Call for Papers – Sports and Leisure in Africa: Between bonds of the Past and Dynamics of the Present

Call for Papers

Cadernos de Estudos Africanos

Sports and Leisure in Africa: Between bonds of the Past and Dynamics of the Present

After a special issue on sport history in Africa and its contemporary dynamics, Cadernos de Estudos Africanos opens a call for papers on the wider theme of leisure in Africa.

The history of modern leisure in Africa is undoubtedly linked to the colonial process and to the European presence. The organization of leisure marked the growth of urban centers and helped to enhance the differences between the diverse urban populations. If leisure has become a means of social distinction, in contexts where differences were radical, it was also a place of exchange. Leisure activities were also locally appropriated and transformed. Many of these dynamics remained active in the post-colonial period, now in a different political environment. Of very diverse origins, leisure activities acquired different scales and meanings when they became mass phenomena stimulated by technical evolution. Leisure became influent and attractive to be used by political and commercial powers

This special issue of Cadernos de Estudos Africanos wishes to involve experts from various disciplines, addressing different historical periods, to discuss issues such as the continuity between traditional practices and modern leisure, leisure’s role in the process of social, racial and gender stratification, the history of leisure associations of different nature (ethnic, religious, political), the connection between leisure and the colonial and post-colonial state propaganda, the development of forms of resistance to these powers and also the possible relationship of leisure with urban and community development

All articles for publication in the journal Cadernos de Estudos Africanos should be sent to the e-mail: joao.carlos.dias@iscte.pt, until 1 November 2015.

Editors
Marcelo Bittencourt (UFF – Brasil)
Nuno Domingos (ICS-UL – Portugal)
Victor Melo (UFRJ – Brasil).