Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T22:40:21.067Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Indian Clubs and Colonialism: Hindu Masculinity and Muscular Christianity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2005

Joseph S. Alter
Joseph S. Alter
Affiliation:
Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Following Edward Said's Orientalism (1978), there has been considerable interest in studying gender images and engendered practices that emerged out of colonialism, both during the era of colonialism (Cooper and Stoler 1997; R. Lewis 1996; Stoler 1991; 1995; 2002), and subsequently (Altman 2001; Enloe 1993). Many of these studies have shown how colonized women were subject to the gendered and often sexualized gaze of Western men (Carrier 1998; Doy 1996; Grewal 1996; Yegenoglu 1998), and how colonized men were often regarded as either effeminate or “martial” by virtue of their birth into a particular group. Arguably, the latent ambiguity of regarding all colonized men as effete, and yet categorizing some colonized men as strong and aggressively virile, points to one of the many complex contradictions manifest in the cultural politics of colonialism. A similar point could be made with regard to nationalism, wherein women, and the image men want women to present of themselves, reflects masculine ambivalence about modernity (Chatterjee 1993). In any case, even when colonial discourse essentializes the virile masculinity of various subject groups—in particular the so-called martial castes of South Asia (Hopkins 1889; MacMunn 1977)—the putative masculinity of these groups is ascribed to breeding and latent “savagery,” and is rarely, if ever, conceived of as an achieved status, much less something an individual from some other group might achieve on the basis of training or practice.

Type
Research Article
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , July 2004 , pp. 497 - 534
Copyright
© 2004 Society for Comparative Study of Society and History

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams James 1995 Dandies and Desert Saints Cornell Cornell University Press
Alexander Alexander 1892 Physical Drill of All Nations London George Philip and Son
Alter Joseph S. 1992 The Wrestler's Body: Identity and Ideology in North India Berkeley University of California Press
Alter Joseph S. 1993 The Body of One Color: Indian Wrestling, the Indian State and Utopian Somatics. Cultural Anthropology 8 1 49 72Google Scholar
Alter Joseph S. 1994a Somatic Nationalism: Indian Wrestling and Militant Hinduism. Modern Asian Studies 28 3 557–88Google Scholar
Alter Joseph S. 1994b Celibacy, Sexuality and the Transformation of Gender in Nationalism. Journal of Asian Studies 53 1 45 66Google Scholar
Alter Joseph S. 2000a Gandhi's Body: Sex, Diet and the Politics of Nationalism Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press
Alter Joseph S. 2000b Kabaddi, A National Sport of India: The Internationalism of Nationalism and the Foreignness of Indianness Noel Dyck, ed. Games, Sports, and Cultures Oxford Berg 83–115
Alter Joseph S. 2002 Nervous Masculinity: Consumption and the Production of Embodied Gender in Indian Wrestling Sarah Lamb and Diane Mines, eds. Everday Life in South Asia Bloomington Indiana University Press 132–45
Alter Joseph S. 2004 Yoga in Modern India: The Body Between Philosophy and Science Princeton Princeton University Press
Alter Joseph S. forthcoming Empowering Yourself: Sport, Sexuality and Autoeroticism in North Indian Jori Swinging James Mills, ed. Sport and Colonialism in South Asia Oxford Berg
Altman Dennis 2001 Global Sex Chicago University of Chicago Press
Betz Carl 1892 A System of Physical Culture Chicago A. Flanagan
Bhargava Govind Ram 1985 Do Shabda. Smarika: Pratham Jila Jori Gada Pratiyogita—Jila Khelkudh Protsahan Samiti Awen Jila Mugdal Jori Gada Sangh Dwara Ayojit. Govind Ram Bhargava, 1 Varanasi Dr. Sampuranananda Stadium
Birrell Susan Mary G. McDonald 2000 Reading Sport: Critical Essays on Power and Representation Boston Northeastern University Press
Bordo Susan 1997 Reading the Male Body Pamela Moore, ed. Building Bodies New Brunsick, N.J. Rutgers University Press 31 73
Bornstein M. 1880 Manual of Instruction in the Use of Dumb Bells, Indian Clubs and Other Exercises New York M. Bornstein
Brady Frederic A. 1867 Publisher's Introduction Simon D. Kehoe, ed. The Indian Club Exercises New York Frederic A Brady 9–10
Budd Michael Anton 1997 The Sculpture Machine: Physical Culture and Body Politics in the Age of Empire New York New York University Press
Burrows Thomas n.d. The Text-Book of Club-Swinging London Athletic Publications, Ltd.
