I admit, the first day of class was a bit of a chore. Just sitting there and listening to the syllabus being read was not a terribly fascinating experience. I understand it had to be done, but at the time I couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous about how future classes would go down. What gave me the most hope though, was the idea of star wars and lolcat references in the class.
But to the meat of the week: the book. I admit, I did not personally find the book that enjoyable; nor do I think he did a very good job of showing how soccer "explains" globalization. He did a good job (sometimes) of showing how soccer is influenced by globalization (ex Glasgow) but never really showed how soccer can be a useful analogy for the fact that we have, for example, an American company, run by a Japanese man born in the US, financed by sovereign wealth funds from the Gulf, building computers in Taiwan, using technology from Chinese labs, and selling them to the French who use them and dispose of them in garbage dumps in Niger.
Also, I didn't like the Jim Rome hate. I like Jim Rome! Sure, he can be a bit of a blowhard but he's a decent guy who gives colorful commentary.
I did like the discussion format we used in class on Friday, it really seemed to be conducive to a free flowing format that allows everyone to speak and give an opinion. As we get to things I feel more passionately about, this may be a problem for me, but I do think it's the best system for our needs as a class.
Again, I'm Sam Ballingrud.
ReplyDelete"He did a good job (sometimes) of showing how soccer is influenced by globalization (ex Glasgow) but never really showed how soccer can be a useful analogy for the fact that we have, for example, an American company, run by a Japanese man born in the US, financed by sovereign wealth funds from the Gulf, building computers in Taiwan, using technology from Chinese labs, and selling them to the French who use them and dispose of them in garbage dumps in Niger."
ReplyDeleteI had a similar reaction upon reading this book. I think a more appropriate title (though presumably less best-seller-esque) for "How Soccer Explains the World" would have been "How the World Explains Soccer." Soccer is not a bad means of framing and illustration some of the debates and trends in globalization, but Foer hasn't really *explained* anything about globalization -- though he's explained quite a lot about soccer.
Is there a more productive analogy or explanation of globalization, do you think? What about another lens through which to view some of these issues of the rather abstract idea of globalization?