Call For Papers 2017 ASMCF Annual Conference: Work and Play

Bangor University, 7–9th September

Keynote Speakers

Helen Abbott (University of Birmingham)
Claude Boli (Responsable scientifique du Musée National du Sport, Nice)
Sarah Waters (University of Leeds)

From the Tennis Court Oath to Nuit Debout, work and play have been instrumental in organising socio-political life in the French Republic. Culturally too, work and play are formative of identity, inviting reflection on the power relations at stake in the construction and deconstruction of identities. Inviting proposals for papers on this theme, this conference seeks to bring together a broad range of disciplinary approaches to consider theories, representations, practices and interconnections of work and play in France and the rest of the French-speaking world. Traversing sociological, political, anthropological as well as aesthetic and cultural spheres, the conference theme is intended to stimulate debate across a far-reaching horizon of enquiry.

Proposals for 20-minute papers are invited on the following, non-exhaustive areas:

The politics of work and play: labour and leisure
Class relations, social movements
Issues of identity: gender, sexuality, bodies, language
Psychologies: deviance, rebellion, depression, humour
Theories and practices of ‘performance’
Aesthetics of work and play: experiment, adaptation
Spaces of work and play; actual, virtual
Philosophies of work and play
Sport, games
Unemployment, sloth
Work, play and time

We invite both proposals (250 words max.) for individual papers and for panels, which should consist of three presenters and a named chairperson. All papers will last 20 minutes and may be delivered in English or French. Postgraduate students are strongly encouraged to present papers.

Postgraduate Essay Prize: Postgraduates presenting at the conference are encouraged to enter their papers for the ASMCF Postgraduate Essay Prize. The Prize includes a £50 cheque and an invitation for the winner to submit their paper to the Association’s journal, Modern & Contemporary France. If you would like more information about the prize, please contact the ASMCF Postgraduate Representative, James Illingworth: jillingworth01@qub.ac.uk

A publication connected with the theme of the Conference is planned.

Proposals for papers, featuring abstracts of up to 250 words in either English or French, should be sent in Word format (doc. or .docx) to asmcf2017@bangor.ac.uk by 31 March 2017. Please put ASMCF 2017 proposal in the subject line of your e-mail.

Further information about the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France and membership information can be found here: http://www.asmcf.org/membership/