Railwaymen, blacks and endurers: meanings and identities in the chants of Central Norte’s supporters

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the identity construction of football supporters, in particular those supporting the team Central Norte of Salta. Like Washington Uranga, we understand that processes of communication imply processes of construction, creation and recreation of meanings allowing subjects to constitute themselves individually and collectively (Uranga, 2001). We therefore look into the chants of a club’s fans to analyse this materiality providing a collective voice in which one can find some clues to understand what and how the fans represent themselves and, at the same time, how they build their otherness. Based on discourse analysis, life stories and a short historical overview, we examine the features allowing us to interpret the meaning that these fans, also called “crows”, attribute to their “being-in-the world”