Fiskultura tjelesne prakse socijalizma

Mihoci, Nataša. (2015). Fiskultura tjelesne prakse socijalizma. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology. [mentor Komar, Tibor].

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Abstract

The subject of this study are dominant physical practices of socialism united in a unique concept of “fiskultura”. Shortened from “physical culture” which has already been established in the capitalist states of the 19th century, “fiskultura” was conceived as a totally different approach to the body and to the physical practices which were grounded in egalitarian, inclusive and cooperative principles, arising from wider socialistic values. The final purpose of “fiskultura” was the production of the collective body composed out of the bodies of socialist citizens and also the production of the collective per se through mass participation in sport programs. This study describes four basic functions of “fiskultura” – the production of collective consciousness, military training of citizens, improvement of the work productivity and encouragement for partaking in sport activities as a way of improving health and allround well-being of citizens. Physical practices of “fiskultura” were analyzed through the examples of three socialistic states of the 20th century: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, German Democratic Republic and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Representative ritual of the wide range of the cultural patterns which were used in the production of the collective body were “slet” spectacles – mass performances of the choreographed movement and cultural performances of the political community of socialism. This study also involves with the numerous contradictions in the practical implementation of the “fiskultura” concept, referring always to its essence and its basic ideas in offering resistance to the body alienation and commodification of the physical practices that are distinctive characteristics of capitalism.

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