For historians, students and enthusiasts, this year’s Biennial Conference of the Australian Society for Sports History (ASSH) provided a range of topics and ideas that explored the significant role of sport in Australia and indeed, world cultures. Highlights of the conference were the keynote addresses by Allen Guttmann who spoke on “The ludic and the ludicrous”; Susan Birrell who provided a fascinating survey on “Suspended on Everest: Intertextuality and the narrative condition in the pursuit of history”; and, Murray Phillips who spoke on the topic of “Sport history and public history: Intersecting narratives?”.
The tripartite theme for Sporting Traditions XVI was ‘Conceiving, locating, and narrating sports history’. The conference asked delegates to consider recent developments in sports history methods, theoretical approaches and research paradigms.
I personally attended the conference as a newcomer to ‘Sport Academia’. I felt overwhelmed and honoured to be presenting a paper at a conference where those historians I have cited in my own research were present. Being able to share my research and having it received so positively was great encouragement for me to continue my work in the area of Sport in Prisoner of War Camps during WWII.A highlight for me personally, was Emeritus Professor Colin Tatz’s address at the conference dinner at University House at Australian National University. What an insightful and genuine man; none of the hype or snobbery that can accompany academia. Tatz is a researcher and writer who genuinely inspired those listening to locate reality in the work that they do and to, as I often tell my own students, make it matter.
I have added a list of presenters and their topics below. I have, with Daryl Adair’s permission and provision, also placed some of the images from the conference on the blog. I look forward to hearing from those who attended and those who come across the blog and would like to know more, keep in contact or share their experiences of the 2007 conference.
Pamela Cohen
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