Artigo Acesso aberto Revisado por pares

Maradona Inc

2008; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 11; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/1367877908096053

ISSN

1460-356X

Autores

Nicolás Salazar-Sutil,

Tópico(s)

Digital Games and Media

Resumo

This article addresses the blurring boundaries between celebrity, media sports, cultural identity and politics. I explore the case of media sport star Diego Maradona, whose strategies of public representation highlight the way in which politics and popular culture can overlap. First, the article offers a general overview of the theorization of football in Latin America. Central to my discussion is the problematic use of concepts like `identity' and `belonging' to define football politics. I insist on a theoretical reformulation of political culture in global contexts, and point to an understanding of media personalities such as Maradona as currency within markets of cultural and political production. This analysis suggests that `Maradona Inc.' can be understood as a corporate and performative semiosphere that is continuously shifting, so that fans can project onto the fetish-like and vacant image of the celebrity whatever they wish.

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