Dağhan Irak
The University of Huddersfield, Music, Humanities and Media, Faculty Member
- Digital Sociology, Sociology of Sport, Social Media, New Media, Modern Turkey, Sports Fans, and 21 moreFootball Culture, Sports History, History of Football, Journalism, Football Fan Behaviour, Fandom, Fan Communities, Fan Cultures, Media and Communication Studies, Social History, Football (soccer), Communication, Sociologie Du Sport, Discourse Analysis, Digital Media, Social Movements, Alternative Media, Nethnography, Virtual Communities, Correspondence Analysis, and Amateurism and Professionalism in Sportedit
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Everyday life expands the debates about the role of capitalist production relations in the production of space and urbanisation to everyday life practices. The digital space has become part of everyday life with extensive use of social... more
Everyday life expands the debates about the role of capitalist production relations in the production of space and urbanisation to everyday life practices. The digital space has become part of everyday life with extensive use of social media by individuals and institutions as a key communication sphere. Dwelling on these, this paper explores the role of the digital space in the processes of the production of space and the role of the networked practices of local governments within those processes. Investigating the practices of local governments and their engagement with individuals opens up areas of exploration for everyday life, local governance and institutional politics. The paper explores these via two case studies about acts of everyday life: holiday-making during the rerunning of an election campaign and New Year's Eve celebrations in Turkey. It discusses the dialectical relationship between the lived space and the conceived space (Lefebvre, 1991) and how everyday politics submerges with everyday life via the practices of local governments by focusing on the networked (Castells, 2004) engagements among local governments and with ordinary citizens through the use of social media. It concludes that the digital space acts as a conduit where the conceived and the lived are submerged.
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The Kurds, the largest minority in Turkey, have almost no visibility in Turkish sports. While Kurdish sportspeople are not discouraged from joining in sports activities, their participation is heavily monitored by the government agencies... more
The Kurds, the largest minority in Turkey, have almost no visibility in Turkish sports. While Kurdish sportspeople are not discouraged from joining in sports activities, their participation is heavily monitored by the government agencies against any manifestation of ethnic identity. Football in the Kurdish regions, seen by the Turkish state as a tool to distract Kurdish youth from political activities, has always been subject to the direct intervention of the civil and military bureaucracy, their presence in club boards is not uncommon. However, a third-division club named Amedspor, challenged all the unwritten rules related to Kurds in sports, at the expense of receiving a recurring suspension from the Turkish Football Federation. This article examines the Kurdish sports and the Amedspor case through Manuel Castells’ conception of legitimizing, resistance and project identities
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Everyday life expands the debates about the role of capitalist production relations in the production of space and urbanisation to everyday life practices. The digital space has become part of everyday life with extensive use of social... more
Everyday life expands the debates about the role of capitalist production relations in the production of space and urbanisation to everyday life practices. The digital space has become part of everyday life with extensive use of social media by individuals and institutions as a key communication sphere. Dwelling on these, this paper explores the role of the digital space in the processes of the production of space and the role of the networked practices of local governments within those processes. Investigating the practices of local governments and their engagement with individuals opens up areas of exploration for everyday life, local governance and institutional politics. The paper explores these via two case studies about acts of everyday life: holiday-making during the rerunning of an election campaign and New Year's Eve celebrations in Turkey. It discusses the dialectical relationship between the lived space and the conceived space (Lefebvre, 1991) and how everyday politics submerges with everyday life via the practices of local governments by focusing on the networked (Castells, 2004) engagements among local governments and with ordinary citizens through the use of social media. It concludes that the digital space acts as a conduit where the conceived and the lived are submerged.
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Football, as other cultural products, has become a major part of the political field, since there has been an ongoing cultural battle between the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his dissidents. The country is divided into two, not only... more
Football, as other cultural products, has become a major part of the
political field, since there has been an ongoing cultural battle between
the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his dissidents. The country is
divided into two, not only between social and cultural capital owners;
two sets of ideological elements, namely ‘doxas’ in reference to
Bourdieusian sociology, also define the political faultlines in Turkey.
