Photo Credit: Banner image borrowed from nasss.org

In this episode we took a break from our usual format and tried out something new. We are going to try to stay as close as possible to a monthly schedule with our main episode releases, but there are times when we want to be able to go outside of that routine and put out a show that may need to be more timely or that does not quite fit a normal format.

These episodes will be referred to as ‘Somatic in Brief’ and will be listed as half numbers (2.5 in this case). There is not a specific time limit we are going to keep to, but the idea is to stick to a shortened discussion, often put together to respond quickly to a particularly relevant and sometimes time sensitive topic.

A NASSS reflection

In this ‘brief’ we took a look back at the work being presented at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport conference, this year held in Tampa. This is a relatively small meeting, but it is one that both Sam and I look to as an academic home. Indeed Somatic was represented this year as we gave a presentation about the podcast and its potential for connecting academic work around the body in motion to a wider audience.

Sam and I had a chance to reflect on the main themes of the conference and work that stood out to us. We also included some considered thoughts from Katie Esmonde, a PhD student at the University of Maryland, who had been down at the conference as well.

As we stated in the show we did want to provide you all with links to the conference and some of the great work that is being done by academics in this field, which you can find here:

• The North American Society for the Sociology of Sport
• Samantha King’s ‘Pink Ribbons, Inc‘ book and the documentary based on her work
• A blog written by students at the University of Maryland’s Physical Cultural Studies program: The Corpus
• A couple of great pieces of writing from NASSS member and University of Rhode Island Associate Professor Kyle Kusz: Here and Here
• A round table discussion on Aljazeera with one of our previously featured contributors Dr. Bryan Clift
• A regularly produce online video short series from Dr. Emmett Gill: The Two Minute Warning
• Dave Zirin’s always popular blog/podcast: The Edge of Sports
• And from a new member at NASSS the WA1T project at Bowling Green State University

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the great work that is out there from people connected to the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport. Nor is this the only place where these conversations are going on. If you have other sources you think would be relevant, feel free to put a link in the comments!

Thanks,
The Somatic Team