Physical Cultures of the Body, 2026

Physical Cultures of the Body, 2026
Physical Cultures of the Body
Virtual & In-Person Conference, 2026
Physical Cultures of the Body, A Virtual and Face-to-Face Conference
Physical Cultures of the Body
Physical Cultures of the Body Award Winners
David P. Webster Graduate Student Essay Award and  Terry Todd Award for Best Paper by a Working Scholar
Terry Todd (left) and David P. Webster, O.B.E. (right)
The
David P. Webster Graduate Student Essay
Award was won by Louis Neymon, Paris-Saclay University, France, for his essay  “From the
Force Culturiste
to the
Force Athlétique
: France’s
Culture Physique
and the Early Days of French Powerlifting.”
The
Terry Todd Award for Best Paper by a Working Scholar
was won by Asim Kumar Halder and Professor Zheng Guohua, Shanghai University of Sport, China, for their essay “Training the Body, Healing the Self: The Martial and Medicinal Epistemology of
Kalaripayattu
, India’s Own Martial Art.”
Below is a list of the 2026 Physical Cultures of the Body conference presentations. Video recordings of each presentation are available, if the participant’s written consent for publication has been received.
DAY ONE
Basudhita Basu –
Defending Her Own ‘Body’: Historicizing Women’s Entry in the Physical Culture Movement of Colonial Bengal
Asim Kumar Halder –
Training the Body, Healing the Self: The Martial and Medicinal Epistemology of
Kalaripayattu
, India’s Own Martial Art
Natascha Louw –
Women’s Herstory Matter
Tatiana Konrad – Outdoor Sports, Disability Rights, and the Environment in
The Peanut Butter Falcon
(2019)
Louis Neymon –
From the
Force Culturiste
to the
Force Athlétique
: France’s
Culture Physique
and the Early Days of French Powerlifting
Mark Doyle –
Barbells, Bulking and Bourdieu: The Social Transmission of Transformation in Powerlifting
Emma Pihl Skoog –
‘Dad on Parental Leave!’: Weightlifter Lennart “Hoa-Hoa” Dahlgren and the Construction of a New Dad in the Swedish Social Insurance Agency’s Campaign of the 1970s
Alec Hurley –
Strongmen of the Valleys: Uncovering the Influence of Eugen Sandow in the Welsh Valleys During the Early 20
th
Century
John Fair –
A Philadelphia Story: The William J. Herrmann Physical Training Institute
Airnel Abarra – “Empowerment of Hegemonic Subservience?”: Visualizing Female Bodybuilding in the Developing World
Hallie Franks –
American Venuses: Ancient Sculpture and Women’s Physical Culture
Eduardo Galak –
‘To Remain United in Spite of All Vicissitudes’: Images of the Consequences of the Firpo–Dempsey Fight (1923) and Its Political Uses
David Chapman –
American Champions: A Lost Legacy of Olympic Paintings
DAY TWO
Keisuke “Jima” Nakajima –
On the Artificiality of Athletic Bodies:
Technosomata
in Physical Culture
Simon J. Bronner –
The Domestication of Physical Culture: The Growth and Function of the “Home Gym”
Jonathan White –
Lifting
in
Country: Launceston Elliot, Tom Pevier, Thomas Inch, and the Disorganization of British Weightlifting from 1891-1910
Dimitris Rigalos –
“Strong as Tofalos!”: The Greek Strongman, Dimitrios Tofalos and the Politics of Strength
Mitch Snow –
The “Dance of the Pole”: Ritual, Strength Training and Public Entertainment in Preconquest Mexico
Emalee Nelson Stone –
Keiki in Motion: Camp Erdman, the YMCA, and the Pursuit of Health from the 1920s to Today
Martin Shuster –
Critical Theory and/of Lifting
Jan Todd –
A Forgotten Scottish Strongman: Jacobite John Murchison and His Lifting Stone
Cory Johnson – The Ideal Body Under Duress: The Uffizi Pankratiasts
Charles Stocking –
Between Average and Ideal: Classical Sculpture and the Body Mass Index
Address
H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports
The University of Texas at Austin,
403 DeLoss Dodds Way
North End Zone 5.700
Austin, TX 78712
Phone
: (+1) 512-471-4890
Email
: info@starkcenter.org
Open Hours
Weekdays
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Weekends & Holidays
Closed
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