Football as Narrative and a Research Archive - Conversations with Hanson Utibe, Author of 'Football as Literature' (Academica Press, 2020)

[Tobi Adewunmi]

Football is an interesting game, no doubt, but many of us are still at loss about why it is the most popular sport in contemporary human history. Only if you knew how much football gives voice to other global discourses and how a football pitch or player can be a potential research archive or source for understanding and navigating the everyday social realities and possibilities around us.

With the legend of Diego Maradona, and the inter/national uproar that attended his recent death, one can't but ask, what's the big deal about football?

Here's why the Graduate Research Clinic (GRC) - a multidisciplinary network of graduate students, early career researchers, and senior academics in Africa and the African Diaspora - convened the maiden edition of its hangout series around the topic, 'What's the big deal about Maradona and Soccer? Football and Football Legends as Narratives and Research Archives'

Our lead discussant was Hanson Utibe, a PhD Candidate at the Department of English, University of Ibadan and 

Author of Football as Literature: A Semiotic Reading (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1680531034/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_awdb_imm_t1_yowXFbSRDBDX8)

You can listen to the recording of this interesting conversation or download it here: https://mp3.fastupload.co/files/1606851627

Also attached is a 1995 article of a similar title by Christian K. Messenger in the American Literary History journal.

We hope this throws up other interesting debates on the nexus between Football, or sports, generally, and other social and humanistic phenomena.

Join us for the next edition of the Hangout series this Sunday, by 7pm WAT.

Cheers!

P.S.: Kindly excuse the brief interruptions and echoes in the background. We hope improve on the audio quality in subsequent editions.

If you want to reach out to the discussant for further insights on his research, kindly contact him via hanson...@gmail.com

                                                                                                                            

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[Gloria Emeagwali]

This started out very well indeed although the echoes and household noises obscured some crucial points. I suggest that “the hangout series“ should consider midnight recordings in the future,  to minimize background noises and enhance professionalism. Hosting them is a great idea and I look forward to future renditions.

Utibe may  find historical background of the ballgame  of some relevance to his illuminating discourse. The conclusion of this article points to the multidimensional context of narrative.

https://www.pnas.org/content/109/21/8020

Early evidence of the ballgame in Oaxaca Mexico (Blomster)

Prof. Gloria  Emeagwali 

emea...@ccsu.edu

On Dec 1, 2020, at 18:19, 'Tobi Adewunmi' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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<Football as Narrative.pdf>