UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Deviant Subjectivities: The Ultra Movement and the Governance of Public Affects Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6m58p5w1 Author Jack, Max Publication Date 2019 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara DEVIANT SUBJECTIVITIES: THE ULTRA MOVEMENT AND THE GOVERNANCE OF PUBLIC AFFECTS A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music by Max Jack Committee in Charge: Professor Timothy Cooley, Chair Professor David Novak Professor Jon Cruz Professor Nitzan Shoshan, El Colegio de México June 2019 The dissertation of Max Jack is approved. _________________________________ Nitzan Shoshan _________________________________ Jon Cruz _________________________________ David Novak _________________________________ Tim Cooley, Chair May 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is the product of a support network of people whose time and labor provided me the opportunity to write what you see before you. Offering not only intellectual insights that helped shape my work, my advisor Timothy Cooley also provided well-timed emotional support beginning from my entrance at UCSB up to the dissertation defense. David Novak offered incisive critiques of my work from the very first conference paper that I presented as a UCSB student and continued to do so throughout my coursework and the dissertation-writing process. The issues he forced me to address in the first drafts of my writing helped me to strengthen and nuance my arguments and to bring the dissertation up to its current standard. Jon Cruz and Nitzan Shoshan, who are outside the Music Department at UC Santa Barbara, surprised me with the amount of time they spent looking over my work in addition to the quality of their critiques. I could not have asked for a stronger dissertation committee and am grateful for each member’s investment in my work. I am also indebted to my interlocutors at all three of my field sites. None of the ultras had much to gain from keeping me around, but they did anyway. As an outsider to each fan scene that I entered, I was arguably more of a liability than any sort of help to them. I fancied myself a potential advocate at the beginning of my fieldwork, but quickly realized this was of no concern to either of the groups that I became involved with. I am particularly grateful to Karl, Phil, and Matze, who vouched for me as a person to their groups—putting their necks on the line in the process. This dissertation would be very different without their help and insight during my field research. Aside from providing much needed emotional support during the strain of field research, my partner Amanda also contributed to my intellectual iii development, constantly discussing with me the role of capitalism, consumption, globalization, and the role of the media in contemporary society. I am perpetually grateful to have someone beside me who wants to reflect upon the power dynamics that impact our daily lives. My entry into a graduate program was greatly facilitated by my undergraduate academic advisor, Jennifer Milioto Matsue. She encouraged the idea of pursuing a doctoral research project on soccer fans—something that I would not have envisioned possible. I believe that without her letter of support in my applications that I would not have been afforded the opportunity to be a graduate student at all. Aside from offering robust commentary and critique at Tufts University, Richard Jankowsky also helped me to believe that my work could be valuable within our field. At Union College, Tufts University, and UC Santa Barbara, it was the belief of my mentors in me that solidified my conviction in pursuing and completing the doctoral research project. Believing in the value of my endeavor to embark on a PhD in the field of Ethnomusicology despite the financial precarity that this entails, my parents made it feasible for me to attend conferences and present my work year after year. Put simply, they made it possible for me to concentrate on the quality of my work instead of worrying about how to afford food. iv VITA OF MAX Z JACK May 2019 EDUCATION Bachelor of Arts in Music, Union College 2010 Master of Arts in Music, Tufts University 2013 Doctor of Philosophy in Music, University of California, Santa Barbara 2019 PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT 2013-14, Teaching Assistant, Department of Music, University of California, Santa Barbara 2014-2015, Teaching Associate, Department of Music, University of California, Santa Barbara 2017-2019, Teaching Associate, Department of Music, University of California Santa Barbara PUBLICATIONS “On the Terrace: Ritual Performance of Identity and Conflict by the Shamrock Rovers Football Club Ultras in Dublin,” Ethnomusicology Review. 