This dissertation lies at the intersection of anthropology of sport and anthropology of ethics. I study football (soccer) in Istanbul to posit fairness as a socially negotiable concept that flourishes from within the experience of football in Turkey. I seek to identify the pathways through which different football actors arrive at judgments of what is fair. Rather than seeing fairness and ethics as verdicts based on universally standardized rules (such as legal codes, game rules or fair play guidelines) I aim to portray how variant criteria for fairness deliberations come into contact and conflict. This allows me to conceptualize a notion of fairness that is continually in the making through social contestation and negotiation. Throughout the dissertation I outline the tensions between informal formations of fairness and formal or institutionalized ideals of fair play, the latter of which I argue are prominent partly due to the government's recent policies to intensify institutionalization and regulation in all facets of society. <br/><br/> The main assumption of standardized fair play guidelines is that fairness can be maintained only with disinterestedness. By this definition, fans, coaches, players or other football actors who are structurally disposed to side with a team are considered naturally prone to violating fair play. Football fans in particular attract most negative attention with charges of fanaticism and radicalism in showing their support for their team. Contrary to this, I reconcile bias with fairness and show that a sense of fairness may emerge from within fan communities who are fully subjective. I argue that divorcing ethics from an idealized notion of objectivity is crucial to fully comprehend social rationales that inform people's evaluations and judgments of the ethical, in sports as well as in other facets of society. <br/><br/> This dissertation is the result of 12 months of fieldwork between 2010 and 2011 when I attended 34 football matches and other fan meetings, held in-depth interviews with fans, former footballers, coaches, referees, journalists, football federation and club administrators and analyzed media discourse on fair play.
Nuhrat, Yagmur,
"Fair Enough? Negotiating Ethics in Turkish Football"
(2013).
Anthropology Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0ZP44FN
