Keeping it liminal. The Mondiali Antirazzisti (Anti-racist World Cup) as a multifocal interaction ritual

Abstract

This paper examines how social mixing and celebration of diversity can be enabled through sports festivals marked by their carnivalesque atmosphere. Our analysis draws on a longitudinal ethnographic study of the Mondiali Antirazzisti (Anti-racist World Cup), a non-competitive football tournament and intercultural festival featuring the yearly participation of hardcore football fans (ultras), migrant groups, third-sector associations and other informal groups. We consider how the multifocal ritual form of the event helps to create a liminal space in which discrimination and stereotypes can be temporarily challenged. The sources of collective effervescence are multiplied by placing sport games within a wider range of other leisure and cultural activities, thus promoting internal diversity and the inclusion of outsiders. Additionally, social boundaries are also blurred by not emphasising the competitive dimension of the sporting activities, making sporting categorisations more fluid, and breaking down the separation between protagonists and spectators. Nonetheless, considering the transient character of liminality, we also investigate problems and limitations implied by the pursuit of these objectives. It is concluded that, despite a certain degree of self-referentiality, the festival fosters the spreading of anti-discriminatory cultures by enhancing the participants’ reflexivity and feeding their commitment in generating spin-off activities in different local contexts.

本文检测了社会融合和庆典多样性能够通过体育活动所制造的快乐氛围来达成。我们通过对世界反种族主义（反种族主义世界杯）的纵向人种学说研究，非比赛形式的足球锦标赛和跨文化盛会有忠实的球迷、移民组、第三方协会和其他的非正式组织。本文研究这些多焦点互动仪式是怎样帮助减少地区限制从而暂时挑战歧视和种族主义。集体欢腾的源泉被大范围和广泛文化的体育运动所放大，从而推进内在的多样性和对外来者的容纳性。另外，由于不是关注体育的竞争性也使得社会界限有所模糊，体育种类更加灵活，打破了参与者和观众之间的界限。然而， 考虑的阔限的短暂性，本文也探究了达成这些目标的问题和局限性。得出结论：尽管有某种程度的自指性，体育盛会通过强化参与者的放松和承诺促进了不同区域的附加活动而促进了反种族文化的传播。

Keywords:

• liminality
• multifocal ritual
• sport festival
• anti-racism

关键词:

• 阔限性
• 多角度仪式
• 体育盛会
• 反种族主义

Acknowledgements

Part of the research for this paper was funded by the University of Padua, Italy (grant no. CPDA054924). We also acknowledge the support from the Leverhulme Trust. We are indebted to Jonathan Long, Karl Spracklen, Salvatore La Mendola and Oliver S. Williams, as well as the anonymous reviewers, for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Notes

1. Interviews were conducted in Italian (15) and Bosnian (2) and translated by the first author, who is bilingual.