Ideological, Social and Cultural Aspects of Events

Preface

The idea behind this project started as a frustration of the editors with the current events curriculum. The limited, business-oriented content that is delivered in classrooms across the world, we thought, needed a book that would challenge students to think of events in terms of their societal and transformational potential. In our experience, students are often very enthusiastic and eager to learn about event management, but less interested in the other aspects of events. International figures show that the popularity of the study of events is on the rise, resulting in more event programmes, papers and student enrolments. Yet the contemporary (event) student is influenced by a distorted vision that sees the fun and excitement in the management of events, without being able to critically penetrate beyond the experiences that are put together by skilled professionals. As academics, we are responsible for preparing a force of intellectuals who ought to be critical thinkers. However, through insufficient curriculum, we are reducing them to efficient taskmasters: managers, workers and contractors.

Although we understand the importance of managerial know-how, we also hold that there is more to events than the business and marketing savoir faire. Events are underpinned by ideologies, and are therefore political; events are necessarily a part of societies, and are therefore social; events also speak of traditions, customs and meanings, and are therefore cultural. It is by understanding these aspects of events that the future event managers can be enlightened in a critical fashion. Events, as value-laden activities, tell our stories: they are mirrors that reveal who we are as a society, as a people, and who we would like to become as human beings. The study of various aspects of events is thus an invitation to explore the history of specific communities and humanity at different intersections throughout time. The hope is that this volume will contribute to a growing body of knowledge that sets out to raise awareness about the true importance of Event Studies.

The book is organized into five thematic parts. The first part, Introductory Pointers, seeks to establish that events are first and foremost a societal phenomenon – a fact that is often overlooked in the event management literature. In Chapter 1, Tomas Pernecky and Omar Moufakkir commence by explaining the rationale for this book, and offer a brief historical overview of events, mapped against the progress of human societies. In Chapter 2, Keith Hollinshead, Vannsy Kuon and Mohamed Alajmi further situate event management/event development in the broader context of contemporary society, and introduce the concept of liquid modernity – a perspective that has much conceptual promise for the study of events.

In the second part of the book, Ideological Undertones, the three contributions focus specifically on the ways in which ideologies underpin events. Tomas Pernecky begins this section in Chapter 3 by arguing that events are an immensely important phenomenon in the making of societies. He draws on the concepts of ideology, power and consent to demonstrate the complex forms of ideological manifestations through events. Chapter 4, by ­Colleen Pastoor, Kellee Caton, Yaniv Belhassen, Billy Collins and Mark Rowel Wallin ­addresses the topic of Christian music festivals, and further demonstrates how ideologies are produced in the 21st century. The authors offer insights on how festivals socialize youth into the conservative Christian movement, and touch on several other issues, such as the political implications associated with holding these events. Also included in Part II is a chapter by Nicholas Wise, Jenny Flinn and Ivo Mulec, who share their research findings from a study on the Exit Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia. This festival started as a political event organized by students who opposed the policies of Slobodan Miloševicˇ in the year 2000. This event is unique for its origins in a region of geopolitical dispute (the Western Balkans) during the 1990s.

Part III, Constructing Values and Collective Visions, is also composed of three chapters. In Chapter 6, Ivana Rihova, Dimitrios Buhalis, Miguel Moital and Mary-Beth Gouthro argue for a shift from the traditional value perspectives to a more holistic representation of ­socially constructed value in practice. As put forward by the contributors, socially constructed value is formed in social practice, and more attention ought to be paid to the social practices performed in events. In Chapter 7, Louise C. Platt follows with a case study from Liverpool in the north-west of England. She draws on Turner’s concept of ‘the subjunctive mood’ in order to understand how local people performed identities in the period 2008–2009, when Liverpool held the title of European Capital of Culture 2008. Chapter 8 is ­another case study from the UK, but this time Ria Dunkley takes us to Wales to scrutinize the effectiveness of an event to inspire and create a more sustainable society. She shares findings from the Emergence Summit – an artistic gathering at the Welsh Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in 2012.

