[Commlist] CFP: International Sport and Media Symposium

*Call for paper:*
*INTERNATIONAL SPORT AND MEDIA SYMPOSIUM*
*/Sport, Media and Soft Power/*
*Wednesday, June 3, 2026, **9:00 - 17:00*
**
*UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE (UWC)*
*School of Public Health (SOPH)*
*Cape Town (South Africa)*
This  special  event will be brought to you by a unique partnership of 
the*UNESCO Chair  for Sport, Development, Peace and Olympic Education* 
at UWC and the *International Association for Communication and Sport  ( 
IACS) 
<https://communicator.strato.de/mario/Downloads/International%20Association%20for%20Communication%20and%20Sport%20and%20the%20UNESCO%20Chair%20%20for%20Sport,%20Development,%20Peace%20and%20Olympic%20Education%20at%20UWC.%20https:/www.communicationandsport.com>* 

*IACS is an organization focused on the advancement of knowledge in the 
academic disciplines of communication and sport.*
In the midst of local, continental and global political challenges and 
leadership changes  the focus on *uniting our efforts for Peace and 
Development* and the importance of *Sport and the Media* has become 
paramount.
Recent scholarship in sport and media has highlighted a range of ways 
that mediated sport has been appropriated for the exercise of soft 
power: a set of tactics for securing consent for various aims using 
persuasion rather than force. Sport for development and peace examines 
efforts undertaken by the United Nations and NGOs to leverage sport as 
means to foster humanitarian concerns. Others have studied how nations 
use sport to advance diplomatic efforts and foster international 
cooperation. Others have focused on the use of sporting events to 
redirect of attention from unsavory and unpopular aspects of a regime, a 
process that Amnesty International has recently termed “sportswashing.”
This symposium focuses attention on these various attempts to use sport 
as a means of persuasion in pursuit of political objectives. Sport 
communication research cuts across a wide range of disciplines. This 
symposium will provide a common ground to host interdisciplinary 
discussions around key issues related to sport media’s role in the 
pursuit of political aims, and how they might be reimagined.
Possible contributions might address questions such as:
·        How should international governance bodies address the use of 
sport for political ends?
·        How is freedom of expression and freedom of the press 
interpreted in different cultural contexts, and how do these 
interpretations impact sport?
·        What role can sports communication play as an agent for social 
transformation and inclusion?
·        How is the mediatization of society and sports changing due to 
the influence of digital technologies?
·        How can the United Nations and other NGOs play a mediating role?
·        What role can sports communication play in achieving the SDGs 
and for development and peace?
The symposium seeks especially to attract interest from scholars in the 
Global South, and Africa in particular. Journalists, government 
representatives, NGOs, academia and other stakeholders are invited to 
participate in the conversation. We are planning an edited collection 
from some of the outstanding contributions to the symposium.
Submissions are limited to extended abstracts only. Submissions may not 
exceed 500 words in length (excluding cover and reference pages) and 
should be prepared for anonymous peer review (clear of any identifying 
information about the author(s)).
Submission Deadline: *January 15, 2026*
All submissions will be evaluated through an anonymous peer review 
process. Authors will receive a decision on their submission by 
*February 17, 2026*.
Registration Fees: The symposium will be free of charge. Attendance will 
include the full day of sessions, a light breakfast, lunch, and 
non-alcoholic beverages.
For questions about the symposium, or to submit an abstract, please 
contact: (iacscapetownsymposium /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(iacscapetownsymposium /at/ gmail.com)>.
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