Burstyn Varda 1999 The Rites of Men: Manhood, Politics and the Culture of Sport Toronto University of Toronto Press
By an Amateur 1884 Indian Club Swinging Providence E. L. Freeman
Carrier Jean-Luc 1998 Femmes Et Féminités D'Orient Sous L'Oeil Des Occidentaux Du XIVe Au XVIIIe Siècle Villeneuve d'Ascq Universitaires du Septentrion
Chakrabarty Dipesh 2000 Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference Princeton Princeton University Press
Chapman David L. 1994 Sandow the Magnificent: Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding Urbana University of Illinois Press
Chatterjee Partha 1993 Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World Minneapolis University of Minnesota Press
Cobbett G. T. B. Jenkin A. F. 1893 Indian Clubs New York Macmillan and Co
Collingham E. M. 2001 Imperial Bodies: The Physical Experience of the Raj, 1800–1947 Cambridge, England Polity Press
Cooper Frederick Stoler Ann 1997 Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World Berkeley University of California Press
Cruden George 1889 Cruden's Calisthenic Training and Musical Drill, Containing Thorough Instructions and Progressive Exercises and Dumb-Bells, Bar Bells, Indian Clubs, and Hoops, and in Free Gymnastics and Marching New York Dick and Fitzgerald
Deshpande H. V. 1958 Brief Note on History and Development of Shree Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal Amravati Saraswati Printing Press
Deshpande S. H. 1992 Physical Education in Ancient India New Delhi Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan
Dewitt 1870 Dewitt's Athletic Exercises for Health and Strength New York Dewitt
Dougherty J. H. 1901 Indian Clubs and Dumb Bells New York American Sports Publishing Company
Doy Gen 1996 Out of Africa: Orientalism, Race and the Female Body London Sage Publications
Enloe Cynthia 1993 The Morning After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold War Berkeley and Los Angeles University of California Press
Fausto-Sterling Ann 2000 Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality New York Basic Books
Gardiner Benjamin 1884 Indian Club Swinging: By an Amateur Providence E. L. Freeman and Co
Garelick Rhonda 1998 Rising Star: Dandyism, Gender and Performance in Fin de Siecle Princeton Princeton University Press
Gorn Elliott J. Goldstein Warren 1993 A Brief History of American Sports New York Hill and Wang
Gould Stephen Jay 1981 The Mismeasure of Man New York Norton
Graham Sylvester 1972 The Greatest Health Discovery: Natural Hygiene and Its Evolution, Past, Present and Future Chicago Natural Hygiene Press
Green Harvey 1986 Fit for America: Health, Fitness, Sport and American Society New York Pantheon Books
Grewal Inderpal 1996 Home and Harem: Nation, Gender, Empire and the Cultures of Travel Durham Duke University Press
Grover Kathryn 1989 Fitness in American Culture: Images of Health, Sport and the Body, 1830–1940 Rochester University of Massachusetts Press
Gulick Luther Halsey 1905 Ten Minutes' Exercise for Busy Men, A Complete Course in Physical Education; Free Work, Chest Weights, Dumb Bells, Wands, Indian Clubs. . . . London British Sports Publishing Company Ltd
Guttman Allen 1996 The Erotics in Sports New York Columbia University Press
Hall Donald E. 1994 Muscular Christianity: Embodying the Victorian Age Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Harrison Professor n.d. Indian Clubs, Dumb-Bells and Sword Exercises. 2d ed. London Dean and Son
Harsha Ambi 1982 Development of Physical Education in Madras, 1918–1948 Madras Christian Literature Society
Harvey Francis Joseph 1897 1,000 Gymnastic Exercises with Dumb Bells, Wands and Indian Clubs, Suitable for Home Practice, or for Class, Competition or Display Purposes Exeter, England Physical Training School and Gymnasium
