Bulls, Bullfighting, and Spanish Identities (The Anthropology of Form and Meaning) - Tapa dura

"An important study, one which promises to be widely discussed as Spain continues its uneven movement toward modernity." --Virginia Quarterly Review"As a detailed explanation of the workings--symbolic and practical--of the bullfighting system and of how these ludic events are reconfigured in different parts of Spain, the book is authoritative and demonstrates careful archival research, excellent control of the theme literature, and solid fieldwork." --Choice"Readers who enjoy festival will not be disappointed--Douglass takes them by the hand and never loses her lucidity amidst the merrymaking." --Journal of Anthropological Research

In talking about bulls and bullfighting, observes Douglass, one ends up talking not only about differences in region, class, and politics in Spain but also about that country's ongoing struggle between modernity and tradition. She relates how Spaniards and outsiders see bullfighting as representative of a traditional, irrational Spain contrasted with a more civilized Europe, and she shows how Spaniards' ambivalence about bullfighting is actually a way of expressing ambivalence about the loss of traditional culture in a modern world.