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Context-Based Research Group has tapped into its network of 1,700 anthropologists around the world to provide global cultural analysis of the Summer Olympics. Using the powers of observation and cultural description that are the hallmarks of anthropological insight, Context’s ethnographers have been asked to observe people and the media in their communities and submit short commentaries on the impact and perceptions of the Olympics in their area. [Note: A sampling of essays are below]
Topics being addressed include the expectations surrounding the games, why people get interested in the Olympics, how people are reacting to or engaged in the Olympics as the games progress, whether there are particular stories that emerge that spark public debate, and how the Olympics are broadcast and portrayed in the media.
"The Olympics are one of the few truly global happenings and this anthropological insight allows people to better understand what the Olympics mean to people all over the world," says Context-Based Research Group Principal Anthropologist Robbie Blinkoff, Ph.D. "Anthropologists are trained to observe and interact with people and then understand and interpret their thoughts and actions, and tapping into this resource provides a unique opportunity to look through a cultural window and learn how the Olympics are viewed across cultures, countries and continents."
Context-Based Research Group is a global research company that uses a proprietary network of 1,700 anthropologists around the world to uncover cultural and consumer insights. Employing techniques such as participant observation, photo and video diaries, and structured interviews, these ethnographers put peoples' interactions with products and services in the proper context to help uncover their true needs. Context’s multi-disciplinary team of anthropologists, information architects, web developers, and marketing and communications specialists helps clients such as Procter & Gamble, RE/MAX, and Johns Hopkins University develop brands and products, build e-commerce and communications strategies, evaluate creative concepts, and redesign Web sites.
CULTURAL OLYMPIC INSIGHTS
[Permission to republish this material is granted as long as "Context-Based Research Group (www.contextresearch.com)" is credited as the source and credit is given to the author(s).]
From New Zealand – Going Head to Head with Australia
The Sydney Olympics are the closest ever games to New Zealand, so they have generated even more interest than normal in this sports-mad country. Despite economic problems, we can afford to send a comparatively large team to such a near destination, many of us know Sydney and its inhabitants well (hell, many of them ARE New Zealanders), and the difference in time zones ensures good evening television coverage. Add to the mix that our burgeoning tourism industry expects a spin off from the influx of visitors to Australia, and the feeling could only be positive, right? Not really. Two things have cast a shadow over how New Zealanders feel about these Games. The first is the controversial claim that this country may be a staging post for terrorist strikes during the Olympics by followers of Osama Bin Laden, Islamic militants who settled here as Afghani refugees in recent years. The second is the depressing realization that Australia will really ram home its sporting superiority and that New Zealand will struggle to retain its image as a small country of athletic over-achievers. As recently as 1988, we won more gold medals than they did, despite our much smaller population. No one expects us to come close this time. Given that the Aussies have even beaten us this year at 'our' game, rugby, we can already hear their jeers on the other side of the Tasman Sea.
-- Michael Goldsmith teaches Anthropology at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. He first saw how New Zealanders deify sporting heroes when his school stopped to listen to Peter Snell winning the 1500 meters gold at Tokyo in 1964.
From Tokyo, Japan -- Japanese Cultural Traits Revealed in Olympics
Every country has certain sports that are followed more passionately than others. The Japanese media will report on what a certain female judo athlete eats for breakfast and not even know the name of the female wrestling athlete next to her. Yet both are strong contenders in their field. Media cover certain sports closely because they represent traits that a country defines as virtue. Marathons in Japan are nationally televised sporting events despite being visually tedious. They are also followed closely at the Olympics. The reason is because Japanese place high value on perseverance and effort. Unlike sprints, which are regarded as the domain of born talent, the Japanese believe that marathons can be won by spirit. It also helps that Japanese have won medals in women's long distance for the past few Olympics. Another event the Japanese media follow closely is judo, an indigenous sport that has gained worldwide recognition. Although Europeans, Cubans and Koreans have done extremely well in this sport, the Japanese usually manage to win a few medals, even gold ones. But the one athlete the Japanese media zooms in on is Ryoko Tamura, who has yet to capture a gold, but is a favorite to win in the female under 48 kg weight class of judo. Barely 5 feet tall, she is tiny but strong -- precisely the image Japan sees itself as in international affairs. Japan sees itself as geographically a small nation, but would like to surprise the world with its might.
