The Conference Program Committee would like to invite proposals for session topics. Conference Theme:
Sport Matters: Physics, Politics, Performances, Pedagogies
While exigencies and politics may have changed, in the 37 years that the members of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) have convened their annual meetings, two things have remained constant: sport is both matter and sport matters. In this year’s meeting, we invite participants to explore the double meaning of “matter(s)” in the context of contemporary sport and physical culture. That is, we invite scholars to explore how physical and material bodies in/of motion (and at play) both constitute, and are constituted by, broader political, economic, and cultural arrangements. At an historical moment defined in North America (and beyond) by growing degrees of xenophobia, ethnic nationalism, global neoliberalism, heteronormative patriarchy, ableist doxa, environmental collapse, and anti-science politics, we believe that bodies performing therein serve as critical ‘matters of concern’ for understanding our present condition.
In keeping with the conference theme, sessions may highlight various ways in which scholars are exploring the double meaning of sport-related matter (as both consequential and substantial) and the alliterative intersections that make it so (e.g. politics-physics, politics-performances, politics-pedagogies, physics-performances, physics-pedagogies, performances-pedagogies). For this year’s event, we encourage scholars doing theoretical, empirical, and interventionist work on sporting and physically active bodies and body cultures to bring together scholarship and activism that seeks to make sense of and provide resistance to the uneven politics working against bodies in motion and at play. The conference will feature presentations from a wide variety of approaches, including but not limited to: activism, sport for peace and development, social work, critical coaching, critical pedagogy, policy and governance, engagement with the media, self-authored media (e.g. blogging, podcasts), and others. The full range of theoretical and methodological will also be represented, including: poststructuralism, postmodernism, new materialism, participatory action research, ethnography, discourse analysis, post-positivism, critical management studies, media studies, and of course sociological theory and methods.
Session organizers are welcome to engage the theme in creative, challenging, and innovative ways. This call will generate session topics for conference participants to choose from during the Call for Abstracts in April. Session organizers for included sessions are responsible for accepting or declining participants to their sessions.
Session Formats
Proposed session topics are due April 1, 2017. Please note the following different format options:
- Traditional paper presentation sessions (3-4 papers per session). These sessions will be open to submissions of well-developed research during the call for paper abstracts.
- Completed paper presentation sessions, whereby the entire session is pre-constituted (3-4 already selected papers fitting with the session topic). For these sessions, include the name, institutional affiliation, and title of each presenter along with the session abstract. The individual paper abstracts for these sessions will be due at the same time as other abstracts. These sessions can also include a commentator, who should be listed in the session proposal.
- Panel sessions, with a focused theme to be addressed by a panel of discussants. Session organizers should include the names and institutional affiliations of panel members along with the session abstract.
All session proposals must include the name, institutional affiliation, and email address of the session organizer(s); a title (10 words maximum); and a brief abstract (150 words maximum) that describes the session and ideally how the session fits into the conference theme. Indicate which type of session you are submitting for consideration. For pre-constituted sessions, include the names, titles, and institutional affiliations of the presenters in the session.
Submission Process
Submit session proposals online at: http://www.nasss.org/conference/2017-conference/call-for-sessions/ by April 1, 2017.
Questions
Direct any questions to the Conference Program Committee Chair, Joshua Newman (jinewman@fsu.edu)
Timeline
- Session organizers will be notified of the acceptance of their proposed session on or before April 15, 2017.
- The Call for Abstracts will be released on April 15, 2017.
- Deadline for submission of individual Paper Abstracts is June 30, 2017.
- Session organizers will notify authors of abstract acceptance and submit their completed sessions (3-4 papers/presentations) no later than July 15, 2017.
Share the Call
Feel free to distribute this Call for Sessions and the coming Call for Abstracts with your colleagues, other academic networks, organizations, and listservs.
See you all in Windsor!!
2017 NASSS Conference Program Committee
Joshua Newman, Chair, Florida State University
William Bridel, University of Calgary
Kyle Bunds, North Carolina State University
Beth Cavalier, Georgia Gwinnett College
Tarlan Chahardovali, Florida State University
Cheryl Cooky, Purdue University
Melanie Dammel, Florida State University
Katelyn Esmonde, University of Maryland
Courtney Flowers, Texas Southern University
Michael Friedman, University of Maryland
C. Keith Harrison, University of Central Florida
Victoria Paraschak, University of Windsor
Allyson Quinney, Florida State University
Nancy Spencer, Bowling Green State University
