This ethnographic investigation compares the violence(s), organizational dynamics and social formation processes of two fundamental actors in professional male football: the Argentinean “barras bravas” and the Brazilian “torcidas organizadas.” For this purpose, we resumed the field work conducted with the barra Los Piratas of the Belgrano Athletic Club (Argentina) and the torcida organizada Ira Jovem of the Vasco da Gama Regatta Club (Brazil). We focus on a specific form of violence, highly appraised, called pelear in Argentina and brigar or lutar in Brazil-both meaning fighting. The research compares the historical emergence of both collectives; their social compositions and organizational dynamics; the alterities which they are fighting against; and their spatialities, temporalities and means used in each fight.
Keywords:
violence; ethnography; comparative studies; security; football fans