Animated discussion and debate took place on Wednesday when the Rhodes Faculty of Humanities hosted a seminar on the impact of the World Cup.
The discussion raised questions about the implications of hosting the World Cup, and more importantly, whether the event will be beneficial to the country or not.
Animated discussion and debate took place on Wednesday when the Rhodes Faculty of Humanities hosted a seminar on the impact of the World Cup.
The discussion raised questions about the implications of hosting the World Cup, and more importantly, whether the event will be beneficial to the country or not.
“The Stadia and the Socio-economic and Political Impact of the 2010 World Cup” was presented by panellists Prof Ashwin Desai and Christopher McMichael from Rhodes, and Prof Brij Maharaj from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Chaired by the Dean of Humanities Fred Hendricks, the session spoke to aspects related to the World Cup, such as security, development and the politics of Fifa as an organisation.
While Maharaj and McMichael outlined some of the negative characteristics attached to the event, Desai turned the discussion on its head, beginning his presentation by saying: “How much more pessimism could we have?”
Desai preferred to look at the possible benefits of the World Cup, explaining that the sport “has the potential to unite”.
He also explained how the hosting of the event is a demonstration of how far South Africa and Africa has come and how, during the opening game, the “epic gains of transition would be concentrated into one day”.
