Critical Event Studies

Ian R Lamond is Senior Lecturer in Events at Leeds Beckett University, UK with a background in community theatre, arts development and cultural and political activism. His research interests include critical events studies; event theory, discourse and the body; critical discourse studies; social philosophy; political communication; and political sociology. Louise Platt is Senior Lecturer in Festivals and Events Management at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, where she is a programme leader for Events Management. She has a background the performing arts sector. Her research interests include mundane leisure practice and urban cultural events.

“The 14-chapter volume covers broad ground, but true to its subtitle, all content is tightly knit to the methods aspect of events research. … Graduate students, as well as more seasoned researchers, will thus find the book highly accessible and relatable. The chapters within it will make for excellent resources individually, when one has already committed to a particular method but is curious to explore the journeys others have had with it in their own event research contexts.” (Kellee Caton, Annals of Leisure Research, April, 2017)

• Introduction; Louise Platt and Ian R Lamond.- Part I Critical Considerations.- 1.  Problems of Involvement and Detachment: a critical approach to researching live event experiences; Daniel Turner and Elliot Pirie.- 2. A qualitative case study of the 2010 football world cup in South Africa: practical considerations and personal dilemmas; Suzanne Dowse.- 3. Creating Critical Festival Discourse through flexible mixed methodological research design; Allan Jepson and Alan Clarke.- Part II Discursive, Historical and Ideological Perspectives.- 4. The rewards and risks of historical events studies research; Matthew L. McDowell and Fiona Skillen.- 5. Space and memory in the Huashan event; Dominique Ying-Chih Liao.- 6. CDA, Critical Events and Critical Event Studies: How to make sense of critical events in a society of radical change; Nicolina Montesano Montessori.- 7. Using a corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADS) approach to investigate constructions of identities in media reporting surrounding mega sport events: the case of the London Olympics 2012; Sylvia Jaworska.- 8. Examining parasport events through the lens of Critical Disability Studies; Laura Misener, David McGillivray, Gayle McPherson and David Legg; Part III Encountering the Event.- 9. Participatory Research: Case study of a community event; Rebecca Finkel and Kate Sang.- 10. Researching from the inside: Autoethnography and Critical Event Studies; Katherine Dashper.- 11. An ethnographic approach to the taking place of the event; Andrea Pavoni and Sebastiano Citroni; 12. Experience sampling methods in critical event studies: Theory and practice; Jonathan Moss.- 13. The strength of festival ties: Social network analysis and the 2014 Edinburgh International Science Festival; David Jarman