Working Group

The Working Group lies at the core of INSA activities. It is a friendly, informal environment for discussing all matters in the Anthropology of Sport. Regular attendees are dedicated, generous scholars who support the work of others. We encourage all to come and participate in the constructive critique that strengthens and develops our sub-discipline. Priority is given to those who have not shared their work in the group before.

To attend the working group, sign up for our mailing list and make sure to click ‘yes’ to joining the working group.

We really appreciate feedback about the working group, so that it meets members’ needs. To fill out our survey, click here.

Our meetings involve:

  • Discussing work in progress. Drafts are circulated to the group for reading before the meeting.
    • Such pieces have included journal articles, book chapters, thesis chapters, newspaper/popular articles and book proposals.
  • Presentations, which typically include practice for conference papers, for lectures, or for general interest.
    • This is a particularly great way for junior scholars to share their work with the group pre-fieldwork.
  • Discussing conference panel and/or special issue ideas, to co-ordinate writing a call for papers.
  • Discussing relevant reading which may be of interest to the group.
    • Typically, such meetings break an entire ethnography down across several meetings.
    • Previously, we read Working Out Desire: Women, Sport, and Self-Making in Istanbul.
  • Discussing methodology in the Anthropology of Sport.
  • Discussing broader topics around sport, typically inspired by current events.
  • Film screenings on sporting topics.

The group meets every other Thursday via zoom. Meetings are currently held at 12:00, and alternate between GMT & EST.

If you would like to submit anything for discussion in a group meeting, please see the submission guidelines.

See the current schedule for a list of upcoming meetings. Please contact us if you’d like to take a slot.

You can also email us for more information at admin@sportanthro.org

Meeting Format for Discussing Written Work:

The following format is for when we discuss someone’s written work (not a powerpoint presentation or conference paper).

First, I’ll ask the person sharing their paper to give us a quick recap of their context info (see below – no more than 5 mins), just in case some people didn’t get them, and to refresh everyone. I will particularly ask the person sharing to suggest areas they’d like the group to focus on. This will direct responses, and make sure the feedback is as useful as it can be.

If we have a discussant, I will then ask them to start the discussion by offering their feedback, comments and questions on the paper. I will then ask the paper sharer to respond to this if they have any counter comments or to answer questions.

At this point, I will open the floor to the rest of the group for comments and questions. On zoom, I do this by asking people to nod/wave at me, or put ‘Q’ or ‘C’ in the chat so I can get a sense of order. If there are quite a lot of us I will ask people to put themselves up in the chat only, so I can keep track of the right order. I’ll then raise people in order and chair discussion from there.

Submission Guidelines

Please send your paper to us (admin@sportanthro.org) rather than sharing it to the group yourselves. This just means that if we have an update for everyone, we can send it in the same email, and also ensures we send it to people who may not be on the mailing list (i.e. invited discussants, etc).

As we meet on Thursdays, please try to submit by the Sunday beforehand. We now aim to send out the email on Sunday evening UK time (17:00).

When you email us your paper, please include a few bits of information to share with the group:

  • A brief statement about your general research area
  • A short paragraph on what the paper will cover
  • An indication of where it fits within your work/your thesis/the publication you’re submitting to
  • Anything you want us to focus on specifically, or issues to address

None of this has to be too specific as obviously things change and aren’t always fleshed out, but the more context you can provide, the quicker we can get to discussing your writing.