When Symbols Clash: Legitimacy, Legality and the 2010 Winter Olympics

Abstract

In February 2010, the Olympics descended on Vancouver, British Columbia. Between athletes competing for gold and a provincial venue with the highest poverty rate in Canada, a clash of symbols arose: those deemed legitimate by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) and those deemed illegitimate. The Games not only transformed the city's landscape, municipal laws, infrastructure, and social relations but also resulted in the concurrent transformation of the city's visual culture. As an explicit tactic, Aboriginal; antipoverty; environmental; anarchist; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activists employed countersymbols to disrupt VANOC's plans. Through qualitative discourse analysis of photos and visual imagery, this article addresses social, historical, political, and economic issues tied to this clash of symbols, including the use of Aboriginal cultures in representations of Canadian nationalism; infringements upon civil liberties and freedom of speech that resulted from surveillance of activists and constraints to the arts; and visual counter-discourse produced by activists through demonstrations, posters, and art.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In memory of Owen Idwal Taylor (1979–2010). We also acknowledge the assistance of Andrina Perry, Natasha Patterson, and Robert Smith?.

Notes

¹Many terms such as “Indian,” “Aboriginal,” “Métis,” and “Native” adopted in Canada are highly legalistic, initially designed for Provincial and Federal Government control, monitoring and categorization of local indigenous populations with little relationship to traditional cultural distinctions or the preferences of communities (Sawchuk, 1998).

²Beginning in the 1800s, Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes and placed into residential schools for “reeducation.” Mortality rates at the schools were extremely high, and many children were subject to physical and sexual abuse (Kelm, 1998).

³A highly publicized 78-day armed standoff between the Government of Canada and Mohawks from the Kanesatake Reserve, who were defending a burial ground from golf course development (York & Pindera, 1991).

⁴See the Government of Canada's Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit Factsheet: http://www.canada2010.gc.ca/mmedia/kits/fch-6-eng.cfm.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen-Marie Elah Perry

Karen-Marie Elah Perry (M.A., Simon Fraser University, 2010) is a doctoral student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria. Her research interests include visual anthropology and the anthropology of science and medicine.

Helen Hyunji Kang

Helen Hyunji Kang (M.Sc., University of Toronto, 2005) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University. Her research interests include cultural studies, health humanities and science and technology studies.