1 Sports, Nationalism, and Globalization: An
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SPORTS, NATIONALISM, AND GLOBALIZATION: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF TURKISH FOOTBALL FANDOM By JOHN KONUK BLASING A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2020 1 © 2020 John Konuk Blasing 2 To My Mom and Dad 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk Blasing for instilling in me the value of education, and for always encouraging me to follow my own path. At the University of Florida, I am extremely grateful for my committee chair Dr. Tamir Sorek, who always kept me focused and whose detailed and careful comments helped me shape this dissertation from beginning to end. I would also like to thank my committee members who helped me develop my thought along the way. I would like to thank Dr. Charles Gattone for all of the long conversations we had about Sociological theory when I was a teaching assistant, which allowed me to gain a deep understanding of the theoretical side of Sociology. I would like to thank Dr. Alin Ceobanu for always greeting me with a smile in the halls, encouraging me to keep at it while always being up for a conversation about football, and consistently providing thoughtful and challenging feedback in all of my defenses. I would like to thank Dr. Jack Kugelmass acting as an outside member, as his intellectually stimulating Anthropological perspective was important in terms of bringing another element to my ethnographic work. Outside of my committee I would like to also thank the faculty in the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, without whose financial support I would have been unable to complete this dissertation. It was a great honor to receive the Graduate Fellowship in 2015, the Jerome A. Connor Dissertation Award in 2019, and CLAS Dissertation Fellowship in 2020; these awards allowed me to focus on my research and ensured that I could produce a high quality dissertation. Particularly, I would like to thank the chair of our Department, Dr. Barbara Zsembik, who—despite her busy schedule—was always willing to offer a supportive ear and words of encouragement when times got tough. I would also like to thank Dr. Monika Ardelt, Dr. Marvin Krohn, and Dr. Charles Peek for teaching me about subjects I hitherto was not familiar with, and ensuring that I had all the tools necessary to produce a successful dissertation. 4 I would also like to thank those who helped pave the way for my path to the University of Florida. At the University of Texas at Austin, I would like to thank Dr. Clement Henry who first allowed me to study football in Turkey academically while working on my master’s thesis in Middle Eastern Studies. I would also like to thank Dr. William Roger Louis, whose weekly seminars provided an invaluable space for intellectual growth. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Aaron Bar-Adon and Dr. Michael Craig Hillmann who helped me develop linguistic skills in translation and language learning that I found useful when working with data that had to be translated. At the University of Colorado at Boulder, where I received my B.A. in International Relations, I would like to thank Dr. Michael Kanner who taught me the importance of values in International Relations, Dr. Alireza Korangy who introduced me to Persian language, Dr. John O’Loughlin who introduced me to geopolitics, and Dr. Jon Willis who gave me a firm background in Middle Eastern history and culture. And like the fans I worked with, I too know that it is your friends who are always there to provide a support system: To quote the Ultra fans of Legia Warsaw “it is not who is in front of you, it is who is beside you”. And as one of my own participants said, “If you walk a path walk with those who stand with your fight, not with those who put rocks in your path”. I am thankful for all of my friends who stood by me while writing this dissertation, offering me both professional suggestions and personal support when necessary. At the University of Florida, I would like to thank the friends who helped push me along despite everything: Thank you to Danny Acton, David Canarte, Heather Covington, Enes Tahir Gedik, David Hanson, Tolga Tezcan, George Topalidis, and—especially—Jennifer Jarrett, who we tragically lost just days before my dissertation was defended. Her friendship will never be forgotten. In the United States, I would also like to thank my brother Ezra Blasing, Kerri Martel, Mike, Brett, and 5 Yaroslav for always being there for me when I was missing home, and for their curiosity and interest in my project. In Turkey, I would like to also thank all of the friends and families who were always there for me, whether it was being up to go to a match, getting me in contact with those who could assist in my snowball sample, or just offering a place for me to crash when necessary. Thank you to Aydin abi, Berker, Dr. Engin Sune, Deniz abi, Egemen and Cansu, Ekin and Betul, Ercan, Ogul abi and Meral abla, Terzi, Tunc abi, and Yasemin. Last, and most importantly, I would like to thank all of the fans who took the time to speak with me and spend time with me; without their gracious participation none of this would have been possible, and you all know who you are: Those who are living lives dedicated to the badge; arma’ya adanmis hayatlari yasayanlar, sizleri tesekkur ediyorum! If there is anyone I have forgotten, I sincerely apologize but know that I am grateful for everything, and keep you all in my heart. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................10 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................11 A Letter ...................................................................................................................................12 Guiding Questions ..................................................................................................................14 Turkish Identity, Nationalism, and Sports ..............................................................................16 Turkish Football in the Context of Globalization ...................................................................24 2 HYPERREALITY, HYPERMODERNITY, AND GLOBALIZATION: TURKISH FOOTBALL AND THE IMAGINED GLOBAL COMMUNITY ........................................33 A Brief History of Turkish Football .......................................................................................34 Hypermodernity and the Global Culture Industry of Football ...............................................46 The Global Culture Industry ...................................................................................................51 From Nationalism to Globalism: Football as Part of the Global Culture Industry .................54 3 WHO ARE THE FANS AND HOW ARE THEY STUDIED? .............................................58 Defining “Tribüncülük” ..........................................................................................................60 The Ethnographic Method ......................................................................................................62 Methodological Approach ...............................................................................................63 Data Collection ................................................................................................................64 Data Analysis and Presentation .......................................................................................71 A Methodological Note ...................................................................................................73 4 THE FANS AS THEY LIVED IT: CONNECTION TO FAMILY, HISTORY, TRADITION, AND VALUES ...............................................................................................76 Tradition: Family and History ................................................................................................79 Some Things Money Can’t Buy—the Emphasis of the Emotional Over the Rational ..........84 5 THE FANS BETWEEN LOCALISM, NATIONALISM, AND GLOBALISM ...................97 Localism Among Fans ............................................................................................................99 Nationalism in the Stands .....................................................................................................105 Understanding Nationalism Among Fans .....................................................................109 Nationalism Beyond Ideology in the Stadium ...............................................................112 Shared Fan Identities In the Context of an Increasing “Politicization” of Sport ..................118 The Social Responsibility of Fans as Actors Within Civil Society ......................................131 7 Summing it up: Localism, Nationalism, and Civil Society in the Age of Globalism...........141 6 VIOLENCE IN FOOTBALL: MORALITY AND HYPERMODERNITY ........................147 Morality Just Outside the Law ..............................................................................................151 A Search for Justice in an Unjust World: The Center/Periphery Conflict ...........................162 The View From the Lower Leagues .....................................................................................171