Dear colleagues,
We are pleased to announce our next ACDC meeting. On April 2nd we welcome Ian Lamond to talk about a newly developing field of event studies beyond tourism and leisure. Some further information is posted on www.acdcweb.tk
If you are planning to attend the meeting, please RSVP to Nicolina Montesano Montessori, n.montessori@gmail.com
Details:
- Date: 2 April 2015
- Time: 15:30-17:00
- Place: University of Amsterdam, Bungehuis room BH302, Spuistraat 2010, Amsterdam
Abstract:
“The centrality of discourse to the emerging field of Critical Event Studies”
Ian Lamond, Leeds Beckett University, UK
Event Studies (ES) is traditionally associated with leisure and tourism. In recent years it has been developing its self-reflexive process that questions the role of events in their wider societal context (Getz 2012). Getz suggests moving away from a positivist pre-occupation with operational concerns and economic growth, toward a deeper consideration of the impact events have on their host communities and the wider legacies to which they contribute. This greater cognisance of context has opened to door for developing engagement between the study of events and other social sciences and developments in the way we communicate. Whereas event studies have drawn mainly on social theory, but Getz (ibid.) also maintains the importance of rhetoric used in the articulation of advocacy around hosting Mega (global audience) events. The object of ES remains dominated by a neoliberal agenda, where ‘event’ is framed as a depoliticised commodity but recently event studies also address a critical agenda viewing events as constituting and articulating social and political meaning.
I would like to discuss with you my contention that for event studies to be truly critical, i.e. a genuinely critical event studies, the dominant hegemonic construction of “event” must be challenged (Lamond and Spracklen 2015). Such discussion could lead to redefining “event” and open up new areas for investigation/study; new approaches that draw on theoretical frameworks from a wider spectrum of philosophies; and begin to see how a critical approach to the study of discourse can support this development. I will argue that a robust philosophical critique of “event” can both place the social sciences and humanities at the heart of event studies but also place the idea of “event” at the heart of the social sciences and humanities.
References
Getz, D. (2012). Event Studies: Theory, Research and Policy for Planned Events. 2nd Ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Lamond, I. and Spracklen, K. (Eds)(2015). Protests as Events. Politics, activism and leisure. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
We look forward to welcoming you on April 2nd
The Amsterdam Critical Discourse Community Conveners,
Nicolina Montesano Montessori, Bertie Kaal, Manon van der Laaken, Joyce Lamerichs, Karen Verduyn, Steve Oswald
