FREN 336 Football and Francophonie

Erin K Twohig

Mon/Wed 3:30 pm to 4:45pm

This course offers students an introduction to the history of football in the French-speaking world, with a particular focus on issues of national identity. The course progresses thematically though the topics of colonialism, anti-colonial movements, decolonization, emigration, and immigration, seen through the lens of Algerian, Senegalese, and other African football teams, as well as France’s national team. A primary focus of the course will be on the sporting event as a “spectacle of belonging,” as we examine crucial moments where players and fans performed either their adhesion, or refusal to belong, to their national team. Readings will include several foundational texts on the links between sports and nationalism, in addition to novels and comic books that focus on football. We will also examine critical moments in sporting history as seen through the media, documentary films, and ethnographic studies.