Readings in Diversity is an initiative of the North|South Library of the Centre for Social Studies, which, in association with the General Library of the University of Coimbra, aims to promote reading as a collective practice and a space for sharing, meeting, and listening to different experiences, sensibilities, and ways of seeing the world. In each session, a new topic invites us to writings that reflect the richness of human diversity.

In this 11^th session, the topic is football.  A game that has long transcended the boundaries of the field and became a cultural, social, and even literary phenomenon. Childhood memories, popular passions, dreams, frustrations, and stories of overcoming adversity run apace with the ball. There is poetry in a well-timed pass, there is narrative in a last-minute goal, there is politics in the stands and philosophy in the locker room. Football is also written and also read.

Consequently, this session brings together readings about football with texts that reveal the beauty and complexity of the game, showing how it reflects - and sometimes questions - the society in which we live.

By listening to these words, we open space for other understandings of football: as language, as art, as a symbolic field of disputes, affections and belongings. A game we've all played in some way - whether with our feet, our voices or our hearts. In this session, literature and football take to the field together, in an opportunity to celebrate the game of word and the game of ball - both made up of emotion, creativity, and sharing.

Participants
Ana Lúcia Santos - CES researcher
Ana Raquel Matos - FEUC lecturer and CES researcher
Ana Sofia Veloso - CES Publications Office (GAP) Coordinator
Andrés Spognardi - CES Researcher
Joaquim Veríssimo - CES Scientific Information Manager
Marcos Silva - CES Postdoctoral Researcher

Admission is free, but due to limited capacity, subject to prior registration by emailing bg-eventos@bg.uc.pt or using this form.