Performing Identity in the English Premier League Football Fandom in Eldoret, Kenya

Abstract

Ruth Finnegan1 and Ropo Sekoni2 have observed that studies of African oral forms interact with those of contemporary popular culture. This study extends this discourse, arguing that electronic football fandom is one of these emerging patterns of popular culture,3 a cultural trend that has been observed by other scholars such as Mark Fletcher4, Olaoluwa & Adejayan5, Siundu6, Vokes7 and Komakoma8. The practice cuts across the urban and rural spaces and the main trend of scholarship has been on its social impact and cultural processes. In this study we focus on what could be described as the Kenyan mid level urban space, and examine the character and influence of electronic football fandom on the wider processes of micro-sociology. The study develops the argument that the dynamics of social life in the mid-level urban spaces of Africa are such that the performance of the self and community involve a play between the Gesselschaft of urban society and echoes of Gemeinschaft from the experience of - village - community. Data for the study is obtained from fieldwork techniques of semi-structured interviews and Focused Group Discussion with informants identified through the purposive sampling technique. The findings of the study establish a connection between wider process of negotiating between on the one hand performing of the self and community in the mid-level urban space and on the other hand the modes of electronic fandom practices adopted.