Round Tables > Sports and the Americas

SPORTS IN THE AMERICAS: BETWEEN POLITICAL FRAMING AND ECONOMICAL DYNAMICS

Wednesday, September 22nd, 10am-12pm

Centre de Colloques, Large Auditorium

Organization : Fabien Archambault (CHS – Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne) and Carlos Quenan (IHEAL CREDA – Université Sorbonne Nouvelle)

Speakers : Clément Astruc (IHEAL CREDA – Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), Lorenzo Jalabert D’Amado (Université de Limoges), Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff (SOAS)

Presentation : As an inescapable reality of modern societies, sports take a particular importance on the American continent. In the North, the United States have considered themselves a non-European or anti European country since the end of the 18th century; in this context of cultural opposition with the former colonial power, the American society has generated new sports that have become markers of the young Nation, either in contradistinction to their English ancestors (American football and baseball, derived from rugby and cricket) or ex nihilo (basketball and volleyball). In Latin America, a similar process is at work regarding football, which the powerful sportive cultures take as support constituting an important resource for the South American elites in their attempt at constituting their own national cultures : the « creolization » of fútebol has become a central element of their social identity. As a matter of fact, at the confines of the Western world where European influence is omnipresent, countries like Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay will find, thanks to the « most popular game » from the Old Continent, a source of pride: when it comes to football, they play, this time, in the big league. Two essential aspects of this progressive implementation of sportive systems which enables a form of distancing from European cultural influences will be questioned: on the one hand, the political dimension – sports having a strong connection with the construction of national identities and on the other hand the economical dimension – as the economic models thus constructed present original characteristics when compared to the ones still operating on the Old Continent.

SPORTS, CITIES, SUBURBS

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2:45pm-4:45pm

Centre de Colloques - Small Auditorium 

Organization : Nicolas Martin Breteau (CECILLE – Université de Lille) and Carlos Quenan (IHEAL CREDA – Université Sorbonne Nouvelle)

Speakers : Aya Cissoko (3X Boxe World Champion, writer, to be confirmed), Stéphanie Gillard (director and writer, to be confirmed), Philippe Oddou (Association Sport dans la ville) et Akim Oualhaci (Université Paris Nanterre) 

Presentation : This round table will approach the general question of relations between sports, working-class neighborhoods and integration in order to analyse and deconstruct its political and social issues. Our discussions will go beyond the American and academic frame as this time of exchange must connect university specialists with people from others spheres of social life, such as athletes, association members, intellectuals or writers. Our objective is to associate as many people as possible in our discussion, specifically with the prospect of the Paris Olympics in 2024, which will mainly take place in Seine-Saint-Denis.