ECMI Infochannel

With its second Statute of Autonomy, the Italian province of South Tyrol is usually considered a model for resolving ethnic conflicts. In the light of the 50^th anniversary of the Statute, this blogpost aims at discussing the current status of South Tyrol’s autonomy and measures to protect the province’s German and Ladin-speaking population. In particular, the analysis focuses on the effects of the second Statute of Autonomy on the South Tyrolean population over the past five decades and the relationships between the linguistic groups. In bringing together a variety of research conducted on South Tyrol, the author highlights both the successful results in terms of peaceful cohabitation as well the limits and problematic aspects that still persist.

Football clubs are often analysed by scholars as ‘imagined communities’, for no fan of any team will ever meet, or even be aware of most of their fellow supporters on an individual level. They are also simultaneously one of the most tribal phenomena of the twenty-first century, comparable to religion in terms of the complexity of rituals, their rhythm and overall organizational intricacies, yet equally inseparable from economics and politics. Whilst, superficially, the events of sporting fixtures carry little political significance, for many of Europe’s national and linguistic minorities football fandom takes on an extra dimension of identity – on an individual and collective scale, acting as a defining differentiation from the majority society. This blogpost analyses five clubs from non-kin state settings, with the intention to assess how different aspects of minority identities affect their fan bases, communication policies and other practices.