Visions of a Better World

Examining the social and political significance of football in Cameroon, author Bea Vidacs's anthropological study goes beyond sports. Encompassing the period between 1994 and 2006, the work throws light upon changes in Cameroonians' political attitudes and interpretations of politics and of football as the revolutionary fervor of the early 1990s waned over time and increasingly turned into political disillusionment. Taking the ethos of sport as an ethnographic starting point she addresses such issues as politics, power, powerlessness, identity construction on a local, national and international scale, as well as the meaning of the postcolonial experience both on an individual and national level. Rich in ethnographic detail and command of relevant literature, the study demonstrates how, and with what consequences, Cameroonian football impinges upon and is influenced by local, national and global socio-cultural, economic and political realities.