Football, imported in the final years of the Ottoman Empire by the mod-
ern elite, has been intertwined with Turkish modernism and its core
elements, such as nationalism. The Erdoğan regime, while dismantling
the old rule, has also tried to create cultural hegemony, which has been
met with dissidence. This paper analyses the role of an old military song
called the ‘Izmir March’, sung in the football stands against the Erdoğan
regime, discussing the elements of the two doxas in Turkey, old and
new.
political field, since there has been an ongoing cultural battle between
the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his dissidents. The country is
divided into two, not only between social and cultural capital owners;
two sets of ideological elements, namely ‘doxas’ in reference to
Bourdieusian sociology, also define the political faultlines in Turkey.
Football, imported in the final years of the Ottoman Empire by the mod-
ern elite, has been intertwined with Turkish modernism and its core
elements, such as nationalism. The Erdoğan regime, while dismantling
the old rule, has also tried to create cultural hegemony, which has been
met with dissidence. This paper analyses the role of an old military song
called the ‘Izmir March’, sung in the football stands against the Erdoğan
regime, discussing the elements of the two doxas in Turkey, old and
new.
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Since Islamist-conservative Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took over power in Turkey, the country has gone through a massive social transformation. Football, the quintessential form of entertainment in Turkey which has always had its ties with... more
Since Islamist-conservative Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took over power in Turkey, the country has gone through a massive social transformation. Football, the quintessential form of entertainment in Turkey which has always had its ties with politics, has also been affected by this change. Especially after the Gezi Protests, in which the supporters of three major Istanbul clubs participated, to express their discontent over Erdoğan’s autocratic tendencies and interventions on secular lifestyles, the ruling party’s intervention in football accelerated. The new regime employed heavy policing, a controversial e-ticket scheme, and criminal court cases to suppress dissent in the stadiums, and also sponsored two pro-regime teams of its own that reached success but not popularity. The regime’s every move concerning football has been contested by the middle-class, secular football fans of Istanbul’s pro-opposition neighbourhoods. This paper discusses the historical and sociological origins of Erdoğan’s recurring defeats in the football field versus Stambulite fans.
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Sport has had a symbiotic relationship with television for decades, as it has always been one of the most marketable visual products for the medium. The new visual media technologies that have been introduced since the 1970s have altered... more
Sport has had a symbiotic relationship with television for decades, as it has always been one of the most marketable visual products for the medium. The new visual media technologies that have been introduced since the 1970s have altered this relationship greatly by incrementally commodifying sport at each step. One of the most crucial aspects of this relationship is globalisation, which initially depended on satellite television and took sport’s hyper-commodification to a whole new level. Turkey, which went through a massive transformation to a neoliberal rule following a bloody coup d’etat in 1980 that practically razed the whole social and political structure, has since become an important example of the roles of sport and television in an aggressively neoliberal setting. This chapter aims to explain why televised sport has had a remarkable role in the sociopolitical transformation of Turkey since the 1980 coup.
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The Kurds, the largest minority in Turkey, have almost no visibility in Turkish sports. While Kurdish sportspeople are not discouraged from joining in sports activities, their participation is heavily monitored by the government agencies... more
The Kurds, the largest minority in Turkey, have almost no visibility in Turkish sports. While Kurdish sportspeople are not discouraged from joining in sports activities, their participation is heavily monitored by the government agencies against any manifestation of ethnic identity. Football in the Kurdish regions, seen by the Turkish state as a tool to distract Kurdish youth from political activities, has always been subject to the direct intervention of the civil and military bureaucracy, their presence in club boards is not uncommon. However, a third-division club named Amedspor, challenged all the unwritten rules related to Kurds in sports, at the expense of receiving a recurring suspension from the Turkish Football Federation. This article examines the Kurdish sports and the Amedspor case through Manuel Castells’ conception of legitimizing, resistance and project identities
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Football is the most popular sport in Turkey through its success, its excesses, its prestigious victories. Imported by European foreigners at the end of the nineteenth century, practiced secretly by Muslim elites, it became in a few... more
Football is the most popular sport in Turkey through its success, its excesses, its prestigious victories. Imported by European foreigners at the end of the nineteenth century, practiced secretly by Muslim elites, it became in a few decades the symbol of the nation fighting against the external enemies, against a threatening Europe. Turkish football is also known for the passion of its supporters for the national team or club teams. The matches between the “Big Threes”, (Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş) are considered among the most spectacular derbies in the world that sometimes trigger violent clashes between fans. The place of football in Turkey is such that it constitutes an area particularly invested by politicians and thus reflects the major debates of Turkish society and the persistence of a strong nationalism.
