My research is going to be exploring the culture in Brazil. I
will focus more on the sports culture of Brazil but also other parts. For
example: the sports played in Brazil and why, how much these sports mean to the
people participating, and how the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics in Brazil
impacted the sporting culture there. Also, how hosting these two events
affected the businesses (financially) there and also the country as a whole economically.
Now, as I just mentioned the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics were both
held in Brazil. You are talking about two of, if not the, biggest sporting
events in the entire world. Me being a huge sports fan, these are both events
that I watched almost religiously when they both were going on. I know there
was controversy to having both these events in Brazil, as they are a somewhat
struggling nation with disease, crime, poverty, etc. All in all though both
these events went very smoothly. Knowing and watching these events take place
here, I knew that the sporting culture in Brazil was a topic that I wanted to
explore even further.
I know that Brazil is a huge soccer (or football as they
call it there) nation. As a guy that watches soccer I know that in every major
international soccer tournament, Brazil is always one of the favorites. Now, I
can assume that every kid wants to play and looks up to these Brazilian soccer
players. But, I want to reach further and dig deeper on the actual impact that
it has on these kids’ lives and the lives of others. I can also assume that
having the 2014 World Cup there was huge for them. It put the spotlight on
Brazil and showed that they could host a major sporting event. But again, I
want to dig deeper to see how much having the World Cup impacted them and their
lives. How much it meant for them to have an event like that there, especially
at a time when people were questioning if they were even going to be able to
host this tournament. How the turnout for the event was and how critics
reviewed their hosting. This is all about soccer, which I do know is their
biggest sport, but it can’t be their only sport. I want to research other
sports played there and the impact (whether it be big or small) that they have
on the people of Brazil.
As I mentioned earlier, the 2016 summer Olympics were hosted
in Brazil’s major city of Rio de Janeiro. We know this as the biggest sporting
competition in the world with tons on the line as you train for years and years
to represent and win a medal for your country. This event, coming two years
after the World Cup. Again, there were tons of people skeptical about letting
Brazil host this event as diseases, violence, and other things were active in
the country. I want to research about how not only Brazil did as a nation
competing, but also what the turnout was like. I want to explore the opinions
of critics or people that attended or even athletes to see what they thought of
Brazil and how they did as a host nation.
While exploring sports and these two major events in Brazil,
I also want to research the economic impact that hosting these events had on
the country. Not to mention a struggling country for many people. Some things
that I already know are that there were protests by people who live in Brazil
for them not to host the events, especially the World Cup in 2014. These were
struggling people who thought that there were bigger problems within the
country and the money being used to fund this event could go towards something
else. Because as we know, huge stadiums don’t just build themselves. I know
that they didn’t really have big stadiums to host games so they had to build
almost all of them which definitely isn’t cheap. I want to dig deeper and find
out actual numbers or hear from the struggling people and also the people
making the decisions as to how the nation spends their money. Their facts and/or
opinions may lead me to lean to one side or another. I want to know if it was a
smart decision for them financially or not and by how much. I want to explore
how local businesses were impacted by the people coming in (I’m sure
positively). I know that money brought in from tourism was definifely a
positive thing, but I want to know numbers of how much it brought in. I want to
see the opinions of tourists who traveled there about what kind of atmosphere,
transportation, food, drink, and more. What were things they could do there besides
just go to the sporting games or events. Researching this will definitely help
me in learning and knowing more about the Brazilian culture.
