Festive Federalism: Race, Nation, and Neoliberal Aesthetics at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games

Abstract

The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, often misunderstood as a reflection of the nationalist hyper-patriotism of the Reagan Era, were in fact a crucial moment in building a neoliberal, global Los Angeles. Tracing the development of LA’84’s Olympic look ‘festive federalism’, this article considers the ways in which organizers in fact made strenuous efforts not to associate the Games with the nation state. It argues that festive federalism – the name given to the colour scheme and iconography of LA’84 design – was more than just an Olympic look. Rather, it was a neoliberal aesthetic, a philosophy for confronting economic challenges posed by local racial contexts. Festive federalism celebrated diversity and colourblindness simultaneously and extolled the neoliberal virtues of individualism, competition, and self-reliance. In doing so, it nullified the risk posed to the Games’ profitability by race-based demands in communities of colour nearby to Olympic venues. In place of race, festive federalism called for a new type of individualistic, post-racial citizen-consumer. Analyzing the application of festive federalism to the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival, this article demonstrates how culture redefined race, national identity, and history for a new, neoliberal age.