CFP: Olympics and the ‘isms’

In summer 2012, London will host the XXX Olympic and XIV Paralympic Games. As part of the Olympic Village, Royal Holloway University of London provides a stimulating environment for a multidisciplinary dialogue that explores the tensions and contradictions within and between modern Olympic ideals and traditional ideologies (‘isms’). By seeking to sustain certain narratives and ideologies that precede the 21st century, the Olympics seemingly stands as an anomaly in our post/alter-modern times. Following the Olympic idea of combining “a healthy body and a healthy mind”, the University invites contributions from athletes and academics to explore and problematise the contextual framing of the Olympics. The conference on 20 July 2012 will follow a traditional conference format with speakers giving presentations followed by questions. The afternoon will be devoted to an interactive discourse analysis workshop in which we invite all participants to analyse selected Olympic-related texts, PR materials and media coverage. The results of this analysis will contribute towards a paper evaluating the discourse surrounding the Games. This, together with a selection of papers from the morning session, will be put forward for publication in a special issue of a journal. If you are interested in taking part at this conference, please contact the organizers with a 300 word abstract at olympismconference@gmail.com by 6 April 2012.