Max Mauro | Bournemouth University (original) (raw)
Papers by Max Mauro
European Journal of Cultural Studies, 2024
The continuous growth of international sport events as media spectacles has magnified their abili... more The continuous growth of international sport events as media spectacles has magnified their ability to project ideas of nationhood. In media coverage, the athletes/players are portrayed as the embodiment of the ‘nation’, but this process is far from linear. Historically, mass media have constructed highly gendered and restricted ideas of the nation, placing women and ethnic minorities at the margins or erasing them altogether. The analysis of the coverage of the England and Italy men’s teams at the Euro 2020 brings to the forefront the persistence, but also the evolution, of such tensions. Combining critical discourse analysis with theories of race and racialisation, this article aims to unpack the often-overlooked role of ‘race’ in the articulation of national identity in Europe. While the England team proudly embraced the ethnic diversity of British society, Italy was the only Western European team not to select players with an immigrant background or ethnic minorities. By looking at a British popular newspaper, Daily Mail, and at an Italian one, Corriere della Sera, this article provides a necessary update to the understanding of the function of mass media as ‘gatekeepers’ of the nation.
Communication & Sport, 2022
The football rivalry between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona is one of the most popular at club l... more The football rivalry between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona is one of the most popular at club level globally. In Spain, where it is known as El Clásico (the Classic), it has an unrivalled status in the sports media industry. Its significance relies in part to the historical tension between Catalonia, the region of which Barcelona is the main centre, and Madrid, the capital of Spain. The exaltation of confrontation and partisanship is the central feature of highly popular radio programmes devoted to El Clásico. This study aimed to observe how the media discourse articulated by these programmes was affected by the fact that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, matches were played in empty venues. Through the comparisons of broadcasts of two games, one from 2017 and from 2020, the paper shows that the sensationalistic style is toned down, and a less polarised and partisan sports journalism is possible.
Media, Culture and Society, 2020
Throughout the 20th century, the growth of international sport events as media spectacles has pro... more Throughout the 20th century, the growth of international sport events as media spectacles has provided one of the most powerful tools for the projection of national identities. Traditional media, such as newspapers and private and public broadcasters, have been instrumental in this process. Media discourses around sporting events have historically tended to legitimise exclusionary versions of the idea of the nation, reproducing hegemonic gender divisions and marginalising ethnic minorities and immigrants. At the same time, sport is also a contested vehicle for nation-building, providing to some degree opportunities for the expression of different versions of the idea of the nation. The deep changes in the media industry, and particularly the emergence and success among young people of interactive and transnational media, open the way for counter-narratives and alternative media discourses. For example, sport celebrities can use social media to expose and criticise the racialisation of immigrants in sport and beyond. But can the millions who follow them on Instagram or Twitter be counted as a ‘public’?
Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 2019
This paper looks into the status of ethnography by paying attention to the ideas of transformatio... more This paper looks into the status of ethnography by paying attention to the ideas of transformation and becoming, and to the meanings of 'reality' in post-post-modern times. Based on a personal reflection about the intellectual journey of the author, and his transition from journalism to academic research, it first provides an illustration of the conflicting relationship between journalistic practices and social research during the 20 th century. It further addresses the revived dialogue between academic inquiry and other forms of social analysis. Following the post-modern turn reflexivity has taken centre stage in ethnographic methods, but this has not diminished the differences within social sciences and humanities in the way the role of the researcher is interpreted. This point is further complicated by the status of 'reality' in the age of the implosion of social life through the conflation of the private and the public brought about by the digital revolution.
Sport in Society, 2016
Over the last decade the international governing body of association football, FIFA, has introduc... more Over the last decade the international governing body of association football, FIFA, has introduced new regulations for the registration of young players. The regulations are aimed at 'protecting minors' at being trafficked from developing countries to clubs based in the majority of cases in Europe. While strengthening control on the status of players as young as ten, the FIFA norms and their intersection with national and European norms have laid the legal basis for forms of institutional discrimination meted out to youth of immigrant background living in Europe. This paper emerges from a study on youth of immigrant background's participation in Italian football. It uses the theoretical framework of Agamben's analysis of Western democracies' citizenship crisis to highlight the contradictions implicit in the Italian FA's implementation of FIFA regulations in a scenario permeated by nationalistic values, which create different levels of participation according to the legal status of young people.
