Article “Football in Brazil” consists of five chapters alongside with two subsections that present the historical, cultural, and social background of soccer in Brazil. This source discusses important historical transitions and the sport’s impact within the nation; however, lacks to capture core ideas of the Brazilian football and fails to properly incorporate evidences. Although the article needs huge improvements on reconstructing its format, I plan to focus on adding cultural significance that addresses how race intertwines with soccer in Brazil. The text emphasizes the sport’s history through underscoring its improvements throughout the years, and further defines football as strictly Brazilian. For example, the article introduces football as an European culture, which underwent a series of adjustment period and became a global sensation. Moreover, it argues that football is perceived as a popular trend which its distinctive styles and international success function as major contributors. However, I noticed that the article disregards race as key component in the Brazilian football. Thus, this project will pursue adding another perspective—race—to the article.

It is important to improve contents of “Football in Brazil” for reflecting Brazilian history and culture because football serves as a representative figure in popular trends alongside with music and carnivals. Marshall Eakin, a history professor at Vanderbilt University, argues that football provided “shared national experiences” in Brazil [1], which indicates that soccer plays an important part in understanding Brazil. Although various factors constitute Brazilian history, popular cultural trends such as soccer should be prioritized. Furthermore, football conveys historical significance that it exemplifies racial diversity, transculturation, and social mobility in Brazil, which all appear as crucial components in contextualizing Brazilian history. However, the article omitted these aspects, rather highlighted the Brazilian football’s status in the international realm without taking account of its main features. Overall, football with its prominence in representing popular cultural trends in Brazil should be recognized for better understanding Brazilian history and culture through adding racial diversity as a key component.

The article relies on news articles for its citation. Scholarly or primary sources appear inconsistent in the reference list as well as the editing process on the Wikipedia Talk Page. For instance, the last update covered women’s soccer culture in 2009, modified few external links, and corrected grammar mistakes—showing no content upgrades over the past five years. For this project, I plan to incorporate two interviews and scholarly sources, which are presented below under “Sources” section. Kittleson discusses race as a major component in Brazilian football, whereas Lever expands Kittleson’s views through highlighting the racial dynamics within the sport. Moreover, two interviews—Ronaldo and Neymar—will be referred for addressing the importance of race in understanding the football culture in Brazil. The interviews demonstrate racial discrimination and mobilization across Brazilian football players. Through utilizing these above sources, I plan to add a new category—race—within the article “Football in Brazil.”

[1] Jeffrey Needell, Emergent Brazil: Key Perspectives on a New Global Power (University Press of Florida, 2015), 22.

Works Cited
Needell, Jeffrey D. Emergent Brazil: Key Perspectives on a New Global Power. University Press of Florida, 2015.

Sources
“Brazil: The ideology of “whitening” and the struggle for a black identity.” Black Women of Brazil. May 09, 2013. Accessed February 13, 2018. https:// blackwomenofbrazil.co/2012/02/09/brazil-the-ideology-of-whitening-and- the- struggle-for-a-black-identity/.

“Neymar Jr, Brazilian Racism and The World Cup of Football (soccer).” The Corn Dealers House. July 30, 2014. Accessed February 13, 2018. https:// tcdh.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/neymar-jr-brazilian-racism-and- the-world-cup- of-football-soccer/.

Kittleson, Roger Alan. The Country of Football: Soccer and the Making of Modern Brazil. Vol. 2. Univ of California Press, 2014.

Lever, Janet. “Soccer as a Brazilian Way of Life.” Games, Sport and Power, ed. Gregory P. Stone 156 (1972): 138-159.