Podcast appearances and mentions of susan brownell

Visit us at Network2020.org. The International Olympics Committee (IOC) has consistently positioned itself as against the politicization of sport. In The Olympic Charter, the IOC declares that it has a mission “to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes.” However, this has consistently not been the case. Countries like China have used hosting the games to showcase state power. Winning in the Olympics is a way to increase international prestige. Individual athletes have used the games as a platform for protests. There have been diplomatic boycotts of adversarial countries. So, how do international politics play into sporting events like the Olympics? How can sports be a tool for cultural relations? How do the 2024 Olympic games reflect current geopolitical trends? Join us for a conversation with Dr. Sarah Hillyer, Founder & Director of the Center for Sport, Peace & Society at the University of Tennessee, and Dr. Susan Brownell, Curators' Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.Music by Musictown from PixabayMusic by Aleksey Chistilin from Pixabay

At the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Chinese gold medalist Gu Ailing has been creating a lot of heat in the press in both China and America. The story of Gu, together with a good number of athletes who are representing countries which are not where they are originally from, is creating debate in the international media over the issue of sports and nationality. Does the nationality of the athletes matter and why? Who should be deciding on who is eligible to represent a country? Host Liu Kun talks to Susan Brownell, anthropologist and expert on Chinese sports at the University of Missouri-St Louis; Andy Mok, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization; and Dong Jun, veteran journalist and Founder of Ever-sports.

In China, all eyes are on the ongoing Winter Olympics. Although the Games have come under scrutiny for a number of reasons beyond sport, they are also the culmination of an impressive campaign to convert more than 300 million people into winter sport aficionados. Our correspondents report. We also speak to Susan Brownell, a professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri–Saint Louis.

On the cusp of the Chinese New Year and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Jeremiah and David record an Olympian episode of the podcast. The guest is Mark Dreyer, a veteran sports reporter, who has just released his new book, Sporting Superpower: An Insider's View on China's Quest to Be the Best. Mark has worked for Sky Sports, Fox Sports, AP Sports, and many other outlets and currently hosts the China Sports Insider Podcast. The conversation covers issues such as the historical importance of the 2008 Olympics, challenges of Covid-19 in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese model of recruiting and training Olympic athletes, the PR disasters of Chinese athletes due to lack of media savvy, the quest for a world-class Chinese soccer/football team, and the nexus of geopolitics, economics and soft power in China's Olympic endeavors. Dreyer also recounts many fascinating and telling anecdotes from his many years of interviewing athletes and covering Chinese sporting events.Other books and clips mentioned:Susan Brownell (1995) Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the People's RepublicMao Zedong (1917) "A Study in Physical Education"Yao Ming, "You can't f------ stop me" Video

Mere days away from China's Winter Olympics, more and more countries are leaving the huddle to join a diplomatic boycott against Beijing. As the Omicron Covid-19 variant continues to cause a global scare (plus a stoppage of ticket sales), sports anthropologist and Olympics expert Dr. Susan Brownell discusses the impact on diplomacy and on athletes vying for their once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Plus, misinformation by the mainstream media may be responsible for killing any hope of herd immunity. While working stiffs worry about rampant inflation outpacing wages, corporations see profits hit a record high regardless. RT's Brent Jabbour discusses the widening wealth gap, which is minting new billionaires by the day. Plus, eating disorders have risen sharply since we started staying at home. Psychotherapist Ashley McHan explains why the pandemic has brewed a perfect storm for already-stressed homebodies, as well as why it's challenging to assess a person's health based on weight alone.

It's less than a month to go until the Winter Olympics in Beijing, and a number of countries from around the world have announced they are boycotting – or are effectively boycotting – the Games.  But does China care about the Olympics, and if it does, then why? On this episode, I talk to Dr Susan Brownell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri and author of Beijing's Game: What the Olympics Mean to China. She is also a former athlete and has even competed in China, representing Peking University during her time as a student there. On the episode, we talk about what the 2008 summer Olympics revealed about China, the history of sports as diplomacy in the country (think back to ping pong diplomacy under Nixon) and go on a little digression about the dynamics of demolition in China, a very live topic inside and outside of the country as it grew out of the traditional and old houses cities used to have.

It's less than a month to go until the Winter Olympics in Beijing, and a number of countries from around the world have announced they are boycotting – or are effectively boycotting – the Games.  But does China care about the Olympics, and if it does, then why? On this episode, Cindy Yu talks to Dr Susan Brownell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri and author of Beijing's Game: What the Olympics Mean to China. She is also a former athlete and has even competed in China, representing Peking University during her time as a student there. On the episode, Cindy and Susan talk about what the 2008 summer Olympics revealed about China, the history of sports as diplomacy in the country (think back to ping pong diplomacy under Nixon) and go on a little digression about the dynamics of demolition in China, a very live topic inside and outside of the country as it grew out of the traditional and old houses cities used to have.

Next February, the 2022 Winter Olympics are scheduled to be held in Beijing, the venue of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Preparation for the Games is well underway and China has said that it looks forward to welcoming the athletes; but due to the coronavirus pandemic, Beijing has banned foreign spectators, as did Japan when it hosted the 2020 Summer Olympics. As the 2022 Olympics near, several countries, including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, and Lithuania, have announced a diplomatic boycott of the competition, and others may do so as well. So far, all countries will allow their athletes to compete. The diplomatic boycotts are a response to concerns about China's human rights practices, especially in Xinjiang, where at least one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been subject to involuntary detention in what China labels “reeducation camps.” Countries have very limited leverage over Chinese domestic human rights practices, and some argue that the Olympics provides a rare opportunity to voice the international community's concerns in a way that could shine a spotlight on China's human rights violations. In an August 2021 survey, just under half of Americans stated that they believe China's human rights record should prevent it from hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics, while 33 percent were uncertain. Please note that this podcast was recorded just prior to the Biden administration's announcement that it would not send officials to the Olympic Games. Bonnie Glaser talks with Susan Brownell about the upcoming Olympics and, more broadly, about the role of sports in China and what the Olympics means to the Chinese people and to the Chinese Communist Party. Dr. Susan Brownell is a professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She was a Fulbright Senior Researcher at Beijing Sport University and competed on the Chinese track and field team at the Chinese National College Games in 1986. She is also the author of Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the People's Republic.

The 1904 St. Louis Olympics were marred by controversy and poorly organized events like the marathon. But at least they took place as scheduled. In 1916, after the outbreak of World War I, they were canceled entirely. A century later, in 2020, the Olympics faced another kind of test: a global pandemic that forced the first postponement of the Games in their history. In this episode, Lindsay discusses troubled Olympics past and present with Dr. Susan Brownell, a former nationally ranked track-and-field athlete turned scholar and Olympic historian. They'll look at how war, disease, boycotts and political turmoil have repeatedly threatened the Games throughout their history, and how the Olympics have survived such challenges to unite the world in its love of sport.Support us by supporting our sponsors!SimpliSafe- Visit simplisafe.com/tellerstoday to customize your system and get a free security camera. You also get a 60 day risk free trial, so there's nothing to lose. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

China is in pole position to top the Olympics medal table for just the second time as the Tokyo Games heads into the final weekend of competition. The only other time it topped the table was at the 2008 Games in Beijing. After only returning to the Olympic fold in 1984, the country has had a remarkable run of success, finishing in the top four at every summer Games since Barcelona in 1992. While sports is seen as an important demonstration of national pride on the world stage, China's state-driven sports system is also a way in which the government maintains internal order. University of Missouri St-Louis professor of anthropology Susan Brownell is a world authority on China's sports system and the Olympics. She spoke to Corin Dann.

Have you ever felt competitive with a friend or a sibling? Competition comes up in a lot of different ways in life. Maybe you're running a race with a friend and you want to beat them! Maybe you're trying to play a song without making a mistake and you're competing against yourself. Sometimes competition feels good and fun. It can make you want to do better, and make a game more enjoyable. But not always. Sometimes competition feels bad. Like it's too much pressure, or takes away from the fun of being with your friends. Some people really don't like competition at all. 3-year-old Kai from Tokyo, Japan asks: "Why do we need to compete with other people, especially friends, for example on a sports day or at gym class?" In this episode we discuss competition with anthropologist Niko Besnier. And we'll hear from 12-year-old Harini Logan, a competitive speller from San Antonio, Texas, and 10-year-old Del Guilmette, an athlete from Monkton, Vermont. Download our learning guides: PDF | Google Slide | Transcript We put Kai's question to Niko Besnier, anthropologist at the University of Amsterdam.  One of his books is called The Anthropology of Sport, written with Susan Brownell and Thomas F. Carter. He says there are two reasons that people take part in competitions: "One is that sports are fun. It's fun to play with your friends and classmates, to run, jump, play ball. We've all experienced this rush of pleasure and fun doing these things. But the other aspect that's contradictory to the fun part is that it enables us to measure our strength, our speed, our physical ability against those of other people. It's the competition part of sport, and competition can become extremely serious. Frequently, the fun part of sport gets lost." Besnier says when competition gets out of hand it can lead to hurt feelings, and on a larger scale, competition can lead to things like war and inequality. But with the right attitude, competition, especially when we compete against ourselves, can help us get better at sports and academics. That's how it is for Harini Logan. She's a competitive speller who has made it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee twice! "Competition teaches you a lot, whether it's the preparation leading up to that competition or the outcome," Logan says. "It can teach you a lot about not only your abilities, but also new things that can change the way you look at life. When you're preparing for a competition you can learn how to work hard, and how not to give up on something. And during the competition you learn teamwork. That's one thing you learn in spelling bees, because you want to be with your community, your friends. One thing to learn if you win: sportsmanship! You don't gloat about it, you still appreciate yourself but you don't overdo it so others don't feel bad. And if you don't win it doesn't matter. [You just say:] I'm going to try harder next time." Competing also helps us get better. That's how 10-year-old Del Guilmette views it. He likes to play against tough teams when he plays sports, because that's how you get better. "The best players at the game, whatever sport it is, they didn't get better because they played teams that they knew they were going to beat. They played those teams that were better than them. They got better and they practiced!" Listen to the full episode to hear more about how these mature young competitors think about the value of competition.

Recent college graduate Chris Qiao lives in China’s northern Shanxi province. Like many young Chinese sports fans, he used to check NBA highlights on his phone every morning after waking up. A year ago, he saw a piece of news that shocked him. Houston Rockets' general manager, Daryl Morey, tweeted in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters. That gesture hit on a hot-button issue in China — the status of Hong Kong. For Qiao, it was enough for him to stop watching. “The tweet really hurt people’s feelings and crossed a line. ... It made me feel he didn’t respect us, so why should we still keep watching the NBA?”Chris Qiao, NBA sports fan, Shanxi province, China“The tweet really hurt people’s feelings and crossed a line,” Qiao said. “It made me feel he didn’t respect us, so why should we still keep watching the NBA?”It wasn’t just him. State-run TV network CCTV responded with a ban on the broadcast of any NBA games in China. This was a disaster for the NBA. There are more Chinese NBA fans than there are people in the US. Billions of dollars are wrapped up in the game in China. NBA teams and players have merchandising deals, advertising agreements and sponsorships. And a lot of that was canceled.In response, the NBA has tried to appease China through a series of public and private gestures to repair the harm done by that infamous tweet. At games broadcast in the US at the start of the pandemic, the NBA put up big signs and videos saying “Go Wuhan.” It also sent medical equipment and personal protective gear to help fight the coronavirus.  NBA players also reached out to fans directly with messages and donations. Every year, players film Chinese New Year greetings and other content for their Chinese fans, but this year they tailored their videos to fans in lockdown.Joseph Krassenstein is the director of marketing at MORE Sports, a company that helps NBA players connect with their fans in China.“If the NBA is going through a bit of political tension, people will still authentically follow their favorite icons and their idols. I think that fandom never stopped. If anything, I think the fans doubled down in their fandom in their efforts to keep connected to their favorite stars.”Joseph Krassenstein, marketing director, MORE Sports “If the NBA is going through a bit of political tension, people will still authentically follow their favorite icons and their idols. I think that fandom never stopped. If anything, I think the fans doubled down in their fandom in their efforts to keep connected to their favorite stars.”A few days after the ban, Shanghai hosted an NBA exhibition game. Some fans boycotted. One man filmed himself ripping up his tickets to the game. But plenty of other fans said that despite the ban, they kept watching their favorite sport. Basketball players at a public court in Shanghai say the ban didn’t impact them at all. They just watched it online. One player on the court who asked to remain anonymous told The World: “I can’t give up the NBA. The way they handled the incident upset us, but we still follow our favorite teams. If the Lakers are playing, I’ll be watching.”But the NBA also made some structural changes. In May, for the first time, it hired a Chinese national to head up NBA China. Tensions between the NBA and China remained, but as the LA Lakers and the Miami Heat went into the final playoff games, China lifted the TV ban and broadcast the last two games. CCTV said it was due because of the care the NBA had shown during the pandemic and its good wishes during a holiday celebrating the founding of modern-day China.Susan Brownell is an anthropologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who studies sports in China. She says the NBA’s efforts to appease China were part of a political dance.  "[The NBA] did manage to hit the two biggest culturally important things, which is to support Chinese sovereignty and to express concern for the health of Chinese citizens.”Susan Brownell, anthropologist, University of Missouri-St. Louis“I don’t know if they were smart enough to do it, but they did manage to hit the two biggest culturally important things, which is to support Chinese sovereignty and to express concern for the health of Chinese citizens.”Krassenstein says he can only imagine the kind of negotiations that went on behind closed doors. “There's a lot of things happening behind the scenes with a lot of very influential people on both sides, from the government side, the distribution broadcasting side, to also the NBA China side — they've all worked super hard to get back to a level of open dialogue and commitment to pushing the game further in China.”Brownell says that historically, China has used sports to build bridges — and sometimes to burn them. “I think [the Chinese government] has a very, very long memory when it comes to who our friends are. So, punishing people economically, that does have a long history going back at least to 1989. But they didn't have that much economic clout then. Now, they have much more economic clout in the world and I think it’s an official strategy that they will be using as much as they can.”She thinks other sports organizations should take note — and tread carefully.Ella Cao contributed research to this story.Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Joseph Krassenstein's company.

