Soccer!: The Global History of Sport and Politics

Catalog description

Even the most avid American Football fan has probably heard of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two greatest players of the last 20 years. Beyond that, most folks in the United States may not know much about the game, its global spread, or the spectacle of the World Cup. This course follows the beautiful game from its roots in the nineteenth century to the present, exploring connections between the global and the local. But soccer is more than a mere game. It has started riots and wars. The game and the clubs that play it have been vehicles for democratization and social protest. It can be a sporting event, or a proxy competition in which nationalities and nationalisms vie for victory. The study of soccer brings us to a variety of topics, including but not limited to: world history from the late 19th century to the present, industrialization, labor movements, colonialism and imperialism, independence movements, race and gender, authoritarianism and state terrorism, fascism and neo fascism, the Cold War, neoliberalism, and global migration. We will explore how individuals from different nations and social classes experienced these events differently and offered varying perspectives on the significance of soccer.