Modern Olympics, Geopolitics, Nationalism

 

Nationalism

           Nationalism – Desire to bring cultural and territorial imperatives together (identifiable group + land)

      Idea that people have something cultural (and sometimes, more sinisterly, racial) that unites them despite distance and class

      Inherently geographical – idea that “as time passes (for the nation), the space (of nation) is still there.”

           Nationalism is something that is created

       Requires new institutions (such as a national media using national language) to be created to make various people feel as one

      Institutions don’t necessarily have to have a positive effect to unite people

    They also don’t necessarily bring about unity

       These institutions make up an imaginative discourse

      But calling it “imagined” does not make the feelings surrounding it any less real: people die fighting to protect their nation (many others stop short of that, while still caring deeply).

           Is a highly gendered concept

       Nation is often referred to as a woman – motherland; lady liberty, Britannia

       In the founding discourse of a nation it is often men who are represented as fighting to protect women/land

    Women’s roles in revolutions often overlooked by historians, expected to only participate as child-bearers

 

Nationalism (cont.)

            Johann Herder, 19th  century German philosopher and major influence on early modern geography, was probably first philosopher of nationalism

       thought each “nation” should have  a government to allow democratic free expression of their needs and identity

       Thus the idea of the “nation state”

            Thus, after calls from intellectuals and some leaders, in 1871, you get Germany out of the several dozen states that were remnants of the Holy Roman, Austro-Hungarian empire, Prussian and other empires

        The manifestation of the idea that all German speaking people should be together in one state

       Similarly, in  1861, there is a united Italy, out of multiple kingdoms  and city states.

            This was a time of Social Darwinism, Environmental Determinism, and colonial exploitation, where “nation” was too often thought in racial, not cultural/lingiuisitc terms

 

Nationalism (cont.)

            Nationalist movements emerged around 1800 in many colonies in the Americas; by 1920 elsewhere.

        Struggle against colonial power, to gain not only independence, but cultural equality as well.

       After independence, renamed many streets, buildings, even cities (Sri Lanka, Cairo, India)

        Revolutions in the Americas were largely (with the exception of Haiti) by people very similar to the colonizers – more about self-determination than cultural/racial difference.

            Nationalism can also be Diasporic, i.e. people who still feel a part of one nation, even though they now live somewhere else

        Originally applied to Jews w/ notion of homeland in Israel, but people living throughout Europe, Middle East, Americas

        Now applied to Africans on all continents (Pan-Africanism), South Asians, others

 

Nationalism (cont.)

          Nationalist feeling is not going away (and seems to be increasing), despite global media, global economy

     Allows a group to hang onto something in the face of external economic and cultural changes

      Think U.S. post 9/11

          Sub-State Nations (separatist groups) often leading the way.  Why?

     Nation state only exists in theory

       All states are multi-national states (states with more than one national group).

   Japan and South Korea most homogenous

     Linguistic difference (Basque, Quebec)

      Often in making the larger nation state, peripheral languages are discouraged, become politicized.

   Groups losing language are also usually peripheral to economy and national culture

     Religious difference (Timor Leste, Chechens, Tibetans) which lead to differential inclusion.

 

Geopolitics

          Study of the geographical dimension of world politics

      In 19th century, was a problem solving form of knowledge about the struggle for power in world affairs and how to conduct statecraft and organize military power

      Primarily concerned about which physical, geographic features would (and had been pivotal) in inter-imperial contests for territory.

      Thus it was a spatialization of international politics, or politics between nation-states

      The most famous theory belong to Halford Mackinder, and was called the “Heartland Thesis” – basically, whichever country controlled the pivotal “heartland” (the plains of Poland and Ukraine, plus central Asia), would control the world.

      Came to define the knowledge used by those (politicians, think tankers, defense contradictors) with a state-centric and Darwinian view of world politics

          This idea emerged around the same time as nationalism, thus this became the “science” of how nation states struggled with one another.

 

Ideology

          What is ideology?

     The standard definition: the integrated assertions, theories and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program.

      Guiding philosophy might be another way to put it

      Most forms of nationalism have a (usually quite superficial) ideology.

     Marx, however, had a different definition, that has been widely influential in the social sciences:

      The “big” over-simplified ideas and half truths that the powerful put forth to blind the masses to the truth of their social situation

   In strict Marxist tradition, ideology is usually false, and thus produces “false consciousness”
»   Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer argued that in the 20th century, the “mass culture industry” did a lot of ideological work
   Later authors working in a Marxist tradition emphasized processes like:
»   Hegemony:  Antonio Gramsci’s idea that the rulers govern with the consent of the ruled (even if they exploit those they rule)
»   Ideological State Apparatuses: Louis Althusser’s idea that government institutions (schools, the military, various executive departments) did the work of reinforcing ideology.
 

