HYBRID SOCIAL PERFORMANCES. THE CASE OF URBAN BULLFIGHTING IN CONTEMPORARY PERU

Gauna P.A.F.; del Valle C.M.A.G.; Espinoza H.D.; Chachi Q.N.G. · Athenea Digital (2023) · DOI: 10.5565/rev/athenea.3007

Resumen

The performative theory of social action has not sufficiently considered the possibility of hybridity, nor therefore the consequences of such consideration. Based on 14 semi-structured interviews with bullfighters, fans of bullfighting, and anti-bullfighting persons, in this article we analyze a case of a hybrid human / non-human social performance: bullfighting in today’s urban Peru. Said performance is read in a contrasting way by pro-bullfighting fans and anti-bullfighting individuals in conflicting interpretations about the very meaning of culture: aesthetics-traditiondiversity versus banality-foreign customs-death / suffering. We propose that both visions can coincide in the pragmatic structuring of their meanings: as hybrid performances. By interpreting bullfighting in this way, a vision of the bullfight emerges as a performance of the power of the human species over other species, artistically sublimated. © Este texto está protegido por una licencia Creative Commons 4.0.

Instituciones: Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas