Synopses & Reviews
The Olympics have developed into the world's premier sporting event. They are simultaneously a competitive exhibition and a grand display of cooperation that bring together global cultures on ski slopes, shooting ranges, swimming pools, and track ovals. Given their scale in the modern era, the Games are a useful window for better comprehending larger cultural, social, and historical processes, argues Jules Boykoff, an academic social scientist and a former Olympic athlete.
In Activism and the Olympics, Boykoff provides a critical overview of the Olympic industry and its political opponents in the modern era. After presenting a brief history of Olympic activism, he turns his attention to on-the-ground activism through the lens of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.and#160; Here we see how anti-Olympic activists deploy a range of approaches to challenge the Olympic machine, from direct action and the seizure of public space to humor-based and online tactics.and#160; Drawing on primary evidence from myriad personal interviews with activists, journalists, civil libertarians, and Olympics organizers, Boykoff angles in on the Games from numerous vantages and viewpoints.
Although modern Olympic authorities have strivedandmdash;even through the Cold War eraandmdash;to appear apolitical, Boykoff notes, the Games have always been the site of hotly contested political actions and competing interests. During the last thirty years, as the Olympics became an economic juggernaut, they also generated numerous reactions from groups that have sought to challenge the eventandrsquo;s triumphalism and pageantry. The 21st century has seen an increased level of activism across the world, from the Occupy Movement in the United States to the Arab Spring in the Middle East. What does this spike in dissent mean for Olympic activists as they prepare for future Games?
Review
andquot;Well-written and at times even lyrical, Activism and the Olympics provides a provocative contribution to ongoing discussions regarding the role of sport in society. Utilizing media analyses in concert with ethnographic field research, Boykoff takes us inside the world of Olympic activists and illustrates the intertwined nature of sport and politics on the global stage.andquot;
Review
andquot;Drawing on 70 interviews and analysis and observation of selected cases, Boykoff explores in unprecedentedly illuminating fashion the spaces of dissent within Olympic events. Interdisciplinary, critical, investigative, he shows how protest and fearless speech ('parrhesia') question Olympic myth and ideology.andquot;
Review
andquot;With sophisticated analysis and descriptive prose, Testing for Athlete Citizenshipand#160;offers provocative arguments. Author Kathryn Henne breaks new ground in showing that testing practices are not just about catching and#39;cheaters,and#39; but are implicated in corporal, gendered, economic, and postcolonial ideologies.andquot;
Review
andquot;A masterpiece of hybrid governance. This book chronicles with nuance the entire global history of a regulatory regime, yet through a micro lens, through the eyes and bodies of colonized athletes.and#160;A landmark of gendered and racialized problematics of fair play.andquot;
Synopsis
and#160;In Activism and the Olympics, Boykoff provides a critical overview of the Olympic industry and its political opponents in the modern era. After presenting a brief history of Olympic activism, he turns his attention to on-the-ground activism through the lens of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, drawing from personal interviews with activists, journalists, civil libertarians, and Olympic organizers.and#160;
Synopsis
Incidents of doping in sports are common in news headlines, despite regulatory efforts. How did doping become a crisis? What does a doping violation actually entail? Who gets punished for breaking the rules of fair play? In Testing for Athlete Citizenship, Kathryn E. Henne, a former competitive athlete and expert in the law and science of anti-doping regulations, examines the development of sports governance aimed at controlling performance enhancement in international sports.and#160;
About the Author
and#160;JULES BOYKOFF is an associate professor in the department of politics and government at Pacific University and the author ofand#160;
Celebration Capitalism and the Olympic Games.and#160;