5th Annual Sport and Discrimination Conference

The fifth annual Sport and Discrimination Conference examines the intersectional nature of discrimination in sport. This one-day event, 29 May 2020, at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, invites presentations by academics, postgraduates, students and policy makers from a variety of backgrounds and specialisms.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Discrimination is a complex issue and this conference attempts to showcase how intersectionality can be used as a conceptual framework to explore and understand human experiences within sport. For Lind (2010: 3), intersectionality is “a multi-faceted perspective acknowledging the richness of the multiple socially-constructed identities that combine each of us as a unique individual.” Our identity markers therefore culminate to help shape our journey’s, experiences, and successes/failures within sport, and society. Anderson and Hill Collins (2010: 5) add, “At any moment, race, class, or gender may feel more salient or meaningful in a given person’s life, but they are overlapping and cumulative in their effect on people’s experience.” This conference thus intends to investigate how our identity markers including ‘race’, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, etc. operate within sport.

Discrimination cuts across traditional academic subjects and the ethos behind this conference is therefore to bring together experts from different subject areas to exchange ideas and explore what we can learn from one another. We welcome presentations about all forms of discrimination across any sporting context. As in previous years of Sport and Discrimination events, submissions may approach the conference from a variety of perspectives, including:

empirical findings about the nature and extent of discrimination in sport;
research articulating the experiences of those who have suffered discrimination in sport;
attempts to understand the intersectional nature of discrimination within sport;
contributions adding to the theoretical understanding of sport and discrimination;
policy recommendations and further suggestions for tackling and reducing discrimination in sport.

This year, however, the conference will have a focus on issues relating to media and new media. We therefore particularly welcome submissions about:

issues of fairness and bias in the sports media;
sports media representations and stereotypes;
the impacts of new and social media on discrimination on sport;
issues relating to diversity in the sports media;
how new media platforms can be innovatively used to gather empirical data in the field.

Proposals (in English, please), for 20-minute presentations, should include title, abstract (250 words), the name and institutional affiliation of the presenter and a concise biography (100 words). The submission deadline is 17 January 2020. All submissions and enquiries should be sent to: SportDisc@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

CONFERENCE FEES

The conference attendance fee is:

110 Euros for academics / practitioners
50 Euros for postgraduates and undergraduates.

Registration page and link will be circulated following your notification of acceptance (if accepted) on 27 January 2020.

KEY DATES

October 2019: Call for papers
17 January 2020: Deadline for the submission of paper abstracts
27 January 2020: Notification of acceptance
29 May 2020: Sport and Discrimination Conference

VENUE

The Faculty of Communication Sciences was born in the 1971-72 academic year and is currently one of the most highly regarded faculties in Europe of its specialty and with great prestige among the communication industry. The Library of Communication and Newspaper, radio laboratories, television sets and all the educational and technical equipment place it in the first division of the European communication faculties.

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Dr Daniel Kilvington
Senior Lecturer and Course Director in Media and Cultural Studies
Leeds Beckett University, UK
Email: d.j.kilvington@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
Twitter: @dan_kilvington

Dr John Price
Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for Sports Journalism
University of Sunderland, UK
Email: John.price@sunderland.ac.uk

Prof. Emilio Fernández Peña
Professor of Communication and Director of the Centre d’Estudis Olímpics i de l’Esport Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona, Spain
Email: Emilio.Fernandez@uab.cat

Prof. Berta Cerezuela
Head of Projects at the Olympic and Sport Studies Centre
Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona, Spain
Email: berta.cerezuela@uab.cat

Dr Yann Descamps
Senior Lecturer in Sports Studies
niversité de Franche Comté, France
Email: yann.descamps@univ-fcomte.fr