Soccer & Society, 2016
Football can play different roles in the lives of immigrant youth. It can be a site for leisure, ... more Football can play different roles in the lives of immigrant youth. It can be a site
for leisure, sport performance and socialization. Even more critically, it can be a
place where to negotiate sense of belonging to a local community and to gain
access to national sporting cultures. Football can also represent forms of
exclusion and discrimination. This article aims to elucidate the meanings that
participation in football hold for black immigrant males in a country of recent
immigration such as the Republic of Ireland. The article discusses the findings
of a long-term ethnographic study with a youth team based in a working-class
area of Dublin, the Irish capital. The youth football club plays a special role as a
term of identification for the local community. Teenage players of different
African backgrounds are presented with the challenge of acquiring different
levels of inclusion. They can attempt to appropriate cultural codes that define
local working-class men on and off the pitch or they can practice forms of
‘resistance’ that emphasize their own racialized positioning in Irish society.
Overall, these dynamics affirm the importance of grassroots football as a venue
for young people’s transcultural encounters
Soccer & Society 2013 Vol. 14, No. 3, 344–363
Sporting grounds have started to be recognized as fertile sites for the (re)definition of subject... more Sporting grounds have started to be recognized as fertile sites for the (re)definition of subjective and collective identities of youth of immigrant background. As a country of recent immigration and a rich sporting culture, Ireland is witnessing new forms of sport participation that critically challenge the status quo. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork with an under-18 football team composed of teenagers of various immigrant backgrounds, mostly African, and run by African coaches, this article foregrounds their racialized position within the Dublin schoolboys leagues. In the Irish context, public discourses on immigration often conflate, in negative terms, African, Nigerian and asylum-seeker. This situation affects the way the team is perceived and the way the coaches run it. The team is arguably lived as a space of resistance against different forms of racism. A particular discourse on discipline is developed by the adults in charge, which conceals the necessity, for black youth, of learning to cope with racism. In spite of all that, football governing bodies downplay the problem of racism in the Irish game.
Postfazione a 'Bambini proibiti', di Marina Frigerio (Il Margine edizioni, Trento, 2013)
Era un giorno di autunno come questo in cui sto scrivendo, otto anni fa, quello in cui ricevetti ... more Era un giorno di autunno come questo in cui sto scrivendo, otto anni fa, quello in cui ricevetti una telefonata dalla Biblioteca civica della mia città. Il libro che avevo richiesto attraverso il prestito interbibliotecario era arrivato. Il libro era Versteckte Kinder, scritto da Marina Frigerio e Simone Burgherr, pubblicato in Svizzera nel 1992 e da tempo esaurito. La copia era consunta e piuttosto malridotta, prova di un uso ripetuto e, trattandosi di un libro, meritevole. Prendendola in mano e cominciando a sfogliare le sue pagine mi chiesi, senza provarne vergogna ma con un certo pudore: Dove sei stato fino ad ora? La domanda era diretta e molto franca, come è giusto che siano le domande rivolte a se stessi, mentre quelle che poniamo agli altri devono di solito passare dei filtri "sociali" di timidezza, convenienza, timore. Sì, dove era stato fino ad ora questo libro, e questo tema, quello dei "bambini nascosti", nella mia vita? E dove ero stato io, per averlo ignorato.
Le Simplegadi, 2005
It is difficult to talk about emigration and immigration avoiding clichés. This is particularly t... more It is difficult to talk about emigration and immigration avoiding clichés. This is particularly true in a region like Friuli, which for a long time was a land of emigrants and over the last three decades has started attracting immigrants. It is easy to hear statements like the following: " When we went to work abroad things were different: we had a legal contract" , which shows how people are not yet capable to deal with new migrations. Collecting stories of life of emigrants and immigrants is a way to deconstruct stereotypes and to represent migrations of the past and the present in all their complexities and similarities. This is what the book La mia casa è dove sono felice is about.
Studi Zancan, 2012
M a x M a u r o Nel 2004 la Commissione Europea pubblicava un «Rapporto sullo sport e la multicul... more M a x M a u r o Nel 2004 la Commissione Europea pubblicava un «Rapporto sullo sport e la multiculturalità» dove si sottolineava il positivo contributo dello sport nel favorire il dialogo multiculturale tra i giovani (Amara M. e altri, 2004). Da allora si sono moltiplicate, a livello internazionale, le iniziative che a vari livelli sostengono lo sport, e in particolare il calcio, come veicolo di promozione dell'inclusione sociale di minoranze e settori disagiati della società, rivolgendo attenzione specifica alle comunità immigrate 1 . Da governi e organizzazioni non governative vengono attribuite allo sport virtù «taumaturgiche», spesso eludendo le criticità strutturali che sottostanno alle problematiche implicate. Alcuni studi recenti condotti in vari paesi europei ed extraeuropei hanno messo in discussione la reale efficacia dello sport per la risoluzione di problemi sociali (Giulianotti R., 2011; Kelly L., 2010; Woodward K., 2005) e ridimensionato le capacità socialmente «integrative» dell'attività sportiva (Müller F. e altri, 2008). Ciononostante, la pratica sportiva rimane un terreno privilegiato dove bambini e adolescenti possono negoziare senso di appartenenza culturale, identità soggettive e collettive, lontano da ambienti più «sorvegliati» e «disciplinati» quali la scuola e la famiglia . È sui campi da calcio e nelle attività collaterali che spesso i giovani di origine immigrata fanno le esperienze più significative nel loro percorso di «appropriazione» (o «rifiuto») della cultura 1 ! Streetfootballworld (streetfootballworld.com), Football For Peace (football4peace.eu), Integration Durch Füssball, il programma della Federazione calcistica tedesca rivolto alle giovani generazioni delle comunità immigrate (dfb.de).
Book Reviews by Max Mauro
idrottsforum.org, 2021
Review author: Dilwyn Porter, International Centre for Sports History and Culture, Montfort Unive... more Review author: Dilwyn Porter, International Centre for Sports History and Culture, Montfort University, Leicester
Il Lavoro Culturale, 2021
Recensione di "Un attentato quasi-terroristico. Macerata 2018", di M. Manori e F. Quassoli (Caroc... more Recensione di "Un attentato quasi-terroristico. Macerata 2018", di M. Manori e F. Quassoli (Carocci, 2021)
European Journal for Sport and Society, 2020
Review author: Verena Lenneis, Aalborg University, Denmark
Soccer&Society, 2019
Author: Conor Curran, Trinity College Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Apropos, 2019
Review Author: Markus Grimm, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, DE
Review Author: Knud Ryom, Aarhus University, DK
idrottsforum.org - Nordic Sport Studies Forum, University of Malmoe, SE
Review Author: Mattias Melkersson - Dept. of Sport Sciences, Malmö University
Ethnic and Racial Studies
Review Author: Christos Kassimeris - School of Humanities, Social and Education Sciences, Europea... more Review Author: Christos Kassimeris - School of Humanities, Social and Education Sciences, European University Cyprus
Soccer and Society, 2017
Review Author: Georg Spitaler - Association for the History of the Labour Movement (VGA), Vienna,... more Review Author: Georg Spitaler - Association for the History of the Labour Movement (VGA), Vienna, Austria
European Journal of Cultural Studies, 2024
The continuous growth of international sport events as media spectacles has magnified their abili... more The continuous growth of international sport events as media spectacles has magnified their ability to project ideas of nationhood. In media coverage, the athletes/players are portrayed as the embodiment of the ‘nation’, but this process is far from linear. Historically, mass media have constructed highly gendered and restricted ideas of the nation, placing women and ethnic minorities at the margins or erasing them altogether. The analysis of the coverage of the England and Italy men’s teams at the Euro 2020 brings to the forefront the persistence, but also the evolution, of such tensions. Combining critical discourse analysis with theories of race and racialisation, this article aims to unpack the often-overlooked role of ‘race’ in the articulation of national identity in Europe. While the England team proudly embraced the ethnic diversity of British society, Italy was the only Western European team not to select players with an immigrant background or ethnic minorities. By looking at a British popular newspaper, Daily Mail, and at an Italian one, Corriere della Sera, this article provides a necessary update to the understanding of the function of mass media as ‘gatekeepers’ of the nation.
Communication & Sport, 2022
The football rivalry between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona is one of the most popular at club l... more The football rivalry between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona is one of the most popular at club level globally. In Spain, where it is known as El Clásico (the Classic), it has an unrivalled status in the sports media industry. Its significance relies in part to the historical tension between Catalonia, the region of which Barcelona is the main centre, and Madrid, the capital of Spain. The exaltation of confrontation and partisanship is the central feature of highly popular radio programmes devoted to El Clásico. This study aimed to observe how the media discourse articulated by these programmes was affected by the fact that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, matches were played in empty venues. Through the comparisons of broadcasts of two games, one from 2017 and from 2020, the paper shows that the sensationalistic style is toned down, and a less polarised and partisan sports journalism is possible.
