Responsibilities and responses of sport in contemporary society 2026

Professor Oscar Mwaanga is a Professor of Practice at the Zambian Institute of Sport and Director of the International Sports Management programme at the University of London. A Pan-African scholar and co-founder of the Sport for Development (SfD) movement in Sub-Saharan Africa, his work advances Sport for Development, Peace and Environment, and supports the decolonisation of education and SfD through indigenous frameworks such as Ubuntu—“I am because we are.”

He chairs the Zambian Institute of Sport and serves on several sport-for-development boards, including the Sport for Social Change Network Africa. He is also a Visiting Professor at Kwame Nkrumah University and contributes to the UNESCO Chair’s work on Sport for Development, Peace and Environment.

Professor Mwaanga’s current research and practice centre on Physically Active Education (PAE), supporting its integration within Zambia’s competency-based curriculum to strengthen play-based, inclusive learning. He has also contributed to continental policy conversations, including advisory work linked to the African Union’s 2030 sports policy agenda.

The abstract of Oscar's presentation:

Beyond the Western Horizon: Seizing the Decolonial Opportunity in Sport for Development in a Changing World

This keynote paper reflects on twenty-five years of engagement as a Pan-African decolonial scholar and practitioner working at the intersection of decolonization, sport for development (SfD), and higher education. It identifies the current moment as a significant geopolitical shift—an emerging post-Western era that increasingly decenters entrenched Western dominance.

In examining the preceding era, the paper conceptualizes modernity/coloniality as a permeating architecture sustained through a matrix of mechanisms—including marginalization, underrepresentation, epistemic violence, gatekeeping of resources and knowledge, and the coloniality of power—which collectively enabled the legacy of coloniality to persist within SfD.

The paper argues that as we transition into this post-Western era, it is essential not to take the moment for granted. A clear understanding of the mechanisms that structured the previous era is necessary to leverage the present shift as a genuine decolonial opportunity. By embracing a pluriversal paradigm grounded in epistemic justice—incorporating knowledge systems such as Ubuntu from Southern Africa, Buen Vivir from the Andes, Maori worldviews from Aotearoa (New Zealand), and other non-Western epistemologies—the SfD field can co-create more inclusive, contextually meaningful, and socially transformative approaches to development.

Prof. Ramon Llopis Goig received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Valencia, Spain, in 1996. Between 1992 and 2001, he held technical and managerial roles in several marketing research and food companies. He is currently a Full Professor of Sociology at the University of Valencia, where he teaches Sociology of Sport and Social Research Methods.

He has served as Vice-Dean of Academic Planning of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Valencia (2018–2024) and as President and Vice-President of the Spanish Association of Social Research Applied to Sport (2012–2024). His academic work has been published in renowned journals such as the International Journal of Consumer Studies, Journal of Common Market Studies,Contemporary European Politics, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, and Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, among many others.

Prof. Llopis Goig has carried out research stays at the University of Leicester (UK), the European University Institute in Florence (Italy), University of Cork (Ireland), and the IOC Olympic Studies Centre in Lausanne (Switzerland). He has participated in numerous national and international research projects funded both publicly and privately. His research interests include sport, consumption, health, and organizational issues, on which he has published extensively.

The abstract of Ramon's presentation:

Homo ludens 2.0? The fate of playfulness in digital societies.

In 1938, Johan Huizinga observed that Western societies were experiencing a clear loss of the play-element, which he believed to be the origin of culture. This loss also affected sport, and Huizinga was particularly critical of its modern forms. Similarly, although their work did not specifically address sport, sociologists such as Simmel and Weber recognised the importance of play and the potential consequences for society of its diminishing relevance.

Although it might be considered an opposing trend to the one just mentioned, the development and expansion of video games have been extraordinary since the 1970s, and more recently e-sports have become one of the most emblematic elements of the ongoing digital revolution. At the same time, a powerful trend towards “gamification” is spreading in areas such as the workplace and education systems, which, in general, could be interpreted as a refutation of the theories of “deludification”.

Do these latter aspects suggest that our society has rediscovered the spirit of play? To what extent are individuals inspired by play nowadays? Have developments such as those mentioned compensated for the progressive loss of playful elements in society and sport, or has this loss been accelerated, leaving our time far removed from the playfulness that characterised previous centuries? What consequences has this had for society?