Men and masculinities at play: The hali saha football in Istanbul

This thesis investigates halı saha as one of the main spaces where homosocialization among heteromasculine men takes place in the urban context of İstanbul. It specifically focuses on young men with urban, secular and middle-class backgrounds, and explores the general patterns and main dynamics in their relations with each other on and through halı sahas in their social milieu. It regards halı saha as a masculinized and heterosexualized space where these relations are crystallized in certain forms and where particular subjectivities are constituted and performed. It argues that homosocial relations of men, in general, are based on two essential dynamics: competition and bonding. In these relations, a strategical way to balance the simultaneous and seemingly conflicting co-existence of competition and bonding is the practice of teasing which, both requires rivalry and intimacy and prevents unwanted consequences of too much rivalry and too much intimacy. In the meantime, the thesis describes and analyzes the mainstream halı saha football on the basis of four important elements in the halı saha football – organization, squads, jerseys and goalkeeping – which are presented as processes where relations of power, rivalry and cooperation become more visible. Before discussing these dynamics and processes through autoethnographic data, halı sahas are sociologically contextualized, a theoretical and conceptual framework for the understanding of men and masculinities is presented, and the dimension of gender in sports and football is examined. The thesis ultimately questions the possibility and political significance of a more equal and inclusive halı saha football.