Physical Cultures of the Body, A Virtual and In-Person Conference
PHYSICAL CULTURES OF THE BODY V
CONFERENCE DATES: JANUARY 16-17, 2025
ABSTRACTS DUE: NOVEMBER 15, 2024
ABSTRACT ACCEPTANCE: DECEMBER 1, 2024
As home to one of the world’s leading research groups dedicated to the study of physical culture, the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports is proud to announce that the fifth Physical Cultures of the Body Conference will be a hybrid event. Our focus remains on historical and other humanities-based approaches to the study of exercise, strength, sport training, strength athletes, competitive lifting, the healthful benefits of exercise, and all other aspects of what we call “physical culture” across the millennia. However, our hope is that many of you will choose to present in person this year and perhaps also make time to use the Stark’s resources during a visit to Austin. We hope that by meeting together we can learn more about each other, discuss our work, create new collaborations, and help the field of PC studies continue to grow.
This conference is co-sponsored by the peer-reviewed journal Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture. The journal has established two awards for the conference: The David P. Webster Award for Best Graduate Essay and The Terry Todd Award for Best Paper by a Working Scholar. Each award winner will receive $300.00. Iron Game History is highly cited by other scholars because our back issues are online and free to all, and it is used by Google Scholar in calculating citations. Submissions from scholars at all stages of their careers and from all academic disciplines are welcomed. To learn more go to: Iron Game History.
Conference Schedule:
Thursday January 16: Virtual Conference using Zoom
For those who participated in previous years, the format will be the same on Thursday. The virtual conference will consist of 75-minute sessions, thematically arranged, containing three papers of 20 minutes each and a 15-minute discussion period. The organizers will attempt to create sessions from individual papers, or you can submit an entire session of three papers and/or a panel presentation. Scholars already in Austin on Thursday will be able to watch the Zoom sessions at the Stark Center if they wish.
Thursday Evening: Reception at the Stark Center
We hope to hold a reception at the Stark Center for the in-person presenters already in Austin, TX. We will send details later and ask for RSVPs.
Friday, January 17: In-Person Sessions at the Stark Center
We intend to use the same 75-minute format for our in-person sessions, which will be held at the Stark Center on Friday.
Please note: All presenters on Friday are expected to be in Austin. Our aim is to try and bring our scholarly community together. Coffee, other drinks, bagels, and snacks will be provided to conference attendees on Friday. We will share information on hotels and other matters when we know more about total number of Friday attendees. The archives will be open all week before the conference if you wish to come early and do research. Please note that January 20 is a holiday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) so the Stark Center and all of UT will be closed.
To Submit a Paper or Session for Consideration: Please submit abstracts as a WORD DOC via email to kim@starkcenter.org.
The abstract for individual papers should contain in order:
- Please write either ZOOM or IN PERSON at the top of the page. Please also indicate if this is an Individual Paper or Part of a Session. If part of a session/panel please also see below.
- Your name; academic affiliation; email address, and phone number.
Graduate students must include the name of your supervising advisor and your departmental home. - Full title of paper: as it should appear in the conference program.
- A 250-word abstract discussing the paper’s themes, sources, broad theoretical and/or methodological approaches, and significance of the research.
- Short biography of the author(s) of approximately 50 words each.
Session or panel organizers should submit a sheet containing all the information above for themselves and listing the names and affiliations of all speakers. Sessions should have an over-arching title and each paper should be individually named. Abstracts may all be pasted into one document, or they can be submitted individually.
The University of Texas is in the heart of downtown Austin, making it a convenient vacation spot for academics. Looking south in this photo you can see the tall UT administration tower, the rotunda of the capital building, and the skyscrapers of Austin’s vital urban center. Come join us and see why people have made Austin one of America’s most popular destinations.
For questions, please email conference co-organizers:
Kim Beckwith — kim@starkcenter.org
Jan Todd — jan@starkcenter.org
Charles Stocking –- charles.stocking@austin.utexas.edu
Past Conferences:
