CALL FOR PAPERS

November 14/15, 2008
Convenors: Katrin Bromber, Birgit Krawietz
Venue: Centre for Modern Oriental Studies (ZMO), Berlin, Germany
Abstract submission deadline: May 15, 2008

Sports and related body cultures have in recent years increasingly been explored in terms of their social, cultural and intellectual implications. Using them as a lens to investigate social processes, forms of representation, sets of symbols but also counter-discourses has gained increasing scholarly attention. While the last two decades witnessed a rise in relevant works on Africa and Asia, they are still outnumbered by the extensive research on Europe and North America. Furthermore, the majority of studies on sports in the Global South are focused on team sports or collective categories of athletes, thus, neglecting the individual aspect of physical culture.

It is the aim of this ZMO conference to contribute to the debate about the interplay between body cultures and the world system of sports, which is based on globalised standards, such as the charter of the International Olympic Committee. A particular interest of this workshop, which feeds into the larger ZMO research programme on “Muslim worlds - world of Islam?”, is to explore social fields of tension concerning participation and self-presentation of athletes in conformity with Islamic principles while fully endorsing the rules of competition.

We invite papers that contribute, but are not limited, to the following questions:

• How is the athletic body incorporated into a system of national, ethnic and religious pride and, thus, part of identity constructions?
• What kinds of counter-discourses to global sport aspirations exist and how are they propagated as local alternatives to globalised norms of physical representation?
• Are global sports marginalising the local, and to what degree are local body cultures globalised?

Submissions should include an abstract of about 300 words (including references to sources and methodology employed) and be sent to or Dr. Katrin Bromber, Zentrum Moderner Orient, Kirchweg 33, D-14129 Berlin, Germany