Margaret M. Gold

Access for all: the rise of the Paralympic Games

The Paralympic, or Parallel, Games for athletes with disabilities have played a major role over the past half century in changing attitudes towards disability and accelerating the agenda for inclusion. This article charts their development from small beginnings as a competition for disabled ex-servicemen and women in England founded shortly after the Second World War to the present day ambulatory international festival of Summer and Winter Games organized in conjunction with the Olympic Games. The Paralympic Games trace their origins to the work of Dr (later Sir) Ludwig Guttmann at the National Spinal Injuries Unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire who used sport as an integral part of the treatment of paraplegic patients. A sports competition was held at the hospital to coincide with the Opening Ceremony of the London Games in July 1948. This became an annual event attracting the first international participation in 1952, after which it became the International Stoke Mandeville Games. From 1960 onwards attempts were made to hold every fourth Games in the Olympic host city. Despite initial success in staging the 1960 Games in Rome and the 1964 Games in Tokyo, subsequent host cities refused to host the competitions and alternative locations were found where a package of official support, finance and suitable venues could be assembled. In 1976, the scope of the Games was widened to accept other disabilities. From 1988 onwards, a process of convergence took place that saw the Paralympics brought into the central arena of the Olympics, both literally and figuratively. In the process they have embraced new sports, have encompassed a wider range of disabilities, and helped give credence to the belief that access to sport is available to all. The Paralympics also underline the change from sport as therapeutic competition to that of elite events that carry intrinsic prestige, with growing rivalry over medal tables. For the future, however, questions remain as to whether the current arrangements of separate but supposedly equal festivals assist the continuing development of the Paralympics or perpetuate difference.

Future Indefinite? London 2012, the Spectre of Retrenchment and the Challenge of Olympic Sports Legacy

Abstract The decision to award the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games to London has focused interest on the lasting legacy of benefits and problems that may result from staging the games. This paper explores the nature and characteristics of the sports legacy arising from those games. It opens by considering the meaning of Olympic sports legacy, and then gives a brief analysis of the sports legacies associated with the two previous London Olympics (1908 and 1948). It then considers the legacy promises made in the bid documents for London 2012, before examining the progress made and challenges encountered during the post-award development phase for managing sports legacy — not least in view of the prevailing climate of economic retrenchment.

The Graves of the Gallant Highlanders: Memory, Interpretation and Narratives of Culloden

The battlefield at Culloden (Scotland), which witnessed the defeat in April 1746 of the forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart in a battle against forces loyal to the Hanoverian King George II, remains a site charged with powerful associations. Largely forgotten for a century, the memories of the battle were steadily revived and recast under the influence of romantic Jacobitism, eventually turning the battlefield from undifferentiated moorland into sacred space. This article traces this process and reflects on its lasting implications. After surveying the nature of Jacobitism, especially its transformation from a political to a predominantly romantic movement, it considers film representations of Culloden as a way of unpacking the myths of romantic Jacobitism. The type of reinterpretations found in film, however, have only slowly permeated the narratives presented at the site itself. The conclusion discusses issues arising from the experience of Culloden, making particular reference to the recently announced Memorial Project.

Understanding Narratives of Nationhood: Film-makers and Culloden

Abstract Film audiences have long been invited to view Scotland and Scottish life through a historic lens. Influenced by the pre-existing literary traditions of tartanry and kailyard, film-makers have focused nostalgically on the myths and legends of the Highland and pre-industrial Scotland, with the implications that this approach has for representations of the country and its people. This paper describes a classroom exercise entitled “Tales of the Forty-Five” that explores expressions of this idea in cinematic representations of place. It does so by taking three films that depict the Battle of Culloden Moor—Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), Culloden (1964) and Chasing the Deer (1994). We show how students are asked to compare the depictions of Culloden in these films and comment on their role in their respective narratives as, respectively, landscape of regret, killing field and site of internecine struggle. Questions are asked about the future of such representations of place given the new political realities of post-devolution Scotland and about further pedagogic uses of film.

Windows on the Eternal: Spirituality, Heritage and Interpretation in Faith Museums

Western audiences are used to seeing religious objects in museums—whether in collections of art, archaeology, ethnographic or social history. However, the twentieth century has seen the proliferation of museums devoted specifically to religion. While a few have attempted to explore the subject of religion in general, most are single faith museums exploring and documenting a particular religion, denomination or aspect of religion. There are those that seek to preserve the diaspora experience of migrant communities or to safeguard the memory of people or events (particularly in the case of Holocaust memory of Jewish communities), while others to reinforce the faith among adherents or to engage and even convert non-believers. These faith museums raise interesting challenges for museology. Who is collecting the objects and for what purpose? Is it the faith community itself or others trying to document cultural practice? Who is interpreting the collections, the source community or outsiders? This chapter defines the faith museum, provides a typology based on the purpose and content of the collections, analyzes the geographical distribution of faith museums and examines the presentation, interpretation and treatment of collections. Three case studies develop these themes in greater detail. The first is the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in Glasgow Scotland, a multifaith museum which promotes an understanding of the world’s religions. The second is the Jewish Museum in London which aims to explore Jewish heritage and identity. The third example is The Holy Land Experience in Florida which aims to bring the Bible alive for believers while presenting the Gospel of Christ to the world.