By Communication and Sport: An Integrative Field for the Analysis of the Sporting Phenomenon
By: Sandro Angulo Rincón
Agon&Areté begins the publication of a series of articles addressing the contribution of the social and human sciences to the understanding and analysis of sport, an activity that, due to its popular nature, vividly expresses the passions, frustrations, euphoria, escapism, and entertainment of human beings for centuries.
This initial article focuses on communication and sport, a relatively new field globally (beginning in the 1990s with significant growth at the start of the 21st century). It aims to describe and interpret amateur and competitive athletic activities within mediated communication (media outlets) and unmediated communication (interpersonal and group communication). However, in Latin America, communication and sport have yet to establish themselves as a distinct knowledge area separate from communicative action, as it has in the Anglo-Saxon academic world (an iconic journal being Communication & Sport, edited by Andrew C. Billings from the University of Alabama and Marie Hardin from Penn State University). According to Professor and Historian Francisco Pinheiro from the University of Coimbra (Portugal), this field originated from history disciplines in the 1960s, sociology in the 1970s, and cultural studies in the 1990s.
Cultural studies focus on everyday, popular life aspects, like sports, many of which had not previously interested researchers and intellectuals. Agon&Areté takes up the mantle in this field to inform, analyze, interpret, and understand the phenomenon with the same zeal and passion as practitioners, consumers, and sports fans.
In this new journalistic venture, readers will find articles linking politics, identity, fanaticism, communication, training, video games (also known as fantasy games), economics, gender, and disability (better termed functional diversity) to sport, all communicated in a language accessible to everyone interested in these topics.
I’d like to share a cross-media report on The Stereotyped Construction of the Athletic Performance of Cyclists Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali in the Generalist and Thematic Press of France, Italy, and Spain. This report examines the asymmetrical media coverage of these two cyclists, influenced by their race and nationality. It’s worth noting that Nairo Quintana, a Colombian cyclist with indigenous features, has stood on the Tour de France podium three times, a groundbreaking, unprecedented achievement in this historically elitist sport, and originally practiced professionally by white European men.
These topics and others you might suggest will be part of Agon&Areté’s editorial agenda, viewing sport through the social and human sciences lens. If you enjoyed this article or found it helpful, please feel free to comment or follow us on our social media channels: Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Stay tuned for an upcoming article on sports journalism, its merits and flaws.
