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 (Antiracist 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 categorizations 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 selfreferentiality, 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.

Mixed-sex in sport for development: a pragmatic and symbolic device. The case of touch rugby for forced migrants in Rome

“…To some extent, this reproduces the celebration of (super)diversity (Boccagni 2014) that characterizes the Mondiali Antirazzisti (Sterchele and Saint-Blancat 2015), the event promoted by Uisp in which Liberi Nantes were conceived. 16 The social-mixing potential of touch rugby therefore plays a strong ritual role (Durkheim 1912;Collins 2004) as it symbolizes the core values of Liberi Nantes, the sources of their moral commitment, and ultimately Liberi Nantes themselves.…”

De-sportizing physical activity: From sport-for-development to play-for-development

“…& Saint-Blancat, 2013). This research showed the relevance of four analytical topicsmixed teams, downplay competition, multifocality and players/spectators overlappingto explore the de-sportisation of physical activity in alternative/inclusive sport events.…”

“…This happens for instance at the Mondiali Antirazzisti, an intercultural multisport festival organised every summer in Italy since 1998 to bring together football fans, migrant groups, anti-racist and human-rights activists, as well as informal groups of people simply attracted by the playful atmosphere of the event (Sterchele & Saint-Blancat, 2013). Similar versions of anti-racist tournaments, although smaller in scale, have been set up by like-minded associations throughout Europe, such as for instance the AntiRa tournament of St. Pauli fans in Hamburg (Davidson, 2014;Totten, 2011; (Burdsey, 2008) are football tournaments that similarly feature teams representing the different national communities living in the city.…”

“…At the Mondiali Antirazzisti, for instance, the presence of all-male, all-female and gender-mixed teams playing each other within the very same tournament generates some tension between result-oriented and participation-oriented participants, providing opportunities for reflexivity (especially for male participants) regarding their gender stereotypes and their bodily experience during sports activity (Grezzani, 2013;Sterchele & Saint-Blancat, 2013). Similar tensions and reflections about the role of strength and competitive engagement are further stimulated when participants are also mixed (i.e.…”

“…not categorised) by age or physical or mental ability. A few children's teams usually take part in the Mondiali Antirazzisti alongside children-adults mixed teams and all-adult teams, with some elderly people playing as well (Sterchele & Saint-Blancat, 2013). …”