Michigan State University
HST 487 - Spring 2011
GLOBAL SOCCER: History, Culture, and Politics Weekly Seminar:
Tue 1:50-4:40
Berkey 210A
Dr. Peter Alegi
315 Morrill Hall
432-8222 x113
[email protected]
Office Hours:
Tue-Wed 10-11:30 and
by appointment
Course Description
No history of the modern world is complete without a history of soccer (football). This
course explores how and why global football influenced, and was influenced by, various
factors, including cultural values, economic interests, and power relationships. The
course combines general analysis with national case studies that invite connections across
boundaries of time and space. By examining the intersections of the personal and the
social, the local and the global, we will explore how race, class, ethnicity, gender, media,
and business made the world of soccer we see today. We will read and discuss a wide
range of texts and will engage with audio-visual sources about the game. This capstone
seminar will both test and enhance skills of critical thinking, oral communication,
research and writing.
Required Course Readings
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David Goldblatt, The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer
Peter Alegi, African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World’s Game
Laurent Dubois, Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France
Robert Edelman, Spartak Moscow: A History of The People’s Team in the
Workers’ State
Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch
Jere Longman, The Girls of Summer: The US Women’s Soccer Team and How it
Changed the World
Additional readings are available on ANGEL. Check ANGEL regularly for updates.
Course Requirements and Assessment
Every assignment will count towards your final grade so it is crucial to prepare properly
and consistently every week. Like a soccer season, this seminar is a marathon and not a
sprint. Final grades will be determined as follows:
Participation
Weekly responses
Midterm take-home exam
Research paper
= 15%
= 25%
= 25%
= 35%
Attendance and Participation
This is a reading and discussion seminar so attendance is required. You are expected to read
the assigned material before class and to participate. Only one excused seminar absence is
permitted. Let me know in advance if you must miss a class meeting due to a medical (or
similar) emergency. Bring official documentation for any such absence. Participation grades
will be based on performance as discussion leader, the quality of your responses, and how
much you contributed to deepening your classmates’ understanding of the material.
Weekly Précis
These typed 2-page summaries will briefly explain the book’s main argument,
organization, use of sources, and its contribution to our understanding of the history of
soccer and/or global history more broadly. Hard copies of the précis must be submitted
in class at the beginning of every seminar meeting.
Mid-Term Exam
Students will write take-home essays in response to questions handed out on February 22.
Exams will be 7-8 pages in length and will be submitted in class on March 1.
Research Paper
The most important assignment in this capstone seminar is the writing of a research paper
20-25 pages in length. Using primary and secondary sources, you will devise individual
paper topics and research questions with the approval of the professor. A schedule of
assignments (see below) will help in the completion of a high-quality final paper due on
May 3.
Note: All assignments must be typed using double-line spacing, 12-point font (Times
New Roman or similar), and 1-1.25 inch margins. Pages must be stapled together,
numbered consecutively and have the author’s name, student ID number, and course
information in the top left corner (single spaced) of the first page (only).
CLASS SCHEDULE
January 11: Introduction to the Course and Library Session
January 18: From Ancient Games to Modern Football
Read:
• Goldblatt, The Ball is Round, 3-82
• Mary Ellen Miller, “The [Maya] Ball Game,” Record of the Art Museum,
Princeton University 48, 2 (1989): 22-31 [ANGEL]
• Mark Nuttall, “Arsarnerit: Inuit and the Heavenly Game,” in J. Turnbull, T.
Satterlee, A. Raab, The Global Game (2008), 274-282 [ANGEL]
January 25: Football Goes Global: European Empires, FIFA, and Professionalism
Read:
• Goldblatt, Ball is Round, 85-260
February 1: Fútbol/Futebol in Latin America: The Politics of Fun
RESEARCH PORTFOLIO ITEM #1 DUE (paper topic)
Read:
• Goldblatt, Ball is Round, 263-296, 357-395, 606-648
February 8: The People’s Game in the Workers’ State: The USSR
RESEARCH PORTFOLIO ITEM #2 DUE (preliminary bibliography)
Read:
• Robert Edelman, Spartak Moscow, 1-230
• Optional: Goldblatt, Ball is Round, 297-356, 396-478
February 15: How Africa Changed the World’s Game
RESEARCH PORTFOLIO ITEM #3 DUE (research questions)
Read:
• Alegi, African Soccerscapes (entire book)
February 22: The Soccer Business: 1974-2006 (part 1)
RESEARCH PORTFOLIO ITEM #4 DUE (thesis statement and outline)
Read:
• Goldblatt, Ball is Round, 513-605
• Barbara Smit, Pitch Invasion, 3-41, 188-199 [ANGEL]
March 1: The Soccer Business: 1974-2006 (part 2)
TAKE-HOME MID-TERM EXAM DUE.
Read:
• Goldblatt, Ball is Round, 681-829 (831-873 optional)
• Smit, Pitch Invasion, 225-241 [ANGEL]
March 8: No Class – Spring Break!
March 15: Football Fandom and the Literary Imagination
Read:
• Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch (entire book)
• Optional: John Turnbull, Thom Satterlee, Alon Raab, eds., The Global Game:
Writers on Soccer
March 22: Race and National Identity in French Football
Read:
• Dubois, Soccer Empire, 1-213
• Optional: John Hoberman, “France’s Soccer Debacle Lifts Lid on Racial
Tensions,” Foreign Policy (July 2010):
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/01/le_scandal
• Optional: Paul Silverstein, “The Tragedy and Farce of French Football Politics,”
Social Text (2010): http://www.socialtextjournal.org/periscope/2010/07/thetragedy-and-farce-of-french-football-politics.php
March 29: The Rise of the Women’s Game
Read:
• Longman, The Girls of Summer (entire book)
• Optional: Fan Hong and J. A. Mangan, eds., Soccer, Women, and Sexual
Liberation, 112-161, 182-204, 225-267 (include Germany)
• Optional: Dong Jinxia and J. A. Mangan, “Ascending then Descending? Women’s
Soccer in Modern China,” Soccer and Society 3, 2 (2002): 1-18
April 5: (Men’s) Soccer in the United States
FILM: Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos
Read:
• A. Markovits and S. Hellerman, Offside! Soccer and American Exceptionalism,
52-98 [ANGEL]
• David Wangerin, Soccer in a Football World, 45-80 [ANGEL]
• Andrew Ross, “The Ballad of Becks and Posh,” American Quarterly 59, 4 (2007):
1215-1223 [ANGEL]
• Grant Wahl, The Beckham Experiment (excerpt):
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/the_bonus/06/29/beckham.book/inde
x.html
April 12: The World Cup Comes to Africa: South Africa 2010
Read:
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Alegi, African Soccerscapes, 127-132 (review)
Alegi and Bolsmann, Reflections on 2010, selections [ANGEL]
Media coverage of the 2010 World Cup [ANGEL]
AUDIO: Africa Past and Present Podcast Episode 43: Reflections on Africa’s
First World Cup (http://afripod.aodl.org/2010/07/episode-43-reflections-onafricas-first-world-cup/)
AUDIO: “After The Final” with Karabo Mathang and Sindi Mabizela:
http://www.discussit.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=256&
Itemid=1
April 19: Paper Presentations, Part 1
No readings assigned. RESEARCH PAPER DRAFTS CAN BE SUBMITTED.
April 26: Paper Presentations, Part 2
No readings assigned.
May 3: RESEARCH PAPERS DUE at 2:45 p.m. in Dr. Alegi’s mailbox (301
Morrill)
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This syllabus may be amended from time to time.