Conference: Documenting the Beijing Olympics
The list of speakers is detailed below
Date: 12 September 2008Time: 12:00 AM
Finishes: 13 September 2008Time: All Day
Venue: Russell Square: College BuildingsRoom: Khalili Lecture Theatre
Type of Event: Conference
This conference, scheduled to take place within weeks of the Olympics, aims to bring together academics, film-makers and writers from the all over the world to have the one of the most immediate discussions of the 2008 Olympics. Alongside the immediate, the conference will also attempt to locate the Beijing Games within Olympic history and to explore the challenges that lie ahead for the movement before the Games move to London in 2012.
The focus of the two day workshop in SOAS will be on the processes of documenting the Beijing Olympics – ranging from the visual (television and film), to radio and the written word – and the meanings generated by such representations.
- What were the ‘key’ stories and how were they chosen?
- What was dramatised? Who were the heroes?
- Which ‘clashes’ were highlighted and how?
- What sorts of stories did the notion of ‘human interest’ generate?
- Did politics take a backseat or was the topic highlighted repeatedly?
Thus, the focus will not be on the success or failure of this event, but on the ways in which the Olympics Games as international and historic events are memorialised by its observers.
The proceedings of the conference will be published as a special issue of Sport in Society (Routledge) and subsequently as a book in the sport in their Sport in the Global Society.
Panel of Speakers
Friday, 12 September 2008
10.00 Introduction
| Speaker | Description |
|---|---|
| Professor Graham Furniss (Pro-Director, SOAS) | Welcome |
| Terry Mitchell (Chapman and Mitchell Covers) | Presentation of First Day Cover Stamp |
10.15-13.15 Panel 1: The Torch Relay
| Panel Member | Talk |
|---|---|
| Chair: Dr Lola Martinez (SOAS) | |
| Han-Teng Liao (Oxford University) | How the Two Chinese Online Encyclopaedias Document Olympic Flame Relay |
| Dr Yih-jye Hwang (Aberystwyth) (Leiden University, Netherlands) | A Discursive Constitution of ‘Human Rights’ as Universal Values in the Torch Relay of 2008 Olympics in Beijing |
| Dr Boria Majumdar (University of Toronto Consultant, Indian Olympic Association) | When Sport Mattered the Most- Delhi and the Olympic Flame Relay |
| Professor John Horne (University of Central Lancashire) | The ‘caged torch procession’: celebrities, terrorists and the 2008 Olympic torch relay |
| 13.15-14.30 | Lunch Break |
14.30-17.45 Panel 2: Representing the State [a two part session]
| Panel Member | Talk |
|---|---|
| Chair: Dr Kevin Latham (SOAS) | |
| Limin Liang (Northwestern University) | Framing China and the world through the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, 1992-2004 |
| Jialing Luo (University of Cambridge) | ‘Betwixt and Between’ Rethinking Ritual Aspects of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics |
| 16.00-16.15 | Break |
| Christopher J. Finlay and Xin Xin (University of Pennsylvania) | Soft Power and the Management of Nationalism at the Beijing Games |
| Chen Weixing (Communication University of China) | The Communication Gesture of the Beijing Olympic Games |
18.00 Keynote Speech
| Speaker | Talk |
|---|---|
| Professor Bruce Kidd (University of Toronto) | Olympics and Human Rights in the context of Beijing |
Saturday, 13 September 2008
10.45-13.00 Panel 3: China, media and the Olympics [a two part session]
| Panel Member | Talk |
|---|---|
| Chair: Professor Michael Palmer (SOAS) | |
| Dr Kevin Latham (SOAS) | China’s media landscape viewed through the Olympics |
| Huang Yaohua (Guangdong Television) | A study of Guangdong Television's Olympics coverage strategy |
| Liu Jun (Fuzhou University) | Effect of Use of Mobile Media on Olympic Games Knowledge among Migrant Workers -- Results of a Pilot Study in Fuzhou |
| 13.00-14.15 | Lunch Break |
| Charles R Bladen (University of Greenwich Business School) | The representation of volunteering at the Olympics |
15.00-16.45 Panel 4: Looking Back [A Keynote Session]
| Panel Member | Talk |
|---|---|
| Chair: John Rowett (former Secretary General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities) | |
| Professor Ren Hai (Beijing Sports University) | Olympics Games and their Impact on Social Values in China |
| Professor John Hughson (University of Lancashire) | The cultural Legacy of Olympic Posters |
| 16.45-17.00 | Break |
17.00 Looking Forward: Open Discussion on Lessons For London 2012
| Panel Member | Talk |
|---|---|
| Chair: Dr Boria Majumdar (University of Toronto Consultant, Indian Olympic Association) | Closing Comments |
Registration
The event is free. To register contact Jane Savoy on js64@soas.ac.uk or +44 (0)20 7898 4892
Documenting the Beijing-Olympics conference participants
Sponsor: Routledge