Part IV, under the heading of Multiculturalism, Community and Integration, brings together a collection of six case studies that are connected by a broader focus on the importance of events for communities. In Chapter 9, Malcom Cooper sets the scene by discussing the Yag’ubi Festival, held from 1997 to 2007 in Queensland, Australia. He tells a story of the celebration of diversity and the transformational impacts of the event, but also of its rapid decline and eventual termination. Chapter 10, by Kelley A. McClinchey, continues the thread of multiculturalism. This contribution accentuates the need for multicultural approaches in festival studies, and offers arguments as to why they are needed. Chapter 11, by Penelopi Alexandrou, examines the significance of ethnocultural festivals for the Halifax Greek Community, and Chapter 12, by Candace I.J. Nykiforuk, Laura M. Nieuwendyk, Ashley Humeniuk and Kelsey Klaver, reveals resident and non-resident community perceptions of an inner-city community event in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In Chapter 13, Carol Kline, with Jason Oliver, reach beyond the economic and social impacts of events, and employ the ‘Community Capitals Framework’ to evaluate festivals in several small towns in western North Carolina. Closing Part IV is Chapter 14, by Vassilios Ziakas and Carla A Costa, who share insights on the social value that derives from VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives) tourism in regard to community events. The authors see potential in synergizing event tourism and VFR in order to maximize the social value of events.

Observations and Conclusions forms the last section of the book, and contains the final chapter (Chapter 15), in which Omar Moufakkir reviews the contributions in this edited volume and presents an overall summary, which is complemented by an outline of possible future research perspectives and directions.

Part I Introductory Pointers

1 Events as Societal Phenomena

Tomas Pernecky¹* and Omar Moufakkir²

¹Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand;

²Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Deventer, The Netherlands

A complete view of society would also be a complete view of all the individuals, and vice versa; there would be no difference between them.

And just as there is no society or group that is not a collective view of persons, so there is no individual who may not be regarded as a particular view of social groups. He has no separate existence; through both the hereditary and the social factors in his life a man is bound into the whole of which he is a member, and to consider him apart from it is quite as artificial as to consider society apart from ­individuals.

(Charles Horton Cooley, 1922, p. 38)

Introduction

Interest in events within social and cultural settings is old and well established, particularly in the disciplines of anthropology and sociology (Getz, 2012). Parallel to these ­disciplinary perspectives, which tend to examine events as contexts for understanding various aspects of social life, human practices and behaviour, sits a field of ‘Event Management’ (currently undergoing a makeover to become ‘Event Studies’), which has emerged as a response to business-­oriented needs. Noting these developments is Getz’s (2010) systematic review of English-­language literature on festivals – showing that the majority of academic articles were ­published after the 1990s, with a further ­proliferation after 2000 – a sign, he notes, of significant growth but growth without a strong cohesion. This assessment provides a picture of the progress that has been made in the fields of tourism, hospitality and leisure, and shows what aspects of festivals have caught scholarly attention over the past few decades. In addition to Formica’s (1998) earlier analysis of academic research on festivals and special events between 1970 and 1996, Getz further identifies three key discourses. The first, a Discourse on the Roles, Meanings and Impacts of Festivals in Society and Culture, covers the roles that festivals and events have in communities in terms of their social, cultural and environmental impacts, and extends also to understanding issues such as social and cultural capital, identity and personal outcomes for participants. The second, a Discourse on Festival Tourism, concerns the commodification of festivals, while the third, a Discourse on Festival Management, relates more to management principles and is largely practice-­oriented. All in all, it is ­apparent that events have been mainly framed around interests in the phenomenon from a business perspective.

As a result, the epistemic directions thus far have led to an event curriculum dominated by economic and managerial approaches, while a range of other issues, such as social and environmental concerns, continue to lag behind (Weed, 2012). Although some scholars have indeed acknowledged that events present opportunities to contribute to societal values (e.g. Chalip, 2004, 2006; Weed, 2012), there is a substantial research and knowledge gap within the emerging field of Event Studies. Given the growing importance of events in modern society, taken together with the rising popularity of this area of study, there is an urgency for a richer and broader events curriculum that is not embedded only in corporate thinking. In a wider sense, this edited volume hopes to fill at least a small part of the existing gap by exploring the role that events have in fostering change in communities and societies. In other words, events are presented as agents of transformation – capable of facilitating ideological, social and cultural developments in a community and society at large. Our vision resonates with some of the ideas voiced in Picard and Robinson’s (2006) collection of studies that connect festivals with the processes of social change. In their view, ‘the festival needs to be linked to the wider sociological, economic and political context of change, as a site to adapt, reconstruct and re-enact meaningful narrations of the collective being in the – globally enlarged – world’ (p. 20).