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In Turkey, especially since 2010, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has gradually assumed all power within the state. In parallel, it has introduced a hegemonic project widely known as ‘New Turkey’, rede ning state... more
In Turkey, especially since 2010, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has gradually assumed all power within the state. In parallel, it has introduced a hegemonic project widely known as ‘New Turkey’, rede ning state apparatuses through its proprietary web of networks of formal and informal relations. Inclusion in, or exclusion from, these networks is at the sole discretion of leading political actors, and can be considered as a state apparatus in itself, even though it contains elements that are informal or uno cial. All these networks of o cial and uno cial apparatuses are centred around President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The article focuses on the Twitter interactions of 25 key elements of the AKP’s web of networks between 2010 and 2016, using Social Network Analysis. In the Turkish context, the use of Twitter as a means of communication is particularly pertinent, as it stands out as a unique channel for democratic discourse. The ndings of the research con rm that the Twitter interactions of the 25 o cial and uno cial state apparatuses, with very few exceptions, constitute a network well-connected to the core, mostly represented by Erdoğan.
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In June 2013, during the Gezi protests against the Turkish Government, football fans in Istanbul appeared to be key elements in the movement, challenging common opinion which qualified them as a passive social element. Another major... more
In June 2013, during the Gezi protests against the Turkish Government, football fans in Istanbul appeared to be key elements in the movement, challenging common opinion which qualified them as a passive social element. Another major factor in the movement was the use of social media, especially Twitter, by mostly middle-class people with anti-government views. This paper examines a sample of independent, Istanbul-based match-going football fans’ political expressions on Twitter between 2012 and 2015 to attempt to uncover whether their online political expression hints at an organized and durable politicization or rather a spontaneous reaction against the government’s attempt to replace the core values, or ‘doxa’ of the republic, with Islamist principles. The findings of the research suggest that the fans’ lack of political engagement or experience prevented their involvement from having a serious political impact, a feature shared by most layers of the middle classes in Turkey, which may have blocked the Gezi Movement from making further political gains.
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Turkey has been under the spotlight regarding its social media use since the 2010s. The country has 41 million Facebook users, which corresponds to a penetration rate of 52.8 per cent, 15 points higher than the European average. According... more
Turkey has been under the spotlight regarding its social media use since the 2010s. The country has 41 million Facebook users, which corresponds to a penetration rate of 52.8 per cent, 15 points higher than the European average. According to a 2015 survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, among 18 developed nations, urban Turkey ranks first in using social media as a news source (67 per cent), using Facebook as a news source (69 per cent), and using Twitter as a news source (33 per cent) while it ranks last in trust of the media. Meanwhile, the Turkish government led by Recep Tayyip Erdog˘an, following the 2013 Gezi Park protests (where the number of retweeted messages skyrocketed over 15 million)3, caught the eyes of the international community with its repeated ban attempts and content
removal requests on Twitter and Facebook, as well as lawsuits against social media users.
removal requests on Twitter and Facebook, as well as lawsuits against social media users.
