Physical Cultures of the Body, A Virtual and In-Person Conference
PHYSICAL CULTURES OF THE BODY V
CONFERENCE DATES: JANUARY 16-17, 2025
As home to one of the world’s leading research groups dedicated to the study of physical culture, the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports is proud to announce that the fifth Physical Cultures of the Body Conference will be a hybrid event. Our focus remains on historical and other humanities-based approaches to the study of exercise, strength, sport training, strength athletes, competitive lifting, the healthful benefits of exercise, and all other aspects of what we call “physical culture” across the millennia. However, our hope is that many of you will choose to present in person this year and perhaps also make time to use the Stark’s resources during a visit to Austin. We hope that by meeting together we can learn more about each other, discuss our work, create new collaborations, and help the field of PC studies continue to grow.
This conference is co-sponsored by the peer-reviewed journal Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture. The journal has established two awards for the conference: The David P. Webster Award for Best Graduate Essay and The Terry Todd Award for Best Paper by a Working Scholar. Each award winner will receive $300.00. Iron Game History is highly cited by other scholars because our back issues are online and free to all, and it is used by Google Scholar in calculating citations. Submissions from scholars at all stages of their careers and from all academic disciplines are welcomed. To learn more go to: Iron Game History.
For questions, please email conference co-organizers:
Kim Beckwith — kim@starkcenter.org
Jan Todd — jan@starkcenter.org
Charles Stocking –- charles.stocking@austin.utexas.edu
Conference Schedule, Day One
16 January 2025 — Online
9:00am
Suvam Maiti – Physical Exercises and the Bengali Hindu Women in the First Half of the 20th Century (1920-1947) as Represented in Bengali Periodicals
Sohini Saha – The Politics of Physical Cultures in 20th Century Colonial Calcutta
10:00am
Hendrik Snyders – The “Puck Body” in Exile – from Berlin to Hurlingham, Johannesburg – the South African Ice Hockey Career of Rudi Ball, 1948-1952
Graeme Plint – Physical Culture and the South African Cadet Movement, 1912-1939
11:00am
Dimitris Regalos – Resilience, Toughness, and Physical Education in the 20th Century USA
Conor Heffernan – Strength for Service: American Physical Culture in World War II
12:00pm
Emma Pihl Skoog – Strength, Success, and Social Mobility: Success Narratives in Early 20th Century Strength Sports
Tatiana Konrad – The Body of a Woman: Gender, Disability, and Adaptivity in Soul Surfer
1:00pm
Alec Hurley – Television and the Reemergence of the “Nimble Fat Man,” Exploring Depictions of Athleticism in Popular Culture from Jackie Gleason to Peter Griffin
Eduardo Galak – “To Remain United in Spite of All Vicissitudes”: Images of the Consequences of the Firpo-Dempsey Fight (1923) and its Political Uses
2:00pm
David Chapman – Life is Movement: A Great-grandson’s Search for Sandow
John Fair – VIM and VIGOUR, Branding Beefcake & Barbells in Early Muscle Magazines
3:00pm
Louis Neymon – The Sportification of French Weightlifting in the Beginning of the 20th Century: Evidences from La Vie au Grand Air and l’Education Physique
Keith Rathbone – Jim Thorpe in France: A Transatlantic Consideration of American and American-Indian Physical Culture
Conference Schedule, Day Two
17 January 2025 — In-Person & Online
9:00am
Emilio Landolfi – Exercise Addiction
Simon Bronner – “No Pain, No Gain”: Cultural and Psychological Dimensions of Overcoming Bodily Limits in Strength Athletics
10:00am
Peter Miller – The Bright Sunrise of Physical Culture: Felix Oswald and the Ancient World
Broderick Chow – The Physical Cultural Politics of the American Occupation of the Philippines: Camp John Hay and the Igorot Villages
11:00am
Kristen Wilson – “When We’re in the Water, We’re Not in This World”: Women Aquatic Athletes of the Early 1900s and the Boundaries of Public Sport
Emalee Nelson Stone – The Bicycle and the Body: Revisiting the Victorian Vehicle in a Complicated Post-Roe v. Wade Era
Erin Crownover – “Chasing Excellence”: The Visionary Athletic Trainer, Tina Bonci
12:30pm – 1:30pm — Lunch Break
1:30pm
Derek Charles Catsam – Why are Long Jumpers No Longer Jumping Long? Track and Field Records and the Social Element of Human Limits
2pm
Corey H. Johnson – Autolykos the Pankratiast and the Body of a Mixed Martial Artist
Ben Miller – The Renaissance Origins of Fencing as a Strength-Enhancing Practice
Rachel Ozerkevich – Bodies in Motion? Naïve Painting and Bareknuckle Prizefighting
3:30pm
Jason Shurley – “Remarkable Lifting for Anyone, but Especially for a Woman”: A History of Women’s Powerlifting
Jan Todd – “How Do I Train to Get Stronger?” Fan Mail and the Evolution of Early Powerlifting Training Methods
The University of Texas is in the heart of downtown Austin, making it a convenient vacation spot for academics. Come join us and see why people have made Austin one of America’s most popular destinations.
Past Conferences:
