Cockfight

À quels jeux jouait-on en Grèce ancienne ? À quoi ressemblaient-ils ? Selon quelles règles ? À combien ? Qui jouait avec qui ? Les filles avec les garçons ? À quelle occasion ? Y avait-il des prix comme dans le sport ? C'est à ces questions-là, et à bien d'autres, que répondra Véronique Dasen.
Puis – ce sera à vous de jouer !

The study unravelled the phenomenon of bullfighting culture and its influence on the development of the Abakakamega of Western Kenya since 1850. It has three objectives: to trace the origin of bullfighting culture, to assess various aspects contributing to the growth of bullfighting among the Abakakamega, and to examine the influence of bullfighting on the development of the people of Abakakamega since 1850. The study was guided by three research questions, which are as follows: How did bullfighting culture originate among the Abakakamega? Secondly, what are various aspects that contribute to the growth of bullfighting among the Abakakamega? And finally, how does bullfighting influence the development of the Abakakamega since 1850? In the scope, this study was carried out in Kakamega County. It focused on two sub-counties that are occupied by Abakakamega, that is, Ikolomani and Shinyalu. The limitations of the study were the vastness of the study area.  It thus called for more inputs as far as finance was concerned. The challenge of getting sensitive information on why bullfighting is so much associated with the owner emerged. The study was justified in three ways in order to cover a broad spectrum of knowledge and ideas. This included academic justification, policy justification, and finally philosophical justification. In this case, the philosophies of American political scientists Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba were employed. This study was guided by various literature. They are arranged from the global perspective, then literature from Africa, and finally literature from Kenya, especially from Abakakamega, which is the area of study. The study adopted political culture theory, articulation theory, and functionalism theory, which have passed through several periods of intensive development and high interest from both social and political research science. This study adopted a qualitative research approach. This is because it primarily bases its arguments on videos, people’s ideas and personal opinions, and written data from various scholars. A descriptive research design was also used. This is because the study intended to have an in-depth examination of the history of bullfighting culturally, politically, and economically.  The study was further guided by various ethical considerations that ensured the attainment of quality work. The study's major findings as per the objectives were as follows: in the first object, bullfighting origins among the Abakakamega originated from the interaction of bulls in the grazing fields, wrestling, and around the Abaami’s homesteads. In the second objective, the study found that as a social and geographical phenomenon, culture and entertainment are the main contributors of bullfighting among the Abakakamega. Finally, in the third objective, the study found that bullfighting is a game and a source of income for many bull owners in Shinyalu and Ikolomani sub-counties in Kakamega County. Major conclusions were also made as per the objectives as follows: in the first objective, the study concludes that the concept of bullfighting in the Abakakamega community of western Kenya has a long history with its origins and developments being traced from within. In the second objective, the study concluded that the bullfighting seen today has undergone continuous development since the pre-colonial period, with a number of aspects contributing to this. Lastly, in the third objective, the study concluded that the bulls are highly honoured as they play a greater role in the cultural, economic, and political life of the Abakakamega community. The following recommendations were made as per the objectives of the study. First, the historicity of bullfighting needs to be more unravelled and properly documented. Secondly, scholars from various disciplines need to put their minds together and come up with robust information attached to bullfighting among the Abakakamega to avoid clashing of its history as it is now between the Isukha and Idakho. Thirdly, the church leaders and the community among the Abakakamega should have a dialogue on how to accommodate this sport and not be viewed as an outdated culture as it is rooted in the community.

Acte de colloque (Uni-CV, Praia, Cap-Vert,  novembre 2021). Présentation d'une étude menée sur les combats de coqs à l'Ile de La Réunion dans le cadre du cours de master "Anthropologie des bêtes à pensées" (LANTR2010) de Frédéric Laugrand (UCLouvain, 2020).

The process of killing non-human animals demands certain psychosocial, affective, and moral processes. In the case of socalled 'death-saturated environments', psychic numbing and systematic desensitisation related to violent attitudes and behaviours against non-human animals acquire contradictory dimensions. To understand these processes in depth, this article proposes a theoretical perspective based on the social psychology of human-animal relations. Empirically, the study examines the experiences, attitudes, and worldviews of men in Ecuador whose jobs involve inflicting pain and death on animals and focuses on the ways in which these subjects deal with 'moral stress' and 'the caring-killing paradox'. It examines how slaughterhouse workers, bullfighters, and cockfighters establish ambivalent relationships with the animals, characterised by a certain paradoxical moral and affective action. Eleven indepth interviews, lasting one to three hours, were conducted for this purpose, and are analysed through the qualitative data analysis software Atlas.ti, using thematic analysis as a qualitative research technique.

