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Sports Culture in Latin American History

Article  in  International Journal of the History of Sport · January 2018

DOI: 10.1080/09523367.2017.1402621

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 The International Journal of the History of Sport

ISSN: 0952-3367 (Print) 1743-9035 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fhsp20

Sports Culture in Latin American History

Renato C. Novaes & Silvio C. C. Telles

To cite this article: Renato C. Novaes & Silvio C. C. Telles (2018): Sports Culture
in Latin American History, The International Journal of the History of Sport, DOI:
10.1080/09523367.2017.1402621

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1402621

Published online: 03 Jan 2018.

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 The International Journal of the History of Sport, 2018
https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1402621

BOOK REVIEW

Sports Culture in Latin American History, edited by David M. K. Sheinin, Pittsburgh,

University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015, 236 pp., £25 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-8229-6337-0

The awakening of academic interest in the field of sports history in Latin America happened
especially after the 1980s, with research based mainly on European theoretical and cultural points
of view. The book Sports Culture in Latin American History, edited by historian David Sheinin
and written by recognized scholars in the field, distances itself from previous studies for its use
of different references, such as ethnographies and social history, to comprehend bodily practices
and life stories underprivileged in the academic field or even in sports media.
Unlike what the ambitious title suggests, the book is not a linear historical narrative about
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the sports culture of the Latin American continent, or even a conceptual characterization on the
theme. It is divided into an introduction and eight chapters that explore various sports, from the
more popular ones, such as soccer and boxing, to others that are normally neglected, such as
the gateball played by Japanese immigrants in Brazil and the lucha libre of the Bolivian female
wrestlers. Essentially, the chapters have in common the understanding of athletic activities as
vehicles for political and economic ideas, gender affirmation ideology or simply representation
for a certain social group.
As the chapters do not connect with each other, the great variety of themes and the different
methodological approaches adopted give the reader an impression of discontinuity. Laura
Podalsky’s introduction clearly tries to create this sense of interlocution by proposing three
lines of theoretic investigation: (1) the relation between sport, state and national identity; (2)
the interface between athletic activities, bodies and discourses about ethnicity, race and gender;
and (3) sport as a ritual that finds its space in very definite places. Despite the issues previously
mentioned, these lines of investigation synthesize quite well the theoretic range that permeates
the chapters.
In the first proposed line of investigation, the relation between state and identity is evident,
with special emphasis on the role of the countries in the promotion of sport in Latin America.
That is the topic of Michael Donoghue’s chapter on the support of Panamanian general Omar
Torrijos for iconic boxer Roberto Durán’s training at the end of the last century. Durán’s
dominance in boxing rings was linked to the general’s strong and masculine figure, representing
the government’s political rivalries, especially against the United States of America. Depicting the
same time period, the chapter written by David Sheinin shows how boxing served as a means to
construct black identity and culture along Colombia’s Caribbean coast, highlighting the famous
local boxer, Kid Pambelé, and his career filled with ups and downs, which can be understood as
an analogy about the Colombian people’s difficult path. A similar use of cultural appropriation
can be observed in Carolyne Larson’s text on how the Argentinean creoles, during the so-called
Desert Conquest in the 1880s, appropriated the virile identity of the indigenous people, with
their impressive physiques and hunting skills. Another instance of this is the anthropologist
Katya Wesolowski’s chapter, which demonstrates the transition of capoeira from a marginalized
activity to a Brazilian national sport.
In the second line of investigation, gazes are directed towards the relation between athletic
activities, bodies and their discourses, especially in socially marginalized groups. Raanan Rein’s
chapter describes how Jews in Argentina had their image linked to that of the Atlanta Soccer
Club and, in this manner, were integrated into Argentinean soccer society. Similarly, Joshua
Roth demonstrates how the Japanese-Brazilians of the city of São Paulo found in gateball, a sport
 2   BOOK REVIEW

brought from Japan which amounts to a sort of cricket played in teams, a way to reinforce the
history of their people in Brazil as well as to maintain their cultural roots. In another chapter,
Aggeth Sluis writes about how in Mexico City, during the 1920s and 1930s, the ‘Deco body’,
an artistic tendency that showed female bodies as tall, thin and athletic in urban aesthetics
started a new physical ideal for Mexican women. However, besides these meanings, bodily
practices and their discourses also follow the path of opposition. Ken Lehman discusses this
in his chapter about female lucha libre in Bolivia. By wearing dresses that are typically part of
the Bolivian indigenous heritage, the luchadoras challenge the pre-established norms of sexual
subordination and reconstruct the meanings of sport through a performance that features
fighting (and winning!) women.
The last line of investigation proposed defines bodily practices as rituals that materialize
in well-defined physical spaces. That is the case of gateball, for its players of mostly Japanese
descent transform dangerous and abandoned public spaces into courts. In this sense, the history
of Atlanta Soccer Club is also interesting as it brought to the stadiums a Jewish-identifying fan
group that did not necessarily represent the club’s whole fan base. In the case of the Bolivian
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luchadoras, the shows bring together both women who identify with the fight against male
chauvinism and men who are interested in the women’s narration of their fight, as well as tourists
attracted by the local spectacle.
Considering it all, as Latin American researchers, we missed a more significant conversation
with the academic production from Latin America itself, evidenced by the predominance
of English language references. In spite of this and the aforementioned discontinuity, each
chapter manages to describe its sport’s regional relevance and peculiarities. That being said,
the publication is certainly significant for the diffusion of Latin American sports history and
culture, representing a singular source for people interested in the subject.

Renato C. Novaes
State University of Rio de Janeiro and Brazilian Navy, Av. Tenente Coronel Muniz de Aragão,
1695, 4/310, Anil, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22765-007, Brazil
rennovaes@hotmail.com

Silvio C. C. Telles
State University of Rio de Janeiro and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
© 2018 Renato C. Novaes and Silvio C. C. Telles
https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1402621

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