AWARD: The Muhammad Ali award for writing on ethics

Muhammad Ali Center
The Muhammad Ali award for writing on ethics

To live an ethical life requires not only tremendous personal courage and conviction but also an incredibly high ethical standard.

The National Council of Teachers of English, The Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony, and the Muhammad Ali Center are pleased to announce an exciting new writing award for students. The award recognizes excellence in writing about ethics and features a $10,000 cash prize, as well as a week-long writing workshop at the Mailer Center in Provincetown, MA, during the summer of 2013.

This award is open to full time students enrolled in four-year, two-year, junior and technical colleges.

For official rules and details, please visit http://www.ncte.org. The deadline for entry submission is July 23, 2012 by Noon CDT.

CFP: Scholarly Colloquium on Intercollegiate Athletics

Scholarly Colloquium on Intercollegiate Athletics
Call for Papers
"Economic Inequality Within the NCAA"
The Sixth Annual Scholarly Colloquium on Intercollegiate Athletics
In Conjunction with the NC A A Annual Convention
January 14-16, 2013
Grapevine, TX

The sixth annual Scholarly Colloquium on Intercollegiate Athletics will be held January 14-16, 2013, in conjunction with the NCAA Annual Convention in Grapevine, Texas.
The theme for this year's colloquim is "Economic Inequality Within the NCAA". The conference will feature keynote speakers, formal reactions to each keynote, and
concurrent sessions of oral presentations and poster presentations.
Paper proposals should deal closely with issues related to the conference theme of "Economic Inequality Within the NCAA". Papers may highlight scholarship from the
sciences, social sciences, economics, humanities, or any number of professional fields that are either directly or indirectly related to this theme within intercollegiate athletics.

Abstract Format & Submission Guidelines
To be considered for the refereed paper and poster sessions, authors must submit a 500-600 word abstract (in Microsoft Word) which conforms to the following format:
- Line 1: author(s) and institution(s) name(s) (centered on page)
- Line 2: type of session (20-minute oral or poster presentation)
- Line 3  three to four keywords
- Line 4: presentation title (centered on page)
- Line 5: blank
- Line 6 to end: text of abstract

Review Process: Papers will be subject to a blind multi-person peer review process.
Submissions will be reviewed using the following criteria:  relevance or significance of topic to conference theme, appropriate methodology, reliance on relevant literature, clarity of analysis, summary of results, conclusions, and/or implications.

Abstract Submission Deadline: October 1, 2012

Notification: Individuals will be notified of the results of the review process in early November 2012.

Submissions should be sent to: Janet S. Fink, (janet.fink@uconn.edu). Please note, after September 1
st this email will change so please look for the new address in subsequent calls.

STUDENTSHIPS: PhD at the University of Brighton

Up to 40 new PhD studentships valued at £55,650 each at the University of Brighton
The University of Brighton's Doctoral College invites applications from around the world for one of up to 40 new PhD studentships available for entry during the 2012/2013 academic year. The studentships offer funding to pursue research across a range of topics including leisure/sport studies.

Each studentship is worth up to £55,650 over three years and covers tuition fees for UK/EU applicants and includes a contribution of £14,300 per annum towards living expenses.  We would also like to hear from suitably qualified international candidates.  The award will be of the same overall value, to cover international tuition fees and a contribution towards living expenses.

Some of the sport/leisure studies topics include:

Protesting the Olympics: anti-Olympics movements and Berlin's bid for the 2000 summer Olympics

http://www.brighton.ac.uk/researchstudy/2012studentships/social-sciences/protesting-the-olympics/ 

Uprooted grassroots: transnational migrants in lower levels of English football

http://www.brighton.ac.uk/researchstudy/2012studentships/social-sciences/uprooted-grassroots-transnational-migrants-in-lower-levels-of-english-football/

To find out more about the range of topics available and our commitment to high quality research student support, visit www.brighton.ac.uk/2012studentships

Or if you would like to talk to us, contact the office of Professor David Arnold, dean of the Doctoral  College, on 01273 641107 or by email on doctoralcollegedean@brighton.ac.uk

CFP: International Journal of Sport Communication Special Issue

International Journal of Sport Communication
Special Issue: Changing the Game in 140 Characters: Twitter’s Rising Influence in Sport Communication

Guest Editor: Dr. Jimmy Sanderson, Clemson University – Clemson, SC, USA

Social media technologies have become firmly entrenched in the sports world. While various social media sites such as Facebook, Google Plus, and Tumblr, have a presence in sport, one domain in particular -Twitter - appears to be the social media channel of choice for sport stakeholders (Sanderson & Kassing, 2011). Twitter has become increasingly popular and prevalent in multiple areas of sport communication and sport media. Sports organizations use Twitter to engage fans via promotion and marketing activities, efforts that encourage and bolster fan identity. Athletes are employing Twitter to build personal brands, break news, engage sport media personalities, and communicate with fans. Sport media organizations routinely integrate tweets from audience members and sports personalities into their broadcasts and Twitter offers fans unprecedented communicative access to sports figures and athletes. The simultaneous communication occurring on Twitter between all these entities has produced a number of implications – both positive and problematic. Twitter’s rise in the sports world corresponds to growing attention from sport communication and sport media scholars. Accordingly, the time has arrived to dedicate a special issue to the Twitter phenomenon. The purpose of this special issue is to highlight Twitter’s emergence in the sports world and its influence on sport communication and sport media processes.

