HIST 218 The Beautiful Game: A Global History of Soccer

The course takes the position that football (soccer) is more than just a game, and invites students to consider and examine the cultural, social and political meanings which societies around the world have attached to the beautiful game. The class situates the global history of soccer in the context of themes which include industrialization, settler colonialism, race, segregation, empire, violence and corruption. As such, the class engages explicit political dimensions of soccer such as Catalan nationalist ambitions in Spain, which are often expressed in the Spanish derby, the El Classico between Barcelona (from the Catalan region) and Real Madrid (from Madrid). The class also explores how soccer became entangled in anti-apartheid and anti-colonial struggles across the African continent. Through class readings, discussions and documentary screenings, students will be expected to examine how dominant ideas about race, belonging, as well as social hierarchies have been negotiated on the field of play. The class foregrounds questions which seek to understand the role of sport in society, interrogating how soccer has not only mirrored society’s prejudices, but has often reproduced them. As such, students will be expected to participate in class discussions which engages with these and other questions. [GM1, SS, W]

Instructor

Seda