Recent Developments and the Basis for this Book

Since the conception of this book in 2012, other colleagues have been disenchanted by the one-dimensional mode of thinking about events and, within a relatively short period of time, several new works have emerged. These ought to be acknowledged. Events and the Social Sciences (Andrews and Leopold, 2013) introduces students to the sociological concepts of structure and agency, and provides a selection of concepts, such as ­performance, identity, commodification, representation, modernity, socialization, liminality, nationalism and habitus. This is a well-­reinforced bridge between the study of events and the social sciences, useful particularly for introductory courses. Richards et al.’s edited volume, ­Exploring the Social Impacts of Events (2013) focuses on the themes of attendee participation, social capital and social cohesion; included too are empirical insights on the social benefits and impacts of events to different communities. As noted in the book by one of the editors (Wilks, 2013), it is necessary to continue ­exploring matters of social integration, feelings of inclusion and exclusion, the development of social networks, the preservation of traditions, and community pride. Despite its wider ranging implication for communities, the discourse on social impacts has been neglected, although some progress on this front has been marked by recognizing social capital, social function and social impacts as one of the 35 key concepts in Event Management (Quinn, 2013).

Another recent contribution that is expected to broaden knowledge on events is The Routledge Handbook of Events (Page and Connell, 2012), which offers theoretical insights and research perspectives on a wide range of subjects. Also of immense importance in general, and of particular relevance to this book, are the texts Power, Politics and International Events, edited by Merkel (2013), and Event Power, by Rojek (2013). Both of these works bring a much needed critical voice in the study of events by drawing the readers’ attention to political relationships, power imbalances, social control and a plethora of other contentious issues that transpire through international events. Taken as a whole, it is encouraging to see that contemporary scholarly efforts are starting to stretch the boundaries of Event Studies into new domains of significance.

As indicated by its title, this book is loosely organized around the themes of ideological, social and cultural aspects of events. Our aspiration is to engage students and researchers in thinking about the extent to which events shape the way people interact with and understand the world. The notion of the ideological, the social and the cultural in the study of events is not always unanimously apparent, and it is not the premise of this volume to neatly separate these into enclosed research foci. The distinction ­between what one may consider to be a ­social and a cultural phenomenon varies ­according to disciplinary orientations. In anthropology, for instance, the distinction is dictated by the research focus. Glazier (1988, p. 50) asserts that it is an analytical matter, for cultural anthropology studies cultural phenomena (e.g. diverse customs, practices and beliefs characteristic of particular human groups), while social anthropology concentrates more on the group’s ‘regular patterns of interaction and continuity over time’. Yet as the line between the social and cultural blurs, many modern-day anthropologists employ a sociocultural perspective (Donmoyer, 2010). Similarly, in the work on social and cultural identity, it is the junctures between the two that are considered more noteworthy, not the differences (Norton, 2011). While we acknowledge the work of the disciplinary forerunners who have made significant contributions to knowledge on events (for example, Geertz, 1973, 1980; Spencer, 1985; Ozouf, 1988; Turner, 1988, 1995; and many other scholars), we see an opportunity in bringing the discourse on matters ideological, social and cultural together in one publication. Thus, rather than adopting a reductionist approach, we propose that the event is a vehicle for various fusions of these three aspects, which are often intertwined and mutually reinforcing.

The labels and typologies assigned to events today – sporting events, sustainability-­themed congresses, political rallies, religious gatherings, multicultural festivals etc. – are phenomena imbued with both social and cultural aspects, underpinned by ideological meanings and assumptions. Events are visible displays of social life, for they reflect the relational aspects of activities and institutions; they are also expressions of cultural life, because they denote those aspects that convey meaning. However, social life is both social and cultural, and it is politically produced. As professed by Risager (2006, p. 153): ‘All social life conveys and creates meaning, and all exchange of meaning is relational, inscribed in power relations of various kinds . . . . The context is always culturally complex’. On this note, Roy’s (2005) multicultural encyclopedia of traditional festivals, for example, includes 150 entries from around the world, serving as a window into the importance of festivals in societal life. Events are permeated with meanings, and coloured by ideological thought, and they can also be seen as systems that structure societies. The event, therefore, when addressed more holistically, becomes a complex phenomenon that facilitates a multitude of functions: be it religious initiation, social bonding, display of wealth, political assembly, or even a mediation tool (see, for example Roy’s entry on ‘Potlach’, starting on p. 364).

