Trinity Stages Heavyweight Conference – Cultures of Boxing

Jul 12, 2011

An international conference exploring what is at stake in boxing in the modern world took place recently at Trinity College Dublin.  Organised by the Head of the School of English, Dr Darryl Jones, and Head of the Department of French, Professor David Scott, and entitled Cultures of Boxing, the conference examined different aspects of boxing culture and problematic concepts such as masculinity and violence that are attached to the sport. 

Fifteen international speakers presented papers during the two day conference covering the following topics: Boxing and creative writing; Boxing and historical culture; Boxing and material culture; Boxing and critical writing; Boxing and art; and boxing and anthropology/sociology.  The conference provided a platform for input from different academic and creative disciplines including aesthetics, cultural studies, creative writing, history, literature and sociology/anthropology.  The viewpoint of boxing as a sport for participants, both amateur and professional, was also central to the debate.

Speakers from the Cultures of Boxing conference which took place at Trinity College Dublin.

Speaking about the conference, Dr Darryl Jones said: “I was really delighted that we could bring to Trinity almost all of the important writers and scholars on boxing, from the US, continental Europe, the UK and Ireland.  We brought together sociologists, criminologists, philosophers, historians and art historians, literary critics, writers, artists and boxing professionals.  Once again, this demonstrates Trinity’s place at the very forefront of interdisciplinary and popular-cultural studies in the Arts and Humanities.”

Dr Darryl Jones is review editor for Boxing Monthly.  Professor David Scott, a middleweight amateur boxer whose book The Art and Aesthetics of Boxing, was published in 2009 the by University of Nebraska Press.