Author Archives: Dave Bell

TIFO: “More than Ever, Barca More than Club for Catalans”

Here is the article, “More than ever, Barca more than club for Catalans.”

I chose this article because I want explore the tensions between the distinct regions of Spain, specifically Cataluña and Paìs Vasco, and the central government as seen through soccer. This article does a great job of explaining the history of the Barcelona football club and the relationship it has had with nationalistic tendencies for the Catalans. In the past, it has been used as a catalyst of the Catalan movement, like how they used the stadium as a place to speak Catalan while under the regime of Franco. It’s really cool to see that this relationship has continued, as seen through this quote from the article, “tens of thousands of Catalans in the city at the heart of their separatist movement chanted in unison: “Independence!”” (AP)

PCQ #2

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Class, Ethnicity, and Color in the Making of Brazilian Football:

Lopes describes that what while football began as organized social events for the elites it ultimately became a way for Brazils highly disparate population to recognize each other. This can be seen through Vasco de Gama’s choice of players, popularity, and support and work to “proletarianize” football. (Lopes, 248) This movement was continued by Internacional and through the national team as well. However, there are still problems. This can be seen through their description of Ronaldo, who grew up poor and was successful as a soccer player. But, “by doing so, they focused on Brazilian football as a model for helping poor youngers… marketing thus aestheticizes poverty…” (pg. 240) This is problematic because it encodes that it is okay to be poor and one can escape using football, but is not solving any social problems, essentially giving false hope.

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Basic Definitions PCQ

“Theories of Race:”

Michael Banton runs through the evolution of the idea of Race, ultimately saying that Race is an antiquated idea. The European world began to try to document the world and their place in it, which brought about scientific racism, or the promoting of the white “race” over the different kinds. This continued through the Darwin times and started to change in the early 20^th century. Early social science began saying the racism was learning in the 1920s and now is less of an overt problem, but is becoming more subtle thing.

“Race:”

Mikaila and Lemonik set up a similar argument to Banton, but also add cultural context. They say that “while people have always found ways to stratify and differentiate in-groups from out-groups, the concept of race emerged relatively recently in human history.” (pg. 5) This is important with the context of the nation because nationalism often relied on a created alienation to rally around, which racism also accomplished. Another interesting quote is from W.I. Thomas, who said “if people define a situation as real, it is real in its consequences.” (pg. 6) This quote can also relate to the idea of the nation and culture and can be used to reflect either the building of the national identity, with or without racism. This also reflects an understanding the situation of having multiple nations within one country, like the Vasques or Catalans in Spain.

“Sport and Race:”

Carrington gives a great short summary of race, saying “… racial distinctions are based on arbitrarily chosen physical features, such as skin color and hair texture, that are used to demarcate people into groups. Thus, “race” is a complex system of representation learned through socialization, and then acted upon as if these distinctions were ‘real.’” (pg. 9) This is a quick and easy definition of race. Carringtons notes that sports are often used as forms of political resistance, like how Barcelona became the cultural center for Catalans and their team became more than just a soccer team when they were under the regime of Franco.