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Le 31 mai 2013, des milliers de supporters de trois clubs sportifs majeurs d'Istanbul (Beşiktaş, Galatasaray et Fenerbahçe) se sont réunis à la suite d'un appel sur les réseaux sociaux qui les avait invités à rallier la place Taksim pour... more
Le 31 mai 2013, des milliers de supporters de trois clubs sportifs majeurs d'Istanbul (Beşiktaş, Galatasaray et Fenerbahçe) se sont réunis à la suite d'un appel sur les réseaux sociaux qui les avait invités à rallier la place Taksim pour se joindre au mouvement de défense du parc Gezi, qui était menacé par un projet urbanistique du gouvernement de Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. La participation active de ces supporters et des groupes ultras a permis de repousser les forces policières hors de la place et de prendre le contrôle du lieu pendant deux semaines. Inédite, cette coalition des supporters, surnommée Istanbul United dès les premiers jours de la résistance, a été largement glorifiée en tant qu'union capable d'effacer, autour d'une cause citoyenne, les différences entre les groupes rivaux. Cette action collective ou cet agir-ensemble peuvent être considérés comme un mouvement dans la mesure où ils se développent dans une logique de revendication et de défense d'une cause par des membres dotés d'une identité commune qui utilisent un répertoire d'action collective (Tilly 1985) lié au supportérisme (techniques d'affrontement, utilisation des réseaux sociaux, etc.). Dans la présente contribution, nous nous proposons de revenir sur les conditions sociales et idéologiques de l'engagement des supporters en retraçant la genèse sociopolitique du supportérisme en Turquie. Ce dernier s'est en effet développé comme un instrument du nationalisme et a, de ce fait, subi l'influence des transformations de la société turque, en particulier après le tournant néolibéral des années 1980. Par ailleurs, l'analyse des échanges entre les supporters via les réseaux sociaux à l'occasion du mouvement de Gezi permettra de comprendre le sens de la mobilisation des supporters dans le contexte actuel.
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Through the 13-year period of Justice and Development Party (AKP) governments, the party has developed its own economic and social network,which has created a dominant-party system with hegemonic tendencies. The creation of a... more
Through the 13-year period of Justice and Development Party (AKP) governments, the party has developed its own economic and social network,which has created a dominant-party system with hegemonic tendencies. The creation of a pro-government media has constituted the cultural aspect of this transformation, as many mainstream media outlets have been seized by the government and sold to pro-AKP business ventures. Moreover, the state-run media Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) and Anadolu Agency (AA)companies have been subsidized and restructured in line with the government agenda. These public news producers, especially during the most recent term of the AKP government, have been controlled by officials from a small network close to the party leadership. This study explores the political concentration in Turkey’s public media by means of an analysis of the Twitter interactions of AA board members, between August 2011 and February 2015.
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2000’li yıllardan itibaren, geniş bant internetin dünyanın önemli bir kısmında yaygınlaşmasıyla ucuzlayan ve gelişen teknolojiler, kullanıcıyı izleyiciden içerik üreticisine dönüştürmeye başladı. Forumlar ve bloglarla başlayan bu içerik... more
2000’li yıllardan itibaren, geniş bant internetin dünyanın önemli
bir kısmında yaygınlaşmasıyla ucuzlayan ve gelişen teknolojiler, kullanıcıyı izleyiciden içerik üreticisine dönüştürmeye başladı. Forumlar ve bloglarla başlayan bu içerik üretimi, Web 2.0 teknolojisinden yararlanarak üretilen Facebook ve
Twitter gibi sosyal medya mecralarıyla iyice kitleselleşti. Bu kitleselleşme, emeğinin kullanımı esnekleşen ve belirsizlik içinde kalan orta sınıfların politizasyonuyla aynı dönemi ve aynı mecraları paylaştı.
Doğrudan yeni kitle medyasının içine eklemlenen futbol, hem kendi metalaşma sürecinin, hem de metalaştıkça daha çok hitap ettiği orta sınıfın dönüşümünün bir sonucu olarak politize bir alan hâline gelmeye başladı. Bu makale, kitle iletişim araçları ve futbolun dönüşümünü tarihselleştirerek bu politizasyonu açıklamayı hedeflemektedir.
bir kısmında yaygınlaşmasıyla ucuzlayan ve gelişen teknolojiler, kullanıcıyı izleyiciden içerik üreticisine dönüştürmeye başladı. Forumlar ve bloglarla başlayan bu içerik üretimi, Web 2.0 teknolojisinden yararlanarak üretilen Facebook ve
Twitter gibi sosyal medya mecralarıyla iyice kitleselleşti. Bu kitleselleşme, emeğinin kullanımı esnekleşen ve belirsizlik içinde kalan orta sınıfların politizasyonuyla aynı dönemi ve aynı mecraları paylaştı.
