Football Diplomacy, Postcolonialism and Regional Integration in East Asia

Football Diplomacy, Postcolonialism and Regional Integration in East Asia

Wolfram Manzenreiter - Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna

Monday, April 2, 2007 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Room 203, Henry R. Luce Hall See map
34 Hillhouse Avenue
New Haven, CT 6511

The peripheral status of Asian football in the global order of the world sport is rooted in the historical experience of military, political and economic dominance of the West. Since football reached the Far East at a time when European colonialism was giving way to growing US American influence in the region, it never acquired significant meaning in the relationship between the West and the East. However, within the postcolonial world of the North Pacific, football has become a powerful cultural resource for representational purposes. In my presentation I will take a look at the way in which football has been appropriated in Japan, as well as within its former colonies China and Korea, to express and negotiate ideas of identity, power, status and global norms in international relations. Particular attention will be given to the Japan/Korea Football World Cup 2002, media discourses and new political formations initiated by parliamentarians and bureaucrats from the North Pacific.

Tags: 
Region: 
China, Japan, Korea, Transregional