State of the Field

Physical Culture

Bibliographic Data

ID9878020
AuthorsClaire Heffernan (0000-0001-5001-4257, University of Ulster, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume107
Issue374
Pages143-162
Publication date2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2648 • E-ISSN: 1468-229X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-229x.13258
OpenAlexW4206795396
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited14

This article surveys the state of the field of physical culture within the discipline of history. Understood broadly as a society's interest in gymnasium and health cultures, physical culture has become a topic of increasing importance for historians, sociologists and performance scholars in the past two decades. Seen as a distinct field from sport history, works on physical culture have evolved from sporadic and one‐off studies to nuanced discussions about the idealised body and its broader social message. As such, studies of physical culture have become excellent platforms for the often implicit ways in which body types have been used in discussions of race, nationalism, class, gender and medicine. Although studies of physical culture began over a century ago, the field has only recently begun to enjoy scholarly attention and, thereby, evolve

Aesthetics · Art · Field (mathematics · Nationalism · Physical culture · Political science · Politics · Race (biology · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Law · Medicine · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access