Football in Southeastern Europe: From Ethnic Homogenization to Reconciliation
11 November 2013, 1:30 pm

Event Information
Location
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Masaryk Senior Common Room, 4th Floor, UCL SSEES
Despite the vast and diverse scholarship dealing with political, social and cultural aspects of post-Yugoslav democratic transition, the social field of sport has thus far remained a largely peripheral topic in international research.
A current special issue of the journal Sport in Society entitled ‘Football in Southeastern Europe: From Ethnic Homogenization to Reconciliation’ aims to bridge this scholarly gap by offering insights into the intriguing interconnection of sport and identity construction since the Yugoslav dissolution. As a follow-up to the publication, this launch event/workshop is conceptualised to promote the topic of (post-) Yugoslav sport as an important and under-researched aspect of South East European Studies as well as to intensify the debate among scholars, students and interested public.
Programme
13:30 Introduction John Hughson (University of Central Lancashire) and Dario Brentin (UCL - SSEES)
14:00 - 15:30 Panel I Chair: John Hughson (University of Central Lancashire)
- Tamara Pavasović Trošt (University of Ljubljana) – ‘Football, hooliganism and nationalism: the reaction to Serbia’s gay parade in reader commentary online’
- Christian Axboe Nielsen (Aarhus University) – ‘Stronger than the state? Football, hooliganism, political extremism and the Gay Pride Parades in Serbia’
- Richard Mills (University of East Anglia) – ‘Fighters, footballers and nation builders: wartime football in the Serb-held territories of the former Yugoslavia, 1991-1996’
Discussant: Eric Gordy (UCL - SSEES)
15:30 - 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 - 17:30 Panel II Chair: Dario Brentin (UCL- SSEES)
- Tea Sindbæk (University of Copenhagen) – ‘A Croatian champion with a Croatian name: national identity in Croatian football culture – the case of Dinamo Zagreb’
- Falma Fshazi (ĖHESS Paris) – ‘Football matches or power struggles? The Albanian case within historical and contemporary tensions’
- Davide Sterchele (Leeds Metropolitan University) – ‘Fertile land and mined field? Peace-building and ethnic tensions in post-war Bosnian football’
Discussant: Neven Andjelić (Regent’s University London)
18:00 Wine reception
Contact and Enquiries: dario.brentin.09@ucl.ac.uk