World Cup 2010 Edition

Tomorrow the World Cup kicks off in Johannesburg. Always highly anticipated, this year's World Cup has received some additional fanfare because it marks the first time an African country will host the tournament. While there is plenty to read about when it comes to pure soccer analysis, I thought I'd point to a few sources of discourse for those who might be interested in exploring the sites at which politics, economics, colonial legacies, and sport intersect.

First, if you have time, I highly recommend watching this video of a round-table put on by the Media & Culture concentration in my graduate program last month, which discussed the historical and political importance of Africa's first World Cup. The discussants were Sean Jacobs, a professor in my graduate program, Time Magazine senior editor Tony Karon, Austin Merrill, who writes the Fair Play blog for Vanity Fair, and writers Binyavanga Wainaina and Teju Cole. Sean and Tony are both from South Africa and Binyavanga and Teju are from Kenya and Nigeria respectively. As such, this is a good opportunity to gain insight into a handful of thoughtful perspectives on the World Cup's locational importance, four of which belong to people whose identity is at least partly African. If you don't have time to watch the entire clip, you should not miss Teju's comments at the following time marks: 19:24; 38:30, 48:20, 50:56, and 1:19:50. Also, Tony's comments at the 27:00 and 51:30 minute marks are very interesting.

Second, Tony Karon has an excellent piece here on immigration, citizenship, and the fungibility of nationality in international soccer.

Also, here is a fun report that provides an economic, political, and sporting profile for each of this year's participating countries. It also has some more general discussions of the tournament, previous World Cups, etc. If you can ignore the enmity you may feel upon realizing who authored the report (or, if you're like me, the revulsion you feel when you come across the ideological exaltation of macroeconomic stability), the report is definitely worth a scan.

For a very interesting history of soccer in South Africa itself, including its role in the ANC's anti-Apartheid insurgency, don't miss this article.

Finally, for those interested in international development and the much-discussed potential development impact of hosting the tournament, I recommend looking for the documentary film Fahrenheit 2010 on your netflix or blockbuster account.

In this vein, I'll end with a quote from Planet of Slums, which really is a must-read. Davis reminds us that "in the urban Third World, poor people dread high-profile international events -- conferences, dignitary visits, sporting events, beauty contests and international festivals -- that prompt authorities to launch crusades to clean up the city: slum dwellers know that they are the 'dirt' or 'blight' that their governments prefer the world not to see."