Chapter 1. The invention of violence
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Renzo Taddei
Abstract
This chapter presents and analyzes ethnographic data collected in Buenos Aires among soccer fans that are taken to behave in violent ways. The analysis addresses the relationship between fans and the police force. Using the theoretical framework proposed by Roy Wagner in The Invention of Culture, this text suggests that, with their single-minded focus on order and control, the police project the image of unruliness and resistance to police authority upon the soccer fans, which, in turn, induces the police to neurotically escalate and use violence. The fans, on the other hand, focus on heroic deeds and “protagonism” as part of their processes of individualization, and see the police force as an impediment to achieving their goals, which then leads them to act more energetically – hysterically – in their usual fandom activities. Neurosis and hysteria are used in specific ways, as shall be defined in the text.
Abstract
This chapter presents and analyzes ethnographic data collected in Buenos Aires among soccer fans that are taken to behave in violent ways. The analysis addresses the relationship between fans and the police force. Using the theoretical framework proposed by Roy Wagner in The Invention of Culture, this text suggests that, with their single-minded focus on order and control, the police project the image of unruliness and resistance to police authority upon the soccer fans, which, in turn, induces the police to neurotically escalate and use violence. The fans, on the other hand, focus on heroic deeds and “protagonism” as part of their processes of individualization, and see the police force as an impediment to achieving their goals, which then leads them to act more energetically – hysterically – in their usual fandom activities. Neurosis and hysteria are used in specific ways, as shall be defined in the text.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Investigating violence in language 1
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Part I. The language of violence
- Chapter 1. The invention of violence 33
- Chapter 2. Voice and silence in the suburbs of São Paulo 57
- Chapter 3. From the side of the road to the borders of the page 79
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Part II. The violence of language
- Chapter 4. The circulation of violence in discourse 107
- Chapter 5. Racist speech as a linguistic discriminatory practice in Brazil 125
- Chapter 6. Free speech, hate speech, and hate beards 141
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Part III. The intersections of violence, bodies and languages
- Chapter 7. On languages, bodies and epistemic violence 171
- Chapter 8. Queering violence and narrative 189
- Chapter 9. Discursive constructions of deviance in the narratives of a prison inmate 227
- Index 249
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Investigating violence in language 1
-
Part I. The language of violence
- Chapter 1. The invention of violence 33
- Chapter 2. Voice and silence in the suburbs of São Paulo 57
- Chapter 3. From the side of the road to the borders of the page 79
-
Part II. The violence of language
- Chapter 4. The circulation of violence in discourse 107
- Chapter 5. Racist speech as a linguistic discriminatory practice in Brazil 125
- Chapter 6. Free speech, hate speech, and hate beards 141
-
Part III. The intersections of violence, bodies and languages
- Chapter 7. On languages, bodies and epistemic violence 171
- Chapter 8. Queering violence and narrative 189
- Chapter 9. Discursive constructions of deviance in the narratives of a prison inmate 227
- Index 249
