Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to open a debate about the creation of hte IUAES Anthropology of Sports Comission. To do it, I'll present some aspects of Brazilian Anthropology of Sports, stimulating a perspective which goes from an analysis of each national tradition to global and comparative investigations in our field.

Paper long abstract:

One of the main interests with this panel is to contribute to the construction of our Comission of Anthropology of Sports in the IUAES. I was present at the last IUAES inter-congress, in Dubrovnik, and two things caught my attention there. The first one was that, in the Anthropology of Sports panel, just two papers were from a socio-cultural perspective, while around ten others were discussing medical or physical aspects of sportive practices. The second was that, in the middle of a general movement to create or consolidate specific comissions, no one from that panel was proposing it for sports. These are the points of departure for this panel, and I hopes to contribute to this discussion presenting some aspects of Brazilian Anthropology of Sports. My intention with it is to socialize all participants with this production, while stimulating the possibilities of producing comparative studies in the next years, which can be one of the most important dimensions for an IUAES comission. To understand the particularity of each national tradition in this field is a necessary step to begin to think globally about sports, and to capacitize ourselves to interpret sportive megaevents, world migration, political and economic dimensions of sports, and other aspects in more cooperative investigations. So, as one of the proponents of this panel, my aim is to invite everyone to think about these questions, and to participate in the creation of our comission.

Paper short abstract:

This is part of a research about gender and sexuality in the field of sports.Particularly this is a discussion about "dissonant sport practices" related to transgender bodies.

Paper long abstract:

Currently part of my research is about transgender bodies in sports. In this text I would like to address some issues related to the otherness in the field of sports, which has been drawn in my topics related to transgender bodies of male/female (MtF or FtM) athletes. I have searched for what I call dissonant sport practices, that is, athletic manifestations that wouldn't fit into the technical reproducibility patterns of the body's gestures in the mainstream sports, and that even so would produce results. On the other hand, I want to conceptualize the dissonant bodies, which would be those that are placed in the limits of normative bodies, being considered deviant of the "norm" or "abject" (e.g., bodies that don't fit the idealized standards of beauty, aesthetics, sex & gender, or efficiency proposed by contemporary Western societies, but still are present in certain high level championships, like the Olympics).

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the World Games of Indigenous Peoples held in Brazil in 2015 through the double lens of indigeneity, with its performative dimension, and Indigenism, modeled on Orientalism, to destabilize the classic indigenous versus non-indigenous binary.

Paper long abstract:

This paper addresses the first edition of the World Games of Indigenous Peoples, held in Brazil in autumn 2015. It does so through the double lens of indigeneity, especially its performative dimension, as well as Indigenism understood here as a concept modeled on Orientalism to destabilize the classic indigenous versus non-indigenous binary. The World Games offered a unique site to explore first-hand various processes of mutual identity construction, by allowing insights into how Brazilian society and authorities construe the place of Indigenas and, by the same token, the national Self; and how indigenous people responded to such constructions. The visual and social media related material gathered during the event illustrates what has been called the post-traditional dimension of indigeneity, tied in particular to more or less forced rural-urban mobility under the impact of mega-development projects and environmental degradation. In this manner, both within and outside the arena reserved for the competitions and an array of cultural events, the World Games aimed to celebrate indigenous peoples, all the while bringing to the fore some of the misconceptions and conflicts surrounding indigeneity in Brazil. The latter were illustrated by protests against the so-called PEC 215 constitutional amendment, which would fundamentally alter the process of indigenous land demarcations in Brazil. From an allegedly apolitical event destined to celebrate indigenous sports and cultures from across the world, the Games thus turned into a stage for local political mobilisation.

Paper short abstract:

Soccer matches in Argentina are visceral and evocative performances. This paper explores how fans in the stadium produce and apprehend a complete sensual experience that contributes to their ever changing emotional states during a match.

