Symposium – Call for Papers
As recent events throughout North America suggest, race is and has long been intertwined with sports. In Canada, however, many of the stories and experiences of athletes in a racialized context have been invisible or overlooked. In this Symposium, we are calling for contemporary and historical papers that focus on Canadian experiences that address sports, broadly defined, in the context of a racialized world. Papers may focus on individuals, teams, or deal with themes that address sports and race in relation to: community, nation, and identity; social justice; gender and class; region; sport as a manifestation of cultural practices. It may focus on local amateur, grassroots, or elite play, and cover local, regional or international activities. Presenters from all disciplines are invited.
Paper Proposal Submission
We welcome proposals for individual papers (20-minute presentations) as well as poster presentations. Please send a max. 250-word abstract and a one-paragraph bio statement to: http://scholar.uwindsor.ca/racesportsymposium by January 15, 2018. All presenters will be contacted by March 1, 2018. If you have questions, please contact us at racesportscanada@uwindsor.ca.
Outreach
Because the Symposium will last only two days and participation will be limited to those who can attend, we want to extend the life and research of the event through the creation of an open access website called “Telling the Stories of Race and Sports in Canada: A Digital Archive and Resource Centre.” We have a team developing a Digital Archive to share, make accessible, and preserve research and stories on race and sports in Canada. We will post shorter, accessible versions of the symposium presentations, but we also see this as a site that will evolve and incorporate other scholarly and community research in the future. We will devote part of the symposium to workshop ideas on how this site can be developed, and can be useful for a range of audiences – scholars, students, teachers, and community members. Submissions for the Digital Archive contribution will be required by November 1, 2018.
This symposium and outreach builds on and expands work done with the “Breaking the Colour Barrier: Wilfred ‘Boomer’ Harding and the Chatham Coloured All-Stars” project: http://cdigs.uwindsor.ca/BreakingColourBarrier/
The Organizers
We are a collaborative of University of Windsor faculty (from History, Leddy Library, Kinesiology, English) and community members (Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society, Essex County Black Historical Research Society) who are committed to making visible and accessible stories and research on race and sports in Canada.
“Telling the Stories of Race and Sports in Canada” is funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Connections Grant, and by the University of Windsor. Website: http://scholar.uwindsor.ca/racesportsymposium
