‘The East’ strikes back. Ultras Dynamo, hyper-stylization, and regimes of truth

Abstract

This case study deals with Ultras Dynamo, the leading group in the active fan scene of Eastern German (the term Eastern Germany is used within this paper to refer to the territory on which the GDR existed from 1949 to 1990; it entails the federal states Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thuringia and the eastern part of Berlin) side SG Dynamo Dresden (throughout the paper, the club’s full name ‘Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden’ will be shortened using either Dynamo Dresden or simply Dynamo. Among the fans, the club is mostly called SGD (abbreviation of Sport[G]emeinschaft Dynamo) which is also used on flags, banners and in fan chants). The paper analyses styles of self-representation of the active fan scene at Dynamo and critically analyses the claim made by the group to being apolitical. The process of collective identity construction is linked to media images of the group and a ‘regime of truth’ is identified: a self-sustaining and interdependent cycle which overarches the process of image- and identity-construction at Dynamo Dresden and which can be traced back to processes of labelling, stigmatization and secondary deviance.