Cairo's Ultras: Resistance and Revolution in Egypt’s Football Culture - Hardcover

Close, Ronnie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9774169212 ISBN 13: 9789774169212

Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press, 2019

Synopsis

The history of Cairo’s football fans is one of the most poignant narratives of the 25 January 2011 Egyptian uprising. The Ultras Al-Ahly and the Ultras White Knights fans, belonging to the two main teams, Al-Ahly F.C. and Zamalek F.C respectively, became embroiled in the street protests that brought down the Mubarak regime. In the violent turmoil since, the Ultras have been locked in a bitter conflict with the Egyptian security state. Tracing these social movements to explore their role in the uprising and the political dimension of soccer in Egypt, Ronnie Close provides a vivid, intimate sense of the Ultras’ unique subculture.
Cairo’s Ultras: Resistance and Revolution in Egypt’s Football Culture explores how football communities offer ways of belonging and instill meaning in everyday life. Close asks us to rethink the labels ‘fans’ or ‘hooligans’ and what such terms might really mean. He argues that the role of the body is essential to understanding the cultural practices of the Cairo Ultras, and that the physicality of the stadium rituals and acerbic chants were key expressions that resonated with many Egyptians. Along the way, the book skewers media clichés and retraces revolutionary politics and social networks to consider the capacity of sport to emancipate through performances on the football terraces.

About this title

About the Author

Ronnie Close is a writer, filmmaker, and assistant professor of visual media at The American University in Cairo. His work includes the documentary More Out of Curiosity, a project that involved shooting and gathering video and other archival materials over a three-year period with the Ultras groups in Cairo, 2012–2015.

Review

“This is a lively and authoritative account of the counter-culture of the Egyptian Ultras, full of richly detailed observations of their collective behavior, their aesthetic, and their performances. It is also much more than this. It is a study of resistance to the forms of power of late capitalism. Ronnie Close succeeds in using this material to develop a convincing and original argument about the force of the aesthetic moment and of collective action to challenge and to disrupt hegemonic power.”
―Charles Tripp, Professor Emeritus of Politics, SOAS, University of London
“A timely and detailed account of the birth, life and afterlife of one of Egypt’s most important youth movements. Cairo’s Ultras tells a tale of triumph and turmoil revealing how the Ultras bridged leisure and politics to pose as much of a threat to Egypt’s militarised police-state as it did to its sports establishment and football big-business. Historically rich and theoretically compelling, this is a must read for anyone interested in Egyptian youth cultures.”
―Ramy Aly, The American University in Cairo
“Of all the events that occurred during the recent Egyptian Revolution and its aftermath, few were more horrifying than the February 2012 massacre of more than seventy Ultras Ahlawy football fans following a match in Port Said. Ronnie Close knows many of the club members personally, and with the help of these connections he records an important story for posterity. He also offers a daring assessment of Egypt’s present-day political landscape.”
―Graham Harman, SCI-Arc, Los Angeles

Edition details

• Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 9774169212
• ISBN 13: 9789774169212
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 200