Portuguese footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo has had another feather added to his illustrious cap as a Canadian university, The University of British Columbia Okanagan is giving students the opportunity to take a course on the Real Madrid star in a fourth-year sociology module.
Associate Professor of Sociology in UBC Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Luis Aguiar said: “Sociology is nothing if not the delving into the processes of structuring identities and experiences and exposing the social forces that push these processes.
“In this case, I’m interested in how Ronaldo has been used to construct several discourses about who he is, what makes him distinct as a footballer, what is his relationship to Portugal, Madeira (his hometown) and indeed Portuguese identity.
“Ronaldo is said to embody features and characteristics of speed, strength, competetiveness, dogged work ethic, discipline, and adaptability.
“These features are also in a sense ‘very Portuguese’ since the Portuguese outside the homeland are nothing if not constructed as hard workers, disciplined and determined. Even as a global athlete transcending geographical boundaries, Ronaldo cannot escape the stereotypical constructions of ‘the Portuguese’.
“My two greatest passions are football and critical sociology. A course on Cristiano Ronaldo gives me the opportunity to combine the two.
“While I’m an admirer of Ronaldo, I’m also a sociologist interested in understanding the social and economic forces driving the various constructions of this athlete and what this says about our contemporary values and culture,” he added.
Ronaldo will be the second ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid footballer to be deemed fit for study at a higher institution after Staffordshire University offered a David Beckham course before the ex-England international made the switch from Manchester United to Real Madrid.
