CFP: Special Issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport on Fantasy Sport

Andrew Ploeg Announcement
Subject Fields
Sport History / Studies, Popular Culture Studies, Journalism and Media Studies, Cultural History / Studies, Contemporary History

Since its creation in the mid-20th century, fantasy sport has become a significant part of international sport and its history. Once an obscure subculture of statistics-obsessed sports fans, fantasy sport now constitutes a cultural phenomenon with 59.3 million North American participants in 2017 and with tens of millions more throughout the world. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, North American participants alone spend an average of $556 a year on fantasy sport and related materials, amounting to almost $33 billion in annual revenue. With this level of fan interest and earning capacity, fantasy sport is now a major force within the global sport industry.

 

To come to a nuanced understanding of the history of sport over the past sixty or seventy years, one must be able to comprehend and contextualize the importance of fantasy sport. While brief histories of fantasy sport have appeared in print, little research has been done into the conditions of possibility—the historical, economic, political, and social forces—that spurred its emergence and growth. To address this omission, IJHS will publish a special issue dedicated to original and nuanced genealogies of fantasy sport that take up some or all of the following questions:

  • Why and how did specific fantasy sports or fantasy sport in general emerge at the times and locations that they/it did?
  • What historical, economic, political, and social factors led to the creation of fantasy sport, and how do these factors give us a better understanding of fantasy games, of sport, and of the cultures involved?
  • How can sport history help to explain the appeal and the popularity of fantasy sport today?
  • Which historical factors help to explain the variations in fantasy sport gameplay paradigms in different sports and/or in different cultures?
  • What insights can specific historical factors offer regarding the innovations and developments that have occurred in fantasy sport over time (e.g., the emergence of daily fantasy sports)?
  • How might historical factors predict the future of fantasy sport?
  • How have real-world sports shaped their fantasy correlatives, and/or vice versa?
  • What roles have gender and race played in the historical development of fantasy sport?
  • What role have socio-economic factors played in the evolution of fantasy sport?
  • How have media and technology shaped fantasy sport and/or vice versa?
  • What is the historical relationship between fantasy sport and video games?
  • How has fantasy sport been conceived of and played within or across cultures?
  • How have conventional gameplay paradigms been co-opted or subverted throughout the history of fantasy sport?
  • How has fantasy sport shaped statistics/statistical analysis and/or vice versa?
  • What unique communities have been fostered and sustained by fantasy sport? And, what values, practices, ethics, and attitudes do such communities share?

In addressing these questions, this special issue will approach the field of history in a broad sense. While fundamentally historical, it will also be interdisciplinary in nature, welcoming work by scholars of sport in related disciplines, including, but not limited to, communication studies, journalism, media studies, sport management, philosophy, American studies, and law. Of particular interest are historical analyses of fantasy sport that offer unique perspectives on sport and fandom, as well as on the various cultures related to them.   

 

If you are interested in having your work considered for this special issue of IJHS, please submit a 300-word abstract by February 15th, 2019 to Andrew J. Ploeg at aploeg@bilkent.edu.tr. The deadline for submission of first drafts (8,000 to 10,000 words, including endnotes) is September 15th, 2019, and the deadline for final drafts is May 15th, 2020. The target date for publication of the special issue is late 2020 or early 2021. Please direct all questions to Andrew J. Ploeg.

 

Journal Information:

Now in its fourth decade, The International Journal of the History of Sport (IJHS) is the world’s leading sport history academic periodical with its fully-refereed global coverage of the subject. As well as regular issues, the IJHS also offers regionally-focused issues on the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australasia and the Pacific, Europe, and from 2012 the Middle East. Additionally there are special issues each year on topics and themes of international significance. A reviews section ensures that readers are kept up to date with publications in the field. As befits an international journal, abstracts for the regular issues are translated into French, German, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Spanish.

 

The International Journal of the History of Sport is an international, ranked, peer-reviewed journal which publishes original research contributions to scientific knowledge. All manuscript submissions are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees.

 

Print ISSN: 0952-3367 

Online ISSN: 1743-9035

 

The International Journal of the History of Sport is abstracted and indexed in the following databases: America: History and Life; British Humanities Index; CAB Abstracts; Current Abstracts; Dietrich’s Index Philosophicus; EBSCOhost - various databases ; Global Health; Historical Abstracts; Gale Group – Expanded Academic ASAP, InfoTrac OneFile and  Ingenta; Humanities International Index; IBZ (Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur); International Bibliography of Social Sciences; Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Literatur; Leisure, Recreation and Tourism Abstracts; Leisure Tourism Database; OCLC – Electronic Collections Online; Ornamental Horticulture; Periodicals Index Online; Physical Education Index; Rural Development Abstracts; SportDiscus; Swets Information Services and  Thomson Reuters - Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index and Web of Science.

Contact Email
aploeg@bilkent.edu.tr