-- Carol Hui writes on lifestyle trends in Tokyo
From South Korea – Unity
The upcoming Olympiad in Sydney is big news here in S. Korea, but not because of the competition. For the first time since 1945 teams from North and South Korea will be competing under the same flag. Athletes who in the past felt compelled to go so far as to even avoid one another's gaze over meals can now share laughs and kimchi together. This has caused quite a groundswell of emotion among ordinary Koreans here in the South, following on the heels of the brief meeting of families from North and South last month. Even college students who normally ignore much of the sporting news, when questioned about the Olympics, reply that the teams' reunification for the games is "wonderful," "amazing," and "happy" news indeed. Among the more politically inclined, it is further endorsement of Kim Dae-jung's "sunshine" policy of dialogue with the North Koreans over the strident, but increasingly toothless objections of hard-line anti-Communists in the South.
-- Jesse A. Dizard teaches English at Hyejeon College in Hongsung, S. Korea.
From Australia – Youth Making Fun of the Olympics
Many Australians are suspicious of corporately choreographed public spectacles and jingoism. National youth radio Triple J yesterday advocated a counter-commentary on the larrikins who try to make fun of the Olympics. The younger inhabitants in lounge rooms around Australia chuckle as yet another person, young male to be more accurate, tries to put the torch out with a water pistol or hijack it from the runner. And yesterday Triple J reported that someone had blacked out a portion of the blue line painted for kilometers over Sydney roads to trace the path of the Olympic marathon. They had painted a new blue line that would take the runners into a pub and through a nightclub dance floor before rejoining the official path. Perhaps like the west generally, cynicism abounds among the youth. There is some sort of obligation not to get too carried away…but the very need to ridicule or create nuisance illustrates what appears to be a recognition of the significance of the occasion and an overriding temptation to get caught up in the excitement. And Sydney does like to party!
-- Dr. Janice Newton is an anthropologist who teaches Youth Studies at the University of Ballarat, a rural University 100 kilometers west of Melbourne
From Houston – Skeptical Senior Citizens
American senior citizens are very skeptical about the Olympics. Sadly for me, (and I am a member of a younger generation) most of them find the 2000 Olympics as an open business of bribery to hold an event in a selected place. Since it is too common for the "athletes" to use drugs for false physical prowess, they are not interested in giving more than one minute of their time to watch or discuss the Olympics, as they are held today. As they said with a little nostalgia in their voices: "…years ago it was entirely different, we enjoyed them, everything was for love of sport ONLY, it was about the beauty of the game, about competing with each other, challenging each other and seeing who is the best. It was not corrupted as it is today." To add even more old generation's skepticism to this matter, they consider today's "junk" TV as a political, powerful tool in broadcasting the Olympics… which is kind of ironic since we all believe that the Olympics should be far from politics! But the truth is that every Olympics is surrounded by political agendas…look at Korea this time around…they will march together to show the unity…but how far they will actually go? They will not forget so easily that they stand on the opposite sides on different issues. As one of the senior citizens concluded: "well, sorry to be so-anti but I guess, that's what old age and reality awareness will do for one."
-- Agata Wasowska is a cultural anthropology student, University of Houston, Houston, TX.
From Canberra, Australia – Getting Into the Spirit
Tonight, the Olympic Opening Ceremonies start in Sydney. Here in Canberra, the Nation's Capital will be quiet as we all settle in front of TV's to watch the big show - aware that 'the world will be watching'. In the lead up to tonight, I have felt very blase about the event. Writing my Ph.D. in Anthropology, I live in the enclosed world of academia, ignoring the hum of humanity. But last week my indifference to the Olympics weakened. As I road into University one morning, I ran into the Olympic Torch Relay. Suddenly, I found myself getting off my bike to stand on the curb and cheer as a Torch Bearer passed by. Cars stopped in both directions spontaneously broke out in a cheer of horn blowing. Several hundred people were out at 8 am, like me, in transit to work or University, cheering along the street. From those brief minutes I caught Olympics fever. I realized the symbolic and ceremonial importance of the Olympics. Not unlike religious ceremonies involving sacred and ceremonial objects, as the Torch passed in front of me, I felt the magical aura that surrounds the Torch Relay. Tonight as the Stadium Torch is lit, I will be watching the Olympics with renewed interest. I will be looking beyond the politics, organizational blunders, drug testing and cheating, and the overload of advertising, to enjoy the magical, religious aura surrounding the whole event. Let the Games begin!
-- Sallie Anderson is a Ph.D. student in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
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