Media, Culture and Society, 2020
Throughout the 20th century, the growth of international sport events as media spectacles has pro... more Throughout the 20th century, the growth of international sport events as media spectacles has provided one of the most powerful tools for the projection of national identities. Traditional media, such as newspapers and private and public broadcasters, have been instrumental in this process. Media discourses around sporting events have historically tended to legitimise exclusionary versions of the idea of the nation, reproducing hegemonic gender divisions and marginalising ethnic minorities and immigrants. At the same time, sport is also a contested vehicle for nation-building, providing to some degree opportunities for the expression of different versions of the idea of the nation. The deep changes in the media industry, and particularly the emergence and success among young people of interactive and transnational media, open the way for counter-narratives and alternative media discourses. For example, sport celebrities can use social media to expose and criticise the racialisation of immigrants in sport and beyond. But can the millions who follow them on Instagram or Twitter be counted as a ‘public’?
Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 2019
This paper looks into the status of ethnography by paying attention to the ideas of transformatio... more This paper looks into the status of ethnography by paying attention to the ideas of transformation and becoming, and to the meanings of 'reality' in post-post-modern times. Based on a personal reflection about the intellectual journey of the author, and his transition from journalism to academic research, it first provides an illustration of the conflicting relationship between journalistic practices and social research during the 20 th century. It further addresses the revived dialogue between academic inquiry and other forms of social analysis. Following the post-modern turn reflexivity has taken centre stage in ethnographic methods, but this has not diminished the differences within social sciences and humanities in the way the role of the researcher is interpreted. This point is further complicated by the status of 'reality' in the age of the implosion of social life through the conflation of the private and the public brought about by the digital revolution.
Sport in Society, 2016
Over the last decade the international governing body of association football, FIFA, has introduc... more Over the last decade the international governing body of association football, FIFA, has introduced new regulations for the registration of young players. The regulations are aimed at 'protecting minors' at being trafficked from developing countries to clubs based in the majority of cases in Europe. While strengthening control on the status of players as young as ten, the FIFA norms and their intersection with national and European norms have laid the legal basis for forms of institutional discrimination meted out to youth of immigrant background living in Europe. This paper emerges from a study on youth of immigrant background's participation in Italian football. It uses the theoretical framework of Agamben's analysis of Western democracies' citizenship crisis to highlight the contradictions implicit in the Italian FA's implementation of FIFA regulations in a scenario permeated by nationalistic values, which create different levels of participation according to the legal status of young people.
Soccer & Society, 2016
Football can play different roles in the lives of immigrant youth. It can be a site for leisure, ... more Football can play different roles in the lives of immigrant youth. It can be a site
for leisure, sport performance and socialization. Even more critically, it can be a
place where to negotiate sense of belonging to a local community and to gain
access to national sporting cultures. Football can also represent forms of
exclusion and discrimination. This article aims to elucidate the meanings that
participation in football hold for black immigrant males in a country of recent
immigration such as the Republic of Ireland. The article discusses the findings
of a long-term ethnographic study with a youth team based in a working-class
area of Dublin, the Irish capital. The youth football club plays a special role as a
term of identification for the local community. Teenage players of different
African backgrounds are presented with the challenge of acquiring different
levels of inclusion. They can attempt to appropriate cultural codes that define
local working-class men on and off the pitch or they can practice forms of
‘resistance’ that emphasize their own racialized positioning in Irish society.
Overall, these dynamics affirm the importance of grassroots football as a venue
for young people’s transcultural encounters
Soccer & Society 2013 Vol. 14, No. 3, 344–363
Sporting grounds have started to be recognized as fertile sites for the (re)definition of subject... more Sporting grounds have started to be recognized as fertile sites for the (re)definition of subjective and collective identities of youth of immigrant background. As a country of recent immigration and a rich sporting culture, Ireland is witnessing new forms of sport participation that critically challenge the status quo. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork with an under-18 football team composed of teenagers of various immigrant backgrounds, mostly African, and run by African coaches, this article foregrounds their racialized position within the Dublin schoolboys leagues. In the Irish context, public discourses on immigration often conflate, in negative terms, African, Nigerian and asylum-seeker. This situation affects the way the team is perceived and the way the coaches run it. The team is arguably lived as a space of resistance against different forms of racism. A particular discourse on discipline is developed by the adults in charge, which conceals the necessity, for black youth, of learning to cope with racism. In spite of all that, football governing bodies downplay the problem of racism in the Irish game.