FROM LIFE ON A REMOTE ISLAND IN THE PHILIPPINES: AN ETHNOGEOGRAPHY. Two major issues are illustrated in this extended family story in the village of Birawan on Daram.  One, and a recurrent one, is the utter inability of just about all these people to see or even imagine the consequences of their actions: in this example, Darel and Geralyn not giving enough thought to what taking on a very large loan would mean both for the present and for years to come.  Likewise, there was the lack of foresight and responsibility by Darel’s father and just how costly his cockfight addiction and drinking habit would be to the large family.  Here, of course, the inability to look ahead is made that much more difficult by addictions that are common in the village and on the island, the most serious one that of betting on cockfights.

Animais de capoeira foram desce sempre companheiros assíduos do homem e da mulher do mundo rural. As culturas populares apropriaram-se ao longo dos séculos de um riquíssimo e diversificado valor simbólico do galo e das galinhas, cujo sentido se exprime sobre a forma de refrãos, provérbios, adivinhas, práticas devocionais, cantigas, lendas, etc. Neste texto o autor recolhe uma estória verdadeira passada na aldeia da Lousa, e a partir dela expõe um conjunto de elementos associados ao galo e às galinhas que integram o imaginário popular desta aldeia duriense. Ao texto associam-se ilustrações do artista Carlos Medina.

La concepción de los seres vivos que prevalece en Occidente se caracteriza por una oposición ontológica entre el hombre y los demás animales. A partir de diversos enfoques (iconográficos, textuales o materiales), esta jornada pretende examinar una de las dimensiones inherentes de esta visión, la de la violencia asociada a los animales. El objetivo del encuentro interdisciplinar consiste en explorar el uso del animal como símbolo, objeto o instrumento de la violencia humana en el mundo hispánico medieval y moderno. El estudio de los animales, tanto en sus realidades materiales como en sus representaciones, y a la luz del concepto de violencia, nos invita finalmente a cuestionar el lugar que ocupan los animales en las sociedades del pasado, con especial atención en las continuidades y rupturas.

En competition sportive, la mise en place d’un handicap de jeu est un probleme souvent delicat. Certains sports comme le tennis ou le golf ont regle la question en definissant une nomenclature de classement basee sur cette notion de handicap. Au tennis de table, les intitules des classements, aujourd’hui comme hier, ne traduisent aucune notion de handicap. Pour autant, de nombreux club de tennis de table organisent des tournois bases sur des handicaps aussi divers que varies. Nous proposons ici une approche probabiliste permettant de definir, une regle de handicap simple, rationnelle, juste et equilibree.

O objetivo deste artigo é o de discutir os conflitos gerados pela imposição de reformas urbanas em Florianópolis (SC) ao longo da ditadura militar, com desdobramentos no período democrático. Explora os choques entre os projetos urbanos de uma cidade construída em torno dos valores das classes médias e a paulatina constituição de novas utopias e horizontes sociais a partir das lutas democráticas pelo direito à cidade, tomado como dimensão dos direitos humanos. Florianópolis tornou-se um palco de disputas em torno das representações sociais construídas acerca dos grupos populares urbanos e a difícil concretização de demandas inspiradas na utopia dos direitos humanos.

Before the mid-nineteenth century, pigeon flying, cockfighting, and dogfighting were predominantly elite pursuits in India, a part of court recreation, and favoured pastimes of local rulers and early colonial officials. For the Indian elite and the British, these sports served as symbols of power and displayed different forms of overlapping and contesting masculinities. Later, in the late colonial era, the elites withdrew their support from these activities and adopted “gentlemanly” sports like cricket, tennis and hunting. The common people, whose limited contact with the British meant that they could practise many “banned” activities with few repercussions, enthusiastically adopted pigeon flying, cockfighting, and dogfighting. This paper examines the socio-historical transformation of these three pursuits and explains how they canvas a plurality of masculinities that evolved since the sixteenth century. Till present times, many rural people continue to practise these animal related sports in ways similar to those of the Mughal elites as a means of fulfilling their enthusiasm, demonstrating their domination over others, achieving status among peers, and reproducing masculinities.

