The Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences (DCSPT), University of Aveiro, is delighted to announce the new dates of the Second International Conference of the PSA Sport & Politics Group – “Sport, Power and Politics: Challenges in a changing global structure”. We are looking forward to welcoming you all to Aveiro and our university on June 16 and 17, 2022. We are excited to announce that, in partnership with Futebol Clube do Porto and the FC Porto Football Sciences Institute, our conference will have an extra date, on June 18, with a visit as part of the FC Porto Tour (Museum + Stadium). FC Porto will also send a representative to a special session during our conference at the University of Aveiro.
It is also with great joy that we inform you that, in collaboration with our conference, Journal Specialist Frontiers in Sports and Active Living will publish a special issue entitled “Sport, Power and Policies”, with a selection of some full papers. The topics covered are the same as the topics in the call for abstracts. Therefore, if you are interested in having your abstract evaluated by the editorial board of the special issue, please let us know when you send it to us. It is worth mentioning that although we accept presentations in Portuguese, for the Frontiers special edition, the text must be written in English. Soon, we will provide more information about the special issue and the timetable for submitting the full paper.
Finally, the last news, but not least. The prestigious publisher Routledge will offer £200 in prizes (on book purchases) for our conference. There will be two prizes of £100 each, both for the best presentations: one for a senior researchers and one for students and junior researchers.
There is nothing new in reaffirming that the economic, political, and social roles of sports are the focus of a great deal of attention in the context of the policy making process. Furthermore, it is well known that high-level international sport is also an instrument of power. As seen in the sanctions on Russian sport after the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops.
In addition, international sport has been traditionally dominated by advanced western nations. The economic growth of emerging countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa gave rise to a new distribution of world financial power. The acronym BRICS gained global recognition as cooperative links established among these countries located their (re)positioning in the emergent geopolitical global landscape. This development resonated in the sport related geopolitical context. Since the advent of globalization non-Western nations are increasingly promoting themselves in the decision making and economics of international sporting events. This is also evident from the growing investment and sponsorship in international sport by state and non-state actors from non-Western countries (China, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan). It seems pertinent, then, to observe how the rise of non-Western and emerging nations on the sports international stage, due to the resources and potential fan bases they bring, can assist in the understanding they bring to the power conflicts in the geopolitical dynamics of a changing world.
At the same time, we note that we are experiencing changes in global politics and society, with the empowerment of women increasingly becoming a reality, alongside the opposition to racial discrimination and inequality and gender bias. The struggles against the global social and economic inequalities that restrict potential human development in many societies forms a significant backdrop to the concerns of the conference. These complex issues underpin its rationale, so that we can reflect on “Sport, Power and Politics: Challenges in a changing global structure” during the event.
We invite empirical, theoretical, and methodological papers from postgraduate students, early-career researchers, established academics and practitioners that address and interrogate, from a critical and global perspective, cultural, social, political, and experiential frameworks of sport. Contributions from the disciplines of public policy, sociology, politics, economics, anthropology, cultural studies, history, communication, law, and psychology are welcome. Possible themes include but are not limited to:
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- The Politics of Global Sport
- Sport and Identity
- Sport, Nationalism and Transnationalism
- Sport Mega Events
- Sports Policy and Governance
- Inequality and/in Sport
- Sport and Race
- Sport and Gender
- Sports Business and Sponsorship
- Sports Law
- Media and Sport
- Contemporary Fandom and International Sports
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Please send abstracts (300 words maximum) to sp3dcsptua@gmail.com by 23.59 (GMT) on April 17, 2022. We accept abstracts in English and Portuguese.
Please contact Emanuel Leite Jr (emanuel.leite.junior@ua.pt) should you have any questions.
Conference fees
100€ attendance
75€ attendance for students and unwaged
Keynote speakers
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- Dr Richard Giulianotti, Loughborough University, England
- Dr Stacey Pope, Durham University, England
- Dr. Flávio de Campos, University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil
- Dr Pippo Russo, University of Florence, Italy
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The venue
The conference will take place in the Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences (https://www.ua.pt/dcspt/#) of the University of Aveiro (https://www.ua.pt/).
On June 18, we will have a special tour at FC Porto Museum and Stadium, in Oporto.
Conference Dinner
We will inform you of the place and cost involved in due course.
Link to Conference Homepage: https://www.ua.pt/en/govcopp/page/26538
