Russell Field, editor of Winters of Discontent: The Winter Olympics and a Half Century of Protest and Resistance, answers questions on his new book.
Q: Why did you decide to write this book?
As a historian whose research focuses on protest and resistance at international sporting events, I was struck – not surprisingly – by the dominance of the Summer Olympic Games in discussions of multi-sport events. Yet moments of protest and resistance at the Olympics have been prominent at the Winter Olympics, and there are few books in Olympic history specific to the Winter Games. I wanted to pull together a collection that focused specifically on the Winter Olympics – those that took place, those that were mooted but never occurred, and those that are still being proposed – as a way of highlighting local and global protests. Winters of Discontent is the result of these efforts.
Q: What is the most interesting discovery you made while researching and writing your book?
I don’t know if I would call it a “discovery,” but one of key learnings for me in helping to shepherd a collection of 8 case studies to publication, was the global nature of what are often local issues. Protest groups, whether they are focused on respecting Indigenous lands, environmental protections, the spending of public monies, or other issues, most often understandably highlight local concerns, yet at the same time they tap into narratives of resistance to a major global undertaking such as the Olympics.
Q: What myths do you hope your book will dispel or what do you hope your book will help readers unlearn?
The Olympics roll around every two years, cycling between winter and summer versions. Media accounts in the lead-up to these events often highlight some level of resistance and track whether host cities and their venues will be “ready.” Once the opening ceremonies take place, however, news stories give way to sports coverage and the accomplishments of elite athletes. The concerns of groups opposed to the Olympics tend to fall by the wayside. The hope of the authors collected in Winters of Discontent is that the issues raised by resisters do no not get lost in this shuffle.
Q: Which part of the publishing process did you find the most interesting?
Working with an outstanding collection of contributors was the most enjoyable part of the process. The Olympics are a global event and, historically, the Winter Olympics – for reasons of climate, primarily – have been a Northern event. But the Winter Olympics has become increasingly more prominent in Asia, accompanying its historical roots in Europe and its long-standing presence in North America. One of great things about the team of authors that contributed to Winters of Discontent is their global nature, as the book brings together scholars from five countries across three continents.
Q: What do you like to read/watch/or listen to for fun?
I travel a lot for work, which affords me the opportunity to read and I like to read as much fiction as I can while commuting – in a wide variety of genres. I watch surprisingly little online, except for live sports, but am a regular film festival goer, in particularly documentary film festivals in Toronto (Hot Docs) and Amsterdam (IDFA). I listen to much of the same music I did 20-30 years ago, which is a boring answer. There are a lot of creative people in the Winters of Discontent team, most of whom are regular podcast listeners. I bet they could come up with some better suggestions.
Russell Field is an associate professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of A Night at the Gardens: Class, Gender, and Respectability in 1930s Toronto.