Research
Much of my recent research has focused on physical culture and the body, particularly on Anglo-German strongman, bodybuilder and “physical culturist” Eugen Sandow (1867-1925). Sandow was widely seen as the “the world's strongest and most beautiful man”, and he was the dominant figure in a burgeoning global physical culture movement c. 1900. In the 1890s and 1900s he undertook energetic world tours through Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.
I “discovered” Sandow when I was doing research on physical culture in India and encountered “the Indian Sandow”, Professor Ramamurti Naidu. I then had to find out who the real Sandow was, and soon learned that he had visited India in 1904 and 1905. Most work on Sandow looks at his history and legacy in Europe and North America and little has been done on the strongman in Asia. This led me to research Sandow’s influence and legacy in India, other parts of Asia, and Africa.
Sandow has appeared in many of my publications, but he finally took center stage in two publications in 2016: a chapter entitled “Sandow's Physical Culture as ‘Natural Healing’: Eugen Sandow's Campaign Against the Vices of Civilization c. 1890-1920”, in the edited collection Global Anti-Vice Activism, 1890-1950: Fighting Drinks, Drugs, and “Immorality” (2016); and the article “Cultural Exchange, Appropriation and Physical Culture: Strongman Eugen Sandow in Colonial India, 1904-1905” in the International Journal of the History of Sport. More recent publications discuss Sandow in the context of the history physical culture and the body in colonial India, from 1800 to independence in 1947, and his efforts to create and run a touring circus during the peak of the “big top” era in the early 1900s.
My current book project is Strongman Eugen Sandow’s World Tour of 1904-1905: The ‘Perfect Man’ in Colonial India and Afro-Asia, which has been accepted for publication with Anthem Press (London, UK) in 2024. It explores the significance of Sandow’s 17-month “world’s tour” and related “Sandow Crazes” in South Africa, India, the Straits Settlements (Singapore and Malaysia), and port cities in China. It looks at flows and counterflows of ideas and practices about exercise, fitness and health – and related debates about race, body and sexuality – in an imperial context. The book will also touch on some of the trials and tribulations of globalization at the turn of the 20th century, including those coming from the demimonde of showbusiness (music hall, variety shows and the circus) and sport.
Research Awards
Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Shastri Research Grant (SRG), 2016, for the project "More than Muscle: Eugen Sandow's Tour of India in 1904-05", with co-applicant Dr. Abhijit Gupta of Jadavpur University (Kolkata). Awarded January 2016.
St. Thomas University General Research Grant (GRG) for 2016-17: "More than Muscle: Assessing Strongman Eugen Sandow’s Asian Tour of 1904-05". Awarded November 2015.