Doğrudan yeni kitle medyasının içine eklemlenen futbol, hem kendi metalaşma sürecinin, hem de metalaştıkça daha çok hitap ettiği orta sınıfın dönüşümünün bir sonucu olarak politize bir alan hâline gelmeye başladı. Bu makale, kitle iletişim araçları ve futbolun dönüşümünü tarihselleştirerek bu politizasyonu açıklamayı hedeflemektedir.
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While all members of the Anadolu Agency since 2011 being closely connected to AKP and the government is a strong indicator of political concentration, the purpose of this research is to find out whether this concentration is reflected on... more
While all members of the Anadolu Agency since 2011 being closely connected to AKP and the government is a strong indicator of political concentration, the purpose of this research is to find out whether this concentration is reflected on the content produced by the agency. In this context, Agency's use of Twitter is particularly important as, aside its aforementioned political importance, this medium presents different opportunities, other than simply announcing URLs to news pieces published on the Anadolu Agency website. Therefore, in this research, we aimed to employ a hybrid problematic, which includes AA's use of Twitter as a particular medium and also the political tendencies in its general content announced on its Twitter account.
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2000'lerin sonundan itibaren sosyal medyanın toplumsal muhalefet hareketleri tarafından aktif olarak kullanılması, iletişim bilimlerinin kadim münazaralarından birini tekrar canlandırdı. Yeni medya araçlarının bu şekilde kullanılıp... more
2000'lerin sonundan itibaren sosyal medyanın toplumsal muhalefet hareketleri tarafından aktif olarak kullanılması, iletişim bilimlerinin kadim münazaralarından birini tekrar canlandırdı. Yeni medya araçlarının bu şekilde kullanılıp kullanılamayacağı tartışması, ta radyonun ilk yıllarına kadar uzanıyor. Berholt Brecht'in meşhur “Bir İletişim Aracı Olarak Radyo” metni [1930/1979], bu tartışmanın en eski örneği. Zaman içerisinde Walter Benjamin [1968], Hans Magnus Enzensberger [1974] gibi düşünürler de kendi dönemlerinin “yeni medya”sının politik işlevleri üzerine yazıp çizdiler. Yani, yeni bir tartışmanın başlamış olması şöyle dursun, elimizde oturmuş bir literatürü de olan bir mevzudan bahsediyoruz. Tartışmanın tarafları da üç aşağı beş yukarı belli; en son Paolo Gerbaudo'nun tarif ettiği şekliyle “tekno-iyimserler” ve “tekno-kötümserler”. Bir tarafta teknolojik gelişmelerin kaçınılmaz olarak toplumları demokratikleştireceği inanışı, diğer tarafta ise yeni araçların sahipliğinin sınırlı olması nedeniyle mutlaka varolan uçurumları derinleştireceğine olan inanç var [Gerbaudo, 2012: 9]. Bir tarafın teknolojik, diğer tarafın ekonomik belirleyiciliğe saplanmış olması, ister istemez daha serinkanlı bir analizi gerekli kılmaktadır. Bu analizi yaparken, bu tartışmanın akranı olan bir başka kavrama, “prekarizasyon” kavramına da ihtiyacımız var.
