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Articles on Brazil

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What does Spain striker Diego Costa’s back story tell us about footballers and identity in the modern world? EPA/Antonio Lacerda

Diego Costa, Spain and problems of identity in world football

People watching the World Cup match between Spain and the Netherlands earlier in the tournament may have been wondering why Spanish striker Diego Costa was vociferously booed every time he touched the…
Paulo Ito’s recent image joins a long line of socially-conscious street art in Brazil. Paulo Ito

Indignação! Brazilian street art in its historical context

Just a week before the inaugural game of the World Cup in Brazil, a vibrant wall-painting of a boy crying hysterically as he is served up a football instead of dinner, went viral. The image, shown above…
The heat is on. And referees can get it wrong. Tolga Bozoglu/EPA

Forget the players, World Cup referees are feeling the heat

There has been much hand-wringing over the problems that World Cup players are facing due to the environmental extremes they are exposed to in Brazil. There has been little sympathy for the men in black…
Protestors bust the Belo Monte Dam. Atossa Soltani/Amazon Watch/Spectral Q

It’s not just the World Cup Brazilians are protesting about

The World Cup has highlighted Brazil’s dissatisfaction with the mega-development involved in building the tournament’s infrastructure. But the football stadiums are just the latest in a long line of Brazilian…
The World Cup: an overshadowing presence in Brazil. Mast Irham

Brazilians await the World Cup kick-off with ambivalence

Brazilians are a proud people. Among the nations of the so-called Global South, we feel distinguished and blessed in many ways. Just consider, for instance, the natural beauty of this country’s continental…
Latin America won’t be a continent of injustice, corruption and poverty but the spiritual home of the beautiful game. Felipe Trueba/EPA

The World Cup illusion will soothe South America again … for a while

It’s June 25, 1978, and a six-year-old Irish boy is watching TV. What he sees that night will remain with him forever. Argentina won the football World Cup on home soil – the last time the event was held…
In preparing for the World Cup, Brazilian police have embarked on a process of cleaning up the country’s poorest neighbourhoods, known as favelas. EPA/Antonio Lacerda

Brazil’s World Cup preparations showcase ‘celebration capitalism’

Brazil is famous for many things: samba, football and beaches, but also its favelas, the poor neighbourhoods that encircle its cities. These areas are often on invaded lands in middle and upper-class neighbourhoods…
The heroics of South Korea’s national football team in the 2002 World Cup, which it co-hosted with Japan, energised the country and restored its national pride. Damien Gabrielson

South Korea and Brazil: intangible legacies of hosting the World Cup

The host nations of major sporting tournaments like the football World Cup are usually obsessed with the international status and prestige that comes with holding these events. However, the impact that…
Similar protests to those that rocked Brazil during 2013 will no doubt re-appear during the World Cup, as many locals aim to increase their social and political rights. EPA/Marcelo Sayao

Will the World Cup leave a positive legacy in Brazil?

During last year’s Confederations Cup football tournament in Brazil, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the country’s streets to demand change. Protests that started with a clear opposition…
Worthy winners? Anthony Stanley

Hard Evidence: what is the World Cup worth?

Ever wondered what the World Cup is worth? When Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga designed the current trophy in 1971, it was worth US$50,000. Now the trophy is estimated to be worth US$10m. The World…
Despite WHO warnings, C-sections are way too popular. PhotographybyMK

Caesarean by diktat: UK is more like Brazil than you might think

Last month I attended a protest in London over an incident on the other side of the world. It concerned a woman named Adelir Carmen Lemos de Góes, who was forced to have a caesarean section in Torres…
Former Brazilian president Lula De Silva unveiling the Rio 2016 bid. Agencia Brasil

There would be no shame in Brazil ditching the Olympics

The 2014 Brazil World Cup and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games are becoming a running story, and not in the way organisers might like. We have seen news about public riots, lack of preparation, low quality infrastructure…
Hopes are high for Brazil as it prepares to host the World Cup and hold an election, but real economic change is unlikely to flow. BostonCatholic/Flickr

Brazil: the awoken giant stumbles

This year’s FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics seem to be a coronation of Brazil’s undeniable and startling success. But with the Brazilian presidential elections looming later this year, a surge in…
Can the carnival spirit, combined with sport, help deal with Brazil’s social issues? keka

From the favelas: rising up through arts and sport in Brazil

With final preparations now underway for next week’s annual Rio de Janeiro carnival, and as the hype builds for this year’s FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, it’s almost inevitable images…

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