Higgs Robert J. 1995 God in the Stadium: Sport and Religion in America Lexington University Press of Kentucky
Hill Gus 1880 Gus Hill's Champion Club-Swinging and Dumb-Bell Manual: A Complete Guide by which Anyone can Learn these Healthy Exercises, as It Contains Instructions in Everything Appertaining to these Useful and Beneficial Accomplishments, Together with the Requirements and Construction of the Gymnasium New York New York Popular Publishing Company
Hoffman Alice 1996 Indian Clubs New York H. N. Abrams
Hopkins Edward Washburn 1889 The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic; With an Appendix on the Status of Women. New Haven Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor
Houghton E. B. 1891 Physical Culture: First Book of Exercises in Drill, Calisthenics and Gymnastics Toronto Warwick
Howells Bernard 1996 Baudelaire: Individualism, Dandyism and the Philosophy of History Oxford Legenda, European Humanities Research Centre
Jhingaran Kanaiya Lal 1985 Kashi Ki Jori: Ek Jhalka. Smarika: Pratham Jila Jori Gada Pratiyogita—Jila Khelkudh Protsahan Samiti Awen Jila Mugdal Jori Gada Sangh Dwara Ayojit. Govind Ram Bhargava, 3–4 Varanasi Dr. Sampuranananda Stadium
Jhingaran Keshav 1985 Hanuman Se Haldhar. Smarika: Pratham Jila Jori Gada Pratiyogita—Jila Khelkudh Protsahan Samiti Awen Jila Mugdal Jori Gada Sangh Dwara Ayojit. Govind Ram Bhargava, 7–8 Varanasi Dr. Sampuranananda Stadium
Jodh K. G. 1983 Amravati Cradles the Nationalist Movement Amravati All India Languages and Literary Conference
Kasson John F. 2001 Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man: The White Male Body and the Challenge of Modernity in America New York Hill and Wang
Kehoe Simon D. 1867 The Indian Club Exercise. Explanatory Figures and Positions. Photographed from Life; Also General Remarks on Physical Culture New York Frederic A. Brady
Krohn Robert 1924 Dumb Bell, Wand and Indian Club Exercises: Grammer Grades Portland Portland Public Schools
Kumar Rajesh 1985 Jori Kala Me Akhara Raghunath Maharj Ka Yogdan. Smarika: Pratham Jila Jori Gada Pratiyogita—Jila Khelkudh Protsahan Samiti Awen Jila Mugdal Jori Gada Sangh Dwara Ayojit. Govind Ram Bhargava, 11 Varanasi Dr. Sampuranananda Stadium
Ladd Tony Mathisen James A. 1999 Muscular Christianity: Evangelical Protestants and the Development of American Sports Grand Rapids, Mich. Baker Books
Lal Madan 1985 Jori, Vartman Aur Atit. Smarika: Pratham Jila Jori Gada Pratiyogita—Jila Khelkudh Protsahan Samiti Awen Jila Mugdal Jori Gada Sangh Dwara Ayojit. Govind Ram Bhargava, 12 Varanasi Dr. Sampuranananda Stadium
Lemaire E. Ferdinand 1890 Indian Clubs and How to Use Them: A New and Complete Method for Learning to Wield Light and Heavy Clubs, Graduated from the Simplest to the Most Complicated Exercises London Iliffe and Son
Levine Emma 2000 A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat London André Deutsch
Lewis Dio 1862 The New Gymnastics for Men, Women and Children Boston Ticknor and Fields
Lewis J. 1916 Swedish Drill Illustrated: A Short Course for Recruit Squads, Volunteer Training Corps, Lads' Brigades, Scouts, Senior Boys' Classes, and for Home Use London Harrison and Sons
Lewis Reina 1996 Gendering Orientalism: Race, Femininity and Representation New York Routledge
Lord Charles E. 1903 Indian Club Exercises: With Hints on Training London Percy Lund, Humphries and Co, Ltd
MacMunn Sir George 1977 The Martial Races of India Quetta, Pakistan Gosha-e-Adab
Melio George L. 1889 Manual of Swedish Drill (Based on Ling's System) New York Excelsior Publishing House