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Although studies on how Turkish football fandom has been afffected by hyper-commodification are few in number, it is fair to say that the economic transformation of the football sector in Turkey has rendered this sport a less afffordable... more
Although studies on how Turkish football fandom has been afffected by hyper-commodification are few in number, it is fair to say that the economic transformation of the football sector in Turkey has rendered this sport a less afffordable form of leisure for the lower economic classes. Frequently attending games or watching them on television requires a certain amount of disposable income, which has created two types of football fans: those who have access to games and those who do not. This distinction was created decades ago by the lack of fandom on the local level and the over-centralised character of Turkish football. Therefore, it can be said that while the three major football clubs have millions of fans, those who can attend games frequently constitute a privileged layer. This layer is, in fact, one of the objectives of hyper-commodifijication, as season tickets and ID cards are used to gather information about these fans in order to develop marketing and security strategies.
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Turkish scholars’ addiction to techno-optimism stems from Turkish modernists’ habit of considering every innovation to be a magic solution to Turkey’s complicated problems, as well as intelligentsia’s need of ‘scholar lebensraum’ in order... more
Turkish scholars’ addiction to techno-optimism stems from Turkish modernists’ habit of considering every innovation to be a magic solution to Turkey’s complicated problems, as well as intelligentsia’s need of ‘scholar lebensraum’ in order to endure the conversion from cultural to economic and social capital. Therefore, Turkish scholars studying new media were overwhelmingly blindsided by Twitter’s cooperation with the Turkish regime. Turkey, under the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party) (AKP) regime’s arbitrary laws restricting civil rights and liberties, needs carefully-crafted strategies based on public debate and critical thought, not on hypes and bandwagons.
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This thesis explores the reactions of football fans in Turkey to social, political and football-related events starting from the1970s. The objective of the thesis is to introduce the events that affected the public life and seek for their... more
This thesis explores the reactions of football fans in Turkey to social, political and football-related events starting from the1970s. The objective of the thesis is to introduce the events that affected the public life and seek for their repercussions in football fan
groups. England, where football was born as a working-class game, is chosen as a reference point for how football fans have reacted to the “hyper-commodification” process of football in four decades. The hypothesis is that the lack of a distinctive
identity and political engagement prevented Turkish football fans from keeping their traditional position.
The commodification of football that started with the introduction of professionalism took a new turn with television broadcasts and the expansion of football to a wider public in the 1970s, finally reaching a climax of “hyper-commodification” with the neo-liberal economic tendencies of the post-Cold War 1990s. The hypercommodification of football rendered the game economically unaffordable for most of the traditional football fans of the lower classes. These fans were torn between resistance and disillusionment. The lack of a distinctive fan identity in Turkey aggravated this confusion.
groups. England, where football was born as a working-class game, is chosen as a reference point for how football fans have reacted to the “hyper-commodification” process of football in four decades. The hypothesis is that the lack of a distinctive
identity and political engagement prevented Turkish football fans from keeping their traditional position.
The commodification of football that started with the introduction of professionalism took a new turn with television broadcasts and the expansion of football to a wider public in the 1970s, finally reaching a climax of “hyper-commodification” with the neo-liberal economic tendencies of the post-Cold War 1990s. The hypercommodification of football rendered the game economically unaffordable for most of the traditional football fans of the lower classes. These fans were torn between resistance and disillusionment. The lack of a distinctive fan identity in Turkey aggravated this confusion.
Research Interests: Religion, Football (soccer), Popular Culture, Spirituality, Sports History, and 14 moreAudience and Reception Studies, Gender, Fan Cultures, Fandom, Cult television, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Body Modification, History of Football, Fanfiction, Fan Communities, Fan Charity, Horror, Adaptation and Appropriation Theory, and • Social history of sport, cultures of football fans
Football Fandom, Protest and Democracy offers an in-depth and inside approach to the socio-political history of football in Turkey, where fandom is often revered as part of the national identity, presenting the historical context for... more
Football Fandom, Protest and Democracy offers an in-depth and inside approach to the socio-political history of football in Turkey, where fandom is often revered as part of the national identity, presenting the historical context for football events in the country.
Based on original research, the book explores the complex political processes at play in modern Turkey and deepens our understanding of fandom, fan activism and protest movements, questioning all presuppositions about the society and football fandom in Turkey. In particular, it examines the role of football fans in the pro-democracy Gezi Protests of 2013, the history of football in Turkey, the sociology of middle-classes and the transformation of football in the country.