Postfazione a 'Bambini proibiti', di Marina Frigerio (Il Margine edizioni, Trento, 2013)
Era un giorno di autunno come questo in cui sto scrivendo, otto anni fa, quello in cui ricevetti ... more Era un giorno di autunno come questo in cui sto scrivendo, otto anni fa, quello in cui ricevetti una telefonata dalla Biblioteca civica della mia città. Il libro che avevo richiesto attraverso il prestito interbibliotecario era arrivato. Il libro era Versteckte Kinder, scritto da Marina Frigerio e Simone Burgherr, pubblicato in Svizzera nel 1992 e da tempo esaurito. La copia era consunta e piuttosto malridotta, prova di un uso ripetuto e, trattandosi di un libro, meritevole. Prendendola in mano e cominciando a sfogliare le sue pagine mi chiesi, senza provarne vergogna ma con un certo pudore: Dove sei stato fino ad ora? La domanda era diretta e molto franca, come è giusto che siano le domande rivolte a se stessi, mentre quelle che poniamo agli altri devono di solito passare dei filtri "sociali" di timidezza, convenienza, timore. Sì, dove era stato fino ad ora questo libro, e questo tema, quello dei "bambini nascosti", nella mia vita? E dove ero stato io, per averlo ignorato.
Le Simplegadi, 2005
It is difficult to talk about emigration and immigration avoiding clichés. This is particularly t... more It is difficult to talk about emigration and immigration avoiding clichés. This is particularly true in a region like Friuli, which for a long time was a land of emigrants and over the last three decades has started attracting immigrants. It is easy to hear statements like the following: " When we went to work abroad things were different: we had a legal contract" , which shows how people are not yet capable to deal with new migrations. Collecting stories of life of emigrants and immigrants is a way to deconstruct stereotypes and to represent migrations of the past and the present in all their complexities and similarities. This is what the book La mia casa è dove sono felice is about.
Studi Zancan, 2012
M a x M a u r o Nel 2004 la Commissione Europea pubblicava un «Rapporto sullo sport e la multicul... more M a x M a u r o Nel 2004 la Commissione Europea pubblicava un «Rapporto sullo sport e la multiculturalità» dove si sottolineava il positivo contributo dello sport nel favorire il dialogo multiculturale tra i giovani (Amara M. e altri, 2004). Da allora si sono moltiplicate, a livello internazionale, le iniziative che a vari livelli sostengono lo sport, e in particolare il calcio, come veicolo di promozione dell'inclusione sociale di minoranze e settori disagiati della società, rivolgendo attenzione specifica alle comunità immigrate 1 . Da governi e organizzazioni non governative vengono attribuite allo sport virtù «taumaturgiche», spesso eludendo le criticità strutturali che sottostanno alle problematiche implicate. Alcuni studi recenti condotti in vari paesi europei ed extraeuropei hanno messo in discussione la reale efficacia dello sport per la risoluzione di problemi sociali (Giulianotti R., 2011; Kelly L., 2010; Woodward K., 2005) e ridimensionato le capacità socialmente «integrative» dell'attività sportiva (Müller F. e altri, 2008). Ciononostante, la pratica sportiva rimane un terreno privilegiato dove bambini e adolescenti possono negoziare senso di appartenenza culturale, identità soggettive e collettive, lontano da ambienti più «sorvegliati» e «disciplinati» quali la scuola e la famiglia . È sui campi da calcio e nelle attività collaterali che spesso i giovani di origine immigrata fanno le esperienze più significative nel loro percorso di «appropriazione» (o «rifiuto») della cultura 1 ! Streetfootballworld (streetfootballworld.com), Football For Peace (football4peace.eu), Integration Durch Füssball, il programma della Federazione calcistica tedesca rivolto alle giovani generazioni delle comunità immigrate (dfb.de).