Events and Society

It has been widely accepted that events, in various shapes and forms, were often ‘historically crucial to the social fabric of day-to-­day life’ (Shone and Parry, 2001, p. 4), and it has been underscored by other scholars that people’s need to celebrate is equally as important, if not more important, than our physical needs (Goldblatt, 1990). Events have also been recognized as ‘channels for expressing and consolidating a sense of community’ (Giorgi and Sassatelli, 2011, p. 1). Yet the most fundamental notion has been somewhat lost in the events curriculum. In contrast to other books, the position we take arises from the necessity to acknowledge the not so extensively articulated fact: that events are a fundamental part of a society. By understanding society, and by offering at least a fleeting ­account of the ways in which humanity has organized itself, we hope to show that events have been an essential agent of transformation. This requires putting, temporarily, the concurrent conceptualizations of events as business phenomena on the back seat, and exploring the interconnectedness of their ideological, social and cultural aspects.

To begin with, there are a few fundamental issues that ought to be highlighted when speaking of a society. The first noteworthy fact is that societies are essential for the survival of people. Human societies share similar characteristics with the natural world and its available forms of organization. According to Lenski (1970), forming a society is a mode of adaptation that increases the chance for survival and growth. This mode of endurance applies to man too, although some differences can be observed. There are some characteristics that humans share with all living things, such as the need for food, air and light. There are also attributes that we share with only some forms of life, such as societal forms of organization common in other species (e.g. penguins and monkeys). What sets humans apart from the rest of the animal world and makes us quite distinct are our sets of unique attributes, such as religion. In scientific terms, society can therefore be understood as the consequence of the evolutionary process: as ‘a form of organization that has evolved not once, but a number of times, independently, and in widely separated animal lines’, and as something ‘that is found not only among humans, but also among many species of mammals, birds, fish, and even insects’ (Lenski, 1970, p. 10). The importance of society is further underscored by the fact that those species which live in the societal mode of organization are the ones that have usually prospered and grown (Lenski, 1970). Therefore, when speaking of society, it is vital to begin with the acknowledgement that societies have been imperative for the evolution of human beings. This form of the structuring of people has produced a myriad of remarkable phenomena, in which events, we believe, co-star rather prominently. The connection between events and societies may at first not be immediately obvious; however, the bond is undeniably strong.

Human societies have progressed from pre-industrial societies (for instance from hunting, gathering, horticultural, agrarian and specialized societies) to industrial societies, to post-industrial societies, to what Nolan and Lenski (2011, p. 300) describe in contemporary terms as industrializing hybrid societies (a combination of traditional, pre-industrial cultures and modern industrial technology). Historically, events have been a significant agent in the shaping and sustaining of peoples through instilling beliefs, order and structure; through maintaining traditions and customs; and by imparting (often imposing) values. Events have been deployed to celebrate, commemorate and mark important occasions, and also as tools for improving relations. In simple horticultural societies, for example, ceremonies were used to encourage solidarity. According to Lerro (2005), misunderstandings and confrontations were in fact more common during the preceding hunting and gathering period. Planting and horticultural societies depended on valuable land, and the cost of abandoning the crops was therefore much higher. The role of sacred rituals, which were often coordinated with the turning of the seasons, was to provide ‘predictable, periodic opportunities to forgive and forget’ (Lerro, 2005, p. 34). Events, despite being simpler in form, thus had a significant role in the life of people – stretching back in time to pre-industrial societal forms of organization.

Religion, as hinted earlier, is one of the unique attributes that distinguishes humans from other species. It is also an interesting topic in the context of societal developments and the continued rise of events. Nolan and Lenski (2011) note that in the earliest agrarian societies, religion was very powerful, and worshipping/serving the gods (e.g. supplying them with food, drinks and shelter) was seen as the sole purpose of man. Understandably, religiously motivated events were at the foci of human activity. The mindset of people then was reasonably different to the somewhat evolved scientific/secular and religious/spiritual understandings that prevail in much of the world today. Religion and religious events were at the epicentre of what was mean­ingful and important. With the emergence of advanced agrarian societies, communities grew in numbers and the largest cities eventually became the capitals of the most affluent societies (Nolan and Lenski, 2011). The growth and spread of religion ­resulted in various communes of believers, leading to the establishment of three key religions, which still dominate the realm of belief in the 21st century: ­Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. The ramifications of these developments in the context of events are rather powerful as, in the present day, over 80% of people identify with some form of religion (Pew Research, 2012). The implications are no less significant considering that a vast number of the world’s population (approximately 5.8 bn) potentially takes part in religious events and festivities.

