Category Archives: Films

Soccer as Ritual, and Being on the Pitch with Zidane

The French anthropologist Christian Bromberger has studied and written about football games as a kind of ritual that provides an “inexhaustible terrain of interpretation” for those who participate and watch. In his French-language book “Le match de football,” he studied how crowds experienced and interpreted games in the European football heartlands of Marseille, Milan, and… Read More »

Forgiving Maradona

Emir Kusturica’s film Maradona follows the internationally acclaimed football star in all of his enigmatic, outrageous glory as he gives his own perspective on his life of fame: political outrage, athletic prowess, capacity for deception, and intense drug use all included. Amidst the complicated tale of Maradona’s success and the demons that sometimes threaten it,… Read More »

Fussball und Ritual

Willkommen in der spannenden Welt von Fussball und Politik (Edition Fruehling 2016)! Fuer diese Woche lesen Sie den Artikel  “Football as World-View and as Ritual” (Bromberger, 1995) und sehen den angekuendigten Film ueber Fussballstar Zidane: A 21st-Century Portrait. Um den Lesetext (Artikel) und visuellen Text (Film) miteinander in Diskussion zu bringen, achten Sie auf spezifische Momente, die Brombergers… Read More »

Le football et la foule sportive

Dans son livre Le match du football. Ethnologie d’une passion partisane à Marseille, Naples et Turin, l’anthropologue Christian Bromberger analyse la sociologie du football, y compris la foule sportive qui a «un statut mixte, hybride, intervallaire balançant entre l’affirmation d’une volonté collective et l’appréhension lucide d’appartenances singulières, entre la conscience aiguë de ce qui se… Read More »

Football as Ritual

The French anthropologist Christian Bromberger has studied and written about football games as a kind of ritual that provides an “inexhaustible terrain of interpretation” for those who participate and watch. In his French-language book “Le match de football,” he studied how crowds experienced and interpreted games in the European football heartlands of Marseille, Milan, and… Read More »

Rendezvous with the makers of Pelada

Just yesterday we had an interesting rendezvous with the makers of Pelada. You can watch the film here. While watching the documentary itself was great, meeting Luke Boughen, Gwendolyn Oxenham and Ryan White, in person was even more exciting. Of course, we missed Rebekah Fergusson, the fourth member of the team. Indeed one cannot help admiring… Read More »

Pelada

I just finished watching Pelada, the documentary that’s been mentioned in class a few times.  It involves a couple that travels around the world playing in pick-up soccer matches in order to immerse themselves in the many different cultures they encounter.  A few of my favorite segments involved a Bolivian prison as well as their… Read More »

This Time for South Africa

Marcus Gilroy-Ware, who I went to several games with in South Africa, has produced this interesting short video about South African perspectives on the recent World Cup, featuring Achille Mbembe and Sarah Nutall (Visiting Professors at Duke this coming fall) among others. I also published a set of final reflections on the World Cup, with… Read More »