Olympian Desires: Building Bodies and Nations in East Asia will explore the Olympic games in Tokyo (planned for 1940), Tokyo (1964), Sapporo (1972), Seoul (1988), Nagano (1998), and Beijing (2008) and their impact on the politics, cultures, economic conditions, international relations, natural and built environments, and lifestyles of the host countries and the region. This international, interdisciplinary symposium will bring together scholars from three continents and the fields of anthropology, business, East Asian studies, geography, history, sociology, and sports studies to examine the construction of physical ideals, collective identities, and national aspirations in the Olympic experiences of China, Japan, and Korea.
THURSDAY, April 10
Regnier Hall Auditorium, KU Edwards Campus, Overland Park, Kansas
7:30pm
The Confucius Institute Annual Lecture
Andrew Morris (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo), "'Why Are They So Far Ahead of Us?': The National Body, National Anxiety, and the Olympics in China."
Friends of the Confucius Institute reception for conference participants to follow the lecture.
FRIDAY, April 11
Hall Center for the Humanities Conference Hall, Lawrence, Kansas
9:00
Welcome
Marsha Haufler, Director, Center for East Asian Studies
Michael Baskett, Symposium Co-organizer
9:15-10:30
Barak Kushner (University of Cambridge), "Going for the Gold: Health and Sports in Japan's Quest for Modernity."
Grant Goodman (University of Kansas), "Japan, the Philippines, and the Far Eastern Olympics of 1934."
10:30-10:45
Break
10:45-noon
Jessamyn Abel (Bowling Green State University), "When Athletes are Diplomats: Competing for World Opinion at the Tokyo Olympiads."
Robin Kietlinski (University of Pennsylvania), "Faster, Higher, and Stronger: Women and the Olympic Games in East Asia."
Noon
Lunch
1:15-2:30
Paul Droubie (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), "Foreign and Domestic Bodies: Sexual Anxieties at the Tokyo Olympics."
Aaron Skabelund (Brigham Young University), "Public Service/Public Relations: The Deployment of the Japanese Self-Defense Force for the Tokyo Summer and Sapporo Winter Olympics."
2:30-2:45
Break
2:45-4:00
John D. Horne (University of Edinburgh), "Sports Mega-Events and the Shaping of Urban Modernity in East Asia."
Lisa Delpy Neirotti (George Washington University), "Understanding Olympic Spectators’ Spending Behavior and Strategies to Maximize Olympic Economic Opportunities."
SATURDAY, April 12
Hall Center for the Humanities Conference Hall, Lawrence, Kansas
9:00-10:15
Lisa Davis (UCLA), "Cultural Policy and the 1988 Seoul Olympics: Policing the National Body."
James P. Thomas (Sogang University), "Anticipation, Attainment, and Aftermath:
The Legacy of the 1988 Seoul Olympics and its Monumentalist Aesthetics."
10:15-10:30
Break
10:45-noon
Xu Guoqi (Kalamazoo College), "The Olympics and China's Internationalization."
Jennifer Hubbert (Lewis & Clark College), "The Olympic City as Spectacle: Beijing 1988."
Noon
Lunch and planning for publication of papers
Symposium organizers: Michael Baskett (University of Kansas) and William M. Tsutsui (University of Kansas).
Sponsored by the University of Kansas Center for East Asian Studies, the Kansas Consortium for Teaching about Asia, the Confucius Institute at the University of Kansas, and the Hall Center for the Humanities.
All events are free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the Center for East Asian Studies, (785) 864-3849, ceas@ku.edu, www.ceas.ku.edu.
The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT
