Disciplining Bodies in the Gymnasium: Memory, Monument, Modernism (Sport in the Global Society, 55)

In the history of physical education there are few more long-standing, impassioned and yet inconclusive debates than those around the fate and fortunes of the discipline and the profession. Architecture and design have been used to exert control over bodies, across lines of class, gender and race. They regulate access to certain spaces and facilities, impose physical or psychological barriers, and make particular activities possible for specific groups.Built in 1951, the War Memorial Gymnasium at the University of British Columbia is a prize-winning example of modernist architecture. Although conceived to honour the dead of World War II, it was far from being a neutral memorial and gymnasium for everyday athletes. This collection shows what the design, construction and shifting functions and spatial configurations of the building reveal about the values and aspirations of the university in the post-war years. It shows how the building reflected the social and power relations among university administrators, architects and planners, faculty, staff and students, and demonstrates how the culture and structure of the gymnasium responded to changing attitudes to competition, discipline, profession, gender, race and health. As the editors explain, built form has politics, and culture - sporting culture - is just politics by another name. Architecture and design have been used to exert control over bodies, across lines of class, gender and race. They regulate access to certain spaces and facilities, impose physical or psychological barriers, and make particular activities possible for specific groups. Built in 1951, the War Memorial Gymnasium at the University of British Columbia is a prize-winning example of modernist architecture. Although conceived to honour the dead of World War II, it was far from being a neutral memorial and gymnasium for everyday athletes. This collection shows what the design, construction and shifting functions and spatial configurations of the building reveal about the values and aspirations of the university in the post-war years. It shows how the building reflected the social and power relations among university administrators, architects and planners, faculty, staff and students, and demonstrates how the culture and structure of the gymnasium responded to changing attitudes to competition, discipline, profession, gender, race and health. As the editors explain, built form has politics, and culture - sporting culture - is just politics by another name. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 List of Illustrations......Page 8 Series Editor's Foreword......Page 11 Preface......Page 13 Acknowledgements......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 Memory and Monument: The Gymnasium as War Memorial......Page 28 Designing the Million Dollar Gym: Modernism and Masculinity......Page 47 'Power Geometries': Disciplining the Gendered Body in the Spaces of the War Memorial Gymnasium......Page 63 Recreating the Student Body: The Bowling Wars......Page 89 Gold-Plated Footballs and Orchids for Girls, A 'Palace of Sweat' For Men......Page 114 Designing Discipline: The Architecture of a Gymnasium......Page 132 According to Plan: Remembering to Forget......Page 156 No Body/ies in the Gym......Page 172 Notes on Contributors......Page 187 Notes......Page 189 Select Bibliography......Page 222 Index......Page 237 This collection considers women's football [soccer] in a global context, examining its progress and the challenges it has faced, and showing how it has made a significant contribution to female emancipation in many countries This volume focuses on the gynmasium in higher education and the various ways in which architecture, disciplinary politics and social relations have affected the disciplining of the body in the 20th century