Monthly Archive for July, 2011

Long Fights for Sports Equity, Even With a Law

Published on July 30, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Katie Thomas, The New York Times

In 1998, the University of Southern California was accused of denying its female students a fair chance at participating in sports. Thirteen years later, the federal agency charged with investigating sex discrimination in schools has not completed its inquiry of U.S.C.

In 2008, the same federal agency, the Office for Civil Rights, came across evidence that Ball State University in Indiana was losing a disproportionate number of women’s coaches. But the agency opted to let Ball State investigate itself. After a two-week inquiry, during which Ball State failed to interview a single coach, the university concluded that there was no evidence that any of the coaches had been unfairly treated or let go.

The federal law known as Title IX — requiring schools at all levels across the country to offer girls and women equal access to athletics — has produced a wealth of progress since it was enacted almost four decades ago. Almost no one disputes that.

To Read More…

Photo: Erik Holladay for The New York Times

Fire in Babylon Opens at reRun

Published on July 22, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Katharine Relth, TribecaFilm.com

Fire in Babylon, “a story of emancipation through the sport of cricket,” features the charismatic men on the ever-dominant West Indies cricket team. The movie makes its New York theatrical debut on Friday, July 22, at reRun Gastropub in Brooklyn.

If you’ve never seen a movie at reRun, you are in for a treat. In addition to drinks (adult and otherwise), they have gourmet dogs (steak, duck or chicken), popcorn (made with your choice of powder and grease), pretzels, focaccia, and sweets. No wonder their tagline is “indie cinema with a buzz”!

Just can’t quite make it over the bridge? Fire in Babylon is also available On Demand via Tribeca Film, right from the comfort of your own home.

To Read More…

Andrew C. Sparkes to join 2012 Sport and Society Conference as Plenary Speaker

Published on July 12, 2011 in Conference, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

We are pleased to announce that Andrew C. Sparkes will be joining us in Cambridge for the 2012 Sport and Society Conference

Andrew C. Sparkes PhD is Professor of Sport & Body Pedagogy in the Faculty of Education, Community & Leisure at Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L17 6BD, England. His research interests revolve around the ways that people experience different forms of embodiment over time in a variety of contexts. Recent work has focused on performing bodies and identity formation; catastrophic spinal cord injury in sport and the narrative reconstruction of self; ageing bodies; and the lives and careers of marginalized individuals and groups. These interests are framed by a desire to develop interpretative forms of understanding via the use of life history, ethnography, and narrative approaches. His work is nomadic in nature, operating across disciplinary boundaries and flourishing in the fertile spaces between them. Whilst respecting traditions he seeks to trouble standard notions of method and aspires to represent lived experience using a variety of genres.

Andrew has published extensively on each of these topics as well as on methodological issues in qualitative research across a range of disciplines in international peer reviewed journals including: Qualitative Research; Social Science & Medicine ; Sociology of Health & Illness; Health; Disability & Society, Journal of Aging Studies; Sport, Education and Society; Psychology of Sport and Exercise; The Sport Psychologist; and Sociology of Sport Journal. He has authored several books including Telling Tales in Sport & Physical Activity: A Qualitative Journey, and written many book chapters in leading texts, such as, Handbook of Constructionist Research edited J. Holstein & J. Gubrium; Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research edited by G. Knowles & A. Cole; Ethnographically Speaking: Autoethnography, Literature, and Aesthetics edited by A. Bochner & C. Ellis; Physical Culture, Power, and the Body edited by J. Hargreaves & P. Vertinsky; and Body Knowledge and Control edited by J. Evans, B. Davies & J. Wright. He is currently editor of the annual British Sociological Association Auto/Biography Yearbook. Andrew serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the following journals: Sport, Education and Society; Qualitative Research in Sport & Exercise; and is a member of the Editorial Boards for the following journals: Journal of Aging Studies; The Sport Psychologist; Psychology of Sport and Exercise ; International Journal of Men’s Health; Journal of Applied Sport Psychology; European Physical Education Review; and Agora: Para la educacion fisica y el deporte (Spain).

For more information about our Plenary Speakers, please visit our website.

Paralympic Legacies

Published on July 11, 2011 in Book and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Paralympic Legacies edited by David Legg and Keith Gilbert is available as part of the  Sport and Society series.

Dr Keith Gilbert will be joining us for the 2012 Sport and Society Conference in London.

Dr. Keith Gilbert is a Professor in the School of Health & Bioscience at the University of East London and Director of the Centre for Disability, Sport & Health. He researches in the area of sport sociology [which includes opening up many areas of research innovation] and disability of sport and has a strong interest in qualitative, interpretive and narrative research methodologies. He has numerous publications and has edited several books in the broad areas of sport, sociology, cultural studies, environment and disability.

Dr. Gilbert has written over 55 published research articles. He has been an Executive Board Member of the International Council of Sports Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE) and is currently on the publications Board of (ICSSPE). He has won university awards for teaching and also professional development and given numerous keynote conference presentations. Dr. Gilbert has several PhD students working across different areas of sport and society. His own current research interests include the exploration of the sociological dimensions of sport, sport and the environment, legacy and Paralympic research. Professor Gilbert is chief editor of the International Journal of Sport in Society and he has two book series one in the area of Disability and Sport and the other in the broad area of Sport in Society. Professor Gilbert was also the organiser and chair of a conference on Sport in Society with the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in March 2010 between the Winter Olympics and Paralympics and will continue the Sport and Society conferences in Kolkata 2011 and Cambridge 2012.

Deep Play: Soccer and Spectacle

Published on July 6, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Laura Gonzalez, Artlog

Harun Farocki is not a household name in the US, or anywhere else in the world, for that matter. First and foremost a video artist, he has made hundreds of films over the past 40 years or so. Yet in spite of his long and prolific career, replete with solo shows and retrospectives, he is not among those blue-chip artists who are immediately recognizable in the mainstream contemporary art market. That might change soon, because, as evidenced by his current show at contemporary art space The Model in Ireland, Farocki has been saying a lot for a very long time. From directing several episodes of the German Sesame Street to exploring post-traumatic stress disorder in war veterans, there are few issues Farocki hasn’t examined and deconstructed, only to build them back up in a way that makes us realize how tragically oblivious we are to the objects, images, and influences that condition our livelihoods.

One of Farocki’s most interesting works is Deep Play, previously exhibited at New York City’s Greene Naftali Gallery in 2008. Deep Play is a multi-channel video installation in which Farocki simultaneously projects full-length broadcasts of the 2006 FIFA World Cup final from 12 different vantage points. These include the official live TV broadcast, the artist’s own recording of the event, stadium surveillance, real-time action charts of player and coach statistics, 3D animation recreations, among others. It’s an all-encompassing and visually exhausting work – just imagine dissecting Zidane’s head-butt from 12 different angles. It’s pretty overwhelming.

To Read More…