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Part of
Language and Violence: Pragmatic perspectives
Edited by Daniel N. Silva
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 279] 2017
► pp. 33–56

Chapter 1
The invention of violence

This chapter presents and analyzes ethnographic data collected in Buenos Aires among soccer fans that are taken to behave in violent ways. The analysis addresses the relationship between fans and the police force. Using the theoretical framework proposed by Roy Wagner in The Invention of Culture, this text suggests that, with their single-minded focus on order and control, the police project the image of unruliness and resistance to police authority upon the soccer fans, which, in turn, induces the police to neurotically escalate and use violence. The fans, on the other hand, focus on heroic deeds and “protagonism” as part of their processes of individualization, and see the police force as an impediment to achieving their goals, which then leads them to act more energetically – hysterically – in their usual fandom activities. Neurosis and hysteria are used in specific ways, as shall be defined in the text.

Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Entry into the field
  • The invention of hooliganism
  • Neurotics and hysterics
  • Fans and police officers in Buenos Aires
  • The invention of violence
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 9 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.279.02tad
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