We are thrilled to introduce the Journal of Global South Sport Studies (JGSSS), a groundbreaking, open-access (blind peer-review) academic journal dedicated to advancing critical scholarship on sport through the lens of the Global South (https://scholarworks.umb.edu/jgsss/). All submissions to the Journal of Global South Sport Studies are entirely free of cost, ensuring accessibility and inclusivity for authors worldwide. We are thankful to UMASS Boston’s Library for funding and ongoing technical support for JGSSS.
At JGSSS, we seek to challenge dominant Eurocentric paradigms by foregrounding voices, theories, and lived experiences from historically marginalized regions, including Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the Middle East. Our mission is to provide a scholarly space where sport is examined as a site of power, resistance, identity, and transformation within diverse socio-political and cultural contexts.
Why JGSSS?
- Interdisciplinary Perspectives – We value cross-disciplinary perspectives. Submissions intertwining sport with sociology, business, cultural studies, ethnic studies, history, feminist theory, anthropology, psychology, economics, philosophy, political science, media studies, or other relevant fields are highly encouraged.
- Open-Access & Global Reach – We ensure that scholarship is accessible to all, fostering a truly global dialogue.
- Qualified and Diverse Editorial Board – Esteemed scholars from different sport domains have joined our inaugural editorial board. The esteemed group brings a wealth of knowledge and diverse perspectives, ensuring the highest quality of scholarship and a broad representation of voices. Nevertheless, ensuring our commitment to inclusivity and diverse representation, we are also currently trying to expand our editorial board (https://scholarworks.umb.edu/jgsss/editorialboard.html)
- Multilingual Publications – In its first year, JGSSS will publish articles in English, laying the groundwork for a diverse and inclusive academic exchange. As we look towards the future, our goal is to become a multilingual platform, extending our publication to languages such as Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Turkish, Swahili, and more.
- No Publication Fees and Open access – We are pleased to inform our contributors that this journal does not charge any fees for article submission, processing, or publication. This policy reflects our commitment to removing financial barriers and promoting inclusive academic discourse.
Call for Papers
Overview
We are pleased to announce a call for papers for the special issue “Theories, Sport, and the Global South,” to be published in the Journal of Global South Sport Studies (JGSSS). This special issue seeks to explore the development, application, and critique of theoretical frameworks in sports scholarship, with a specific focus on perspectives emanating from the Global South. As underscored by various scholars, theory symbolizes the central aim of science (Kerlinger & Lee, 2000), serving as the currency of scholarship (Corley & Gioia, 2011) and the foundation for advancing knowledge and informing practice (Cunningham, 2013).
Nonetheless, sport scholarship, especially sport management research, has historically been dominated by Eurocentric paradigms (Hussain, 2021; Singer, 2005), often neglecting the diverse socio-cultural contexts of the Global South. Moreover, Chen and Mason (2019) advocated for necessary epistemological reorientation, one that critically recognizes how sport management research is inextricably linked to settler colonial structures and how this relationship shapes the extant knowledge production. Therefore, this special issue aims to address current gaps by inviting contributions that challenge hegemonic frameworks, decolonize sports theory, and foreground the multiplicity of sporting experiences in regions such as South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. The overall purpose of this special issue is to center the Global South voices as a primary lens by avoiding the essentialist, colonized, unfair, and Westernized perspectives.
Key objectives include…
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- Examining how existing theories (e.g., Agency Theory, Stakeholder Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior, Social Identity Theory, the Social Reproduction Framework, Intersectionality, Critical Race Theory, Internal Colonization, Settler Colonialism, World-Systems-Theory, Identity Theory, among others) used in sport management and sociology of sport can be adapted or critiqued when applied to the Global South contexts.
- Developing new theoretical frameworks rooted in the Global South’s lived experiences, cultural values, and historical realities.
- Exploring the interplay between sport, identity, and power structures, challenging the Eurocentrism that homogenizes the extant scholarship
- Investigating how sport in the Global South can inform practice, policy, and pedagogy on a global scale.
Type of Invited Scholarship
We welcome qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research, as well as theoretical and conceptual papers. However, all submissions should center the Global South as a primary lens, avoiding the essentialist, colonized, unfair, and Westernized perspectives
Themes and Topics
We invite submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:
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- Sport, Decoloniality, and Postcoloniality
- Indigenous Knowledge and Decolonial Praxis in Sport
- Theory Development from Grassroots Community Sources
- Sport and Social Structures
- Consumer Behavior and Marketing in the Global South
- Sport as a Site of Resistance and Identity
- Intersectionality in Global South Sport
- Sport and Power: Neoliberalism, and Global Inequities
- Transforming Sport Policy and Pedagogy: A Global South Lens
- Sport Management as a field of Global North Epistemic Violence
- Sport Management and Eurocentric Elitism
Submission Guidelines
Final manuscript should be between 7,500 and 9,000 words, including references, formatted per JGSSS guidelines (https://scholarworks.umb.edu/jgsss/)
Please submit an abstract of 250 words and up to six keywords before submitting the final document.
Important Dates
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- Abstract Submission Deadline: May 1, 2025 (submit a 250-word proposal outlining the theoretical contribution and Global South focus) (submit your abstracts to this email: globalsouthsportstudies@gmail.com; umer.hussain@wilkes.edu)
- Notification of Acceptance: June 15, 2025.
- Full Paper Submission Deadline: October 30, 2025.
- Expected Publication Date: March 2026.
We look forward to your contributions to this transformative dialogue in sport scholarship.
Joseph N. Cooper, Ph.D.
Co-Editor Journal of Global South Sport Studies (JGSSS)
Email: josephn.cooper@umb.edu
Phone: (617) 287-7622
Website: https://www.umb.edu/directory/josephncooper/
Umer Hussain, Ph.D.
Co-Editor Journal of Global South Sport Studies (JGSSS)
Email: umer.hussain@wilkes.edu
Phone: +1979-922-0936
Website: https://umerhussain2222.wixsite.com/mysite
https://www.wilkes.edu/campus-directory/umer.hussain.aspx
