Ultras’ Graffiti and Constructing Fan Identity: A Study of Symbolic Appropriation of Space

Volume 11|Issue 42| Autumn 2022 |Articles

Abstract

Ultras, by nature, push the football team off the field and into the public sphere. This study focuses on the ultras’ activities outside the stadium, using an ethnographic approach to understand the meanings behind ultras’ graffiti. It undertakes a case study of the “Los Matadores” ultras, active in western Tetouan and the “Siempre Paloma” ultras, active in the East, who both support the same team. The study finds that these Tetouan ultras’ graffiti expresses symbolic appropriation of space, where the ultras enter into two-dimensional symbolic conflicts with other groups. The first dimension of this conflict relates to the struggle with non-local groups from other cities, whereby the ultras invest in spatial imaginary and place memory, to distinguish themselves from outsiders. The second dimension of this conflict involves local groups from the same city who support the same team fighting over leadership of the city through a war of symbols.

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Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Morocco.

Researcher of Sociology at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Morocco.

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