Prof Alan Tomlinson
AG Tomlinson
Professor of Leisure Studies
contact:
Chelsea School
Hillbrow
Gaudick Road
Eastbourne
Telephone: +44 (0)1273 643747
Email: A.Tomlinson@brighton.ac.uk
Research interests
- The application of cultural studies to the analysis of sport
- The study of sport as part of a critical sociology of consumption
- Challenges of investigative sociology and the nature of sport journalism
- Sport and spectacle
Biography
BA (Hons) English and Sociology ( Kent ); PGCE Social Science & English ( London Ext.); MA Sociological Studies ( Sussex ); D.Phil Sociological Studies ( Sussex ). Deputy Chair, University Research Degrees Committee. Professor Tomlinson is Head of Research in the Chelsea School, teaching predominantly in the social history of sport, the sociology of leisure and cultural studies; and supervising research students on media/ sport cultures and comparative sports cultures and politics. His previous books include Badfellas: FIFA Family at War (with John Sugden (Mainstream, 2003), The Game's Up (Ashgate, 1999), FIFA and the Contest for World Football (with John Sugden) (Polity, 1998), and Consumption, Identity and Style (Routledge, 1990). Drawing on long-established teaching and research in the field, he edited The Sport Studies Reader (Routledge, 2004).
Selected external research-related roles
- Editor, International Review for the Sociology of Sport (17 issues, 2000-2004)
- Co-convenor, British Sociological Association Leisure & Recreation Study Group
- Grant reviewer, ESRC; peer college reviewer, AHRC (journalism; sport studies; cultural studies; popular culture)
- International Fellow, The Australian Sociological Association Cultural Sociology Group
- Editorial board/editorial advisory board member – Theory, Culture & Society; Sport in History; International Journal of Sport Tourism; Journal of Sport and Social Issues; The International Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education. And also reviewer for: Body & Society; Leisure Studies; Critical Studies in Mass Communication.
- Guest co-editor, American Behavioral Scientist (volume46, issue 11, 2003).
Selected conference plenaries
- ‘Sport and design’, The International Design Culture Conference of the Korea Research Design Institute, Seoul National University, Korea, September 2007;
- Leisure Studies 25 Anniversary Symposium, on ‘The emergence and development of Leisure Studies in the UK’, Loughborough University, September 2006;
- ‘Football Media and Everyday Life’ conference, on ‘Saturation point: football and everyday life’, International Association of Media Communications Research, Leipzig, Germany, June 2006;
- European Training Foundation, Torino (European Year of Sport), on ‘Sport and education’ May 2004;
- ‘Football in the Americas’, Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London, October 2003.
- World Sport Forum, Lausanne, May 2001.
Selected recent publications
Sport and leisure cultures, Minneapolis , University of Minnesota Press , 2005.
National identity and global sports events : Culture, politics and spectacle in the Olympics and the football World Cup (edited with Young, C.) Albany, State University of New York Press, 2006.
German football: History, culture, society (edited with Young, C.) London, Routledge, 2006.
‘Picturing the Winter Olympics: The opening ceremonies of Nagano (Japan) 1998 and Salt Lake City (USA) 2002', Tourism Culture & Communication, 5(2), 2005, pp.83-92.
‘Bannister’s feat in austere times: the construction and representation of a sporting trope’, Sport in History, 26(2), 2006, pp.215-234.
‘Stories from Planet Football and Sportsworld: source relations and collusion in sport journalism’ (with John Sugden), Journalism Practice, 1(1), 2007, pp.44-61.
Research projects
The construction and mediation of the sporting spectacle in Europe, 1992-2004 (British Academy, £6,759)
Ritual, ceremony & spectacle in the fabric of sport studies, Cambridge University/Stanford University colloquium, April 2008, Stanford, California.