 

 

Big Idea About the Olympics

          While race, gender, amateurism (which is really class) are very visible, today we’ll focus on nationalism/geopolitical competition

      Pg 81 “Noting the enthusiasm of the Greeks for Louys [the winner of the first marathon], French writer Charles Maurras said to[modern Olympics founder] Coubertin as he watched the celebration, “I see that your internationalism… does not kill national spirit – it strengthens it.”

      Indeed, this brings up the important point that as much as nationalism is “ideological” it is also genuinely felt.

          Summer games are the second most watched event in the world.

      The first is the World Cup, which also involves competition among “nations”

 

 

Pierre de Coubertin

          From the some angles, you could consider Pierre de Coubertin to be a social theorist

     In fact, he choose a career as an intellectual, focused on education (in particular physical education)

          Born into an aristocratic family in France, his lifetime included much turmoil, including a bad defeat of the French by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War; the Paris Commune uprising, and the Founding of the Third Republic.

     This mixture of intellectualism, classicism, French nationalism, and desire for peace drove his career

 

de Coubertin (cont)

          Early on, his primary focus was getting physical education to be mandatory in French schools

     Partially, this was geopolitics: he believed the reason the Germans won the Franco-Prussian war was because they were in better shape from exercising

      As such, he studied abroad to learn about the physical education programs instituted at English schools like Eton and Rugby

     Partially, this was a love of Greek Classicism

      He was inspired by the concept of the Greek “gymnasium” where men worked to improve their minds and bodies together.

   Of course, you had to be wealthy enough to have the free time to work out and think all day

 

de Coubertin (cont.)

           In 1875, archeology began at the site of ancient Olympics, and by 1890, de Coubertin was promoting the idea of a modern Olympiad.

       He thought the Olympics represented the highest ideals of sport: the struggle to do your best and form comradeship

      He also wanted the Olympics to be only for amateurs, because he viewed professionals as competing only to win and earn money

    Thus many early Olympic athletes were elites (or at least well educated)
    Those who organize the Olympics  -- members of the International Olympic Committee – also have tended to be quite elite (either by birth or through fame/political maneuvering) and stayed in office a very long time.

      In ancient Greece, the games were met with peace (he hoped the modern games would work the same)

    Nonetheless, geopolitics found their way into the modern games often.

 

Olympic Geography

           First modern games held in 1896 in Athens and at original Olympic site

       80% of attendees were Greek, and they were very enthusiastic about the attention and revenue

      Many events had a military type theme (running, shooting, etc…)

       Much wider participation by Europeans in Paris 1900 Olympics

      Began the tradition of moving the games to a new location every four years.

      Women allowed to compete in four sports; the number of women’s sports badly lagged well into the 1970s

           First Winter Olympics held in 1924 in France

       Still dominated by the minority of the world’s people who live at northern latitudes

           Mexico City in 1968 first non-Euro dominated country to host Olympics

       Sapporo, Japan, hosted 1972 Winter Games

       Major events avoided developing countries partially out of infrastructure fears, partially out of prejudice

      Competing in the games becomes a venue where the formerly colonized can demonstrate their equality.

 

Olympic geography (cont).

           Among later games, two are seen as particularly crucial:

      1984 Los Angeles Olympics seen as first hyper-commercialized games

      McDonalds and Coca Cola were everywhere, as was unprecedented television coverage

    The massive influx of money led to bribery scandals: where Coca-Cola used its influence to bring the Olympics to Atlanta, and the Salt Lake City organizing committee paid off IOC members to get the Olympics there.
    The massive coverage also set the stage for NBC to develop its own Olympics coverage style – more focused on narrative than on the sports itself

      China used 2008 Olympics as a “coming out party” to announce its presence as geopolitical force.

      Forced cars off roads to clean air; removed bad English translations from signs; trained thousands of people for opening and closing ceremonies

    Continues pattern where China uses sports in foreign policy: first official US delegation to visit China was ping pong team in 1971

 

Olympic geography (cont).

           There are now 26 sports, awarding 302 gold medals in the Summer Olympics (with 10,000+ athletes); 15 sports and 98 gold medals in Winter Olympics (with 2800+ athletes).   There are also coaches, officials, media, and spectators – adding hundreds of thousands more people, all crammed into two weeks.

       This is a gigantic, expensive undertaking

      It disrupts economic patterns for many years before, as well as during, the Olympics

      Many of the venues (think velodrome cycling, bobsled/luge, whitewater kayaking) are expensive to maintain and have very few participants in the host city; most cities also need only one arena and one stadium, not dozens (plus facilities for the athletes to train before their event)

    Thus many Olympic structures are left unused; meaning the land they built on gets lost to productive use.

