Masculinity, Violence, and Deindividuation in Argentine Soccer Chants: The Sonic Potentials of Participatory Sounding-in-Synchrony

Through an ethnographic study of Argentine soccer fans, this article explores the potentials of participatory moving-and-sounding-in-synchrony to construct a kind of masculinity that can promote physical violence, homophobia, and racism. I suggest that chants are a performative social space that frames the meaning and values of the discourse of aguante (endurance), a key concept in the construction of Argentine masculinities. Furthermore, the article demonstrates how participatory music making contributes to a process of deindividuation that allows the public utterance of expressions, slurs, and profanity that most people might refrain from using otherwise, in resonance with Judith Butler’s concept of the performativity of assemblies.