Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses discourses of masculinity in a left wing ultras group – White Angels Zagreb. I argue that group concepts of masculinity are embedded within dominant discursive hegemonies established in post-Yugoslav space, whilst rejecting enforced ‘hard’ masculinity common in right wing groups

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I discuss confrontations involving violence and discourses of masculinity in a left wing ultras group - White Angels Zagreb - on the basis of ethnographic observations made as a group member involved in a number of overlapping antifascist activist engagements in Serbia and Croatia. Building my argument up from an ethnographic vignette, I also discuss the historical context underlying the production of masculinities and heteropatriarchy in the post-Yugoslav context. I then introduce the group, examining ethnographic material concerning violence and masculinities. I argue that whilst not initiating violence against other groups, talk about violent incidents with other groups plays a similar role to that documented in right wing groups in cementing collective identifications, and that group concepts of masculinity are embedded within dominant discursive hegemonies established in post-Yugoslav space, whilst simultaneously rejecting enforced 'hard' masculinity, an important observation which differentiates them from many right wing ultras in the region.