Apart from religious festivals and celebrations, societies have historically produced other forms of events, such as sporting contests. Delaney and Madigan’s (2009) text The Sociology of Sports tracks sports events as far as Ancient Egypt (c.1400–800 BC), with disciplines such as archery, wrestling, dancing, swimming, boxing and stick fighting. Early versions of soccer, for example, can be traced to 770 BC and the Ancient Chinese culture; and polo can be traced to Tibet. These authors also explain that certain activities, such as running or the throwing of objects were common sports activities in all ancient cultures. Of course, the Ancient Greeks gave us the longest running sporting event in history – the Olympic Games (dating back to 776 BC). Seasonal events and celebrations of gods were also common in what was then known as Mesopotamia – the so-called ‘cradle of civilization’. McIntosh (2005) confirms that, despite the lack of facts from this period, festivals were likely to include processions, music, dancing, feasting and other communal activities.

Not to be forgotten in the mix of early forms of events are those that also transpired across other continents and nationalities. While it is beyond the scope of this chapter to systematically review and acknowledge events in all societies, worth at least a brief recognition is China. According to Latsch (1985), many traditional Chinese festivals date to the Agrarian Era and go as far back as 1600 BC. In fact, focusing on China alone, there are over 50 minority nationalities, all of which have their own local events. In 2010, it was estimated that potentially 10,000 events were held in China alone, although no precise statistical figures are available (Zhou, 2013). It is this scale and continued use of events in, and by, societies that deserves to be acknowledged. To highlight the long presence of events in societies, Fig. 1.3 emphasizes their historical evolution against the backdrop of societal developments. It can be argued that, from an evolutionary perspective, as societies grew in strength, events gained more strategic importance as social, cultural and political phenomena.

Fig. 1.1 Events and societies. Caveat: events have had their place in various shapes and forms in all types of societies. Figure 1.1 is not an accurate representation of events for each era, and neither does it aim to offer a complete or conclusive list of events. The events noted in the figure are not to be viewed in a strictly linear fashion as they do not belong to only one period. The purpose of the figure is to demonstrate the proliferation of events in order to highlight the importance of the events phenomenon and the emergence of a new field – Event Studies.

Continuing the thread of societal developments, as societies progressed, festivals, ceremonies and rituals associated with agriculture were still popular, but there were also new political events, parades and organized religious events. Events grew in number, type and shape. Later, with industrialization, humanity witnessed a colossal leap not only in man’s evolution, but also in survival. The age of industrialization gave birth to new accomplishments, machinery, technological advances and communication breakthroughs, and increased people’s mobility. Industrialization also improved the survival rate of human beings. According to Nolan and Lenski (2011), approximately 75% of the world’s current population would die if humanity did not progress from the agrarian mode of living. This is mainly due to the fact that the agrarian technology (i.e. the ways that food was produced) could only sustain about a fourth of the world’s current population. As to events, industrialization can be correlated with the proliferation of the events phenomenon, and it can be argued – while borrowing the term from the management literature – that this was the beginning of the MICE industry (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions). New types of events emerged in order to share information, and to reveal the marvels of technology.

The Great Exhibition in London in 1851 was the first international exhibition to showcase human achievement in the form of machinery, iron, steel and textiles. Expositions played a large part in introducing people to new ideas, industrial advances and architecture. They served too as displays of ‘Others’, which the producers quickly learned yielded more dramatic impact ‘on a new scale, in a new critical mass of diversity, and with new and more sophisticated rationales’ (Roche, 2000, p. 82). It is difficult to imagine today what it was like for the Parisians at the Exposition ­Universelle in 1867 to have witnessed exhibits from the USA and South America. For the majority of attendees, this was the first time they were exposed to exhibits in the likes of the Egyptian Bazaar – complete with authentic shops, belly dancers and authentic Egyptian people. It was also by the means of events – the exhibition – that large populations were introduced to new scientific breakthroughs, such as electricity. Roche (2000) gives a wonderful ­account of the advances like this that are associated with modernity, and lists some of the scientific achievements that have been presented at events. In the 21st century, events have found an even firmer position as strategic tools for communities and societies. There are now abundant programmes imparting wisdom on event management to students, and a new field of Event Studies is emerging as a response to contemporary scholarly urges.

