Bestselling British author, journalist and sociologist David Goldblatt will be delivering a lecture titled 'The 2022 World Cup in Qatar in Historical Perspective' at an upcoming public webinar at Qatar Foundation partner Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) at 6pm on October 6.
The lecture is part of the World Cup 2022 Lecture Series, community engagement opportunities that are part of a broader FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 research initiative at GU-Q’s Centre for International and Regional Studies, launched in the run-up to the tournament in Qatar.
Headed by sports and politics expert Dr Danyel Reiche, who has joined GU-Q as a visiting professor from American University of Beirut, the research initiative seeks to explore the implications of staging one of the world’s largest sporting events on the social, political, and economic development of Qatar as well as on regional and global affairs.
Dr Reiche will also be moderating the event, which will focus on the significance of Qatar hosting the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East.
Guest speaker Goldblatt will place Qatar’s upcoming tournament within the history of World Cups, and survey the politics, economic impacts, and urban development that have accompanied the games through time.
“This lecture is a part of our larger research strategy to observe the developments related to the World Cup from a social science lens. It is also a great example of the important place that research and analysis have in offering insight into the events and issues of our times for both academics and the general public alike,” GU-Q dean Dr Ahmad Dallal said.
Goldblatt said: "The 2022 World Cup promises a number of firsts: first to be held in December, first in a Muslim-majority country, perhaps even the first carbon neutral tournament. But in many other ways, politically above all, it stands in a long tradition, almost a century now, of World Cups as global political spectacles."
Goldblatt is an honorary fellow at the International Centre for Sports History and Culture, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.
He teaches for the Geneva-based Football Business Academy, and is a visiting professor at Pitzer College, Los Angeles.
His book 'The Game of Our Lives: The Making and Meaning of English Football' (2014), was the winner of the 2015 William Hill Sports book prize.