Today we are joined by Barbara Keys, Professor of US and International History at Durham University, and author and editor of The Ideals of Global Sport: From Peace to Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). In our conversation, we discussed the origins of Olympism's moral claims, the nexus between sport and human rights, and why it can be hard to understand the human costs of contemporary mega-events. In The Ideals of Global Sport, Keys joins nine scholars in a critical examination of what she calls the “liturgy” of Olympism: namely that international sports “promote peace;” “teach fair play and mutual understanding;” “combat racial, ethnic gender, religious, and national discrimination;” “fight poverty;” “protect the environment;” and promote human rights.” A series of thematic articles, each chapter touches on one or more of the above themes. The authors come from a wide range of disciplines, including history, political science, and anthropology. Their different theoretical perspectives allow them to raise a host of questions about Olympism's most grandiose claims. These scholars do more than simply test the so-called “moral” defenses of sport. They also try to understand why “so many people make (such moral claims) and why so may people believe them…. The claims are important far beyond the question of their veracity: they constitute a system of meaning and a way of imagining the international. As a set of beliefs, the shape behaviour and practice.” The Ideals of Global Sport is divided into two parts. Part 1 examines the core Olympic ideals of friendship, anti-discrimination, democratization, and peace. Simon Creak, Joon Seok Hong, and Roland Burke find very little evidence for strong links between any of these official Olympic values and instead point to the way that these ideals have been mobilized to serve particular political agendas. Robert Skinner's chapter on anti-Apartheid sport posits that sport played a role in a much larger anti-discrimination movement. In a provocative second half, scholars address the intersection between sport and human rights. Jules Boykoff illustrates the human cost of mega-events. Susan Brownell investigates different metrics for understanding the “human rights impact” of sport. In her own chapter, Keys paints a picture of sports and human rights organizations working with and against each other for mutual and opposite goals. Sporting group wanted to reframe human rights away from enumerated ideals and towards more marketable language, but other organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are also increasingly interested in partnering with FIFA and the IOC. Each one of these essays in this volume offers enticing insights into the ways that power and human rights intersect in the sports sphere and scholars interested in those themes are strongly encouraged to read this book. Keith Rathbone is a lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He researches twentieth-century French social and cultural history. His manuscript, entitled Sport and physical culture in Occupied France: Authoritarianism, agency, and everyday life, examines physical education and sports in order to better understand civic life under the dual authoritarian systems of the German Occupation and the Vichy Regime. It will come out with Manchester University Press in 2021. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at keith.rathbone@mq.edu.au.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Barbara Keys, Professor of US and International History at Durham University, and author and editor of The Ideal of Global Sport: From Peace to Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). In our conversation, we discussed the origins of Olympism’s moral claims, the nexus between sport and human rights, and why it can be hard to understand the human costs of contemporary mega-events. In The Ideal of Global Sport, Keys joins nine scholars in a critical examination of what she calls the “liturgy” of Olympism: namely that international sports “promote peace;” “teach fair play and mutual understanding;” “combat racial, ethnic gender, religious, and national discrimination;” “fight poverty;” “protect the environment;” and promote human rights.” A series of thematic articles, each chapter touches on one or more of the above themes. The authors come from a wide range of disciplines, including history, political science, and anthropology. Their different theoretical perspectives allow them to raise a host of questions about Olympism’s most grandiose claims. These scholars do more than simply test the so-called “moral” defenses of sport. They also try to understand why “so many people make (such moral claims) and why so may people believe them…. The claims are important far beyond the question of their veracity: they constitute a system of meaning and a way of imagining the international. As a set of beliefs, the shape behaviour and practice.” The Ideal of Global Sport is divided into two parts. Part 1 examines the core Olympic ideals of friendship, anti-discrimination, democratization, and peace. Simon Creak, Joon Seok Hong, and Roland Burke find very little evidence for strong links between any of these official Olympic values and instead point to the way that these ideals have been mobilized to serve particular political agendas. Robert Skinner’s chapter on anti-Apartheid sport posits that sport played a role in a much larger anti-discrimination movement. In a provocative second half, scholars address the intersection between sport and human rights. Jules Boykoff illustrates the human cost of mega-events. Susan Brownell investigates different metrics for understanding the “human rights impact” of sport. In her own chapter, Keys paints a picture of sports and human rights organizations working with and against each other for mutual and opposite goals. Sporting group wanted to reframe human rights away from enumerated ideals and towards more marketable language, but other organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are also increasingly interested in partnering with FIFA and the IOC. Each one of these essays in this volume offers enticing insights into the ways that power and human rights intersect in the sports sphere and scholars interested in those themes are strongly encouraged to read this book. Keith Rathbone is a lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He researches twentieth-century French social and cultural history. His manuscript, entitled Sport and physical culture in Occupied France: Authoritarianism, agency, and everyday life, examines physical education and sports in order to better understand civic life under the dual authoritarian systems of the German Occupation and the Vichy Regime. It will come out with Manchester University Press in 2021. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at keith.rathbone@mq.edu.au.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Barbara Keys, Professor of US and International History at Durham University, and author and editor of The Ideal of Global Sport: From Peace to Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). In our conversation, we discussed the origins of Olympism’s moral claims, the nexus between sport and human rights, and why it can be hard to understand the human costs of contemporary mega-events. In The Ideal of Global Sport, Keys joins nine scholars in a critical examination of what she calls the “liturgy” of Olympism: namely that international sports “promote peace;” “teach fair play and mutual understanding;” “combat racial, ethnic gender, religious, and national discrimination;” “fight poverty;” “protect the environment;” and promote human rights.” A series of thematic articles, each chapter touches on one or more of the above themes. The authors come from a wide range of disciplines, including history, political science, and anthropology. Their different theoretical perspectives allow them to raise a host of questions about Olympism’s most grandiose claims. These scholars do more than simply test the so-called “moral” defenses of sport. They also try to understand why “so many people make (such moral claims) and why so may people believe them…. The claims are important far beyond the question of their veracity: they constitute a system of meaning and a way of imagining the international. As a set of beliefs, the shape behaviour and practice.” The Ideal of Global Sport is divided into two parts. Part 1 examines the core Olympic ideals of friendship, anti-discrimination, democratization, and peace. Simon Creak, Joon Seok Hong, and Roland Burke find very little evidence for strong links between any of these official Olympic values and instead point to the way that these ideals have been mobilized to serve particular political agendas. Robert Skinner’s chapter on anti-Apartheid sport posits that sport played a role in a much larger anti-discrimination movement. In a provocative second half, scholars address the intersection between sport and human rights. Jules Boykoff illustrates the human cost of mega-events. Susan Brownell investigates different metrics for understanding the “human rights impact” of sport. In her own chapter, Keys paints a picture of sports and human rights organizations working with and against each other for mutual and opposite goals. Sporting group wanted to reframe human rights away from enumerated ideals and towards more marketable language, but other organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are also increasingly interested in partnering with FIFA and the IOC. Each one of these essays in this volume offers enticing insights into the ways that power and human rights intersect in the sports sphere and scholars interested in those themes are strongly encouraged to read this book. Keith Rathbone is a lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He researches twentieth-century French social and cultural history. His manuscript, entitled Sport and physical culture in Occupied France: Authoritarianism, agency, and everyday life, examines physical education and sports in order to better understand civic life under the dual authoritarian systems of the German Occupation and the Vichy Regime. It will come out with Manchester University Press in 2021. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at keith.rathbone@mq.edu.au.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Barbara Keys, Professor of US and International History at Durham University, and author and editor of The Ideal of Global Sport: From Peace to Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). In our conversation, we discussed the origins of Olympism’s moral claims, the nexus between sport and human rights, and why it can be hard to understand the human costs of contemporary mega-events. In The Ideal of Global Sport, Keys joins nine scholars in a critical examination of what she calls the “liturgy” of Olympism: namely that international sports “promote peace;” “teach fair play and mutual understanding;” “combat racial, ethnic gender, religious, and national discrimination;” “fight poverty;” “protect the environment;” and promote human rights.” A series of thematic articles, each chapter touches on one or more of the above themes. The authors come from a wide range of disciplines, including history, political science, and anthropology. Their different theoretical perspectives allow them to raise a host of questions about Olympism’s most grandiose claims. These scholars do more than simply test the so-called “moral” defenses of sport. They also try to understand why “so many people make (such moral claims) and why so may people believe them…. The claims are important far beyond the question of their veracity: they constitute a system of meaning and a way of imagining the international. As a set of beliefs, the shape behaviour and practice.” The Ideal of Global Sport is divided into two parts. Part 1 examines the core Olympic ideals of friendship, anti-discrimination, democratization, and peace. Simon Creak, Joon Seok Hong, and Roland Burke find very little evidence for strong links between any of these official Olympic values and instead point to the way that these ideals have been mobilized to serve particular political agendas. Robert Skinner’s chapter on anti-Apartheid sport posits that sport played a role in a much larger anti-discrimination movement. In a provocative second half, scholars address the intersection between sport and human rights. Jules Boykoff illustrates the human cost of mega-events. Susan Brownell investigates different metrics for understanding the “human rights impact” of sport. In her own chapter, Keys paints a picture of sports and human rights organizations working with and against each other for mutual and opposite goals. Sporting group wanted to reframe human rights away from enumerated ideals and towards more marketable language, but other organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are also increasingly interested in partnering with FIFA and the IOC. Each one of these essays in this volume offers enticing insights into the ways that power and human rights intersect in the sports sphere and scholars interested in those themes are strongly encouraged to read this book. Keith Rathbone is a lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He researches twentieth-century French social and cultural history. His manuscript, entitled Sport and physical culture in Occupied France: Authoritarianism, agency, and everyday life, examines physical education and sports in order to better understand civic life under the dual authoritarian systems of the German Occupation and the Vichy Regime. It will come out with Manchester University Press in 2021. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at keith.rathbone@mq.edu.au.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Barbara Keys, Professor of US and International History at Durham University, and author and editor of The Ideal of Global Sport: From Peace to Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). In our conversation, we discussed the origins of Olympism’s moral claims, the nexus between sport and human rights, and why it can be hard to understand the human costs of contemporary mega-events. In The Ideal of Global Sport, Keys joins nine scholars in a critical examination of what she calls the “liturgy” of Olympism: namely that international sports “promote peace;” “teach fair play and mutual understanding;” “combat racial, ethnic gender, religious, and national discrimination;” “fight poverty;” “protect the environment;” and promote human rights.” A series of thematic articles, each chapter touches on one or more of the above themes. The authors come from a wide range of disciplines, including history, political science, and anthropology. Their different theoretical perspectives allow them to raise a host of questions about Olympism’s most grandiose claims. These scholars do more than simply test the so-called “moral” defenses of sport. They also try to understand why “so many people make (such moral claims) and why so may people believe them…. The claims are important far beyond the question of their veracity: they constitute a system of meaning and a way of imagining the international. As a set of beliefs, the shape behaviour and practice.” The Ideal of Global Sport is divided into two parts. Part 1 examines the core Olympic ideals of friendship, anti-discrimination, democratization, and peace. Simon Creak, Joon Seok Hong, and Roland Burke find very little evidence for strong links between any of these official Olympic values and instead point to the way that these ideals have been mobilized to serve particular political agendas. Robert Skinner’s chapter on anti-Apartheid sport posits that sport played a role in a much larger anti-discrimination movement. In a provocative second half, scholars address the intersection between sport and human rights. Jules Boykoff illustrates the human cost of mega-events. Susan Brownell investigates different metrics for understanding the “human rights impact” of sport. In her own chapter, Keys paints a picture of sports and human rights organizations working with and against each other for mutual and opposite goals. Sporting group wanted to reframe human rights away from enumerated ideals and towards more marketable language, but other organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are also increasingly interested in partnering with FIFA and the IOC. Each one of these essays in this volume offers enticing insights into the ways that power and human rights intersect in the sports sphere and scholars interested in those themes are strongly encouraged to read this book. Keith Rathbone is a lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He researches twentieth-century French social and cultural history. His manuscript, entitled Sport and physical culture in Occupied France: Authoritarianism, agency, and everyday life, examines physical education and sports in order to better understand civic life under the dual authoritarian systems of the German Occupation and the Vichy Regime. It will come out with Manchester University Press in 2021. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at keith.rathbone@mq.edu.au.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Barbara Keys, Professor of US and International History at Durham University, and author and editor of The Ideal of Global Sport: From Peace to Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). In our conversation, we discussed the origins of Olympism’s moral claims, the nexus between sport and human rights, and why it can be hard to understand the human costs of contemporary mega-events. In The Ideal of Global Sport, Keys joins nine scholars in a critical examination of what she calls the “liturgy” of Olympism: namely that international sports “promote peace;” “teach fair play and mutual understanding;” “combat racial, ethnic gender, religious, and national discrimination;” “fight poverty;” “protect the environment;” and promote human rights.” A series of thematic articles, each chapter touches on one or more of the above themes. The authors come from a wide range of disciplines, including history, political science, and anthropology. Their different theoretical perspectives allow them to raise a host of questions about Olympism’s most grandiose claims. These scholars do more than simply test the so-called “moral” defenses of sport. They also try to understand why “so many people make (such moral claims) and why so may people believe them…. The claims are important far beyond the question of their veracity: they constitute a system of meaning and a way of imagining the international. As a set of beliefs, the shape behaviour and practice.” The Ideal of Global Sport is divided into two parts. Part 1 examines the core Olympic ideals of friendship, anti-discrimination, democratization, and peace. Simon Creak, Joon Seok Hong, and Roland Burke find very little evidence for strong links between any of these official Olympic values and instead point to the way that these ideals have been mobilized to serve particular political agendas. Robert Skinner’s chapter on anti-Apartheid sport posits that sport played a role in a much larger anti-discrimination movement. In a provocative second half, scholars address the intersection between sport and human rights. Jules Boykoff illustrates the human cost of mega-events. Susan Brownell investigates different metrics for understanding the “human rights impact” of sport. In her own chapter, Keys paints a picture of sports and human rights organizations working with and against each other for mutual and opposite goals. Sporting group wanted to reframe human rights away from enumerated ideals and towards more marketable language, but other organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are also increasingly interested in partnering with FIFA and the IOC. Each one of these essays in this volume offers enticing insights into the ways that power and human rights intersect in the sports sphere and scholars interested in those themes are strongly encouraged to read this book. Keith Rathbone is a lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He researches twentieth-century French social and cultural history. His manuscript, entitled Sport and physical culture in Occupied France: Authoritarianism, agency, and everyday life, examines physical education and sports in order to better understand civic life under the dual authoritarian systems of the German Occupation and the Vichy Regime. It will come out with Manchester University Press in 2021. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at keith.rathbone@mq.edu.au.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As my first guest, I’d would like to introduce Susan Brownell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri – St Louis, one of the authors of The Anthropology of Sport: Bodies, Borders, Biopolitics (University of California Press, 2018). During the course of the interview, we covered the subfield of sport anthropology, the marginalization of traditional games, the recent Caster Semenya case, and the contemporary transnationalism of sport. In The Anthropology of Sport, understandably, the authors enlighten us about what the subfield entails, how anthropology is well suited to dissect the nature of sport, and provide us with ample anecdotes and observations of the world of sport through an ‘anthropological gaze.’ The chapters are structured in a way that cover all the relevant aspects in the study of sport, including history, class, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, nationalism, and globalization. Two important additions to the field of sport studies include a chapter on sport, health, and the environment (3), as well as sport as a cultural performance (6). In the former, which can be taken as a foundational text on the subject, the history of sport medicine and non-Western perspectives on sport and the body are enlightening, with anecdotes about the history of yoga and the Falun Gong movement. In the latter, the performative turn and ritual theory are used to dissect the contemporary global sport mega-event infrastructure. In conclusion, the authors point out that “more than any other form of human activity, sport embodies some of the fundamental questions that anthropology poses” (258), and this book lives up to its lofty title. Brownell, Besnier, and Carter’s work is a new text in a yet undefined field – it may be the start of something new. If interested in the global nature of sport today, The Anthropology of Sport is a necessary read. Tom Fabian is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada) and an assistant professor of sport management at St. Francis Xavier University (Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada). His field, broadly, is the sociocultural history of sport, and he focuses on the globalization of folk games. Specifically, he is interested in the safeguarding of folk games through the UNESCO heritagization process, as well as the trend of adopting traditional games as national sports. Secondary research interests include the histories of the Universiade, volleyball, and Hungarian water polo. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at tfabian@uwo.ca. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As my first guest, I’d would like to introduce Susan Brownell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri – St Louis, one of the authors of The Anthropology of Sport: Bodies, Borders, Biopolitics (University of California Press, 2018). During the course of the interview, we covered the subfield of sport anthropology, the marginalization of traditional games, the recent Caster Semenya case, and the contemporary transnationalism of sport. In The Anthropology of Sport, understandably, the authors enlighten us about what the subfield entails, how anthropology is well suited to dissect the nature of sport, and provide us with ample anecdotes and observations of the world of sport through an ‘anthropological gaze.’ The chapters are structured in a way that cover all the relevant aspects in the study of sport, including history, class, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, nationalism, and globalization. Two important additions to the field of sport studies include a chapter on sport, health, and the environment (3), as well as sport as a cultural performance (6). In the former, which can be taken as a foundational text on the subject, the history of sport medicine and non-Western perspectives on sport and the body are enlightening, with anecdotes about the history of yoga and the Falun Gong movement. In the latter, the performative turn and ritual theory are used to dissect the contemporary global sport mega-event infrastructure. In conclusion, the authors point out that “more than any other form of human activity, sport embodies some of the fundamental questions that anthropology poses” (258), and this book lives up to its lofty title. Brownell, Besnier, and Carter’s work is a new text in a yet undefined field – it may be the start of something new. If interested in the global nature of sport today, The Anthropology of Sport is a necessary read. Tom Fabian is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada) and an assistant professor of sport management at St. Francis Xavier University (Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada). His field, broadly, is the sociocultural history of sport, and he focuses on the globalization of folk games. Specifically, he is interested in the safeguarding of folk games through the UNESCO heritagization process, as well as the trend of adopting traditional games as national sports. Secondary research interests include the histories of the Universiade, volleyball, and Hungarian water polo. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at tfabian@uwo.ca. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As my first guest, I’d would like to introduce Susan Brownell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri – St Louis, one of the authors of The Anthropology of Sport: Bodies, Borders, Biopolitics (University of California Press, 2018). During the course of the interview, we covered the subfield of sport anthropology, the marginalization of traditional games, the recent Caster Semenya case, and the contemporary transnationalism of sport. In The Anthropology of Sport, understandably, the authors enlighten us about what the subfield entails, how anthropology is well suited to dissect the nature of sport, and provide us with ample anecdotes and observations of the world of sport through an ‘anthropological gaze.’ The chapters are structured in a way that cover all the relevant aspects in the study of sport, including history, class, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, nationalism, and globalization. Two important additions to the field of sport studies include a chapter on sport, health, and the environment (3), as well as sport as a cultural performance (6). In the former, which can be taken as a foundational text on the subject, the history of sport medicine and non-Western perspectives on sport and the body are enlightening, with anecdotes about the history of yoga and the Falun Gong movement. In the latter, the performative turn and ritual theory are used to dissect the contemporary global sport mega-event infrastructure. In conclusion, the authors point out that “more than any other form of human activity, sport embodies some of the fundamental questions that anthropology poses” (258), and this book lives up to its lofty title. Brownell, Besnier, and Carter’s work is a new text in a yet undefined field – it may be the start of something new. If interested in the global nature of sport today, The Anthropology of Sport is a necessary read. Tom Fabian is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada) and an assistant professor of sport management at St. Francis Xavier University (Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada). His field, broadly, is the sociocultural history of sport, and he focuses on the globalization of folk games. Specifically, he is interested in the safeguarding of folk games through the UNESCO heritagization process, as well as the trend of adopting traditional games as national sports. Secondary research interests include the histories of the Universiade, volleyball, and Hungarian water polo. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at tfabian@uwo.ca. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As my first guest, I’d would like to introduce Susan Brownell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri – St Louis, one of the authors of The Anthropology of Sport: Bodies, Borders, Biopolitics (University of California Press, 2018). During the course of the interview, we covered the subfield of sport anthropology, the marginalization of traditional games, the recent Caster Semenya case, and the contemporary transnationalism of sport. In The Anthropology of Sport, understandably, the authors enlighten us about what the subfield entails, how anthropology is well suited to dissect the nature of sport, and provide us with ample anecdotes and observations of the world of sport through an ‘anthropological gaze.’ The chapters are structured in a way that cover all the relevant aspects in the study of sport, including history, class, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, nationalism, and globalization. Two important additions to the field of sport studies include a chapter on sport, health, and the environment (3), as well as sport as a cultural performance (6). In the former, which can be taken as a foundational text on the subject, the history of sport medicine and non-Western perspectives on sport and the body are enlightening, with anecdotes about the history of yoga and the Falun Gong movement. In the latter, the performative turn and ritual theory are used to dissect the contemporary global sport mega-event infrastructure. In conclusion, the authors point out that “more than any other form of human activity, sport embodies some of the fundamental questions that anthropology poses” (258), and this book lives up to its lofty title. Brownell, Besnier, and Carter’s work is a new text in a yet undefined field – it may be the start of something new. If interested in the global nature of sport today, The Anthropology of Sport is a necessary read. Tom Fabian is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada) and an assistant professor of sport management at St. Francis Xavier University (Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada). His field, broadly, is the sociocultural history of sport, and he focuses on the globalization of folk games. Specifically, he is interested in the safeguarding of folk games through the UNESCO heritagization process, as well as the trend of adopting traditional games as national sports. Secondary research interests include the histories of the Universiade, volleyball, and Hungarian water polo. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at tfabian@uwo.ca. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As my first guest, I’d would like to introduce Susan Brownell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri – St Louis, one of the authors of The Anthropology of Sport: Bodies, Borders, Biopolitics (University of California Press, 2018). During the course of the interview, we covered the subfield of sport anthropology, the marginalization of traditional games, the recent Caster Semenya case, and the contemporary transnationalism of sport. In The Anthropology of Sport, understandably, the authors enlighten us about what the subfield entails, how anthropology is well suited to dissect the nature of sport, and provide us with ample anecdotes and observations of the world of sport through an ‘anthropological gaze.’ The chapters are structured in a way that cover all the relevant aspects in the study of sport, including history, class, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, nationalism, and globalization. Two important additions to the field of sport studies include a chapter on sport, health, and the environment (3), as well as sport as a cultural performance (6). In the former, which can be taken as a foundational text on the subject, the history of sport medicine and non-Western perspectives on sport and the body are enlightening, with anecdotes about the history of yoga and the Falun Gong movement. In the latter, the performative turn and ritual theory are used to dissect the contemporary global sport mega-event infrastructure. In conclusion, the authors point out that “more than any other form of human activity, sport embodies some of the fundamental questions that anthropology poses” (258), and this book lives up to its lofty title. Brownell, Besnier, and Carter’s work is a new text in a yet undefined field – it may be the start of something new. If interested in the global nature of sport today, The Anthropology of Sport is a necessary read. Tom Fabian is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada) and an assistant professor of sport management at St. Francis Xavier University (Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada). His field, broadly, is the sociocultural history of sport, and he focuses on the globalization of folk games. Specifically, he is interested in the safeguarding of folk games through the UNESCO heritagization process, as well as the trend of adopting traditional games as national sports. Secondary research interests include the histories of the Universiade, volleyball, and Hungarian water polo. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at tfabian@uwo.ca. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As my first guest, I’d would like to introduce Susan Brownell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri – St Louis, one of the authors of The Anthropology of Sport: Bodies, Borders, Biopolitics (University of California Press, 2018). During the course of the interview, we covered the subfield of sport anthropology, the marginalization of traditional games, the recent Caster Semenya case, and the contemporary transnationalism of sport. In The Anthropology of Sport, understandably, the authors enlighten us about what the subfield entails, how anthropology is well suited to dissect the nature of sport, and provide us with ample anecdotes and observations of the world of sport through an ‘anthropological gaze.’ The chapters are structured in a way that cover all the relevant aspects in the study of sport, including history, class, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, nationalism, and globalization. Two important additions to the field of sport studies include a chapter on sport, health, and the environment (3), as well as sport as a cultural performance (6). In the former, which can be taken as a foundational text on the subject, the history of sport medicine and non-Western perspectives on sport and the body are enlightening, with anecdotes about the history of yoga and the Falun Gong movement. In the latter, the performative turn and ritual theory are used to dissect the contemporary global sport mega-event infrastructure. In conclusion, the authors point out that “more than any other form of human activity, sport embodies some of the fundamental questions that anthropology poses” (258), and this book lives up to its lofty title. Brownell, Besnier, and Carter’s work is a new text in a yet undefined field – it may be the start of something new. If interested in the global nature of sport today, The Anthropology of Sport is a necessary read. Tom Fabian is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada) and an assistant professor of sport management at St. Francis Xavier University (Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada). His field, broadly, is the sociocultural history of sport, and he focuses on the globalization of folk games. Specifically, he is interested in the safeguarding of folk games through the UNESCO heritagization process, as well as the trend of adopting traditional games as national sports. Secondary research interests include the histories of the Universiade, volleyball, and Hungarian water polo. If you have a title to suggest for this podcast, please contact him at tfabian@uwo.ca. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here is our next episode in the Global Sport Conversations Podcast Series. We interviewed Susan Brownell, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Most recently she has co-authored (with Niko Besnier and Thomas F. Carter) The Anthropology of Sport: Bodies, Borders, Biopolitics (University of California Press). She also wrote Beijing’s Games: What the Olympics Mean to China (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008) and edited The 1904 Anthropology Days and Olympic Games: Sport, Race, and American imperialism (University of Nebraska Press, 2008). More information on Professor Susan Brownell: https://www.umsl.edu/divisions/artscience/anthro/Faculty%20and%20Staff/susanbrownell.html About the series: Global Sport Conversations Podcast Series is a collaborative project between: the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, the Japan Research Centre, the Centre for Media and Film Studies and SOAS Radio. All proudly funded by the Research and Enterprise Office Seedcorn Initiative. The purpose of this podcast series is to explore, with industry and academic experts, the role sport has played in their lives and professional practices. It is an exciting opportunity for a variety of voices and multiple interpretations of the leading question: where does sport fit in global diplomacy?

