CITIZENS AND SPORTSMEN: POLITICS AND SOCCER IN 20TH – CENTURY CHILE
Dr. Brenda Elsey
Fútbol, or soccer as it is called in the U.S., is the most popular sport in the world. Brenda Elsey takes a fresh look at life in twentieth-century Chile by exploring how fútbol clubs integrated working-class men into urban politics, connected them to parties, and served as venues of political critique. Drawing on archival records, club documents, neighborhood publications, and sports magazines, Elsey demonstrates that soccer in Santiago enabled men and women to debate ideas about class, ethnic, and gender identities. This original historical study reveals that the relationship between formal and informal politics is essential to fostering civic engagement and supporting democratic practices.
Brenda Elsey is Assistant Professor of History at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. She is the author of Citizens and Sportsmen: Fútbol and Politics in Twentieth-Century Chile (University of Texas Press, 2011). Her current research focuses on the relationship between popular culture and the transnational solidarity movements with Latin America, especially in the 1970s and 80s.
For more information about this event contact: Alex Galarza (galarza1@msu.edu)