This dissertation aims at dealing with a polemic issue: cockfighting. The text tries to create a historical narrative for cockfighting in Brazil during the years of 1960 and 2017 with the main goal of analyzing some social and cultural conflicts derived from opposite stances. Concerning this aspect, it is noticed through this activity power dispute and Constant transformation of sensibilities towards animals, which lead to the consolidation of its forbiddance. In order to support this point of view we consider the production of scientific knowledge, literature produced by people involved with the practice, news, social media, videos, law texts and also the author’s experience about the subject and field activities. Therefore, the text starts with questioning the current discussion about the status of animals in the West culture, that is, how the changes in the relations between man and animals have contributed to the erosion of the anthropocentrism and the objectification of beings classified as sentient. Thus, we propose to compare the experiences of cockfighting and bullfighting, in France and Spain, and the disputes around these practices. Later on, we analyze the vast bibliography on the different kinds of cockfighting throughout history and how the rooster has been seen in different cultures and times, until we reach the Brazilian case. After that, we analyze cockfighting from its peak until the conflicts that led to the attempts of prohibition and, at last, some situations that led to the shutdown of many places where the practice used to take place. Nevertheless, in spite of that, the practice continues in a clandestine way and by the persistence of the people involved with the practice who struggle for its legalization and, also, the constitution of groups of lobbyists, as well as the resistance of some NGOs in the defense of animals.

In 2014 in Guasipati, an agricultural and cattle town in Southeastern Venezuela, I witnessed a group of men of all generations who staged themselves through the orgasmic rite of cockfights. In Geertz's famous ethnography of cockfighting in Bali, the 'irrationality' of betting appears at first as surprising. But cockfighting is a game that dramatizes status and tests group solidarity, it is a measure of moral import and of meaning. This photographic record of masculinities at play in cockfighting builds on Geertz' interpretation. The images were taken in the gallera (cockpit) of Guasipati during a clandestine night. It is here that the participating men engage in a form of capitalist communication that directly questions the Bolivarian Revolution. Many are workers within socialist enterprises, and they tremendously enjoy this illegal and transgressive activity. Within this space, the patterns of exchange become competitive and inscribed in subterranean capitalist circuits, evoking a symbolism of masculine power disputes (who is a man and who not) vis-à-vis the prohibitions of socialism. It is here that illegal enrichment that serves as a source and mark of status within the state controlled economy is effectively played out. Behind the individual and collective euphoria seen in the photographs, there are even more euphoric social tensions of betting and status at work.

In 2013, the Canadian Museum of History made an unusual acquisition: a stuffed fighting cock that once belonged to Toronto tavern owner William Vine. This research note suggests that a close examination of the rooster and his accoutrement reveal clues about the shady world of nineteenth-century Canadian cockfighting.

Este artigo pretende apresen-tar alguns aspectos historiográficos da espécie gallus gallus, sua provável origem na  Ásia, onde, desde muito cedo, a antropização possibilitou sua domesticação e posteriormente sua difusão pelo mundo. Procurar-se-á, em seguida, fazer uma análise com base em pressupostos da história ambiental no que tange à prática das brigas de galos, seus aspectos legais e morais. Para isso, são trazidos depoimentos com vistas a um olhar mais relativista e menos dualista entre natureza e cultura, observando, assim, como se deu e se dá a interação entre os homens e os galos.

During archaeological research in the central part of the Roman Oescus (modern day Gigen), in the province of Moesia Inferior (Late Roman province Dacia Ripensis), a structure (3rd-4th century A.D.) was discovered with a room decorated with a mosaic floor with figural scenes. Mosaics’ panels depicted scenes from the Menander’s piece “The Achaeans”, cockfights, world of fishes and animals – symbols of seasons. Special attention is dedicated to a partially preserved depiction of a cockfight (ludi gallinarii), which was one of the favorite sports and gambling events in Roman times.

