Ethnographic Fieldwork among Bogotá’s Barras Bravas: Reflections from a Supporter-Researcher in the Stands and on the Streets

Abstract

From 1991 to 2013 in Colombia, groups of football supporters, primarily young men, organised themselves into collectives known as barras bravas. These groups reshaped the dynamics of football matches, influenced patterns of spectator attendance, appropriated the stands located behind the goals, and engaged in both celebratory practices and acts of violence. The purpose of this article is to analyse the expression of carnival and the combative behaviour exhibited by barras bravas in Bogotá. Ethnographic fieldwork, conducted from an interpretive perspective, facilitated the understanding and description of the production, reproduction, and dissemination of meaning within participants’ experiences and narratives. Ethnographic fieldwork enables the researcher to be present alongside social actors in both time and space — in this case, with Blue Rain and Comandos Azules Distrito Capital, within the context of Millonarios Fútbol Club matches at the Nemesio Camacho ‘El Campín’ stadium. The techniques employed included participant observation, autoethnography, fieldnotes, interviews, and textual analysis. Ethnographic fieldwork revealed that the fans — organised into barras bravas — display festive expressions in the stadium stands and violent behaviours in the streets, referred to as 'carnival' and 'combat', respectively. The most salient conclusion is that festive practices function as a means of expressing support for the club, whereas violent behaviours serve as a way of confronting and asserting dominance over rivals. In carnival, they participate; in combat, they endure — both as forms of demonstrating aguante, a concept and lived experience affirmed through their presence in the stands and on the streets.