Documenting the Beijing Olympics
A conference to be held at the School Of Oriental And African Studies,
University of London
12-13 September 2008
This conference, scheduled to take place within weeks of the Olympics, aims
to bring together academics, film-makers and writers from the all over the
world to have the one of the most immediate discussions of the 2008
Olympics. Alongside the immediate, the conference will also attempt to
locate the Beijing Games within Olympic history and to explore the
challenges that lie ahead for the movement before the Games move to London
in 2012.
The focus of the two day workshop in SOAS will be on the processes of
documenting the Beijing Olympics: -
* Ranging from the visual (television and film), to radio and the
written word - and the meanings generated by such representations.
* What were the 'key' stories and how were they chosen?
* What was dramatised?
* Who were the heroes?
* Which 'clashes' were highlighted and how?
* What sorts of stories did the notion of 'human interest' generate?
* Did politics take a backseat or was the topic highlighted
repeatedly?
Thus, the focus will not be on the success or failure of this event, but on
the ways in which the Olympics Games as international and historic events
are memorialised by its observers.
The proceedings of the conference will be published as a special issue of
Sport in Society (Routledge) and subsequently as a book in the sport in
their Global Society Series.
Registration open from: 1 January 2008
(For further information about Registration contact): Jane Savoy on
[log in to unmask] (Phone)+44 (0)20 7898 4892
Deadline for paper titles and abstracts: 31 March 2008
(For further information about papers contact): Dr Lola Martinez on
[log in to unmask] or (Phone)+44 (0)20 7898 4425
Further details are available on the following website:
http://www.soas.ac.uk/events/event41650.html
|