Paper long abstract:

Loud booms emanate from the large base drums of the band restarting the crowd's singing. For a second time in less than ninety minutes many in the crowd are crying, this time in joy. A goal has led to the San Lorenzo's fans' euphoric explosion of sound and a collapse of people into multiple embraces. Soccer matches in Argentina are visceral and evocative performances. Argentinian fans talk about their relationship to soccer as one involving passion and suffering. Terraces come alive as affective realities: from sensational violence to outpourings of joy, sadness, and anger. Fans in the stadium apprehend a complete sensual experience that contributes to their ever changing emotional states during a match. Using the ethnographic description of a match of Buenos Aires club San Lorenzo against Rosario-based rivals Newell's Old Boys and the research's participation in more than sixty Argentinian soccer matches, this paper explores the unfolding world of the Argentinian soccer fan during a match. Drawing on performance, phenomenology, and Bakhtin's theory of communication, this paper argues that the production of emotion within the stadium space is a collective effort that requires practiced bodies and historically constituted ideologies merging into a dialogic and multivocal performance.

Paper short abstract:

J'essaie de déchiffrer le sens anthropologique du mouvement corporel dans un match de soccer en interrogeant le caractère ubrique (créateur de désordre) de la règle imposée par le jeu à des êtres à vocation manuelle : « prescrire les pieds et proscrire les mains pour contrôler un ballon rond ».

Paper long abstract:

Le fil conducteur de ma proposition est une rencontre de soccer car :

1. Le scénario amateur ou professionnel d'un match constitue autant un lieu privilégié d'expérience sensible que la rencontre charnelle collective la plus importante dans la société technologique d'aujourd'hui.

2. La signification socioanthropologique du sens résulte autant de la façon de l'agir communicationnelle que de l'interaction commune autour du corps en mouvement.

La règle de «prescrire les pieds et proscrire les mains pour contrôler un ballon rond convoité par vingt joueurs » va contre le cours de l'évolution humaine et contre notre anatomie. Une telle inadéquation entre moyens et fins suscite des performances inédites lesquelles, comblant des quêtes imaginaires chez les spectateurs, les stimulent à créer, à leur tour, des actions performantes. D'où le paroxysme et l'état de béatitude de certains partisans, d'où aussi les actions démesurées de célébration positives (accolade entre inconnus) ou négatives (agressions gratuites).

Pour cette conférence, j'essaie de déchiffrer les déclinaisons possibles de ce NOUS/LES AUTRES émergeant ainsi, tout en accordant une place importante à l'état « ubrique » de notre condition dans l'actuelle société. Je souhaite ainsi faire avancer la recherche en Anthropologie fondamentale réclamée déjà par Edgar Morin dans les années 70.

Paper short abstract:

During the last three decades, Bunun people in Taiwan have deeply transformed the game of volleyball. Now they play with two balls and teams of more than fifteen players each on a regular field just next their Presbyterian churches. Doing so, they share common values and build their group identity.

Paper long abstract:

In Taiwan, Baseball is the national sport, but volleyball is the favourite game of Bunun people, an Austronesian group living in the Central Mountain Range. Introduced in this part of the country soon after WW2, Volleyball encountered a strong development around the Presbyterian churches and was deeply transformed by the Presbyterians Bunun during the last three decades.

On Sundays and for festivals, especially Christmas, they play volleyball with two balls at the same time. Each game opposes two teams of more than fifteen players and approximately the same proportion of men and women on both sides, aged between 15 and 60 years old. After the tournaments, every participants, even the spectators, receive the same reward individually.

This game is agonistic and non-agonistic at the same time. The main goal of these specific rules is to celebrate the unity of the community, sharing an enjoyable moment together. Strong emotions experienced through sports create a powerful link between the participants. Through an excitement pushed up by the using of two balls simultaneously, the Presbyterians Bunun replay the values of muscular Christianity, universal priesthood and egalitarianism. From this point of view, volleyball contributes to build the identity of the group among the Bunun from inside and from outside, reinforcing the perception of differences with their neighbours (moral or physical), especially the Seediq who prefer to play basketball.

This presentation will be supported by ethnographic data collected during a six months extensive fieldwork in 2014 and 2015 in Mahavun village (Nantou county, Hsinyi township).