idrottsforum.org, 2021
Review author: Dilwyn Porter, International Centre for Sports History and Culture, Montfort Unive... more Review author: Dilwyn Porter, International Centre for Sports History and Culture, Montfort University, Leicester
Il Lavoro Culturale, 2021
Recensione di "Un attentato quasi-terroristico. Macerata 2018", di M. Manori e F. Quassoli (Caroc... more Recensione di "Un attentato quasi-terroristico. Macerata 2018", di M. Manori e F. Quassoli (Carocci, 2021)
European Journal for Sport and Society, 2020
Review author: Verena Lenneis, Aalborg University, Denmark
Soccer&Society, 2019
Author: Conor Curran, Trinity College Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Apropos, 2019
Review Author: Markus Grimm, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, DE
Review Author: Knud Ryom, Aarhus University, DK
idrottsforum.org - Nordic Sport Studies Forum, University of Malmoe, SE
Review Author: Mattias Melkersson - Dept. of Sport Sciences, Malmö University
Ethnic and Racial Studies
Review Author: Christos Kassimeris - School of Humanities, Social and Education Sciences, Europea... more Review Author: Christos Kassimeris - School of Humanities, Social and Education Sciences, European University Cyprus
Soccer and Society, 2017
Review Author: Georg Spitaler - Association for the History of the Labour Movement (VGA), Vienna,... more Review Author: Georg Spitaler - Association for the History of the Labour Movement (VGA), Vienna, Austria
Soccer and Society
BOOK REVIEW Football fandom in Italy and beyond, by Matthew Guschwan, London and New York, Rout... more BOOK REVIEW
Football fandom in Italy and beyond, by Matthew Guschwan, London and
New York, Routledge, 2017, 144 pp., £105.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-1138701823
Research Handbook on the Sociology of Migration, 2024
Over the past three decades, sport has emerged as a prominent theme in debates about migration, e... more Over the past three decades, sport has emerged as a prominent theme in debates about migration, especially in the Global North. Leaving aside the migration of labour in professional sporting leagues, which pertains more closely to the field of economics, this chapter focuses on the main research trends on the role of sport in social work with immigrants and refugees. It first highlights the impact of policy initiatives at national and transnational level to foster studies on integration and assimilation of migrants. Sport is a recurring theme also in projects targeting refugees and asylum seekers. Social and cultural capital are largely utilised theoretical lenses to analyse and make sense of these processes. Finally, issues of belonging among young people, and the second generation of immigration, are increasingly addressed by researchers working on sport. The chapter concludes stressing the urgency that research in this area challenges the Western-centric bias and embraces decolonisation as an epistemological project.
Sport, Globalisation and Identity: New Perspectives on Regions and Nations , 2020
Max Mauro and Raul Martinez-Corcuera: 'Hypermasculinity and racist discourses in the Spanish medi... more Max Mauro and Raul Martinez-Corcuera: 'Hypermasculinity and racist discourses in the Spanish media. The spectacularisation of radio sport programming'. In Sport, Globalisation and Identity: New Perspectives on Regions and Nations - Edited by J. O'Brien, R. Holden, X. Ginesta
Youth Sport, Migration and Culture. Two football teams and the changing face of Ireland (Routledge), 2019
How do migrant youth negotiate their role in society through sport and leisure practices? How can... more How do migrant youth negotiate their role in society through sport and leisure practices? How can political theory and qualitative critical research work together to make sense of these processes? These are among the questions that led to a long-term investigation of young males’ sport practices in Ireland, possibly the most fertile contemporary setting for the analysis of questions of sport and identity.
Youth Sport, Migration and Culture emphasises the epistemological and ethical urgency of doing research with rather than on young people. Engaging with the social changes in Irish society through the eyes of children of immigrants growing up in Ireland, the book looks closely at young people’s leisure practices in multi-ethnic contexts, and at issues of inclusion in relation to public discourses around ‘national identity’ and immigration.
Offering compelling analysis of how ideas of race and racism are elaborated through sport, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology of sport, sport development or youth culture.
The Balotelli Generation. Issues of Inclusion and Belonging in Italian Football and Society (CIES/Peter Lang), 2016
Sports governing bodies, governments and European institutions highlight the inclusive power of s... more Sports governing bodies, governments and European institutions highlight the inclusive power of sport and its capacity to foster a sense of belonging among youth of immigrant background. At the same time, sport at youth and grassroots level can be as much an exclusionary as an inclusive experience. As a country of relatively short immigration history and with a great passion for sport, particularly football, Italy makes a compelling case on which to situate an analysis of sport participation of youth of immigrant background and issues of representation in relation to national identity. The book originates from 40 in-depth interviews with young players aged seventeen to twenty-three, born in Italy to immigrant parents or raised in Italy since their childhood. It further collates over thirty interviews and conversations with coaches, club and league administrators, educators, and migrants' rights activists. Analysis of official documents and media analysis further contribute to the construction of a specific body of knowledge which sheds an unprecedented light on issues which are at the forefront of policy discussions and media discourses across Europe.
More Info: MAURO, Max. Tackling racism and discrimination in grassroots sport. The case of footba... more More Info: MAURO, Max. Tackling racism and discrimination in grassroots sport. The case of football. In Hassan, D. & Acton, C. (Eds.), Sport and Contested Identities. Contemporary Issues and Debates. London: Routledge, 2017. pp. 228-244. ISBN 978-0-415-57215-6.
More Info: MAURO, Max. Transcultural football. Trajectories of belonging among immigrant youth . ... more More Info: MAURO, Max. Transcultural football. Trajectories of belonging among immigrant youth . In O'Gorman, J. (ed) Junior and youth grassroots football culture: the forgotten game. London: Routledge, 2017. pp.. ISBN 978-1138047570.
