On October 27, 2016, at 1:30pm Eastern (-5 GMT, note the new time), the Football Scholars Forum holds its 37th session. The group will discuss Dr. Tarminder Kaur’s paper “AmaXhosa Maradona: Global Icons, Local Following and Soccer Talent as a Gift and Curse for South African Youth.”
Dr. Kaur is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of the Free State’s Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice in South Africa. Her study tells the moving story of Abongile Elton Qobisa (aka Maradona), a very promising young black footballer from the Western Cape region. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, the paper engages critically with “sport-for-development” discourses and reveals how talent and opportunities in soccer were both a gift and a curse for the Xhosa Maradona.
For more information and to participate in the online session, please contact Alex Galarza (galarza1 AT msu DOT edu).
