Content
Senior Lecturer appointed as President of ASSH
15 August, 2005
… and finds Fatso the Fat-Arsed wombat strikes a chord
around the world
Senior Lecturer, Dr Tara Magdalinski, has been elected President
of the Australian Society for Sports History (ASSH).
Dr Magdalinski, who lectures in Australian and Cultural Studies,
is the first female President of ASSH and is also believed to be
the youngest.
ASSH focuses on examining the socio-cultural aspects of sport
and the role and significance of sport and its development in
various societies and cultures.
"The Society explores in detail the history of sport and
examines its significance to our society today," Dr Magdalinski
said.
"It isn't simply about recovering and memorising sports trivia
such as facts and figures, dates and scores.
"The Society analyses social, political and economic trends and
their implication for the development of sport in various national
contexts.
"With Australia represented as a 'sporty nation', it is
important to understand from where these ideas have emerged," she
said.
Dr Magdalinski has been on the Executive of ASSH for ten years
including two terms as Vice-President.
"It is an incredible honour and quite humbling to be elected
President by one's professional peers," Dr Magdalinski said.
ASSH produces a journal, Sporting Traditions, twice a year and
members of the organisation are a source of information and
expertise on sporting history both in Australia and
internationally.
Dr Magdalinski joined the University in 1996 and is a founding
member of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
She has published widely in the area of sports studies and her
work has appeared in journals including Sporting Traditions,
Critical Arts, Olympika, Peace Review, Media Information Australia,
and the International Journal of the History of Sport.
Most recently, Dr Magdalinski has attended conferences around
the world to deliver a paper she wrote about Fatso the Fat-Arsed
Wombat and other Olympic mascots.
The popular paper has been well-received in North America and
Melbourne and Dr Magdalinski will travel to Wales this September
and Calgary next year to deliver her informative and entertaining
analysis of Fatso, Roy and HG's 'The Dream', and Olympic marketing
and promotion in general.
"Fatso was not a familiar icon in the United States, so it was a
challenge to adequately explain his significance to this audience.
But by the end of the paper, they were as enamoured with 'the
little guy' as Australia was," Dr Magdalinski said.
She examines how cute, cuddly Olympic mascots are designed to
represent national characteristics but how they also function as
character advertisers.
Although Fatso is conceived as almost a subversive idol, 'the
battler's prince', he also operates as the 'perfect' mascot.
Dr Magdalinski also examines the 'ancient Greek wombat' and
other aspects of Fatso's role and persona.