Melio George L. Chant Ormiston 1889 Manual of Swedish Drill: As Used in the Swedish Army and Navy. . . . London Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington
Messner Michael A. 1992 Power At Play: Sport and the Problem of Masculinity Boston Beacon Press
Messner Michael A. Donald F. Sabo 1994 Sex, Violence, and Power in Sports: Rethinking Masculinity Freedom, Calif. Crossing Press
Mohr Richard 1992 Gay Ideas: Outing and Other Controversies New York Beacon Press
Morris Andrew 2000 “To Make the Four Hundred Million Move”: The Late Qing Dynasty Origins of Modern Chinese Sport and Physical Culture. Comparative Studies in Society and History 42 4 876 906Google Scholar
Mrozek Donald J. 1989 Sport in American Life Kathryn Grover, ed. Fitness in American Culture: Images of Health, Sport and the Body Rochester University of Massachusetts Press
Mujumdar D. C. 1950 Encyclopedia of Indian Physical Culture Baroda Good Companions
Nissenbaum Stephen 1980 Sex, Diet, and Debility in Jacksonian America: Sylvester Graham and Health Reform Westport, Conn. Greenwood Press
Noakes S. G. 1893 A System of Free Gymnastics and Light Dumb Bell Drill as Practiced in the Military Gymnasia London Gale and Polden
Numbers Ronald L. 1976 Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White New York Harper & Row
Pardon George Frederick 1899 Gymnastics, Containing Dumb Bell Exercises, Indian Clubs, Parallel Bars, the Horizontal Bar and the Trapeze. London Ward, Lock and Company
Park Roberta 1989 Healthy, Moral, and Strong Kathryn Grover, ed. Fitness in American Culture: Images of Health, Sport, and the Body, 1830–1940 Rochester University of Massachusetts Press
Parkes Peter 1996 Indigenous Polo and the Politics of Regional Identity in Northern Pakistan Jeremy MacClancy, ed. Sport, Identity and Ethnicity Oxford Berg, 43–68
Paul Diane B. 1995 Controlling Human Heredity, 1865 to the Present Atlantic Highlands, N.J. Humanities Press
Prevost John C. 1957 Le Dandysme En France, 1817–1839 Gencive Droz
Pronger Brian 1990 The Arena of Masculinity: Sports, Homosexuality, and the Meaning of Sex New York St. Martin's Press
Putney Clifford 2001 Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880–1920 Cambridge Harvard University Press
Rajagopalan K. 1962 A Brief History of Physical Education in India (From the Earliest Times to the End of the Mughal Period) Delhi Army Publishers
Ram Daya 1985 Jori. Smarika: Pratham Jila Jori Gada Pratiyogita—Jila Khelkudh Protsahan Samiti Awen Jila Mugdal Jori Gada Sangh Dwara Ayojit. Govind Ram Bhargava, 5–6 Varanasi Dr. Sampuranananda Stadium
Rosselli John 1980 The Self-Image of Effeteness: Physical Education and Nationalism in Nineteenth Century Bengal. Past and Present 86 121–48Google Scholar
Rotundo Anthony E. 1993 American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinity From the Revolution to the Modern Era New York Basic Books
Said Edward 1978 Orientalism New York Pantheon Books
Scanlon Thomas F. 2002 Eros and Greek Athletics Oxford Oxford University Press
Schatz W. J. 1908 Club Swinging: For Physical Exercise and Recreation Boston American Gymnasia Company
Schueller Malini Johar 2001 U.S. Orientalisms: Race, Nation and Gender in Literature, 1790–1890 Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press
Singh Surya Prasad 1985 Vyayam Vidya Awen Parivartith Swarup. Smarika: Pratham Jila Jori Gada Pratiyogita—Jila Khelkudh Protsahan Samiti Awen Jila Mugdal Jori Gada Sangh Dwara Ayojit. Govind Ram Bhargava, 19–20 Varanasi Dr. Sampuranananda Stadium
Sokolow Jayme A. 1983 Sylvester Graham, Health Reform, and the Origins of Victorian Sexuality in America Rutherford Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
