Sean Jacobs | Eleven Named People: Global Sport and Society

Wednesday, Nov 18, 2026, 4 – 5:30 p.m. PST

Drawing on Eric Hobsbawm's claim that “the imagined community of millions seems more real as a team of eleven named people,” this talk explores the power of sports teams. Using examples from post-apartheid South Africa and elsewhere, Jacobs asks: Can sports teams expand the boundaries of “the nation,” or can they really overcome xenophobia? Or does sport's celebrated power ultimately reveal the limits of nationalism and identity?

About the speaker

Sean Jacobs is a South African-born scholar and writer, trained in political science and culture and media studies. He spent 20 years at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (2005–09) and The New School (2009–26), where he became a tenured full professor, before becoming an independent author this year. He founded and long edited Africa Is a Country and recently launched Eleven Named People, inspired by Eric Hobsbawm, exploring the intersections of sport and politics globally. He is writing a biography of NEA Jazz Master Abdullah Ibrahim and recently published a major essay on him in the New York Review of Books. His fellowships and prizes include Harvard, New York University, Fulbright, Commonwealth, Ford, Shorenstein, ACLS/Luce, Open Society, and Shuttleworth. His book Media in Postapartheid South Africa (Indiana University Press, 2019) and writing in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and the London Review of Books have brought his work to a wide audience.

Free and open to all. At the Jackson School, opportunities and events are open to all eligible persons regardless of race, sex or other identity.

Event interval: Single day event
Campus location: Communications Building (CMU)
Campus room: CMU 120
Accessibility Contact: globalsportlab@uw.edu
Event Types: Lectures/Seminars, Special Events
Event sponsors: Global Sport Lab, African Studies Program, Department of Communication, Simpson Center for the Humanities

Jackson School of International Studies Global Sport Lab

Sean Jacobs | Eleven Named People: Global Sport and Society