Vitórias e derrotas de um futebol mestiço: algumas reflexões sobre a questão racial no Brasil (Victories and defeats of a mestizo soccer: some reflections on the racial issue in Brazil) Doi: 10.5212/Emancipacao.v.12i2.0010

O objetivo do presente estudo foi mostrar o papel atribuido e exercido pelo futebol nacional, no contraditorio processo de insercao da sociedade brasileira na modernidade dos anos de 1950. Constatou-se que os agentes esportivos participaram do movimento intelectual e ideologico da construcao de imaginarios sobre o Brasil moderno. Estas construcoes dialogavam com as imagens presentes no debate do carater nacional que circulou na inteligencia brasileira. Destaca-se o esforco reiterado e muitas vezes contraditorio de um grupo de cronistas esportivos, que buscava criar as condicoes necessarias para que o negro/mestico fosse aceito como simbolo da identidade nacional. Palavras-Chave : Futebol. Racismo. Modernidade. Abstract: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the role assigned to and performed by soccer in Brazil in the context of the contradictory process of inclusion of the Brazilian society in the modernity of the 1950s. It was found that sports agents participated in the movement of intellectual and ideological construction of the imaginary about modern Brazil. These constructions were in dialog with the images found on the debate regarding the national character that took place among the Brazilian intelligentsia. Noteworthy is the repeated and often contradictory effort of a group of sports columnists, who sought to create the necessary conditions so that black/mestizo individuals were accepted as symbols of national identity. Keywords : Soccer. Racism. Modernity.