Tackling Sport

Convenor: Dr Debbie Hindley

On the podium of popular culture — sport — takes the gold. Its body trained to rhythm and movement claims its medal under the gaze of tourists who have wandered to the city of their imagination. To the sounds of celebration and acclamation the vision splendid, the hero draped in cloth of nationalism and celebrity, is transferred via digital vision to its audience and the sporting feat become legend within literature. All the hubs of the PCC unite in sport. Is the matrix of the creative industries sport or is sport the matrix of the creative industries?

Tackling Sport within our Popular Culture Collective will have a team of cultural theorists who will wrestle with the difficult cultural questions surrounding sport. We will grasp the baton of risky issues where sporting organisations, media, business and governments falter. Our diverse skills and talents will be training our eyes upon sport to critique its agencies and offer an alternative perspective to historians, sociologists and anthropologists. Let the games begin.

The aims of the sport hub are to:

• Undertake critical research on sport as popular culture through examining issues of power, gender, sexuality and race.
• Critically discuss the role of the media and business in the industry of sport with particular emphasis upon social responsibility.
• Offer expertise on sport and popular culture to sporting organisations, educational institutions, industry and government, particularly on aspects of celebrity, fandom and community.
• Provide a forum for students, academics, sports practitioners, media and fans of sport to present views or work on events and issues.
• Collaborate with the other Popular Culture Collective hubs on related projects.

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