Module overview
It is a cliché to say that football is a global game. But in the West the ‘beautiful game’ is still commonly engaged with as a primarily Western sport, dominated by the comings and goings of the Bundesliga, La Liga and, in particular, the English Premier League. This module gives you the chance to engage with the global game as a global game. This module will focus on four global regions – Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia – and their interconnections with one another.
The focus is firmly upon placing the development of football in its socio-political contexts. What explains the ways that football has been played, supported, and discussed in the twentieth and twenty first centuries? And what impact has football had on the societies that play, support, and discuss it? Through the consideration of class, gender, race, as well as colonialism, nationalism, globalisation, consumerism, and capitalism, football provides a fascinating insight into the specificities and generalities of the modern age and, hence, the modern world.