledge, 2015) and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Sport and Leisure (Routledge, 2014). She is on the editorial boards for International Review for the Sociology of Sport and Sociology of Sport Journal.
About the series
https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/series-detail/Emerald-Studies-in-Sport-and-Gender/
