Suzan Gibril

Grant Farred’s (2008) passionate account of his long-distance love for Liverpool Football Club is one of a number of literary works that explore Association football (soccer), the world game, as a window onto profound transformations in politics, culture and society.

This Handbook offers an analysis of the relation between football and politics, based on over 30 case studies covering five continents. It provides a detailed picture of this relation in a wide number of European, American, African, and Asian states, as well as a comparative assessment of football in a global perspective, thus combining the general and the local. It examines themes such as the political origins of football in the studied country, the historical club rivalries, the political aspects of football as a sports spectacle, and the contemporary issues linked to the political use of football. By following the same structure with each study, the volume allows for the comparison between largely investigated cases and cases that have seldom been addressed. The Handbook will be of use particularly to students and scholars in the fields of sport studies, political science and sociology, as well as cultural studies, anthropology and leisure studies.

This chapter discusses methodological individualism and holism, which are often the focus of ontological debate. Methodological individualism (MI) is a paradigm in the social sciences that emerged from sociology and philosophy. The main purpose of MI is not to favour the individual over the collective, but to explain the occurrence of social phenomena by an action-driven rhetoric, which is motivated by intentional states. MI is primarily based on three postulates: the individualistic postulate; the comprehension postulate; and the rationality postulate. Holism, in contrast, is based on the idea that society cannot be reduced solely to its constituent parts — i.e. individuals. Individuals are the product of societies, histories, economic inequalities, social status, and so on. Therefore, they should be treated as objects that can only be perceived and understood from within.

[English]

The development of contentious collective action in Egypt has encouraged the emergence of new spaces of protest, but also the development of new strategies of opposition. This article aims to investigate the mobilization of the Cairo Ultras groups by examining their use of space, first within the stadium grounds, and particularly through their use of graffiti art. Through an analysis primarily centred on their graffiti, we wish to account for the evolution in their mobilization, as well as understand the development and transformation of their messages. The present study is, for the most part, based on a thorough analysis of graffiti and street art collected during a series of field trips conducted between 2012 and the beginning of 2015. The majority of the data was gathered around Tahrir Square and Mohammed Mahmoud Street, as well as around the Ahly and Zamalek stadia. Graffiti are of particular interest in the Egyptian case, most notably because they allow for expression of a specific social and/or political reality using precise graphic and discursive rules.

[French]

Le développement de l’action collective en Egypte a favorisé l’émergence de nouveaux espaces de contestation mais aussi le développement de nouvelles stratégies d’opposition. Cet article a pour but d’examiner la mobilisation des groupes Ultras au Caire en procédant à une analyse de leur utilisation de l’espace, d’abord à l’intérieur des stades, et ensuite à travers leur utilisation de l’art du graffiti. Par le biais d’une analyse centrée principalement sur leur graffiti, nous souhaitons rendre compte de l’évolution de leur mobilisation, ainsi que comprendre le développement et la transformation de leurs messages. La présente étude se base pour l’essentiel sur une analyse approfondie de graffitis et de fresques collectés lors d’une série de terrains conduits entre 2012 et le début de l’année 2015. La majorité des données ont été recueillies autour de la place Tahrir et de la rue Mohammed Mahmoud ainsi que dans les rues entourant les stades d’al-Ahly et de Zamalek. Les graffitis sont particulièrement intéressants dans le cas égyptien, notamment parce qu’ils sont capables d’exprimer une réalité sociale et / ou politique spécifique en utilisant des règles graphiques et discursives précises.