Where does sport fit in global diplomacy?

Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy; Japan Research Centre; Centre for Media and Film Studies – an initiative driven by the SOAS Research and Enterprise Office ‘Seed Corn Funding’.

A panel debate to consider the plethora of roles sport can play in regional governance and diplomatic infrastructures.In 2018, amongst other sporting events, PyeongChang has hosted the Winter Olympics and Paralympics; the Gold Coast has hosted the Commonwealth Games; and Russia will host the FIFA World Cup. This panel debate will consider: where does sport fit? Considering the plethora of roles, in terms of: social, economic, political, cultural or economic realms.Please join us for a lively and diverse panel debate around the various - regions, nation states and actors - that contribute to this global sporting milieu. This event brings together a range of interdisciplinary scholars and practitioners with a view to establishing and developing a hub around sport, diplomacy and governance. Any students, scholars, practitioners or interested parties are more than welcome to join us and enrich the debate.

Keynote Speakers:

Dr. Stuart Whigham, Lecture in Sport, Coaching and Physical Education in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University. Stuart joined Oxford Brookes University in 2016/17, having completed his doctoral studies at Loughborough University around the politics of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Stuart has interests in sociology and politics of sport, nationalism, with a particular focus on the Commonwealth Games and Scottish sport.A latest piece: Whigham S, Black J, 'Glasgow 2014, the media and Scottish politics: the (post)imperial symbolism of the Commonwealth Games' British Journal of Politics and International Relations (2018)

Dr. Jaeho Kang, is Senior Lecturer in Critical Media and Cultural Studies, SOAS University of London. Jaeho has tried to bring theoretical contributions of critical media theory to the development of East Asian media and cultural studies. The author of Walter Benjamin and the Media (Cambridge: Polity, 2014), he has been working on the sports mega-events in East Asia with particular reference to the media spectacle and the formation of national identity.A latest piece: Kang, Jaeho (2016) 'Urban Spectacle and Utopian Space: a Reflection on the Rio Olympics [in Korean].' F: Journal of Arts and Humanities, 22. pp. 20-32.

Panel Chair:

Dr J. Simon Rofe is Reader in Diplomatic and International Studies in the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, and Programme Director for MA Global Diplomacy, at SOAS University of London.Simon’s research focuses upon diplomacy, international and global history, with a particular focus upon on the US Embassy in London, and the diplomacy of sport. He is the author and editor of a number of books and academic articles. Simon is the editor of the forthcoming text Sport and Diplomacy: Games within games (Manchester University Press: August 2018). The latter include those in The Journal of Transatlantic Studies, Diplomacy and Statecraft, Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, and Sport and Society. Selected books include: International History and International Relations, with Andrew Williams and Amelia Hadfield (Routledge: Basingstoke, 2012); US Presidential Elections and Foreign Policy: Candidates, Campaigns and Global Politics from FDR to Bill Clinton (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2017).

Online registration essential. Please register on Eventbrite

Organiser: CISD; Japan Research Centre; Centre for Media and Film Studies

Contact email: vp11@soas.ac.uk