Uliano emigrated illegally to Jugoslavia in 1947. Ahmed entered Italy without a work permit in 19... more Uliano emigrated illegally to Jugoslavia in 1947. Ahmed entered Italy without a work permit in 1989. Luigi runs a construction company in Canada, where he has been living for fifty years. Naiaga runs a furniture company in Italy, where he has been living for fifteen years. Ana wants to become an Italian citizen so she will be allowed to vote. She believes that if you vote you are more integrated in the social life. Vittoria lived for seventeen years in Germany, where she always perceived herself as an immigrant. Bozidar was forced to leave Bosnia by the war and today his son speaks Italian better than Serbo-Croatian. Ines’s son learnt German before he learnt his mother-tongue Italian, because the family he grew up illegally in Switzerland was German speaking. At that time, the son of an immigrant with a temporary work permit was not allowed to stay in Switzerland.
Migration stories of some decades ago and migration stories of the recent past. People who left their country of origin to look for a better future abroad, in another country, often in another continent. Stories that start or end in Friuli, an Italian border region who has always been crossed by migrations. Between 1876 and 1976, Friuli being a little developed area, had the highest percentage of emigrants among Italian regions and it later developed into one of the main destinations for immigrants. The book is a collection of life stories that stimulates a dialogue between Italian emigration and immigration. A dialogue which is frequently denied by public discourses which overlook the fact that Italians are still immigrants in many countries. Through oral history and the critical analysis of media and public discourses, this book exposes the changes in Italian society over the last sixty years; a time during which Italy has turned from a country of emigration into a country of immigration.
Thinking Allowed, with Laurie Taylor. BBC Radio 4, 13 April 2016.
Il lavoro culturale, 2021
Morire in Irlanda per mano della polizia lavoroculturale.org/morire-in-irlanda-per-mano-della-pol... more Morire in Irlanda per mano della polizia lavoroculturale.org/morire-in-irlanda-per-mano-della-polizia/max-mauro/2021/ L'uccisione di George Nkencho e il dibattito sul razzismo istituzionale Insaka AFC celebra la vittoria della Ronnie Bradshaw Cup, giugno 2011. George Nkencho è il terzo in piedi da destra (Max Mauro) George Nkencho è morto a 27 anni sulla porta di casa, il 30 dicembre 2020. A ucciderlo sono stati sei colpi di pistola sparati da un membro dell'unità speciale di supporto armata della polizia irlandese (ASU). Il tutto è accaduto a Blanchardstown, grosso centro della periferia ovest di Dublino, sede di alcune delle multinazionali che hanno alimentato il boom della Tigre Celtica, quali eBay e Paypal. Blanchardstown è anche l'area a maggiore densità di stranieri nella Repubblica d'Irlanda. Le circostanze della morte di George Nkencho hanno sollevato proteste tra le comunità di origine africana a Dublino e nel resto del paese. Per diversi giorni ci sono stati sit-in davanti alla locale stazione di polizia, e veglie notturne (pur nel rispetto delle normative anti-Covid). Ma il tragico evento ha anche riaperto un dibattito, mai risolto, sul razzismo istituzionale nella Repubblica d'Irlanda, e sul discorso pubblico attorno all'immigrazione. Ovviamente, si tratta di questioni non esclusive dell'isola, ma di problemi che attraversano tutte le società occidentali, e particolarmente quelle europee. Tuttavia, in quella che fu la prima colonia dell'impero britannico, e il centro di una lunga battaglia anti-imperialista che ha attraversato il ventesimo secolo, la questione del razzismo assume toni speciali, forse unici. Una premessa. Questa è, anche, una storia personale, legata un periodo significativo della mia vita. Tra il 2008 e il 2012 ho vissuto in Irlanda, dove ho completato un dottorato in media e studi interculturali. Ho conosciuto George. Ho trascorso molto tempo con lui e i suoi amici, tutti membri di una squadra di calcio composta solo da ragazzi immigrati, Insaka AFC. Le riflessioni che seguono intrecciano osservazioni dirette della mia ricerca etnografica a considerazioni sui processi di razzializzazione delle comunità immigrate, soprattutto i giovani, e particolarmente i giovani con la pelle scura.