      Because it is construction, it is almost always delayed and over-budget, as in Sochi

    It is the tax payers of that city (or sometimes the whole country), who get left to pay the bill
»    Athens Olympics is a prime example; now Rio Olympics as well.

       Yet, the games (and sports in general) are often framed as “economic development” , when most of the evidence says impacts tend to be small, except for construction firms and sports officials/owners.

 

 

Olympics and Nationalism

Because of the significant international attention, Olympics became a proxy for many struggles within and between nations

          1936 Berlin – Hitler tries to use Olympics as platform for fascist propaganda about Aryan superiority and Nazi style nationalism.

     African American athlete Jesse Owens won four medals.

      Although he didn’t get to shake Hitler’s hand; neither did he get to meet Roosevelt.

          1968 Mexico – Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos give black power salute while receiving medals

     Olympics occurred soon after the deaths of MLK, RFK ; massive student protests in Mexico, surpressed with thousands of troops and tanks; and possible involvement of apartheid South Africa in Games

     IOC condemns Smith and Carlos; most of the rest of the world sympathetic

      Australian sprinter Cathy Freeman made similar gesture by carrying “unofficial” aboriginal flag after 2000 Olympic win

          1972 Munich – Palestinian group kidnaps Israeli athletes, both groups die during raid by German special forces

 

Sport and Nationalism: Kenya

No country was so associated with dominance in one sport like Kenya is with distance running (save perhaps China in table tennis)

          The majority of the 200 fastest times for men’s marathon are Kenyans; about 20% of women’s

          Most of the runners from the 3 million member Kalenjin tribe

     The tribe lives in high altitudes where the climate is cool,  ideal distance training conditions

     People living in similar conditions in Ethiopia have had early and recent success.

          First break through was in Mexico, where Kip Keino, who won two medals with a bladder infection

          While earlier in the program, government provided money, now Fila, Puma, Adidas own training camps

     Lornah Kiplagat has opened training camp for women runners in her home country of Kenya, changing gender relations

 

Olympics and Cold War

One of the few places where Communists and US met face to face, to prove superiority

      Also included intra-communist rivalries, such as Hungary vs USSR in 1958 water polo match that ended in teams and fans fighting.

          Huge institutions in Soviet Union, Cuba, Romania, East Germany for training athletes from very young age, with great success.

      None of their athletes ever turned pro, so their “amateur” hockey, basketball teams (nominally working for security services or the army) were infinitely better

      Soviets also excelled in sports where there were many weight classes (wrestling, weight lifting)

      East Germany widely accused of doping women’s swim team, coaches went to China after collapse of the Wall, which resulted in suddenly gigantic women swimmers from China

      There was doping among US athletes but it tended to be privately, rather than government, funded.

      Even though women’s sports were not popular with spectators in Eastern Bloc, that group + Scandinavia were way ahead of Western Europe/US in providing equal facilities for women’s sports

 

Olympics and Cold War (cont.)

            Because of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Jimmy Carter led a movement to boycott 1980 Moscow Olympics, which the US Olympic Committee reluctantly agreed to;

        As reprisal, 1984 LA Olympics  were boycotted by Soviet Union and their allies.

        As the reading pointed out, the problem for athletes is that Olympics only come every four years (which means probably only once during her/his peak)

       Carter seeming tough on communists, and Soviets seeming tough on Americans, robbed a generation of athletes on each side what they had spent their life training for.

 

 

Conclusions

           The Olympics started as a practical social theory, about human perfectibility, military readiness, aristocratic amateurism and international “brotherhood”

      Shows that, over time, creations often end up looking quite different than their creator intended (in social theory, this is called “death of the author”, where what is important is not original intentions, but how something gets “read” and used.

      Became about geopolitical competition, strong national feeling, taking revenge, and money-making (and tax revenue eating) media spectacle

    But they have also proved a boon for women’s athletics (even if they have not achieved full revenue equality) and provided a forum for the formerly marginalized to gain attention.
    People also enjoy them.

           Once again institutions are important; in this case an institution that draws on what Eric Hobsbawm (another scholar of nationalism) called an “invented tradition” meant to bring a sense of unity – even if it is unity in competition.

           As important as pop culture events like the Olympics are in shaping “ideologies” like nationalism and geopolitics,  they are also undeniably emotionally appealing – and thus they are more than the good and bad work they do.

      This again is the non-representational argument here, which deserves consideration alongside the (usually trenchant) Marxist, post-structuralist, feminist, post-colonial, and post-modernist arguments made about the games.