ABSTRACT
Football stadiums are privileged sites from where to observe the world. This chapter draws from the author's long-term ethnographic work in Barcelona on football and other sports and her frequent visits to Camp Nou. Participant observation may yield unique insight into fan behaviours, representations and desires. This chapter will address four themes that dominate the football culture of FC Barcelona: politics, identity, capitalism and desire. The paper will draw from anthropological perspectives and theories that help identify and analyse fan rituals, identities, representations and desires at such politically significant events as the Spanish King's Cup and the Clásico. These ethnographic reports will span Catalonia's politically most turbulent years between 2009 and 2023.