Il lavoro culturale, 2020
Nel giugno del 1969 un grafico trentaquattrenne di Brescia, Gianfranco Butturini, viene inviato a... more Nel giugno del 1969 un grafico trentaquattrenne di Brescia, Gianfranco Butturini, viene inviato a Londra per allestire un padiglione alla fiera internazionale sull'uso industriale della plastica. Durante un mese trascorso nella capitale britannica, Butturini gira la città portandosi appresso la sua macchina fotografica, affascinato dalle contraddizioni della swingin' London. Con uno sguardo attento ai contrasti, raccoglie immagini di giovani hippy, anziani seduti sulle panchine dei parchi, primi piani di persone dirette al lavoro e bambini che fissano le vetrine dei negozi. Al rientro da Londra pubblica a sue spese un reportage fotografico intitolandolo London by Gian Butturini. Il libro viene accolto positivamente nella sua città e in Italia, e tutte le copie vanno presto esaurite. Nel corso degli anni London acquisisce uno status di libro di culto, con valutazioni sul mercato nell'ordine di centinaia di euro. Per Butturini si tratta dell'inizio di una brillante carriera di fotoreporter che lo porterà in giro per il mondo: da Cuba al Cile, dall'Irlanda del Nord alla Germania dell'Est, l'India, il Marocco, sempre con un marcato interesse per le ingiustizie sociali e le lotte di liberazione. Nel 1980 realizza anche un film, intitolato Il mondo degli ultimi e dedicato alle lotte contadine in Italia negli anni '50, che verrà premiato al festival di San Sebastian e acquisito dalla RAI. Di quegli anni è anche il suo impegno per documentare il movimento per la chiusura dei manicomi, che si tradurrà in una mostra e un libro fotografico tra i più apprezzati sulla rivoluzione psichiatrica promossa da Franco Basaglia.
The Football Collective Blog, 06/08/19
Open Democracy, Sep 26, 2016
The presence of the refugee team at Rio highlights the need to re-evaluate the nationalistic ideo... more The presence of the refugee team at Rio highlights the need to re-evaluate the nationalistic ideology that surrounds and informs modern global sports.
Il Manifesto, 14/02/17
Xenofobi in campo, meno squalifiche e più formazione Max Mauro, Il Manifesto, 14 Marzo 2017 Calci... more Xenofobi in campo, meno squalifiche e più formazione Max Mauro, Il Manifesto, 14 Marzo 2017 Calcio giovanile. L'approccio puramente punitivo della federazione italiana non tiene conto delle implicazioni di una squalifica di dieci giornate comminata senza alcun percorso educativo che possa aiutare l'autore dell'insulto, soprattutto se si tratta di un minorenne, a capire la portata del suo gesto.
Il Manifesto, Nov 30, 2016
Il Manifesto, 30 novembre 2016
Associazione Carta di Roma - www.cartadiroma.org, Feb 17, 2015
Non ne avesse già abbastanza, il tribolato mondo del calcio italiano deve ora fare i conti anche ... more Non ne avesse già abbastanza, il tribolato mondo del calcio italiano deve ora fare i conti anche con le dichiarazioni psichedeliche dell'ex allenatore della nazionale italiana e del Milan, Arrigo Sacchi. Dopo aver assistito al torneo di Viareggio, che raccoglie le migliori squadre primavera, ha dichiarato alla stampa: "L'Italia è senza dignità, non ha orgoglio: non è possibile vedere squadre con 15 giocatori stranieri. A guardare il Torneo di Viareggio mi viene da dire che nel nostro vivaio ci sono troppi giocatori di colore, anche nelle squadre Primavera. Non sono certo razzista, la mia storia parla per me, ma il nostro calcio deve dimostrare più orgoglio".
Associazione Carta di Roma www.cartadiroma.org, 04/12/15
Di Max Mauro www.cartadiroma.org, 4 Dicembere 2015 Un giocatore dilettante di calcio viene squali... more Di Max Mauro www.cartadiroma.org, 4 Dicembere 2015 Un giocatore dilettante di calcio viene squalificato per dieci giornate per insulti razzisti rivolti ad un avversario di origine africana. Capita in Friuli, campionato di prima categoria della provincia di Udine. Così riferisce il quotidiano locale, il Messaggero Veneto. Gli insulti razzisti sono consuetudine domenicale per i calciatori dilettanti di colore, ma il più delle volte non vengono sentiti dall'arbitro e pertanto non finiscono nel referto. Talvolta, raramente, l'autore dell'insulto è così sboccato e sfacciato che l'arbitro non può ignorarlo. Scatta così la squalifica di dieci giornate, introdotta dalla FIGC nel 2013 per dare un segnale "forte" di impegno contro il razzismo nel calcio a tutti i livelli, come sollecitato dalla UEFA. In realtà, questa norma è stata applicata in pochissime occasioni.
‘Regionalism and Nationalism in Contemporary International Sport’ International Conference, Vic U... more ‘Regionalism and Nationalism in Contemporary International Sport’ International Conference, Vic University, Catalonia, Spain - 29-30 June 2017