Search

This article traces the development of Mexican football from its inception to the successful hosting of two World Cup finals. We place our analysis within a post‐revolutionary context that exalted the virtues of self‐discipline that sport could contribute towards the patriotic endeavour of 'improving the race'. We argue that the character of the post‐revolutionary state, in which a symbiotic relationship between public and private endeavours was encouraged, was reflected in the distinct way in which football developed in Mexico. Furthermore, it also influenced the way in which sporting culture contributed to the Mexican migrant experience in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an analysis of football, this work explores how stereotypes such as tropicalism and Europeanism are used to construct narratives of national identity in Argentina and Brazil. These stereotypes, which are the consequence of colonial perspectives that seek to reduce heterogeneity in order to gain symbolic power, appear to be effective when we consider their prominence in a range of media. This study argues that these stereotypes need to be deconstructed using methodologies based in the social sciences, while also considering the role of humour in their production and dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]