2013. AWARDS 2019 UCSB GSA Excellence in Teaching Award Nominee 2019 UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Dissertation Fellowship 2018 UCSB Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship 2015-2016 DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Graduate Research Fellowship 2015 Ki Mantle Hood Graduate Student Paper Prize 2014 UCSB Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant 2013 James T Koetting Graduate Student Paper Prize FIELDS OF STUDY Music and Conflict Affect Theory Sound Studies Music in Sport Anti-Capitalist Movements Global Circulation of Media v ABSTRACT Deviant Subjectivities: The ultra Movement and the Governance of Public Affects By Max Jack This dissertation examines the global proliferation of the ultra movement, a participatory style of sports fandom that entails collective continual singing, jumping, flag- waving, and the illegal lighting of marine flares on the streets and in stadiums. Having spread across six continents, ultra is seen by scholars (Gabler 2013) and many of its participants as a social movement that champions the continuation of traditional, spectator-based fandoms, which revolve around consistent attendance and crowd participation in contrast to TV viewership. The contrast between ultra and other mass political movements is that its social life is highly critical of the consumptive and individualistic aspects of neoliberal citizenship, but not necessarily married to the debates and issues of institutionalized politics. Based on over two years of cumulative field research in Ireland and Germany with the ultra groups of three clubs (Shamrock Rovers FC, FC Union Berlin, and Eis Hockey Club Dynamo Berlin), I find ultras’ performative style of support in the stadium to be a form of social commentary and protest that is based in part on their friction with the state, the mainstream media, and the commercial priorities of sports’ governing bodies. A look into the ultra movement provides a space in which to examine how broader structures of power attempt to suppress groups that deviate from dominant idealizations of the liberal democratic subject. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………....iii Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………….vi Introduction…….…………………………………………………………………………..1 Interlude: The ultra Mentality ....…………………………………………………. 34 Part 1 – Participation [Eis Hockey Club Eisbären Berlin] …………………..……….. 40 Chapter 1 – Salvaging Fandom ………………………………………….……….. 42 Chapter 2 – Living with Ghosts ……………………………………………….…. 68 Interlude: On Violence …………………………………………………………… 91 Part 2 – Public Rupture [Shamrock Rovers FC] ……………………………………... 94 Chapter 3 – Becoming ultra ……………………………………………………… 96 Chapter 4 – Insurgent Fandom ……………………………………………………127 Interlude: You Call This Democracy? ……………………………………………156 Part 3 – Deviant Subjectivities [FC Union Berlin] …………………………………….158 Chapter 5 – Imagining Democracy ……………………………………………….160 Chapter 6 – Affective Governance ………………………………………………. 185 Conclusion: Until the Last Breath ……………………………………………………. 237 References ……………………………………………………………………………. 252 vii Introduction I had been doing fieldwork in Berlin for about a year by the time I finally made the trip south to Münster to see Sal in the spring of 2017. A member of Shamrock Rovers Ultras, we had met each other during my time in Dublin in the summer of 2012. A college student when I was there, Sal was now living and working in Germany and had become involved with the fan scene at the third division football club Preußen Münster Football Club. Hanging out at a small pub down the street from the stadium before a Saturday match against East German side Chemie Halle FC, he introduces me to his friends—members of a group called Deviants Ultras. After chatting and drinking, we walk together to Preußenstadion. Deviants are handing out stickers that read, No Stadium Outside Muenster! I’m told that the club administration wants to build a new arena outside the city that will offer a more modern and up-to-date fan experience. Inside, there are no seats, only a paved standing terrace behind the goal that reflects the age of the ground. In spite of its current poor condition, the simple design of the stadium is perfect for the ultras, who soon will be singing, jumping, and waving body-sized flags for the entirety of the match. The players are warming up on the field and Deviants’ drummer, Paul, talks about his upcoming court date. He threw a beer into the air after a dramatic moment that took place on the field that incidentally landed on a police officer, resulting in a beating and then an arrest. He looks at me because the others know the story. Paul twists