African Football, Identity Politics and Global Media Narratives

Abstract

This edited collection examines the ways in which football in Africa is intimately bound up with deeper social, cultural and political currents, using the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa as a lens for this analysis. Drawing from a wide range of theoretical and methodological perspectives, the volume explores symbolic inscriptions and multiple narratives around the first World Cup on African soil and how these narratives inform an understanding of football and Africa. The authors are drawn from diverse disciplines across cultural studies, sports science, journalism, media studies and sociology, and they tackle four key themes: identity construction, African fan cultures, African media narratives and global media narratives. Empirical data is gleaned from a variety of sources such archival media texts, blogs, travelogues, diary material, ethnographic interviews and other online sources. This is the first book to consider African football as mediated discourse around which multiple narratives cohere.