NASSSblog: May 2012

Call for Book Chapters

Title: Re-imagi(ni)ng Africa: Football, Identity and the Legacy of the FIFA 2010 World Cup

Editors:

Tendai Chari (University of Venda, South Africa)

Dr. Nhamo Mhiripiri (Midlands State University, Zimbabwe)

Introduction/Background

FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa was billed the biggest event to be staged on African soil in the 21st century. While Africa has always been imagined as “a football loving continent” FIFA 2010 WC activated discourses of football that are beyond the realm of the normative social utility of football. The more optimistic view projected the mega event as an extraordinary opportunity to expunge negative stereotypes that had held back Africa from joining the global “community of nations”. Narratives that accentuate the cultural significance of football were juxtaposed with declarations about the socio-economic spin-offs from FIFA 2010 WC. Thus football became a terrain upon which Africa could be invented, constructed, reconstructed and deconstructed again. Two years after the whistle signaling the end of the final match on July 11 2010 images that depict the global hegemonic constructs of Africa as a “dark Continent” tormented by hunger, disease, war, pestilence, dictatorships and natural disasters endure. Western media representations of political developments and events in some parts of Africa in the recent past is testament of the fact that Africa is far from overcoming negative stereotypes associated with it. Xenophobia, racism and Afro-pessimism remain entrenched thus, undermining the rhetoric about the efficacy of FIFA 2010 WC in boosting continental solidarity and cohesion. It is imperative for scholars to examine the multiple narratives attendant to the FIFA 2010 World Cup or football events in general in order to broaden our understanding of the multiple uses of football in society. We therefore, invite contributions that utilize different theoretical and methodological approaches to examine representations of football events in the media, popular culture and everyday communication, either in the context of the FIFA 2010 World Cup or other football events in Africa. Papers can focus on, but are not limited to the following topics:

· Mediation of African Football events in Africa

· Representations of FIFA 2010 World Cup in the Western Media

· FIFA 2010 World Cup in the African Media

· The interface between football and popular culture in Africa

· Football, Music and Dance

· Football and commercial advertising

· Football, Patriotism and Myth-Making in the African context

· Football, Politics and Society in Africa

· Football, Nationalism and Identity

· Football as a leisure activity

· Commercial imperatives of football

· Football and gender in Africa

· Corporatization of Football

· Football, religion and religiosity

· Football as a developmental tool

· Football, fandom and fanaticism

· Representations of national soccer teams

We are looking for contributions that tackle these issues from divergent theoretical and methodological perspectives. The abstract must clearly state the objectives of the study, the theoretical framework and the methodological approaches to be employed.

Abstracts and biographies

Abstracts should be no more than 400 words

Biographies should not be more than 200 words

Length of Articles

Articles should not be more than 8000 words including references

Reference Style: Harvard

Important Dates

Deadline for Accepting Abstracts: 30^th June 2012

Notification for Accepted Abstracts: 30th September 2012

Deadline for Full Papers: 31st March 2013

Deadline for Submitting Reviewed Articles: 31st July 2013

Expected Date of Publication: 31st December 2013.