A game played around the world by males and females of all ages, football (known to North Americans as soccer) is also a multi-million dollar business, a site of nationalism, a reflection of gender inequality in sport, the inspiration for ethnic and class violence, and the subject of rich scholarly analyses.
The conference brings together scholars working in a range of interdisciplinary contexts, who offer critical appraisal of how football shapes and has shaped social, political and economic relations, in Canada and globally.
“Global Football” features scholars who offer historical analyses or the game, who interrogate the gendered dynamics of it, and who explore how football engages nation-states and transnational flows of players and capital.
The conference also recognizes the key role journalists have played in asking difficult and controversial questions about how football relates to and reflects wider social forces.
Conference presenters include graduate students and established researchers.
The conference organizing committee draws on the strengths of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (LAPS), bringing together colleagues from the faculty’s History Department, Division of Social Science (especially programs like African Studies) and the School of Women’s Studies.
The conference is sponsored by the Department of History, the Avie Bennett Historica Chair in Canadian History, Founders College, the Centre for Feminist Research, and the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies.
The conference will open on Thursday evening, December 3, 2009 with the Avie Bennett Annual Speaker Series titled “Football North of 49: Canada and the Global Game”.
Click for information | Click to register