Following the final of the 200 metres in the London Paralympics 2012, athlete Oscar Pistorius criticised the prosthetic leg (‘blade’) length of Alan Oliveira, a fellow athlete and eventual winner of the race, and accused the International Paralympic Committee of failing to implement fair stipulations. Pistorius’ contention directs attention toward an issue largely ignored in the sociological spectrum: the concept of fairness in the sporting arena. Drawing on the accounts of John Rawls (1971) and Amartya Sen (2009), specifically in terms (...) of considering justice as fairness, we deconstruct the principle of fairness in the Paralympics which is currently framed within scientific discourse determining the validity of both athletes and performance-enhancing technologies. By identifying how the Paralympics adopts a Rawlsian understanding of fairness, we explore the work of Sen to highlight its complexity in this context and the need to retreat from taken-for-granted assumptions informing current knowledge. (shrink)

This paper seeks to do two things. First, at a theoretical/exegetical level, it demonstrates important affinities between Foucault and Marx(ism): I contend that an opposition between them is misplaced, and their work can be fruitfully combined. Support for this position can be found in Foucault’s writings on biopower. Second, at an applied level, I draw on biopower to understand the role of the media in the creation of neoliberalism, and their reciprocal relationship.

This essay outlines key issues in current approaches to cultural and collective memory. It reflects on memory's relation to history and its social, cultural and political roles, drawing on theoretical insights from Halbwachs, Ricoeur, Nora and Hirsch. It addresses the issues of affect, postmemory and counter-memory, locating the articles in the special section within this broader cultural political field.