Title Following the ball : the migration of African soccer players across the Portuguese colonial empire, 1949-1975 / Todd Cleveland

Published Athens : Ohio University Press, 2017

Click on the following:
EBSCO eBooks

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xiii, 266 pages) : illustrations, map Series Ohio RIS global series ; 16 Contents Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 Foundations -- The introduction and consumption of soccer in Lusophone Africa -- ch. 2 Engaging with the game -- African practitioners in the colonies -- ch. 3 Following the ball, realizing a goal -- From the colonies to the metropole -- ch. 4 Successes, setbacks, and strategies -- Football and life in the metropole -- ch. 5 Calculated conciliation -- Apoliticism in a politically charged context Summary "With Following the Ball, Todd Cleveland incorporates labor, sport, diasporic, and imperial history to examine the extraordinary experiences of African football players from Portugal's African colonies as they relocated to the metropole from 1949 until the conclusion of the colonial era in 1975. The backdrop was Portugal's increasingly embattled Estado Novo regime, and its attendant use of the players as propaganda to communicate the supposed unity of the metropole and the colonies. Cleveland zeroes in on the ways that players, such as the great Eusébio, creatively exploited opportunities generated by shifts in the political and occupational landscapes in the waning decades of Portugal's empire. Drawing on interviews with the players themselves, he shows how they often assumed roles as social and cultural intermediaries and counters reductive histories that have depicted footballers as mere colonial pawns. To reconstruct these players' transnational histories, the narrative traces their lives from the informal soccer spaces in colonial Africa to the manicured pitches of Europe, while simultaneously focusing on their off-the-field challenges and successes. By examining this multi-continental space in a single analytical field, the book unearths structural and experiential consistencies and contrasts, and illuminates the components and processes of empire"-- Provided by publisher With Following the Ball, Todd Cleveland incorporates labor, sport, diasporic, and imperial history to examine the extraordinary experiences of African football players from Portugal's African colonies as they relocated to the metropole from 1949 until the conclusion of the colonial era in 1975 Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Soccer -- Portugal -- History -- 20th century Soccer players -- Africa, Portuguese-speaking -- History -- 20th century HISTORY -- Africa -- General. SPORTS & RECREATION -- History. POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Colonialism & Post-Colonialism. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Emigration & Immigration. SPORTS & RECREATION -- Soccer. GAMES -- Gambling -- Sports. SPORTS & RECREATION -- Business Aspects. SPORTS & RECREATION -- Essays. SPORTS & RECREATION -- Reference. TRAVEL -- Special Interest -- Sports. HISTORY / Africa / General Emigration and immigration Soccer Soccer players SUBJECT Portugal -- Emigration and immigration -- History -- 20th century Subject Portuguese-speaking Africa Portugal Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780896804999 0896804992

  Permalink