Soccer: Moulding the Middle East and North Africa
Année académique 2016-2017
CEO&GS/GS&OSC WORKSHOP
Ce séminaire mensuel de recherche en histoire du sport et olympic studies est ouvert aux étudiants de master, aux doctorants et post-doctorants, aux chercheurs et enseignants de l'ISSUL, de l'UNIL et des autres universités suisses comme étrangères, de tous univers disciplinaires (philosophie et éthique, psychologie, anthropologie, ethnologie, sociologie, histoire, économie, droit, media studies, area studies, cultural studies...), spécialisés ou non en sport and olympic studies.
Chaque séminaire sera composé de deux parties : la conférence d'un invité (60') et un débat animé par un discutant (45').
Comme le principe moteur de ce séminaire est d'être un workshop, c'est-à-dire participatif et collaboratif, il est attendu des auditeurs et participants qu'ils aient lu les ouvrages et articles soumis au débat argumenté.
Même s'ils ne sont pas en lien avec la séance concernée, les doctorants, post-doctorants, chercheurs seniors et professeurs de passage à Lausanne sont encouragés à venir y présenter leurs travaux. Il leur est demandé d'adresser un projet de communication au minimum un mois avant ladite séance.
Les séances ont lieu de préférence les mercredis de 17h à 19h.
Les présentations et échanges auront lieu indifféremment en français et en anglais.
Séance 1: 21 septembre 2016
Soccer: Moulding the Middle East and North Africa
par James Dorsey, Senior Fellow, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and Co-Director of the Institute of Fan Culture.
Discutant: Youssef El Chazli, doctorant en sociologie politique aux universités de Lausanne et de Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, membre du CRAPUL et doctorant associé au CEDEJ (Le Caire). Il mène une thèse sur les dynamiques protestataires et révolutionnaires en Egypte depuis 2011.
Abstract
Focussing on the politics and the social role of soccer in the Middle East and North Africa highlights a long and dramatic history of the intersection of sports and politics. In contrast to other parts of the world in which rulers and politicians at times employed sports as a tool to achieve political goals, sports in general and soccer in particular have played a key and consistent role in the emergence of the Middle East and North Africa as we know it today from the second half of the 19th century onwards in terms of nation, state and regime formation; assertion of national identity; the struggle for independence; republicanism vs monarchy; ideological battles; and fights for human, political, gender and labour rights.
Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa has repeatedly demonstrated its potential as an engine of social and political change. That was most recently evident with the awarding by world soccer governing body FIFA to Qatar of the right to host the 2022 World Cup. The process of change is at its very beginning and cloaked in controversy. Nevertheless, it has turned Qatar into the only Gulf autocracy that engages with its critics, including human rights groups and trade unions. It has also persuaded Qatar to announce improvements of the material living and working conditions of foreign workers who constitute a majority of the population. The improvements have partly yet to be implemented and fall short of activists' demands but nonetheless constitute progress.
Soccer as a venue for protest and a domestic policy tool was moreover at the core of popular revolts in 2011 in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and mass anti-government protests in Morocco, Algeria and Jordan. Already in 5th century Rome, support groups identified as the Blues, Greens, Reds and Whites in the absence of alternative channels for public expression acclaimed a candidate slated to be installed as Rome's emperor in games dominated by chariot racing. Much like modern day militant soccer fans or ultras, they frequently shouted political demands in between races in a bid to influence policy. In doing so, the Romans set a trend that has since proven its value. In today's modern world, soccer pitches, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, are frequently viewed as barometers of the public mood and indicators of political and social trends.