A potential research project topic that I am heavily considering is the role of soccer in Brazilian national identity. In my research, I would like to discover why soccer is so important to Brazilians and how it shapes national identity.  In order to tackle this question, I would look at how soccer started in Brazil in the first place and examine how its importance began to rise. This is significant as soccer still plays a huge role in Brazilian national identity today. The current basic knowledge I have on the topic is that immigrants from Europe brought soccer to Brazil and that soccer was largely played by elites initially. This interests me as it possibly adds a racial element to the topic, which is significant as it questions the racial democracy that Brazil claims to be.

If I choose to examine the role of race within soccer, it would be interesting to see if there were any racial conflicts within the team or if soccer served as a unifying force within Brazilian society. Another possible avenue I can take within this research topic is how big losses in Brazilian soccer impacted national identity. Tying it back to race, it would be interesting to see if specific players were used as a scapegoat because of their race during these losses. Also, since soccer did begin as an elite sport, it would be interesting to discover more on how more racial groups gained their right to play.

In order to examine this topic, secondary sources are important to look at when thinking of how the national identity of Brazilians has been shaped over time. Specifically, since European immigrants brought the sport of soccer to Brazil, it would be interesting to see how Brazilians made soccer Brazilian instead of European. One secondary source I have found specifically looks at the role of Italian immigrants in developing Brazilian soccer. I have also found a primary source that compliments this secondary source very well. This primary source comes from a newspaper article, in which an Italian immigrant living in Brazil reacts to the loss of the Brazilian team to the Italian team during the World Cup in 1982.

This research topic is important for understanding Brazil as it explores a factor that plays a huge role in national identity. It is especially interesting to examine how losses in the World Cup hurt national identity, specifically by looking at the reactions of Brazilians. This research topic is also important when examining race in Brazil. Past classes and the readings for class tomorrow (2/13) address the issue of race in Brazil, specifically whether Brazil is racist or not. Seeing how players of different races regarding soccer more than likely shows how they were treated during specific times throughout Brazilian history, since soccer plays such a huge role to Brazilian identity. Overall, this research topic is relevant as soccer and the race question is still play an important when thinking about Brazilian society today.

Primary Sources

8 SOCCER FANS DIE AS URUGUAY SCORES. New York Times (1923-Current file); New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]18 July 1950: 26.

URUGUAY ANNEXES TITLE: Upsets Favored Brazil, 2-1, in World Soccer–Sweden 3d. New York Times (1923-Current file); New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]17 July 1950: 27.

120 million Brazilians plunge into gloom. The Times of India (1861-current); Mumbai, India [Mumbai, India]07 July 1982: 9.

Secondary Sources

Bocketti, Gregg P. “Italian immigrants, Brazilian football, and the dilemma of national identity.” Journal of Latin American Studies 40, no. 2 (2008): 275-302.

da Silva, Ana Paula. “King Pele: Race, Professionalism And Football In Brazil.” Nat’l Black LJ 21 (2008): 1.

Lopes, José Sergio Leite. “Class, ethnicity, and color in the making of Brazilian football.” Daedalus 129, no. 2 (2000): 239-270.

Oliveira-Monte, Emanuelle. “Blacks Versus Whites Self-Denomination, Soccer, and Race Representations in Brazil.” Luso-Brazilian Review 50, no. 2 (2013): 76-92.