Soccer and Kinship in Argentina: The Mother's Brother and the Heritage of Identity

Abstract

This article analyses the relationship between kinship and the heritage of football identity in Argentina. Some of the classic concepts relating to kinship found within social anthropology are utilized in order to explain one of the practices that generates the strongest senses of belonging in our contemporary society. The main thrust of this article is that the mother's brother (maternal uncle), as opposed to the father of the male child, plays a fundamental role in the transmission of football passion. There are also some structural constraints that affect the father and the maternal uncle. The analysis of the relationship between football and kinship not only considers the role of general social processes such as those relating to machismo but also other esoteric characteristics of football ritual in order to provide a structural explanation of the transmission of football passions in the societies of the River Plate in Argentina.