Call for Papers - Special Issue of the International Journal of Heritage
Studies
Examining the Olympics: Heritage, Identity and Performance
Guest Editors: Sean Gammon (University of Central Lancashire), Gregory
Ramshaw (Clemson University) and Emma Waterton (University of Western
Sydney)
Sport has, for some time, been an important and popular aspect of
contemporary social life. More recently, it has also become a phenomenon
that imaginatively, bodily and often literally intersects with heritage and
culture. The Olympic Games, hosted by London in 2012, presents a timely and
exciting opportunity to explore the interrelations between sport, heritage
and tourism in local, national and international contexts. The event itself
is imbued with rituals and traditions that elevate the participant and
spectator experience into one worth protecting and remembering. Such is the
importance and global impacts of the Olympic Games that it has an almost
unique ability to simultaneously celebrate as well generate heritage
'moments'.
How key stakeholders will create, contain and remember such moments has yet
to be firmly agreed and established. The tangible heritage features of the
event are manifest; from the myriad of artefacts and ephemera found in
museums (least of which the Olympic Museum in Lausanne) to the celebratory
symbolism of past Olympic venues and sites that have become visitor
attractions in their own right. In addition, "legacy" has become almost
synonymous with hosting an Olympics and, while this term is normally
associated with the venues themselves, it is also readily applied to the
human legacies of the Olympics, in particular the inspiration and training
of future elite athletes.
This special issue of the International Journal of Heritage Studies, to be
published in 2012, invites expressions of interest for high quality papers
that examine any issue concerning the Olympics, heritage, identity and
performance, from those working across the full spectrum of themes covered
by the Journal.
Papers can be theoretical, conceptual or empirical and may address the
following indicative topics:
. The Human and Built Heritage of the Games
. Heritage and the Cultural Olympiad
. Impacts of the Olympics on Cultural Heritage
. Olympic heritage opportunities
. Heritage discourse in the Olympic Games
. Nationhood, identity and the heritage of the Games
. Heritage and Post-Games tourism
. Dissonant heritage and the Olympic Games
. Use of Indigenous heritage at the Olympic Games
. Heritage in the Opening/Closing ceremonies
. Heritage and authenticity at the Olympic Games
Due Dates:
Abstracts: 15th October 2010
First drafts: 31st March 2011
Reviews returned: 10th June 2011
Final drafts: 30th September 2011
Submission to Journal: 30th November 2011
All submissions will be subject to the normal IJHS reviewing process.
For more information, or to submit an abstract, please contact:
Sean Gammon - [log in to unmask]
Gregory Ramshaw - [log in to unmask]
Emma Waterton - [log in to unmask]
Dr Jason Dittmer
Lecturer in Human Geography
Department of Geography
University College London
26 Bedford Way
London WC1E 6BT
+44 0207 679 5505
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