Chat & Chowder | Basketball Empire

Chat & Chowder programs are an excellent opportunity to engage with expert speakers and to network with other globally-oriented participants in an informal environment. Each event features a presentation, audience Q&A, dedicated time for networking, and (of course!) a selection of chowders and beverages.

Thanks to the generous support of The Lowell Institute, Chat & Chowder is free of charge for all participants. We sincerely appreciate The Lowell Institute’s commitment to our mission.

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This program will be streamed to Zoom from 6:15 to 7:15. To attend the program virtually, please register for the Zoom webinar here.

Advance registration is required. We cannot accommodate walk-ins for the in-person program.

Disclaimer: WorldBoston is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, non-advocacy, educational organization dedicated to fostering civil discourse on international affairs. Our speakers' opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WorldBoston, our affiliates, or our community.

Dr. Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is a globally-recognized sports diplomacy expert and consultant whose pioneering work as a scholar-practitioner of basketball diplomacy and Franco-American sports diplomacy inscribed the power of individual lived experiences into the public record. Thanks to these blueprints, citizens worldwide can be empowered to be better sports diplomats – or to take inspiration from a sports diplomat’s playbook – in leveling-up their leadership, engagement, and storytelling abilities.

Author of (Bloomsbury, 2023), “Views From the Embassy: The Role of the U.S. Diplomatic Community in France, 1914,” (U.S. Department of State, 2014), and (Lexington Books, 2013), Krasnoff directs the FranceAndUS project and has written for national and international media like TIME, CNN International, , . She is a Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport, leading the institute’s new sports diplomacy track.

The National Basketball Association (NBA), founded over 75 years ago, is staging a 21st-century takeover. Watched in 215 countries and territories worldwide, and with nearly one in three players born and trained overseas, it is no longer just about America. In this book, Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff shows how basketball's global takeover could not have happened without France, exploring its interactions with the United States and colonial legacies with francophone Africa and the Afro-Caribbean. Taking us back to the very beginnings of basketball, she shows how remnants of empire have shaped the game. 

Asking how and why so many French basketball players have joined the NBA and WNBA, Basketball Empire explores what this has meant for the league and the players themselves. Going behind the scenes, it follows the generations of men and women who, since 1950, have followed their passion for the game to create a basketball breeding ground. Including interviews with players, sports journalists, league directors and coaches past and present, it uncovers the transatlantic networks and complex Franco-American  relations that have nurtured a mutual exchange of culture, technical skill and knowledge. These first-hand accounts, supported by media and government archives, show how these forms of sports diplomacy sowed the seeds of a basketball revolution and helped make the NBA a global cultural entity. Arguing that basketball is deeply indebted to France’s colonial history and close, albeit complicated, relationship with the United States, this book is about the creation of a cultural empire, and shows how sports can be the vehicle to build bridges between nations.

WorldBoston's Chat & Chowder series features key authors on international affairs in an engaging setting. In addition to discussion of a featured book (usually sold at a significant discount), the program offers the opportunity for discussion among members and guests - and of course a selection of chowders and beverages. This Chat & Chowder will be hosted in-person (from 6:00 to 7:30PM ET) and live-streamed to Zoom (from 6:15 to 7:15 PM ET only).

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