Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
this did not signal a change in his negative attitude toward the proliferation of
kebab stands in Rome. “Rome,” he said, “is opening up to foreigners because the
government and the eu are forcing it to do so. [The Roman people] are left to
lament the changes in their neighborhoods and an influx of people who neither
speak our language nor take an interest in our culture. how do these people have
the right to come here and do very little to be accepted and those who have been
here for generations, who can trace their Roman heritage seven generations [as he
could, his mother proudly added], have no right to defend the form of life that we
have created in that time?” he went on to say that Rome was his city, not theirs.
he would never dream of going to another country to set up a shop. such a move
would be “the most vulgar [form] of materialism.” i asked him what he feared
in the presence of the indians. “he eventual destruction of Roman culture,” he
said.
Conversely, mario, an as Roma fan in his mid-forties who has been attend-
ing games since he was seven, told me “[not to] worry about traditions collapsing
in Rome. The rest of the world lives without tradition because their history, cul-
ture, existence itself, is not real. but here in Rome, the past is so important that
you cannot even live in it. we have a perpetual present (
il presente permanente
)
that stretches back 2,700 years.” mario's statement reminded me of michael po-
lanyi's struggle to justify the forms of knowledge generated by zealotry, through
which violence and terror are given fuel. borrowing from hannah arendt, he ex-
plains that revolutionary education is designed to abolish the line between truth
and fiction, thereby making every knowable thing a “statement of purpose” (po-
lanyi 1974, 242). leaving aside his epistemology (and political aversion to extrem-
ism), his understanding of knowledge serving a purpose but also being pliable
is reflected in mario's statement. and there is no mistaking that this devotion
to Rome is a form of extremism. Rome's visibly multilayered history makes the
city's historical importance a constant reminder of what is “at stake” for the Ro-
mans. in effect, their feelings of ownership are manifested in every evening stroll
they take.
This chapter demonstrates the complexities of the deep affection for Rome
and things Roman among the city's football fans. far from being “just a sport,”
football is an integral part of the Roman social and political landscape. while
football fans have become politicians and politicians are often football fans, the
politicization of football fans into a particular (and particularist) cultural under-
standing is a process that brings together influences and symbols from a broad
social field. as has been explained, the two large professional football teams in
Rome both have important historical connections with the fascist regime. today,
both teams share the highly fascist foro italico complex. and both teams can
count extreme right-wing activists among their most passionate fans. Yet, among
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