This book looks at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games as a complex nation-building project. Sports mega-events have been mostly studied as homogenous government-led strategies, but more work is needed around the diverse reception and performances. The preparation period for the Olympics in Mexico and especially the year 1968 highlight the multiplicity of voices behind these exercises. Beyond the government and associated networks, the citizenry also used this mega-event to present an idea of Mexico to the world and thus reshape citizenship and nationhood. This study takes a bottom-up approach to look at the citizenry’s experiences of the 1968 Olympic Games, both the shared nationalistic values and the areas of conflict. 

Read the book at Lehman's EBSCOHost eBook Collection

Axel Elías is a visiting Fullbright Researcher at Lehman College.

A Devised Theatre Production Created by the Students of Lehman College

With the advent of George Floyd’s murder in the summer of 2020, BLM protests erupted during the covid pandemic in the streets across the United States and in many other countries across the world. Here in the Bronx, Nuyorican communities embraced a form of performance protest born in Puerto Rico in the dance, music, and spoken word poetry forms inspired by Bomba and Plena.

It became clear that it was important to engage with the significance of these artistic responses that BLM had brought to light in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder. The responses of young people in 2020 reminds us of the early 1970s, and the Young Lords Party here in New York City, and our students began to see that this crisis was part of a continuum of a history of protest and resistance by young people like themselves.

¡Pa’lante! was created as a devised theatre production in response to these issues from the point of view of the “self-directed” and “multidisciplinary” mission that is the focus of the theatre and dance programs at Lehman College.

Lovinger Theatre
in the Speech and Theatre Building

Wednesday April 27 at 3:30 p.m.
Thursday April 28 at 7:00 p.m.
Friday April 29 at 7:00 p.m.