engleski

White Angels Zagreb: Combating Homophobia as "Rural Primitivism"

White Angels Zagreb (WAZ) is an exception in the regional football fan scene. In contrast to many other ultras groups with predominantly right wing/nationalist platforms, WAZorganizes actions that aim at decreasing homophobiaon football terraces. This chapter draws upon media-clippings, the group’s fanzine and my own involvement in the group to examine how WAZframesits anti-homophobia as a struggle against ‘primitivism’ in football. By ethnographically exploring the concept of primitivism in the context of urban-rural distinctions in the post-Yugoslav space, I argue (1) that this conceptual binary is central in how White Angels members describe their relationship with other fan groups in the region ; (2) that WAZ simultaneously complicate this conceptual binary opposition contrasting urban kultura with rural primitiveness, as they implicitly position themselves as nekulturni ne-primitivci (uncultured non-primitives).An openness to difference, and especially sexual difference, forms the basis of how the group makes urban-rural distinctions when comparing themselves to other groups in the regional fan scene. In this regard, homosexuality and the struggle against homophobia constitute a new axis of division by becoming elevated as markers of a specifically urban/non- primitive fan habitus.

football, fan activism, homophobia, Croatia

Ovo poglavlje analizira veze između distinkcije „urbano-ruralno” i neheteroseksualnosti i način na koji se ta dinamika iskazuje u kontekstu nogometa te na hrvatskoj i regionalnoj navijačkoj sceni. Autor se usredotočuje na navijačku skupinu White Angels Zagreb i ispituje samopozicioniranje navijača u odnosu na distinkciju „urbano-ruralno” i raspravu o „kulturi”, primitivizmu i seljačkom ponašanju (biti seljačina) u postjugoslavenskom kontekstu. Autor tvrdi da je otvorenost skupine White Angels Zagreb prema neheteroseksualnosti, u skladu sa strategijom samopozicioniranja grupe, ključna distinkcijska os koja ih razlikuje od drugih navijačkih grupa na regionalnoj navijačkoj sceni. Prihvaćanje neheteroseksualnosti pak postaje dio „urbanog habitusa” koji se suprotstavlja dominantnom poimanju muškosti na navijačkoj sceni. Upotreba urbano-ruralnog diskursa također potiče proces uspostave hijerarhije unutar grupe.