Medina, Alex: Sounding Homophobia: Neoliberal Discourses, FIFA Regulation, and the Collective Chanting of “Puto”

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Title: Sounding Homophobia: Neoliberal Discourses, FIFA Regulation, and the Collective Chanting of “Puto”

Name: Alex Medina

Home Institute: Lawrence University, Conservatory of Music

Programs: RISE program, Graduate School Exploration Fellowship (GSEF) – Big Ten Academic Alliance

Other contributors: Eduardo Herrera, Jonathan Sauceda

Abstract: Analyses of soccer chants have been primarily framed within linguistic or sociological perspectives; ethnomusicological understanding of participatory, non-hierarchical “sounding-in-synchrony” is shown in a positive light because of the opportunity to “do” music together and the sense of community experienced through a shared repertoire of songs. However, the use of homophobic slurs and calls to violence in Latin American soccer chants (and in this project specifically, Mexico) proves that in some cases, sound is violence. Through a survey of news clips, articles, YouTube videos, and primary-source recordings dating from 2012 to the present, I analyze the changes in discourse surrounding the use of the term “puto” (translating to “faggot”) by fans of the Mexican (men’s) national soccer team and the development of international pressure to regulate its use. By doing so, my project highlights tensions between neoliberal tolerance discourse and counter-hegemonic moves against heteronormativity in a sport globally associated with masculinity. My research is situated at the intersection of gender studies, ethnomusicology, and sound studies, which expands notions of collective sound-making, masculinity, and the body. Future research in chanting vis-à-vis sound studies and ethnomusicology will create more thorough understandings of how collective groups of people create group identity within sounding together, in addition to how people mitigate external social pressure in a neoliberal society.

Biography: Alex Miguel Medina is a current undergraduate student and rising senior at the Lawrence University, Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Alex is a candidate for the Bachelor of Music with a self-designed major in Performance Studies. At Lawrence, Alex has been the President of the National Association for Music Education, Collegiate (NAFME-C), for the past two years and will be the Co-Chair and Musicology Representative for the Dean’s Advisory Council (DAC) starting this fall. As well as being a participant in the RISE at Rutgers program, Alex is a Graduate School Exploration Fellowship (GSEF) scholar through the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM). Alex’s research interests include gender and sexuality studies, Chicanx studies, popular music analysis, and decolonial epistemologies. After Lawrence, Alex will be applying to graduate programs in ethno/musicology.