Synopses & Reviews
The 2010 South African World Cup launched African football onto the global stage and its footballers are increasingly present at the best clubs in the world, yet it is rare to find compelling scholarship on the subject of African football. This book brings some of the top scholars on African football together to produce a collection that covers the diverse regions of the continent and diverse football topics. Focussing on aspects of identity, it spans issues of race, radicalization and self-identification, exploring the imagined continuation of war in support of a Nigerian club, the use of songs in support of a club and an ethnic community, and the effects of transnational broadcasting on supporter identification with football in Africa. This collection provides a valuable contribution to debates about African sport and identity and also contains an interview with one of Africa's first migrant footballers, Paul Bonga Bonga.
Synopsis
The 2010 South African World Cup launched African football onto the global stage. This volume brings together top scholars on African football to explore a range of issues such as gender, identity, nationalism, history, cyber-fandom, the media and fan radicalization.
About the Author
Chuka Onwumechili is Professor and Chair of the Strategic, Legal and Management Communication Department at Howard University, USA.
Gerard Akindes is Assistant Professor of Sports Administration in the Department of Sports Administration at Ohio University, USA.
Table of Contents
Africa, Fandom and Shifting Identities: An Introduction to Football and Identity; Chuka Onwumechili and Gerard Akindes1. Blurring Touchlines of Empire: Diasporic Identities of Arthur Wharton and Walter Tull; Phillip Janzen2. It's All About the Beautiful Game of Football, or is it? On Television and Football in North Africa; Ali Ziyati and Gerard Akindes3. Rooted in History: Politics, Identity and Ultras in North African Soccer; James M. Dorsey4. History and Identity of East African Football within the African Context; Wycliffe Njororai5. Performing Luo Identity in Kenya: Songs of Gor Mahia; Solomon Waliaula and Joseph Basil Okong'o6. A Centennial Rivalry, Ahly v Zamalek: Identity and Society in Modern Egypt; Michel Raspaud and Monia Lachheb7. Nigeria: Rangers, Igbo Identity and the Imagination of War; Chuka Onwumechili8. Reinforcing Divisions and Blurring Boundaries in Johannesburg Football Fandom; Marc Fletcher9. Shifting Identity towards Cameroon's National Football Squad: From Indomitable Lions to Tamed Lambs; Walter Gam Nkwi10. Field of Dreams: Case Study in Kenyan Girls' Football; Anna Tranfaglia11. Oh Lord, You are the Lord who Remembered John Obi Mikel; Chuka Onwumechili12. CAF: Perennial Struggle in Crises of Identity; Chuka Onwumechili13. From Stadium to Bars: Transnational Media and African Fan Identity; Gerard Akindes14. Online Football Fan Identities and Cyber-fandoms in Zimbabwe; Manase Kudzai Chiweshe15. From Leopoldville to Liege: A Conversation with Paul Bonga Bonga; Gerard Akindes and Peter Alegi