Spalding M. H. Collett L. L. 1910 The Swedish Drill Teacher London J. Curwen
Stanley Gregory Kent 1996 The Rise and Fall of the Sportswoman: Women's Health, Fitness and Athletics, 1860–1940 New York P. Lang
Stoler Ann Laura 1991 Sexual Affronts and Racial Frontiers: National Identity, “Mixed Bloods” and the Cultural Genealogy of Europeans in Colonial Southeast Asia Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press
Stoler Ann Laura 1995 Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault's History of Sexuality and the Colonial Order of Things Durham Duke University Press
Stoler Ann Laura 2002 Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Race and the Intimate in Colonial Rule Berkeley University of California Press
Terry Jennifer 1995 Anxious Slippages Between “Us” and “Them”: A Brief History of the Scientific Search for Homosexual Bodies Jennifer Terry and Jacqueline Urla, eds. Deviant Bodies Bloomington Indiana University Press, 129–69
Indiana University Press 1995 Terry, Jennifer and Jacqueline Urla, eds. Deviant Bodies Bloomington Indiana University Press
Thomas Edward n.d. Http://Indianclubs.Com/Cstkdtarticle.Html
Todd Jan 1993 “Strength Is Health”: George Barker Windship and the First American Weight Training Boom. Iron Game History 3 1 5 6Google Scholar
Todd Jan 1995 From Milo to Milo: A History of Barbells, Dumbells and Indian Clubs. Iron Game History 3 6 4 16Google Scholar
Todd Jan 1998 Physical Culture and the Body Beautiful: Purposive Exercise in the Lives of American Women, 1800–1870 Macon, Ga. Mercer University Press
Trall Russell Thacher 1879 The Illustrated Family Gymnasium New York Fowler and Wells
Treat C. R. 1869 Indian Clubs. The Riverside Magazine for Young People: An Illustrated Monthly 3 Reproduced on http://ejmas.com/pt/ptart_treat_0501.htmGoogle Scholar
Vaidya A. K. 1951 We Go to the Lingiad Amravati Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal
Verbrugge Martha H. 1988 Able-Bodied Womanhood: Personal Health and Social Change in Nineteenth-Century Boston Oxford Oxford University Press
Vertinsky Patricia 1990 The Eternally Wounded Woman: Women, Doctors and Exercise in the Late Nineteenth Century Manchester and New York Manchester University Press
Walker Donald 1834 British Manly Exercises; In Which Rowing and Sailing Are Now First Discussed London n.p
Walker Donald 1888 Walker's Manly Exercises: Containing Rowing, Sailing, Riding, Driving, Racing, Hunting, Shooting and Other Manly Sports London George Bell and Sons
Warman Edward Barrett J. H. Dougherty, and Henry Schuyler 1923 Indian Club Exercises New York American Sports Publishing Company
Webster Charles 1981 Biology, Medicine and Society, 1840–1940 New York Cambridge University Press
Wheelwright Samuel T. 1871 A New System of Instruction in the Indian Club Exercise: Containing a Simple and Accurate Explanation of All the Graceful Motions as Practiced by Gymnasts, Publicists, Etc. New York O'Kane
Wilbur William H. 1920 The Koehler Method of Physical Drill Philadelphia J. B. Lippincott
Yadav Premnath 1985 Samay Ki Den. Smarika: Pratham Jila Jori Gada Pratiyogita—Jila Khelkudh Protsahan Samiti Awen Jila Mugdal Jori Gada Sangh Dwara Ayojit. Govind Ram Bhargava, 21–22 Varanasi Dr. Sampuranananda Stadium
Yegenoglu Meyda 1998 Colonial Fantasies: Towards a Feminist Reading of Orientalism Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Zarrilli Phillip 1989 Three Bodies of Practice in a Traditional South Indian Martial Art. Social Science and Medicine 28 12 1289–309Google Scholar
Zarrilli Phillip 1998 When the Body Becomes All Eyes: Paradigms, Discourses and Practices of Power in Kalarippayattu, a South Indian Martial Art Delhi Oxford University Press