Univerza V Ljubljani Filozofska Fakulteta Oddelek Za Etnologijo in Kulturno Anrtopologijo

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Univerza V Ljubljani Filozofska Fakulteta Oddelek Za Etnologijo in Kulturno Anrtopologijo UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA ODDELEK ZA ETNOLOGIJO IN KULTURNO ANRTOPOLOGIJO BLAŽ BAJIČ Fitnes: od nadzora do upora Diplomsko delo Študijski program: Etnologija in kulturna antropologija - E Mentor: red. prof. dr. Rajko Muršič Ljubljana, 2013 Zahvale Ker niti študijska dela, kot so diplomske naloge, ne nastajajo in ne morejo nastajati v družbenemu, materialnem, idejnemu ter čustvenemu vakuumu, in ker v tem oziru moja naloga ni nikakršna izjema, se ne čutim dolžnega, ampak hvaležnega, da se lahko ljudem, ki so mi pri pisanju naloge pomagali v kateremkoli zgoraj omenjenem smislu, zahvalim. Svojim staršem Mojci in Marinu se zahvaljujem za brezpogojno podporo, ki sta mi jo nudila tekom študija. Kolegicam in kolegom, prijateljicam in prijateljem sem hvaležen, ker so v meni ničkolikokrat vzbudili in okrepili željo po mišljenju, študiju in razumevanju sveta. Zahvaljujem se tudi vsem sogovornikom in sogovornicam, ki so bili z menoj pripravljeni deliti svoje misli in izkušnje. Posebna zahvala gre mentorju Rajku Muršiču, ki me je z nasveti in pripombami, kritikami in pohvalami, napotki in vprašanji bolj namučil, kot katerakoli utež, a s svojo teoretsko globino in sploh širokim znanjem vedno znova spodbudil k nadaljnjemu delu. Last but definitely not least se zahvaljujem Niki, ki mi je tekom zadnjih let vedno stala ob strani, me podpirala in ko je bilo potrebno »prizemljila«. Daljnosežnost njenih komentarjev in pronicljivost njenih vprašanj, ki mi jih je postavljala v pogovorih med nastajanjem naloge, sta bila in sta še vedno velikanski vir navdiha in samo-izpraševanja, brez katerega ta naloga ne bi bila to, kar je. 2 Izvleček Fitnes: Od nadzora do upora Diplomsko delo obravnava fitnes vadbo moških kot se odvija v fitnes centrih. Avtor na kratko predstavi zgodovino fitnes vadbe in njegovega »brata dvojčka«, bodibilding, ter jo poskuša povezati z nekaterimi pomembnejšimi družbenozgodovinskimi spremembami, predvsem tekom 20. stoletja. Oriše tudi zgodovino fitnes vadbe v Sloveniji, ki se steče v kratko diskurzivno analizo reprezentativnih spletnih besedil, ki fitnes vadbo ne le predstavljajo, temveč tudi promovirajo. Izhajajoč iz etnografske izkušnje predstavi dogajanje v fitnes centrih, medsebojno opazovanje obiskovalcev, primerjave in tekmovanja, ki potekajo v znamenju medijskih reprezentacij teles. Čeprav vaje večino časa izvajajo z veliko mero natančnosti in samonadzora, ko s pomočjo zrcal svoja telesa »odrežejo« od sebe, pa se občasno zgodi, da se prepustijo vadbi in bolečini. Takrat (svoja) telesa doživijo drugače, doživijo se kot telesa; izkušnja razbolelih mišic jim predstavlja zadovoljstvo v trpljenju in obratno, ki na neki točki postane preveč intenzivno, neznosno in grozljivo, a zahteva vztrajanje. Ob koncu dela avtor opiše tudi dogajanje v moških slačilnicah, ki se pogosto odvija na robu homosocialnosti, »v bližini« homoerotike. Moški jo preganjajo z načinom gledanja in diskurzivno, z objektivacijo deklet, čustveno odcepitvijo ter nenehno tekmovalnostjo. Ključne besede: fitnes vadba, nadzor, antropologija telesa, skrb za telo, antropologija športa Abstract Fitness: From Control to Resistance Undergraduate thesis discusses men exercising as it takes place in gyms. The author gives a short historical account of fitness exercising and of its “twin brother”, bodybuilding. He tries to connect it with some of the more important historical and social changes, especially those that took place in the 20th century. This account leads to a short discursive analysis of representative texts taken from the