Dear all,
Apologies for this really late newsletter announcement. The reason for my tardiness is that today is your favorite editor’s birthday, and this is my first chance to sit down and compose the newsletter. It is also most likely the last newsletter of 2024. But rest assured, we’ll be back next year.
Last week the following items were published on idrottsforum.org (see below; language and publication dates, YYMMDD, in brackets). Click on the red headings to go to content. Utilize the Google Translate service to turn Scandinavian language pages into (some sort of) English.
From all of me to all of you, a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s holiday.
Kjell Eriksson
Editor
Book Reviews
Waikīkī Dreams: How California appropriated Hawaiian beach culture, by Patrick Moser
In his new book Waikīkī Dreams: How California Appropriated Hawaiian Beach Culture (University of Illinois Press), Patrick Moser uses surfing to open a door on the cultural appropriation practiced by Depression-era Californians against a backdrop of settler colonialism and white nationalism. Michael Roberts is our knowledgeable reviewer, and he is impressed and appreciative of Moser’s grand effort to fill embarrassing gaps in our understanding of the role of colonialism and racism in the historical relationship between Hawaiian and Californian surfing. (Review in English, published 241216.)
La Vie Jamais Racontée: Alice Milliat, a French Heroine and Sporting Suffragette, by Nancy Gillen
Alice Milliat (1884–1957) shares the fate of women sporting greats, their legacies are lost among all the male histories. Thus, Nancy Gillen’s biography La Vie Jamais Racontée: Alice Milliat, a French Heroine and Sporting Suffragette (Pitch Publishing) is a welcome contribution to the growing body of women sport history. In her review for idrottsforum.org, Katie Taylor notes that it is a readable and accessible book, aimed at a general readership and also beneficial for academic scholars despite the lack of references. (Review in English, published 241217.)
Mountain Biking, Culture and Society, by Jim Cherrington (ed.)
Jim Cherrington’s edited volume Mountain Biking, Culture and Society (Routledge) represents the first critical examination of the diverse, complex, and at times contradictory culture of MTB, an outsider action sport that achieved recognition with the inclusion into the Olympic family in Atlanta 1996. Our reviewer Christoph Wagner appreciates this academic study of a sport that deals with issues such as habitat destruction, climate change and land enclosure as well as social inequalities and the commodification, technologisation and datafication of outdoor spaces and sports. (Review in English, published 241218.)
Women’s Football in Africa, by Chuka Onwumechili
Women’s Football in Africa by Chuka Onwumechili (Routledge) is the first book to take an in-depth look at women’s football in Africa, exploring its history, contemporary landscape, and the future development of the women’s game on the African continent. Maria Zuiderveld finds that while the book would have benefitted from a more comprehensive analysis of the gender gap in African football, it still offers new perspectives on the situation of women in African football. (Review in English, published 241219.)
New Issues of Scholarly Journals
(We’re currently reviewing this service, since it’s a rather time-consuming undertaking. In the meanwhile we’re presenting some of the journals in line with the Forum’s core mission.)
- Sociology of Sport Journal, Volume 41, 2024, Issue 4 | Sports and the Limits of the Binary: An Introduction (241216)
- International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 59, 2024, No. 8 (241221)
News items (calls for papers, vacancies, etc.)
- Call for Papers | The Stoke Sessions 2.0: A Conference on the Culture, History, Science and Politics of Surfing and Skateboarding | San Diego State University, October 9–12, 2025. Call ends July 15, 2025 (241216)
- Vacancy | PhD Studentship in Sociology/Social Science – Sports technology at Nord University | Apply before January 30, 2025 (241219)
