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.