What’s Rome Got to Do with It?

By way of easing into the thematic areas that are covered in the book (i.e. the ideological, social and cultural aspects of events), consider the following proposition: for a considerable period of time, Roman Emperors devised a sophisticated mechanism to control citizens and the enemies of the state. This prodigy is what we have broadly termed ‘events’. Approximately 1900 years ago, the Roman Empire was immensely powerful. It was a society whose people enjoyed great stability, prosperity and wealth. Around 117 AD, under the reign of Trajan, the geographical boundaries of the empire stretched as far as Asia and Africa, covering an area of up to 6,500,000 km2 (Taagapera, 1979). Rome, at that time, had a number of purpose-built venues – the most well-known of which today are the Circus Maximus and the Colosseum. During the Roman Republic, the Circus Maximus was the oldest entertainment arena in Rome, used for chariot racing and other disciplines such as horse races, athletics (boxing, wrestling, long-distance running), the Troy Game (manoeuvres on horseback), wild beast hunts, gladiator combats, staged battles and other popular shows and entertainments (Humphrey, 1986). Its size was imperious, being 12 times larger than the Colosseum, and capable of accommodating up to 150,000 spectators – with some estimating 250,000 (DuTemple, 2003).

The Colosseum, which is understood by many to be the greatest purpose-built arena in the ancient world, was completed and dedicated to the emperor Titus in 80 AD. It was designed to entertain up to 60,000 citizens of Rome, and hosted different types of spectacles: from the execution of prisoners, to entertainment with animals (including exotic animals, such as elephants and tigers), to gladiator combats, horse racing, and re-enactment of battles. It is less known that, in its early days, the arena of the Colosseum was filled with water to also hold naval battles – as depicted in Fig. 1.2. The planning and logistics of the events at the Colosseum were not a small task, and it is not surprising that Korstanje (2009) describes the Romans as pioneers in the organization of events. As part of the 100 days long inaugural celebrations, there were an estimated 9000 animals killed for the amusement of the spectators (Welch, 2007). Invitations were sent out to all corners of the empire, and Rome was flooded with visitors from exotic places such as Egypt, ­Arabia and Rhodes (DuTemple, 2003). The opening procession is said to have included athletes, charioteers, gladiators and young boys (to show off the youth of Rome), but also included convicts who were to be executed, and various animals not seen before by the people of Rome – such as elephants, gazelles and cheetahs – most of which were to be slaughtered (DuTemple, 2003). Figure 1.2 depicts the Colosseum in the days of these glories.

Fig. 1.2 Naval battles (naumachia) re-enacted at the Roman Colosseum. (From Wikimedia Commons. Available at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NaumaquiaenelColiseoRomano.jpg; accessed 23 January 2012).

What occurred in Rome nearly 2000 years ago is somewhat extraordinary. The importance of the Colosseum and its events have been underlined by Mary Beard, a Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge, UK, who, in the documentary Meet the Romans with Mary Beard (Beard, 2012), explicates that for the first time in history, people from Europe, Africa and Asia could sit together as citizens of the same state. It is important to emphasize here that this was enabled both by carefully staged events and this imposing venue. Beard indicates the powerful role of the events held in the Colosseum by stating that:

…it shows people what they get from empire … in a deeper sense it is showing them that they fit in – if the people who are killing each other in the arena were stereotypically foreigners, then by implication, if you were watching, you were a Roman.

(From the documentary Meet the Romans with Mary Beard, Beard, 2012)

The Colosseum was therefore a lot more than a mere entertainment arena: it symbolized a certain way of communicating and dealing with the citizens of Rome and those in newly conquered territories. As Hopkins and Beard (2011, p. 26) put it: ‘it stood at the very heart of the delicate balance between Roman autocracy and popular power, an object lesson in Roman imperial state-craft’. The Colosseum also exemplified the ordering of the society – it had a rigid seating order that was established by rank in society. Hopkins and Beard note that there must have been some type of entrance ‘tickets’, likely to have been made of wood, bone or lead. These tickets, besides marking the row number, level and entrance, were also markers for the different classes, enabling ostensive separation. Welch (2007) clarifies that the spectators were assigned to pre-designated sections determined by the degree of dignitas (their rank and financial means), profession, religious affiliation and gender. Only the emperor, the senators and the Vestal Virgins (known as the priestesses of the Goddess Vesta) were in the front-row seats. Behind these were seats for the wealthy equestrians, and even further behind were the sections allocated to the Roman middle class. Slaves and women had the worst seats in the top rows (demonstrated in Fig. 1.3).

