CfP The Social History of Sport in Socialist Yugoslavia

The Social History of Sport in Socialist Yugoslavia

The International Journal of the History of Sport

Deadline: 15 February 2016 ​

The historiography of Yugoslav sport represents a peculiarly under-researched
field of the socialist federation’s social and cultural history. Although the
Yugoslav socialist project and its impact on sport and leisure cultures are
generally agreed upon, within scholarship it has remained an area of research
that still lacks significant academic explorations. Yet, in many ways Yugoslav
sport has mirrored social, cultural and political developments within the
socialist federation and would ultimately also be closely intertwined with the
country’s overall destiny.

>From its initiating moments, the role ascribed to fiskultura by Yugoslav
political elites showed the importance with which sport and leisure cultures
were identified. However, although incentivizing the idea of mass recreational
sport, the political elites needed to find a way to manoeuvre the subsequent
professionalization of sport which also resulted in the development of
athletes’ stardom, increased commercialization and cult following, and so on.
Having a significant impact on the institutional organization of sport from
the
grass-roots level to national representative sport, these policies addressed
not only national audiences but were also conceptualized as a means of
international representation. This was particularly the case with the
strategic
promotion of the Yugoslav non-allied third way through the hosting of
international sporting tournaments such as the 1979 Mediterranean Games in
Split, the 1984 Olympic winter games in Sarajevo and the 1987 World University
Games in Zagreb. During the 1980s then, Yugoslav sport emblematized the
ambivalent and fragile condition of the Yugoslav state system in a political
and economic crisis. Whilst Yugoslav national teams continued to celebrate
global success, sporting arenas in the federation became increasingly infamous
for violence and nationalist outbursts.

The rationale of the special issue is thus to share insights into the social
role of sport in socialist Yugoslavia from 1943 to 1991. The Guest Editors
invite contributions by scholars of all seniority and various disciplines (in
particular historiography, sociology, anthropology, political science, and so
on). Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

Yugoslav sport, socialist modernity, and ideology
Yugoslav sport, socialist body cultures, and notions of gender
Yugoslav sport, educational system, and amateurism versus professionalism
Yugoslav sport, diplomacy, the Cold War, and representations
Yugoslav sport, architecture, city planning, urbanity,and regionalism
Yugoslav sport, memory, and lieux de mémoire
Yugoslav sport, nation-building, nationalism, and Yugoslavism
Yugoslav sport, violence, fans, and dissolution
Yugoslav sport, (pop-)culture, film, and literature

How to submit your abstract for consideration

We invite abstracts (maximum of 500 words) to be submitted by 15 February 2016
to the Guest Editors:

Dario Brentin, University of Graz/University College London and Dejan Zec,
Institute for Recent History of Serbia, Belgrade.

Authors will be notified of acceptance of proposals by 1 March 2016.
Completed papers must be submitted via ScholarOne by 15 August 2016.

Editorial information

Guest Editor: Dario Brentin, University of Graz/University College London
(dario.brentin@uni-graz.at)
Guest Editor: Dejan Zec, Institute for Recent History of Serbia, Belgrade
(dejan.zec@inis.bg.ac.rs)

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