Submissions are welcome on any analysis related to Twitter and sport communication/sport media. While all topics within sport communication and sport media will be considered, some example of possible foci, issues, and topical areas include:

-Ways that various sports entities (e.g., sports teams, athletic departments, athletes) use Twitter
-Interaction between sports stakeholders (e.g., athletes/fans) via Twitter
-Perceptions of Twitter within the sports community and among sports fansTwitter’s role in identity expression and brand management
-Social network development within Twitter
-The extent to which traditional sport media practices (e.g., source verification) pertain to Twitter
-Shifting communication patterns via Twitter (e.g., athletes breaking news) and their implications
-How sports organizations manage/regulate Twitter

Deadline for submissions: July 31, 2012
Publication Issue: Volume 5(4) – December 2012

Jimmy Sanderson, Ph.D. is the guest editor of this special issue. Dr. Sanderson can be reached atjsande6@clemson.edu. To submit a manuscript, however, please go through the regular submission steps found at the IJSC website (please see link below). In the cover letter to the IJSC editor (Paul M. Pedersen, Ph.D., Indiana University), simply note that the submission is for the “Twitter” special issue.

Submission Guidelines: http://hk.humankinetics.com/IJSC/journalSubmissions.cfmIJSC: http://hk.humankinetics.com/IJSC/journalAbout.cfm

SCHOLARSHIP: PhD Understanding LGBT suicide and suicidal risk

Understanding LGBT suicide and suicidal risk

Fully funded PhD studentship available for entry in 2012/2013

• Based in the Faculty of Health and Social Science
• Supervisors: Dr Katherine Johnson; Dr Hannah Frith.
• Closing date for the first tranche of applications is 8 June 2012. Apply now.

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Population based studies have established a consensus that LGBT people are at greater risk of suicidal distress and mental health problems as a result of prejudice, discrimination and social stigma.

Nevertheless, understanding of the relationship between transgender, sexuality and suicide is patchy underpinned by wide ranging concerns about methodological weaknesses, competing theoretical frameworks and the risk of re-pathologisation of those who take up non-normative identities. We are offering the opportunity for a doctoral student to develop an innovative project that relates to understandings of non-normative gender and sexuality and suicide and that will have an impact on local and national policy and/or practice. It is likely that this project will focus on either 1) analysis of the relationship between expressions of suicidal distress and completed suicide; 2) analysis of how changing policy and laws related to LGBT lives have impacted on queer subjectivities and suicidal distress; or 3) development of a participatory action research project on suicide and evaluation of its transformative impact for local LGBT people. It is expected that the project will be informed by feminist, queer and affect theories and show significant methodological innovation.

You will be supervised by Dr Katherine Johnson and Dr Hannah Frith. Katherine Johnson has published widely on issues of self, identity and embodiment in relationship to transgender, sexuality and mental health. Her recent forthcoming publications consider the role of shame in constructions of queer subjectivity and suicide, and promote the idea of ‘affective activism’ as a sociopolitical practice for reconfiguring gender and sexuality relations ‘after identity’. She has well-established research links with a local LGBT mental health charity, MindOut, and the project might expand on these.  Hannah Frith works in the field of social, critical and feminist psychology with an interest in sexuality, disability, health and appearance. Both supervisors are also recognized for their work on qualitative research and the use of participatory visual methods.

References:

Johnson, K. (2007) Researching suicidal distress with LGBT communities in the UK: Methodological and ethical reflections on a community-university knowledge exchange project, The Australian Community Psychologists, Vol. 19 (1): 112-123.

Johnson , K. (2011) Visualising mental health with an LGBT community group: Method, process, theory. In P.Reavey (Ed), Visual methods in psychology: using and interpreting images in qualitative research. Hove and New York: Psychology Press, Routledge.

Walker, C., Johnson, K. & Cunningham, L. (eds) (2012) Community Psychology and the socio-economics of mental distress: International perspectives. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Contact the Doctoral College on +44 (0)1273 641107 or by email.

JOB: University of Bath

Lecturer: Sport (Social Sciences)

http://www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy.aspx?ref=SC1088

Prize Fellow: Sport & Intl. Development (University Prize Fellows are strategic appointments, these are fixed-term Research Fellow posts with the expectation of transfer to a permanent lectureship at the end of year two). 

Details on the position are here:

http://www.bath.ac.uk/hss/prize-fellows/education/

General Details on University Prize Fellows are here:

http://www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy.aspx?ref=SC1079

JOB: Sport Management/Sport Industry programs (Ohio)

Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio) Sport Management/Sport Industry programs 




Senior Lecturer position.  One year term only.  2012-2013 school year


Summary of Duties
Teaches or supervises, on average, the equivalent of twelve undergraduate and/or graduate credit hours per semester for the Sport Industry program, College of Education and Human Ecology; advises undergraduate students; assists in supervising and mentoring graduate teaching associates; attends program and department faculty meetings; serves on ad hoc committees; engages in ongoing professional development.


Specifically applicants should be able to teach in at least two of the following areas at the undergraduate level: sports law, the socio-cultural aspects of sport, or sport history. 


Qualifications
Doctoral degree or equivalent education/experience in law or sport management industry required; experience teaching at college/university level required; experience with use of technology in the classroom required; record of ongoing professional engagement desired.

Hiring salary range
$46,000-$50,000

To apply:  Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.  Please submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, and names and contact information of three references to Dr. Sarah Fields at fields.214@osu.edu 



Applicants available for interviews at either the upcoming NASSM or NASSH conferences should indicate so in their letter of application. 

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

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.

Abstracts and correspondence should be sent to Nhamo Mhiripiri mhiripirina@msu.ac.zw, ornhamoanthony@yahoo.com and Tendai Chari tendai.chari@univen.ac.za or tendai.chari@yahoo.com

CFA: Young Masculinities: Challenges, Changes and Transitions

Young Masculinities: Challenges, Changes and Transitions

A BSA Youth Study Group One day seminar, Friday 2nd November 2012

BSA Meeting room, Imperial Wharf, London

Key note speaker: Prof Eric Anderson, University of Winchester

Since the emergence of critical masculinities studies in the late 1970s, research has started to focus on men as gendered beings. Originally, this examined the negative components of masculinity, that there exist a plurality of masculinities, and how men are stratified within society. Yet, despite this academic endeavour, debates about whether masculinity is in crisis have often taken centre stage, especially in the popular press.

In the academic sphere, Connell’s hegemonic masculinity theory and its argument of a hierarchical stratification of masculinities has largely been the theory of choice; and it has been adopted by scholars across a broad range of academic disciplines. However, recent work such as Inclusive Masculinity (2009) by Eric Anderson and The Declining Significance of Homophobia (2012) by Mark McCormack, has sought to challenge the centrality of homophobia as a key component of men’s identities in the 21st century. Diverging from hegemonic masculinity theory, they argue that we have witnessed an attenuation of homohysteria (i.e. the fear of being homosexualized). In doing so, such texts highlight a need for us to fully re-examine what it is to be a man, and to develop our understanding of how masculinities are constructed, performed and consumed after a period of significant social, cultural and economic change.

The shifting and complex nature of this gender category belies and unsettles fixed normative definitions of masculinity such as ‘having qualities appropriate to or usually associated with a man’, and requires that we explore the opening up of behaviours conducive with maintaining a heterosexual identity. This seminar aims to use the lens of youth to consider the questions that Anderson, McCormack and others have invited us to discuss, document and debate.

The scope of the day is extremely wide and we encourage empirical and accessible theoretical papers that consider the changes, challenges, and continuities to and of masculinity in relation to sexuality, social class, ethnicity, culture, education, employment, consumption, leisure, activism, violence, friendships, partnerships, parenthood or any combination of such issues.

We invite abstracts of 200 words (max), which should be sent to Steve Roberts (s.d.roberts@soton.ac.uk) AND Mark McCormack (markmccormackphd@gmail.com) by 1st August 2012. Abstracts are welcomed from academics at all career stages, including doctoral researchers. It is intended that this seminar be the initial stage for the development of a proposal for a special issue of the Journal of Social Issues.

DOCTORAL STUDENT: U. of Tennessee

Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies

Kinesiology and Sport Studies Doctoral Program

The Sport Studies emphasis (concentrations in Socio-Cultural Studies and Sport Management) has an opening for a doctoral student for the fall semester. This position includes a tuition waiver and a monthly stipend. The candidate will teach Socio-Cultural focused courses in the Sport Management curriculum each semester.

Applicants should also have an interest in conducting research in the area associated with the newly established Center for Sport, Peace, and Society.

Candidates should have research interests that align with the Center. Areas include but are not limited to the following areas: 1) sport diplomacy, 2) women and sport, 3) sport as outreach, 4)

The Sport Studies emphasis in the doctoral program primarily prepares graduates for positions as faculty members in higher education. The coursework for the program is developed between the student and the faculty advisor to meet the educational goals of the student. Students have the flexibility to develop a program that allows them to focus on the area of study in which they have an interest.

Doctoral students will receive training in research design and methodology and are expected to conduct research outside the requirements of the classroom. The program consists of 15 hours within the concentration, 18 hours of research courses, nine hours within the specialization and a minimum of six hours in an outside or cognate area.

Contact Dr. Robin Hardin (robh@utk.edu or 865-974-1281) or Dr. Joy DeSensi (desensi@utk.edu or 865-974-1281) for more information.