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.

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, which has been shared with the group beforehand.
  • Such pieces have included journal articles, book chapters, thesis chapters, newspaper 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 a relevant reading which may be of interest to the group.
  • Typically, such meetings break an entire ethnography down across several meetings. Currently, we are reading Working Out Desire: Women, Sport, and Self-Making in Istanbul.
• Discsussing 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

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.