Claremont, Calif. (January 24, 2014) — With the 2014 World Cup in Brazil five months away, Pitzer College Visiting Professor and international journalist David Goldblatt will speak about the South American country’s national identity and how it has been shaped by soccer. Goldblatt’s talk, “Futebol Nation: The Story of Brazil through Soccer,” takes place in Pitzer’s George C.S. Benson Auditorium on Tuesday, January 28 at 4:15 p.m.
David Goldblatt
Brazil has won five World Cups—more than any other country in history—and is hosting the World Cup for the second time this year. Brazil’s style of play and the drama of its victories and defeats are deeply seared into global soccer culture. The largest country in Latin America, Brazil’s national identity is intrinsically linked with soccer. In his forthcoming book, Futebol Nation: The Story of Brazil through Soccer, Goldblatt chronicles Brazil’s obsession with the game and traces soccer’s history since it first arrived in the country in 1894.
Goldblatt is the author of the bestselling book The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Soccer, which The Guardian called a “stunning book” that is “the measure against which all other such volumes are judged.” An international print and broadcast journalist, Goldblatt is teaching at Pitzer College this semester.
Goldblatt’s talk kicks off a series of events about Brazil and the World Cup sponsored by a Brazil/Latin American Studies Mellon Grant and Pitzer’s Institute for Global/Local Action & Study.
