Tag: visual culture

Visual approaches raise important questions of research philosophies, strategies and methods. They “not only enable researchers to produce knowledge in innovative ways,” but also “can be seen as a liberating and emancipatory force, whereby researchers, participants, and communities gain access to knowledge and expressions that might have not otherwise been accessible due to the inevitable strictures of traditional methods”. Accordingly, we invite submissions that challenge researchers to think critically or differently about visual methods in/as leisure research.

This conference seeks to bring together a wide range of scholars, both early career and more experienced, from a range of disciplines, whose research focuses on the visual and material culture of sport. By aligning research with specific international and global festivals, ranging from Olympic and Paralympic Games and World tournaments, to inter-continental competitions such as Asian and African Games, or events such as the Commonwealth Games, we hope to demonstrate the breadth of cultural practice and the vital role played by artists and creators in shaping the appearance and environment of such events.

This special issue explores the intersections of aesthetics and athletics in art and visual culture, both thematically and formally. Essays and projects consider the performative aspects of sports at the intersection of debates about race, gender, and sexuality in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. That is, how do images of athletic bodies function to shore up ideologies around whiteness and heteronormativity via the reaffirmation of stereotypes?

The purpose of this research meeting is to pull together recent thinking from visual studies and leisure history to better understand relationships between the...