This book is a real must have for all of us.
I had a privilledge of listening to an interview with Peter Alegi. Peter Alegi is an Associate Professor of History and a Core Faculty member of the African Studies Center at MSU.
He is the author of Laduma!: Soccer, Politics, and Society in South Africa. I am yet to read the book but only got to hear what the book entails. This is a book for all soccer lovers to have, it contains our history and where South African and African football is all about. Now since Bobby Motaung threatened to write a book, this is simply to make him to know that writting a book, is not like running Daddy's team.
This is a brief of what the book entails.
In South Africa there are times when nothing is more important than soccer (football). Laduma!, is an immensely informative and vital account of the history of the game in South Africa. In explaining how soccer - a sport imported with colonialism - came to be a mainstay of black sporting experience, it explores the Africanisation of the game with the introduction of rituals and magic, and the emergence of distinctive playing styles.
Using archival research, interviews, newspaper and magazine articles, adverts and photos, Laduma! chronicles the impact of indigenous sporting traditions such as stick fighting, the rise of Orlando Pirates, the emergence of rivals Moroka Swallows, and the power struggles between different football associations and white authorities. Soccer influenced class and generational divisions, shaped masculine identities, and served as a mobilising force for township and political organisations.
Laduma! embodies sporting history at its best and will be of interest to ardent soccer fans as well as more serious scholars of African history.
Baile (Diski2010 manager)
baile.diskioff@gmail.com
