Digital resources in the Social Sciences and Humanities OpenEdition Our platforms OpenEdition Books OpenEdition Journals Hypotheses Calenda Libraries OpenEdition Freemium Follow us

Lecture by Professor Sebastian Conrad on “Bodybuilding and muscular manliness – towards a global history’ in collaboration with the German Embassy

20th February 2024 | 6 pm | Blue Hall, German Embassy (6, 50G, Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, Delhi 110021)

Prior registration necessary, RSVP to icasmpevents@mwsindia.org. Please carry a hardcopy of your ID. The lecture will be followed by a reception.

At the turn of the twentieth century, bodybuilding emerged as a new form of body politics that responded to the needs of social reformers, work science, and nationalist ideologues around the world. The global appeal of bodybuilding – forming both strong and beautiful bodies – is usually seen as a result of the outward spread of a European model, epitomized in the world tour of Eugen Sandow, the “father of modern bodybuilding.” This talk will trace the invention of bodybuilding in the 1890s, and its subsequent global career. At the same time, it will show how the resonance of the new body regime owed to changes in capitalist societies and geopolitics that manifested themselves across the globe. Bodybuilding as it emerged before World War I corresponded to the social conditions of the times – which becomes clear when comparing it to the forms of bodybuilding popular in the Schwarzenegger era.

Sebastian Conrad holds the Chair of Modern History at the Free University of Berlin. He joined the faculty in 2010 after teaching for several years at the European University Institute in Florence. He was a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, a visiting professor at the École des Hautes Études in Paris, and a visiting scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara; in the spring 2017, he held the Theodor Heuss Chair at the New School, New York.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
sukritimanocha (February 14, 2024). Lecture by Professor Sebastian Conrad on “Bodybuilding and muscular manliness – towards a global history’ in collaboration with the German Embassy. ICAS:MP. Retrieved February 8, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/vtx6


You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.