Fig. 1.3 Seating order at the Colosseum. (Redrawn from Wikimedia Commons. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Colosseum-profile-english.png; accessed 23 January 2012).

Figure 1.3 paints a very clear picture of the structure of the society – a Roman social ordering – that was reinforced by the Colosseum. Nowhere was this more apparent than at the events in this purpose-built venue, ‘in which by law the audience was rigidly segregated and divided at both a vertical and horizontal level’ (Welch, 2007, p. 159). The content of the events at the Colosseum was an extension of an ideology and struggles over power. Complicated stage sets and the dressing up of criminals, who were about to be killed, was part of the cruel, ideological machinery. Welch (2007, p. 145) speaks of ‘fabulous’ executions which were ‘presented in the guise of certain Greek dramas, whose subject matter entailed the deaths of the actors (actually condemned criminals, men and women) in a burlesque or grotesquely incongruous fashion’. Beyond the obvious notion of public executions was a clear message for the enemies of the state – the events were unmistakable demonstrations of what happened to those who dared to oppose Rome.

The popularity of the emperor depended, among other things, on his gestures of generosity – such as presents and valuable objects given to the spectators. Hopkins and Beard (2011, p. 113) assert that the arena became the ‘context in which the emperor’s quality and worth were judged’. By 250 AD, Civitello (2011) estimates that there were about 150 spectacles a year, nearly one every second day. The Colosseum became an institution in the social life of the citizens of Rome. Apart from providing them with free entertainment, the government was giving up to 200,000 poor people free oil, bread, wine and pork. Nevertheless, underneath these gestures of kindness hid a convenient way to make the poor grateful to the government; the events served as a system of controlling a large number of hungry and potentially angry people. As Civitello explains, the institution was a useful control apparatus:

the Roman Empire controlled its underclasses in three ways. Giving the urban poor free bread kept them from revolting because they were hungry. Giving them free entry to these torture-spectacles kept them in one place so they could be managed. It was also a serious warning about the power of the state. In effect, upper-class Romans were telling lower-class Romans, Watch out, or you could end up down there.

(Civitello, 2011, p. 56)

The lessons that can be teased out from these historical moments are many and varied, and have indeed captivated the attention of academics in an array of disciplines of social science. Event Studies, taken as a field of important knowledge and experience (Pernecky, 2013), ought to reach beyond managerial approaches and recognize that events are immensely powerful agents of change and transformation. From this point of view, there are many layers that make up the events phenomenon; this book seeks to examine the ideological, social and cultural aspects.

Conclusions

This opening chapter has striven to establish events as a fundamental part of societies, and offered a brief account of societal developments in events. Figure 1.1 offered a simplified depiction of the proliferation of events mapped against the development of societies. We reinforce that this ought not to be taken as a precise chronological record of events in the evolution of societies; rather, the function of the depiction is to emphasize the long and varied history of events – making a case for events as companions in societal development. Put in other terms, events have contributed to the making and sustaining of societies and the complex ­socio–cultural–political worlds in which we coexist. Consequently, and perhaps as one of the most vital of all arguments to be reinforced, is the argument that events ought to be first and foremost understood as societal phenomena, having a great potential for transforming people and, eventually, societies themselves.

A number of comparisons can be drawn by contrasting and analysing contemporary events, but many are obvious and need no further comment. Events continue to structure and make societies, as is further demonstrated by the contributions that follow in this book. Events are showcases of cultures, of otherness, of togetherness and of multicultural attitudes. They offer opportunities to socialize as well as to strengthen communities. This, too, is emphasized by many of the essays in the text. Imperative to recognize, and still a relatively poorly explored facet of events, are the critical notions of events as tools for the control and influence of target populations. From a critical stance, events have grown into a very sophisticated mechanism for cajoling, and have become playgrounds for different forms of power. Such are the ramifications of the events phenomenon when appreciated as a societal socio–­cultural–­political construction.

* E-mail: tomas.pernecky@aut.ac.nz

References

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