Producer Alex Heuer talks to UMSL anthropology professor Susan Brownell, who's attending the 2018 Winter Olympic and plans to study them from an anthropological point of view. 

In the 1980s, the People's Republic of China returned to the Olympics after more than a twenty year absence. Susan Brownell explains how international politics affected China's participation in global sport, as well as her personal experiences as an athlete in China. Episode notes: http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/resource/sport-in-the-cold-war/episode-36-china-s-return-to-the-olympics

China formally announced its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in January 2015. Dr. Susan Brownell, Renowned authority of Chinese sports and the Olympics, discusses China’s Olympic aspirations, prospects for the 2022 bid and her experiences participating in and studying Chinese sports. Dr. Brownell is a professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and currently a visiting professor at the Institute of Sinology, Heidelberg University (Germany), is an internationally recognized expert on Chinese sports and the Olympic Games.  Dr. Brownell was a nationally-ranked track and field athlete in the United States before she joined the track team at Beijing University in 1985-86 while she was there for a year of Chinese language study.  She represented Beijing in the 1986 Chinese National College Games and set a national record in the heptathlon.  Based on her experience with the team, as well as on extensive field research, Dr. Brownell wrote Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the People's Republic (University of Chicago Press, 1995).  Dr. Brownell was a member of the team of academic experts that worked with the Beijing municipal government to design the 2008 Olympic educational programs in Beijing schools and universities and was an expert commentator for China Central Television during the Games.     The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is the leading nonprofit nonpartisan organization that encourages understanding of China and the United States among citizens of both countries.