Interdisciplinary in nature, this book is a valuable resource for scholars and students of sports sociology, popular culture studies, Turkish studies and media studies.
Based on original research, the book explores the complex political processes at play in modern Turkey and deepens our understanding of fandom, fan activism and protest movements, questioning all presuppositions about the society and football fandom in Turkey. In particular, it examines the role of football fans in the pro-democracy Gezi Protests of 2013, the history of football in Turkey, the sociology of middle-classes and the transformation of football in the country.
Interdisciplinary in nature, this book is a valuable resource for scholars and students of sports sociology, popular culture studies, Turkish studies and media studies.
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In May and June of 2013, an encampment protesting against the privatisation of an historic public space in a commercially vibrant square of Istanbul began as a typical urban social movement for individual rights and freedoms, with no... more
In May and June of 2013, an encampment protesting against the privatisation of an historic public space in a commercially vibrant square of Istanbul began as a typical urban social movement for individual rights and freedoms, with no particular political affiliation. Thanks to the brutality of the police and the Turkish Prime Minister's reactions, the mobilisation soon snowballed into mass opposition to the regime. This volume puts together an excellent collection of field research, qualitative and quantitative data, theoretical approaches and international comparative contributions in order to reveal the significance of the Gezi Protests in
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“Hükmen Yenik!” (Lost by Default!) by Dağhan Irak, explores the reactions of football fans in Turkey to the social, political and football related events onwards the 1970s. Introducing the events that effect the public life and search for... more
“Hükmen Yenik!” (Lost by Default!) by Dağhan Irak, explores the reactions of football fans in Turkey to the social, political and football related events onwards the 1970s. Introducing the events that effect the public life and search for their repercussions in football fan groups, the book takes England, where football was born as a working-class game, as a reference point on how football fans react on the “hypercommodification” process of football in four decades.
The commodification of football took a new turn with the television broadcasts and the expansion of football to a wider public in the 1970s and finally it reached a climax of “hyper-commodification” with the neo-liberal economic tendencies of the post-Cold War 1990s. The hyper-commodification of football rendered the game
economically unaffordable for most traditional football fans of lower classes. These fans faced a confusion between resistance and disillusionment. The lack of a distinctive fan identity in Turkey aggravated this confusion.
The commodification of football took a new turn with the television broadcasts and the expansion of football to a wider public in the 1970s and finally it reached a climax of “hyper-commodification” with the neo-liberal economic tendencies of the post-Cold War 1990s. The hyper-commodification of football rendered the game
economically unaffordable for most traditional football fans of lower classes. These fans faced a confusion between resistance and disillusionment. The lack of a distinctive fan identity in Turkey aggravated this confusion.
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En 2013, dans le parc Gezi d’Istanbul, plus d’un million de personnes ont spontanément déclenché le plus grand mouvement protestataire que la Turquie a connu. Les supporters des trois clubs de football les plus populaires d’Istanbul y ont... more
En 2013, dans le parc Gezi d’Istanbul, plus d’un million de personnes ont spontanément déclenché le plus grand mouvement protestataire que la Turquie a connu. Les supporters des trois clubs de football les plus populaires d’Istanbul y ont joué un rôle inédit tant par la forme de leur engagement que par leur mode d’action. Le terrain d’expression de cette contestation était essentiellement constitué par les réseaux sociaux en ligne. La thèse propose de comprendre les raisons de l’implication des supporters et interroge la forme politique de cette mobilisation. Au-delà du football, cet engagement est étroitement dépendant d’un ensemble de conditions historiques et sociales, et de représentations liées à une « doxa républicaine ». L’analyse cyber-ethnographique sur Twitter (qui englobe les messages des supporters) nous a permis de repérer les traces de l’identité urbaine, laïque et « moderne » de ces participants de Gezi, leur rapport au politique et leur adhésion aux valeurs républicaines.
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Review of "Football fandom and migration: an ethnography of transnational practices and narratives in Vienna and Istanbul" by Nina Szogs