Futbol in the Park

"You know the scene: huge numbers of amateur soccer players in their pinnies, scores of spectators under umbrellas, paletas vendors selling their wares from carts. Over the past half century, immigration from Latin America has transformed the public landscape in the United States, and numerous communities are witnessing one of the hallmarks of this transformation: the emergence of park soccer. In Fâutbol in the Park, David Trouille takes us into the world of a group of Latino soccer players in southern California, showing us how socializing around the game actually works and what it really means for the predominantly Latino immigrant men who hang out, talk, argue, and even fight with great passion about a world they have created around playing soccer in a park. The men want to live rich, meaningful lives, and what they do together in the park helps them to accomplish this. Here they build relationships and a sense of who they are, separate from their identities elsewhere or their countries of origin. Together on the soccer field, sharing beers after the games, and occasionally exchanging taunts or blows, the men work on the meaning of their lives. And through these engrossing, revealing, and at times immortalizing activities, they forge new identities and connections, giving themselves a renewed sense of self-worth and community. The park becomes a place to anchor and enrich their lives in a new country. As the United States becomes increasingly polarized around issues of immigration and culture, Fâutbol in the Park provides a needed look at the lives of migrants"--