When we began our fieldwork we had no idea that our field site was also spread beyond the boundaries of the village and very near to our camp.

On a Saturday we came to know from the local people that there will be a cockfight just in front of our lodge in a small ground. People were already gathering in a circle
to watch the cockfight. It was also the day for local weekly market at Sardarpara.

Within moments, the birds that were quite large were left by the men who were holding them right on the ground and the fight began. Both the cocks jumped in the
air and tried to strike each other by swinging their legs carrying the knife. At that time people were shouting and enjoyed the fight a lot. It seemed to us that the people were
in their height of excitement, as if they were fully drunk. Some of them might have taken a few doses of the local rice-beer which were being sold by women within the
premises of the weekly market. We have not seen any women during the cockfight.
We asked a number of men about the absence of women. All of them replied: ‘This is the affair of men only.’

In this particular fight, which we watched the cocks were willing and the fight began.Several attacks were made by both birds to each other and both got injuries. Finally,
one cock hit the other severely in the neck of its opponent and the strike was lethal.
While we were interviewing the participants on the different aspects of the cockfight, one man told us: ‘People also bet on the cockfight and the stakes are as high as
Rs.500-1000 or more per fight’. We immediately got interested and began to enquireabout betting but the other men instantaneously stopped him by saying: ‘No..no..
bettings do not take place ..... this man does not know about our place.... he has comefrom outside....’ The man who talked about betting stopped and did not say anything
more on betting and almost disappeared in the crowd of the weekly market.

After watching the fight, we asked a number of men: ‘Why the knife is tied with the left leg of the cock?’ Everyone answered: ‘During fights, the cocks move their left legfaster and has a greater chance to win!

Le combat de coqs polynésien prend fréquemment le caractère d’un affrontement interethnique lorsque des coqueleurs chinois se rendent de Tahiti à Raiatea pour s’y mesurer aux coqueleurs tahitiens. L’analyse de ces duels interethniques est guidée par la question interactionniste par excellence : qu’est-ce qui assure le maintien de l’interaction entre joueurs inégaux ? En effet, l’asymétrie entre ces deux groupes de joueurs est structurelle, étant due notamment à la meilleure qualité des coqs “chinois”. A première vue, il semble que l’interaction soit maintenue grâce au mécanisme du handicap. Les paris inégaux, ou « contre », proposés par les joueurs chinois doivent en théorie assurer l’égalisation des espérances de gain, condition postulée par la Théorie des jeux pour rendre compte du comportement des joueurs. Pourtant les coqueleurs chinois, même en tenant compte du handicap, gagnent au détriment de leurs adversaires. Dès lors, pour comprendre la perpétuation du jeu, il est nécessaire d’admettre que les rationalités diffèrent. L’explication de la persistance de l’interaction sera à rechercher dans les manières différentes qu’ont les joueurs de sauver la face en fonction de l’enjeu conféré au jeu.

The Polynesian cockfight often takes on an interethnic aspect, when Chinese players travel from Tahiti to Raiatea to fight against the Tahitians. The analysis of these interethnic duels starts with interactionism’s main question and “raison d’être“ : what allows the persistence of social interaction between uneven players ? The fights usually oppose a Chinese player, almost assured of victory, to a Tahitian contestant, whose chances of winning are minimal. It seems, at first sight, that the maintenance of interaction is ensured by the practice of handicapping. Chinese players systematically propose uneven bets to their opponents, thereby equalizing chances of winning : the fundamental condition, according to Game Theory, to explain why players engage in the game. However, the Raiatean players claim to lose money, in the long run, to their Chinese adversaries. We must then admit that rationalities differ. The explanation for the persistence of interaction will be found in the different ways in which the players avoid losing face, according to what is at stake for them in the game.

This article challenges the notion of economic rationality as a criterion for explaining ethnic boundary maintenance. It offers an ethnographic analysis of inter-ethnic relations in the context of games (cockfights and game-fishing contests) in the island of Raiatea (French Polynesia). Although all players engage in the same basic gambling practices, money is differentially scaled and mobilized by the Tahitian and Chinese participants. Building on recent pragmatic approaches to rationality, it is shown that the players’ rationalities differ not from the point of view of economic maximization, but only in so far as they participate in social relations at different scales.