Through the looking glass ~ 1/30/2008

"There is only one place in the world where North and South meet on an equal footing: a soccer field at the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil. The equator cuts through the middle of the Zerao stadium in Amapa, so each team plays one half in the South and the other half in the North." -Eduardo Galeano

My friend Simon (firesidehistory.blogspot.com) sent me "Upside Down" by Galeano, and I found the above quote almost immediately. But, as much as I am enjoying the text so far, I am struck by problems of such ideological polarization. Galeano offers great criticism of the western liberal model, both economic and political, but can't really provide an alternative. I see this so often in these radicalized texts.

So far Peter McClaren's essay on critical multiculturalism, and Denzin's Performance Ethnography are the best in providing a method to subvert problems of race, culture, neo-colonialism, yet again, they fall short in providing a view of how to handle the fall out of change. While it would be great to say its a simple as dismantling systems, I think the collapse we would experience would be even worse.

Again, this is what I like about Denzin and McClaren, they are offering a personal view of internalizing power, thus it is closer to the Daoist view of power in self control and not doing, rather than doing. Because it is impossible to control everybody, and also it is highly paradoxical to even try, we control ourselves, and let others choose of their own "free" will.

Can soccer be used to "promote" or expose this world view? Can a team sport ever be so individualized? Can soccer and its divisive nature be used to subvert political and economic power systems? Can it turn racism around on itself?