The 2012 London Olympics are here.  To mark the event, New Books in Sports offers another of its occasional seminar episodes.  And as with any great seminar, you’ll be eager to tell people what you’ve learned.  Our slate of Olympic experts don’t offer any medal predictions.  But you will find out about Coca-Cola’s first Olympic promotion.  You’ll learn how traditional Chinese medicine can cure the snarled hamstring of a hurdler.  And you’ll discover the truth about Kerri Strug’s gold medal-winning vault in 1996. The double-length episode features a full roster of scholars and journalists.  Historians Martin Polley and Jean Williams tell us about Britain’s long connection with the Olympics, while Barbara Keys explains why the Thirties were a pivotal decade in the history of international athletics.  We hear from Mark Dyreson and Andrew Billings about Americans’ nationalist view of the Olympics, both with the early games and today.  Steve Menary talks about nationalism within the UK and how that has stoked controversy over the British men’s football team that will compete in the London games.  We learn about the gains and losses that come with hosting an Olympics from economist Victor Matheson.  Looking back four years after the Beijing games, anthropologist Susan Brownell tells us about sport in China.  And Sports Illustrated photographer Bill Frakes talks about his experiences covering the games over the last three decades.  You’ll hear Bill describe the moment that most stands out for him in career of covering the games, and our other guests will likewise share the reasons they enjoy the Olympics as fans as well as researchers.  And if you’re looking for the right book on the Olympics, for that last summer weekend, they’ll have plenty of suggestions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2012 London Olympics are here.  To mark the event, New Books in Sports offers another of its occasional seminar episodes.  And as with any great seminar, you’ll be eager to tell people what you’ve learned.  Our slate of Olympic experts don’t offer any medal predictions.  But you will find out about Coca-Cola’s first Olympic promotion.  You’ll learn how traditional Chinese medicine can cure the snarled hamstring of a hurdler.  And you’ll discover the truth about Kerri Strug’s gold medal-winning vault in 1996. The double-length episode features a full roster of scholars and journalists.  Historians Martin Polley and Jean Williams tell us about Britain’s long connection with the Olympics, while Barbara Keys explains why the Thirties were a pivotal decade in the history of international athletics.  We hear from Mark Dyreson and Andrew Billings about Americans’ nationalist view of the Olympics, both with the early games and today.  Steve Menary talks about nationalism within the UK and how that has stoked controversy over the British men’s football team that will compete in the London games.  We learn about the gains and losses that come with hosting an Olympics from economist Victor Matheson.  Looking back four years after the Beijing games, anthropologist Susan Brownell tells us about sport in China.  And Sports Illustrated photographer Bill Frakes talks about his experiences covering the games over the last three decades.  You’ll hear Bill describe the moment that most stands out for him in career of covering the games, and our other guests will likewise share the reasons they enjoy the Olympics as fans as well as researchers.  And if you’re looking for the right book on the Olympics, for that last summer weekend, they’ll have plenty of suggestions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Susan Brownell heads the Department of Anthropology and Languages at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her first book, Training the Body for China, was based on her experiences as a member of the Beijing University track and field team in 1985-86, when she won a gold medal in the 1986 Chinese National College Games. Her most recent book, Beijing's Games: What the Olympics Mean to China, provides the historical and cultural context for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was the translator of the biography of China's senior sports diplomat and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), He Zhenliang and China's Olympic Dream. In 2007-08 she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Beijing Sport University. She collaborated with the Beijing City government on Olympic education programs in primary and middle schools, and was recently named a "capital city advanced Olympic individual" for her contributions. In the lead-up to the Games she was interviewed by nearly 100 journalists from more than 20 countries.