World-Wide-Web that do not only give instructions on how to exercise but also promote fitness training as respectable form of exercise. Drawing on his ethnographic experience he gives a description of what takes place in gyms, mutual observance of gym-goers, their comparisons and competitiveness that take place under the sign of mass media representations. Even though gym-goers mostly exercise slowly, with a 3 great deal of control and accuracy and are with the help of mirrors able to “cut of from” their bodies, from time to time they give in to the exercises and physical pain. In those moments they experience their bodies very differently; they experience themselves as bodies. This can be simultaneously enjoyable and traumatic. At certain point it becomes unbearable, but “it” whishes to continue. The author also gives an account of everyday proceedings in male locker-rooms that the place on the boundary between homosociality and homoeroticism. Key words: fitness exercising, discipline, anthropology of the body, body-care, anthropology of sport 4 KAZALO Preoblačenje: Predgovor…..…………………………………..……………….7 Prvi del treninga………..……………………………………………………..10 Uvod: Ogrevanje………………….…………………………………………………………10 Kratek pregled zgodovine športa…………………………………………………………...14 Od antične Grčije do modernosti…………………………………………………………..15 Nastanek modernega športa…….…………………………………………………………..19 Telovadna gibanja v 19. in začetku 20 stoletja…………………………………………….22 Telovadna društva na Slovenskem…………………………………………………………27 Olimpijsko gibanje…………………………………………………………………………..32 Vaudeville in silaki…………………………………………………………………………..34 Eugen Sandow – Veličastni…………………………………………………………………39 Premor 1: »Kdor obvladuje, preteklost obvladuje prihodnost. Kdor obvladuje sedanjost, obvladuje preteklost«………………………………………………………………………..43 Drugi niz: zgodovina zgodnjega fitnesa v 20. stoletju……………………………………..46 Fitnes revolucija poznih sedemdesetih in osemdesetih……………………………………52 Fitnes v Sloveniji…………………………………………………………………………….59 Drugi del treninga……………………………………………………………..62 Ko spregovori fitnes…………………………………………………………………….62 Kdo dela diskurz?...................................................................................................................64 Natančnost in učinkovitost………………………………………………………………….67 Obljuba………………………………………………………………………………………73 Tretji del treninga………………………………………………………………………..74 V fitnes centru……………………………………………………………………………….75 Vzroki in razlogi za vadbo…………………………………………………………………..85 Začetki in nadaljevanja……………………………………………………………………..86 Nadzorovani gib……………………………………………………………………………..98 Od objektivecije telesa do njegovega užitka……………………………………………...110 Nenaden obrat……………………………………………………………………………...111 Kako razumeti fitneserski burn?..........................................................................................121 Burn kot telesenje in kot užitek…………………………………………………………...130 5 Četrti del treninga……………………………………………………………140 V slačilnici: »Za streching«…….………………………………………………………….140 V moški slačilnici z moškimi………………………………………………………………142 Fitneserska moškost?............................................................................................................155 Peti del treninga………………………………………………………………158 Zaključek: Ohlajanje in sproščanje………………………………………………………158 Summary……………………………………………………………………..162 Literatura ……………………………………………………………………163 Spletni viri……………………………………………………………………172 6 Predgovor: Preoblačenje Pričujoča naloga je nastajala dolgo, predolgo. Ko sem sredi četrtega letnika študija začel intenzivneje razmišljati o temi bodoče diplomske naloge in ko sem ob koncu študijskega leta začel zbirati relevantno literaturo, si nisem predstavljal, da bom za njeno dokončanje potreboval dve leti. Odločitev, da se bom v diplomski nalogi ukvarjal s fitnes vadbo, se je – tako kot domala vse odločitve – zgodila tako rekoč samodejno. Odločitev je padla na nekem sprehodu z nekdanjim dekletom, ko sva kramljala o navadah ljudi v najini okolici, ki so se nama zdele nenavadne. Tekom pogovora sva se »zataknila« pri ljudeh, ki obiskujejo fitnes centre in tam dvigujejo uteži. Ker sem v tistem obdobju razmišljal o temi, ki bi se je lotil v diplomski nalogi, sem pomislil, da bi bila fitnes vadba zanimiva in primerna tema naloge. Seveda pa se zamisel, da bi bila fitnes vadba zanimiva tema naloge, ni oblikovala iz niča, tam, v tistem trenutku, ampak se je »spela« z nekaterimi mojimi precej starejšimi (za)čudenji. Ta (za)čudenja o fitnes vadbi izvirajo še iz osnovnošolskega obdobja, ko sem v športnem centru Tivoli treniral plavanje. Da sem kasneje med tistim sprehodom sprejel odločitev, da se bom v diplomski nalogi ukvarjal s fitnes vadbo, je bila torej posledica starih (za)čudenj in svežih nenavadnosti. To sicer ne razloži, kaj »v« fitnesu, je fitnes delalo zanimivo in privlačno, a na to pač ne znam dati odgovora. Skozi vseh osem let osnovne šole in več let srednje šole sem treniral plavanje. Sprva sem v bazen skočil le nekajkrat na teden, kasneje, v letih, ko sem aktivno tekmoval, pa sem se »zmočil« tudi večkrat dnevno, naposled, zadnjih nekaj let pa zopet redkeje, pravzaprav vse redkeje, manj resno in precej bolj »sproščeno«. Slaba tri leta, ki so se razvlekla že v prvo leto študija, sem delal tudi kot vaditelj otrok in odraslih v nekem športnem društvu. Vsa ta leta sem se, ko sem skoraj vsakodnevno zahajal v športno središče Tivoli, sprehajal mimo velikanske steklene »izložbe«, kot smo s soplavalci včasih norčavo imenovali fitnes center v Tivoliju. V teh letih sem v predel stavbe, kjer se nahaja fitnes, zašel le nekajkrat – pa še takrat le zavoljo različnih testiranj, ki sem jih kot plavalec v klubu moral opraviti tam. Takrat – sam sem obiskoval šesti ali sedmi razred osnovne šole – smo si s soplavalci obiskovalce fitnesa najbolj privoščili. Ob takšnih priložnostih pa smo pogovarjali tudi o mogočih vzrokih, zakaj ljudje obiskujejo fitnese. Razlage so segale od šaljivih in naravnost absurdnih do za odtenek bolj resnih, takšnih, ki so se začele z »En moj prijatelj hodi na fitnes,
Recommended publications
  • Official Athletic Rules and Official Handbook
    GROUP XII., No. 12A VBIC^ 10 CENTS J SEPTEMBER . 1910 K 'H ATHI/BTIC I/IBRARY «^^ Auxiliary Series viy^ Il«" •••;»»"• hV 563 J5i'R P45 'I! 11910 hei 1 A.Gi.Sralding & §ros. .,^. MAINTAIN THEIR OWN HOUSES > • FOR DISTRIBUTING THE Spalding ^^ COMPLETE LINE OF Athletic Goods ••" ';' . r IN THE FOLLOWING CITIES NEW YORK "'izT°I28 Nassau St. "29-33 W«sl 42d SI. NEWARK, N. J. 84S Broad Street BOSTON, MASS. 141 Federal Street Spalding's Athletic Library Anticipating the present ten- dency of the American people toward a healthful method of living and enjoyment, Spalding's Athletic Library was established in 1892 for the purpose of encouraging ath- letics in every form, not only by publishing the official rules and records pertaining to the various pastimes, but also by instructing, until to-day Spalding's Athletic Library is unique in its own par- ticular field and has been conceded the greatest educational series on athletic and physical training sub- jects that has ever been compiled. The publication of a distinct series of books devoted to athletic sports and pastimes and designed to occupy the premier place in America in its class was an early idea of Mr. A. G. Spalding, who was one of the first in America to publish a handbook devoted to sports, Spalding's Official A. G. Spalding athletic Base Ball Guide being the initial number, which was followed at intervals with other handbooks on the in '70s. sports prominent the . , . i ^ »«• a /- Spalding's Athletic Library has had the advice and counsel of Mr. A.
    [Show full text]
  • Fitnesskultur.Dk Fitness-Sektorens Historie, De Aktive Udøvere Og Breddeidrættens Kommercialisering
    Fitnesskultur.dk Fitness-sektorens historie, de aktive udøvere og breddeidrættens kommercialisering Kasper Lund Kirkegaard Ph.d.-afhandling Institut for Idræt og Biomekanik Det Sundhedsvidenskabelige Fakultet, Odense, 2011 - 0 - - 1 - Ph.d.-afhandling af Kasper Lund Kirkegaard (2011) Fitnesskultur.dk - fitness-sektorens historie, de aktive udøvere og breddeidrættens kommercialisering Institut for Idræt og Biomekanik Det Sundhedsvidenskabelige Fakultet SYDDANSK UNIVERSITET, Odense Hovedvejleder: Bjarne Ibsen, professor, ph.d. Institut for idræt og Biomekanik, Syddansk Universitet, Odense Projektvejleder: Kari Steen-Johnsen. Forsker, Ph.d. Institutt for Samfunnsforskning, Elisenberg, Oslo. Indleveret til bedømmelse d. 9. december, 2011. Godkendt og indstillet til bedømmelse af bedømmelsesudvalget1 d. 16. april, 2012. Bestået ved mundtligt forsvar d. 27. juni, 2012. 1 Bedømmelsesudvalget bestod af Lektor Bernard Jeune (formand), Professor Lars Bo Kaspersen og Professor Ørnulf Seippel. - 2 - Prolog – mit første møde med den amerikanske fitnesskultur Fra ’rejsedagbog, dag nr. 1 – mit først møde med den amerikanske fitnesskultur’2, Las Vegas, mandag d. 20. marts 2006 (Kirkegaard, 2006). ”Las Vegas ligger som en glitrende plastikoase midt i den ellers knastørre Nevadaørken. Byen er et gigantisk supermarked, der er fyldt med smilende servitricer med afblegede tænder og iført lidt for korte nederdele, der står parat til at tage imod dig med gratis cocktails, hvis du lader dig guide ind i lokalernes mørke gamblinggrotter, hvor der ikke skiltes med udgange. Er man først kommer derind, så bliver man der. Her kan alle behov opfyldes, så længe det er cool cash, der anvendes som kommunikationsmiddel. Dette er i sandhed et kulturstudie værdigt. Jeg er i byen for at medvirke i den 25. kongres arrangeret af den amerikansk ledede brancheforening, IHRSA, som står for International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association.
    [Show full text]
  • Steroids: an Historical Perspective Some Years Ago, During My Annual Visit to the Home of David Building Magazines Such As Iron Man
    VOLUME 1 NUMBER 2 APRIL 1990 Steroids: An Historical Perspective Some years ago, during my annual visit to the home of David building magazines such as Iron Man. For those who might be P. Willoughby, he and I were comparing the lifting and the unaware of the drug testing procedures, a bit of history might physiques of the pre-steroid and post-steroid eras. In that dis- be in order. cussion, one of several we had on the subject over the years, Testing for anabolic steroids was first used in 1976, at Dave told me that he found it increasingly hard to take real the Montreal Olympics, and the weightlifting community has interest in the accomplishments of strength athletes since 1960. the unfortunate distinction of having produced more positive (Many people close to the game know that 1960 was the year results than any other sport from those first drug tests. (Two of in which Dr. John Ziegler convinced Tony Garcy and Bill the most famous lifters who tested positive for steroids in 1976 March of the York Barbell Club and Lou Riecke of the New were the Bulgarian, Blago Blagoev, and the American, Phil Orleans Athletic Club to begin using a form of training called Grippaldi.) In the ensuing years, athletes from many other isometric contraction and to begin taking a pill called Di- sports have tested positive and no longer does the average anabol, and that the dramatic success of these three athletes sports fan believe that the only athletes who use steroids are ushered in the steroid era.) weightlifters and bodybuilders.
    [Show full text]
  • The Roark Report – Important Dates in Iron Game History
    MARCH 1991 IRON GAME HISTORY THE ROARK RE PORT This issue’s Roark Repot continues cataloguing the important dates in the history of the iron game. If any of these events strikes a memory in our readers, perhaps information such as newspaper clippings or personal correspondence could be shared with us. Please help by writing to Iron Game History or to me, Joe Roark, P.O. Box J, St. Joseph, IL 61873. September 1: September 26: 1873 Dr. Dudley Allen Sargent was appointed at Harvard as 1916 Jack LaLanne born. “Director of the Gymnasium and Assistant Professor of Physical 1972 Joseph Curtis Hise died. Training” September 28: 1909 Karl Swoboda “continentalled” & jerked 387.113 pounds. 1849 Dudley Allen Sargent born. Died July 21, 1924. 1932 Hermann Goemer curled 110 l/4 pounds in each hand. September 29: September 3: 1863 Oscar Matthes born. Died Mar 23, 1950. 1945 Bill Reynolds born. September 30: September 4: 1902 Frank Miller born. 1951 Casey Viator born October 1: 1965 First National Powerlifting Championships. 1888 Louis Cyr backlifted 3536 lbs. Approximately the same poundage September 5: was lifted by Minerva on April 15, 1895. One month later, on May 27, 1952 Kurt Saxon died. Born March 11, 1884. 1895, Cyr set his all-time record in the back lift-approximately 4300 September 8: pounds-at Austin and Strong’s Museum in Boston. 1909 John Dawe born. 1989 Chester Teegarden died. September 9: October 3: 1900 George Lurich set record in “belly toss” of 443 pounds. 1943 Ellington Darden born. 1927 Joe Greenstein, ‘The Mighty Atom,” began his vaudeville act.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernarr Macfadden
    MARCH 1991 IRON GAME HISTORY JAN TODD The Univertsity of Texas B ERNARR MACFADDEN: REFORMER OF FEMININE FORM* On October 5, 1905, Anthony Comstock of the Society for the Though a large number of posters were confiscated from the Suppression of Vice, accompanied the officers of the New York Macfadden offices, most of them had already been distributed Police Department as they raided the offices of The Physical Culture throughout the city and the ensuing furor raised by the New York Publishing Company and arrested its founder and press surrounding Macfadden’s litigation in the days owner, Bernarr Macfadden. The charge was the between his arrest and the opening of the show spreading of pornography and at issue were the whetted the public’s curiosity to such an extent that posters for a “Mammoth Physical Culture Exhibition” special police units had to be called out on opening to be held at Madison Square Garden- -posters which night to handle the 20,000 spectators, 5,000 of whom showed the winners of the physique competitions held had to be turned away.3 As the Times pointed out as part of the previous year’s extravaganza. There the morning after the show’s opening, Comstock’s were apparently two posters which Comstock found efforts to preserve the morals of the citizenry of New objectionable; the first, as the New York Times York failed because they generated an enormous reports, showed “the women prize winners, ten or amount of free publicity for Macfadden, and because twelve young women in white union suits with sashes those who were able
    [Show full text]
  • Abbye “Pudgy” Stockton Played a Central Role in Popularizing Physical Culture and Exercise for Women in the Central Decades of the Twentieth Century
    T h e The Abbye (Pudgy) Eville Stockton and Les Stockton Papers The H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture & Sports The University of Texas at Austin Finding Aid 7 Boxes: 407 Folders, 1 Oversized Magazine Box, 1 Flat File, 11 Artifacts; (2476 Items) Abstract Abbye “Pudgy” Stockton played a central role in popularizing physical culture and exercise for women in the central decades of the Twentieth Century. She was born Abbye Eville on August 11, 1917 and lived primarily in Santa Monica, CA during her long life. In the late 1930s she began working out with friends at Muscle Beach and quickly became famous for her rare combination of beauty, strength and muscularity. Her husband, Les Stockton, who served in WW II, was also a member of the Muscle Beach community and later a gym owner. Pudgy Stockton is also remembered as the author of “Barbelles” a monthly column about weight training and women that appeared in Strength & Health magazine from 1944-1954. Access Access to the Stockton Papers is restricted to visitors of the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports and must be requested in writing prior to arrival at the Center. The research request/proposal should explain the proposed project, the expected outcome, and institutional affiliation, if any. Requests should be sent to: Dr. Jan Todd at [email protected]. For additional information, please phone 512- 471-0993. No digital copies of the papers are available. Restrictions on Use The Stockton family retains the right to limit the use of the Stockton Papers under certain conditions.
    [Show full text]
  • Weightlifting at the New Orleans Athletic Club, 1872-1972
    Strongmen of the Crescent City: Weightlifting at the New Orleans Athletic Club, 1872-1972 by John D. Fair Outside the purview of the multitudes of tourists and merrymakers that descend upon the French Quarter each year sits the New Orleans Athletic Club (NOAC) on Rampart Street. Since 1872 this venerable institution has played a significant role in thereal cultural life of Louisiana’s largest city. As one of the first of its kind (San Francisco and New York claim precedence), the NOAC has catered to the physical and social needs of male citizens, but no previous publication has dealt with the nature of this service or its relation to the development of sports within the context of the city and nation.1 In addition to being an exclusive gentleman’s club, the NOAC served as a medium for channeling youthful energies and talent into a larger competitive arena and thereby constructing a distinctively male identity. Nowhere is this socialization dynamic more evident than in the weightlifting program where NOAC strongmen challenged some of the country’s best teams and helped make New Orleans a hotbed of physical culture. This tradition of enterprising manliness, recorded largely in the club’s monthly organ, The Punch, can be traced from the grave social crises of Reconstruction, when the status of Southern manhood seemed threatened, to the early 1970s, when a new cultural dynamic appeared which was to change the nature of sport and the club. The strongmen of the Crescent City epitomized, as much as any collective athletic endeavor, the spirit of masculinity that was prevalent at the NOAC during a critical century of American life.
    [Show full text]
  • Steve Wennerstrom Papers Finding
    T h e Steve Wennerstrom Papers The H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture & Sports The University of Texas at Austin Finding Aid Steve Wennerstrom Papers: 77 Boxes, 2 Oversized Boxes: 2833 Folders, 17 Artifacts, 130 Videos, no date, 1836-2014 (11491 items) Abstract Steve Wennerstrom is an expert on the history of women’s bodybuilding. He has served as the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) Women’s Historian. However, his interest in women’s sports extends beyond bodybuilding and the collection reflects that reality. Almost every sport that women have played is represented, making the Steve Wennerstrom Papers an invaluable resource to all researchers with an interest in women’s sports. Wennerstrom graduated from Cal State Fullerton and ran track. He also created one of the first women’s track publications, Women’s Track and Field World. The collection covers everything from strongwomen and circus performers to bodybuilding and powerlifting. It is truly an amazing knowledge base for bodybuilding and sports fans everywhere, especially those interested in the rise of women’s sports throughout the recent decades. Access Access to the Steve Wennerstrom Papers is restricted to visitors of the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports and must be requested in writing prior to arrival at the Center. Furthermore, certain items in the collection (as identified below) are not suitable to be viewed by minors. The research request/proposal should explain the proposed project, the expected outcome, and institutional affiliation, if any. Requests should be sent to: Dr. Jan Todd at [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • Esprit De Corps: a History of North American Bodybuilding James Woycke Western University, [email protected]
    Western University Scholarship@Western History eBook Collection eBook Collections 2016 Esprit de Corps: A History of North American Bodybuilding James Woycke Western University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/historybooks Part of the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Woycke, James, "Esprit de Corps: A History of North American Bodybuilding" (2016). History eBook Collection. 2. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/historybooks/2 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the eBook Collections at Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in History eBook Collection by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Esprit de Corps A History of North American Bodybuilding James Woycke Copyright c 2016 Esprit de Corps i Foreword Years ago, while researching another topic, Jim Woycke met body- builder photographer Tony Lanza who recounted many first-hand ac- counts of the early years of bodybuilding. Looking for more informa- tion, Jim discovered that, apart from some biographies of bodybuilders, there was little material on the sport, and less about Montreal brothers Ben and Joe Weider, founders of modern bodybuilding. Consequently, Jim resolved to write a comprehensive history. He researched the topic exhaustively in Canadian and American archives and libraries, and conducted several interviews. He met with Ben Weider in Montreal, who allowed him to read and photocopy all Weider magazines dating from 1940, and to quote from, and reprint photographs. Jim is the only researcher in the field to have read French language sources, uncovering Adrien Gagnon’s role in bodybuilding, especially his bitter rivalry with the Weiders.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Puzzling Modernity a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Satisfaction of the Requirements
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Puzzling Modernity A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in English by Laura Beth Lorhan 2016 © Copyright by Laura Beth Lorhan 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Puzzling Modernity by Laura Beth Lorhan Doctor of Philosophy in English University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Michael A. North, Chair Puzzling Modernity approaches key issues in modernist scholarship, such as fractured subjectivity and modernism's notoriously vexed relationship with popular culture, from a distinctly new vantage point by situating American modernism within a previously unrecognized pattern of nationwide fascination with puzzles dating back to the 1880s. I argue that puzzles appealed to modernist authors as aesthetic models because they offer a framework for acknowledging the grim realities of modern life without sacrificing the possibility for reconnection and regaining a sense of wholeness, no matter how provisional. Yet, while puzzles offer a safe environment in which to test out solutions to life's dilemmas, they also participate in exclusionary discourses and advance regressive agendas, particularly when administered as intelligence tests. Far more than aesthetic models, then, puzzles serve modernist writers as tools for revealing and frequently subverting the rhetorical ends to which these seemingly innocent and trivial pastimes have been put. In the first chapter, I argue that the "cross-word puzzle ii school" label that detractors of modernism appended to T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound during the 1920s serves as a useful point of departure for reconsidering their poetics because it brings their abiding concern for order rooted in language into sharp focus.
    [Show full text]
  • Ready Set In
    Starting Strength Father Figure or Phony? George Jowett, the ACWLA and the Milo Barbell Company, 1924-1927 by John D. Fair It is my belief that the present day official amateur lifting in Canada and the United States is the natural result of the efforts and accomplishments of George Jowett in regulating and promoting lifting and creating interest in progressive exercise.(1) —Ottley Coulter, 1956 He is so notorious for drawing the long bow, that what he says is of little value and not to be relied on. He always told it to the advantage of George Fiusdale. Nothing he claimed was so. No titles. No Awards. No nothing.(2) —Charles A. Smith, 1989 The most striking feature of the growing body of strength literature in the past decade has been the prevalence of biographical accounts. Glittering portraits abound of heroes from the past, satisfying the nostalgic cravings of “Strength & Health Boys Grown Up” and proving a rich heritage of role models for future generations of strength athletes.(3) Comparatively less attention has been focused on the great patriarchs of the iron game, the likes of which include George Windship, “Father” Bill Curtis, Professor Attila, Eugen Sandow, Bemarr Macfadden, Alan Calvert, George Jowett, Mark Berry, Bob Hoffman, Peary Rader, and the Weider brothers. Of these luminaries only Windship, Sandow, Macfadden, and Hoffman have been subjected to academic scrutiny.(4) That Jowett who (with Ottley Coulter and David Willoughby) institutionalized weightlifting as a sport in this country during the 1920s has not received greater recognition as a father-figure may seem curious.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyright by Kimberly Ayn Beckwith 2006
    Copyright by Kimberly Ayn Beckwith 2006 The Dissertation Committee for Kimberly Ayn Beckwith Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: BUILDING STRENGTH: ALAN CALVERT, THE MILO BAR-BELL COMPANY, AND THE MODERNIZATION OF AMERICAN WEIGHT TRAINING Committee: Janice S. Todd, Supervisor Terence C. Todd Carla A. Costa Janet M. Davis Charles D. Kupfer BUILDING STRENGTH: ALAN CALVERT, THE MILO BAR-BELL COMPANY, AND THE MODERNIZATION OF AMERICAN WEIGHT TRAINING by KIMBERLY AYN BECKWITH, B.A., M.ED. DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN AUGUST 2006 DEDICATION To my mother, Joan Ratliff; To the memory of my father, Clois Ray Beckwith; and To the rest of my family who kept encouraging me to “Just get it done!” ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As is the case with most projects of this scale, my dissertation was not completed in a vacuum. First, I want to thank Dr. Jan Todd of the Kinesiology and Health Education Department at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Todd taught me to trust in my strengths, both physically and intellectually. This dissertation would not have been started, much less finished, without her constant encouragement and support. Dr. Todd chaired my dissertation committee and provided the ongoing analysis that helped me to narrow and complete the manuscript. I would also like to acknowledge my other committee members. Special thanks go to Dr. Terry Todd, also of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at The University of Texas, who began the Todd-McLean Physical Culture Collection and, in so doing, provided me with the means to complete this dissertation.
    [Show full text]