Stanley Rosen teaches political science at USC and directs the USC East Asian Studies Center. He's also a member of the USC U.S.-China Institute executive committee. Rosen is co-editor of the journal Chinese Education and Society. He teaches courses on Chinese politics, East Asian societies, Chinese film and film and politics. He has written or edited seven books, the most recent of which are State and Society in 21st-Century China (co-edited, 2004) and Chinese Cinema at a Hundred: Art, Politics and Commerce (co-edited, forthcoming). His current research involves public opinion surveys, higher education reform in China, the Chinese film industry and its overseas prospects, the prospects for Hollywood film in the Chinese market, and value change among Chinese youth. Prof. Rosen discussed the presentations of Susan Brownell and Jay Wang. He noted that in advance of the Games, many in the Western press argued that the run up to the Games had amply demonstrated China's shortcomings in terms of ethnic relations, press freedom, and migrant rights. The Games themselves, however, received much acclaim. He noted, for example, that Zhang Yimou, the producer of the Games opening and closing ceremonies was named a runner-up to Barack Obama in Time Magazines Person of the Year selection. Steven Spielberg, who had withdrawn as an artistic advisor to the Games, wrote the Time magazine article celebrating Zhangs achievements.

Stanley Rosen teaches political science at USC and directs the USC East Asian Studies Center. He's also a member of the USC U.S.-China Institute executive committee. Rosen is co-editor of the journal Chinese Education and Society. He teaches courses on Chinese politics, East Asian societies, Chinese film and film and politics. He has written or edited seven books, the most recent of which are State and Society in 21st-Century China (co-edited, 2004) and Chinese Cinema at a Hundred: Art, Politics and Commerce (co-edited, forthcoming). His current research involves public opinion surveys, higher education reform in China, the Chinese film industry and its overseas prospects, the prospects for Hollywood film in the Chinese market, and value change among Chinese youth. Prof. Rosen discussed the presentations of Susan Brownell and Jay Wang. He noted that in advance of the Games, many in the Western press argued that the run up to the Games had amply demonstrated China's shortcomings in terms of ethnic relations, press freedom, and migrant rights. The Games themselves, however, received much acclaim. He noted, for example, that Zhang Yimou, the producer of the Games opening and closing ceremonies was named a runner-up to Barack Obama in Time Magazines Person of the Year selection. Steven Spielberg, who had withdrawn as an artistic advisor to the Games, wrote the Time magazine article celebrating Zhangs achievements.

Susan Brownell heads the Department of Anthropology and Languages at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her first book, Training the Body for China, was based on her experiences as a member of the Beijing University track and field team in 1985-86, when she won a gold medal in the 1986 Chinese National College Games. Her most recent book, Beijing's Games: What the Olympics Mean to China, provides the historical and cultural context for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was the translator of the biography of China's senior sports diplomat and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), He Zhenliang and China's Olympic Dream. In 2007-08 she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Beijing Sport University. She collaborated with the Beijing City government on Olympic education programs in primary and middle schools, and was recently named a "capital city advanced Olympic individual" for her contributions. In the lead-up to the Games she was interviewed by nearly 100 journalists from more than 20 countries.