The Bull, Entertainment and Prestige: Bullfighting and masculinity in the Muğla countryside

Year 2025, Issue: 50, 1 - 12, 30.06.2025

Barış İşçi Pembeci

https://doi.org/10.33613/antropolojidergisi.1534818

Abstract

Bullfights, which start in spring and end in autumn in rural Muğla, stand out as an important event where people get away from the monotony and workload of daily provincial life and get together with their relatives and friends from the surrounding villages and have a pleasant time with the participation of a large audience. In this study, it is emphasized that bullfights, which are spatially and temporally temporary events for most of the participants, have special meanings and functions for rural men. This study emphasizes that, although bullfighting is a temporary event in terms of space and time for most participants, it holds special meanings and functions for rural men. Over the course of eleven months of ethnographic research, the network of relations, symbols, meanings, and practices within bullfighting were analyzed through the lens of Clifford Geertz's interpretive approach. It is claimed that the wrestling not only provides men with an opportunity to distance themselves from the masculinity norms of rural life but also provides the opportunity to reproduce and display these norms. In this context, the article examines the symbolic meanings of the bull associated with masculinity, the ways in which the wrestling events offer rural men an opportunity to escape the pressures of social masculinity, and the efforts of men to compensate for their fragile masculine reputations through spending practices during the events. This study is expected to contribute to anthropological research that focuses on the intersections of gender, power, and social status in rural societies.

Keywords

Bullfights , Countryside , Fragile Masculinity , Anthropology of Sports

Boğa, eğlence ve itibar: Muğla boğa güreşleri ve taşrada erkeklik

Abstract

Muğla kırsalında ilkbaharda başlayıp sonbaharda sona eren boğa güreşleri, geniş bir izleyici kitlesinin katılımıyla, insanların günlük taşra yaşamının monotonluğundan ve iş yükünden uzaklaşarak çevre köylerden gelen akrabaları ve dostlarıyla bir araya gelip keyifli vakit geçirdikleri önemli bir etkinlik olarak öne çıkmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, katılımcıların çoğu için mekânsal ve zamansal açıdan geçici bir etkinlik olan boğa güreşlerinin taşralı erkekler için özel anlam ve işlevler taşıdığına vurgu yapılmaktadır. On bir ay süren etnografik araştırma boyunca, boğa güreşlerinin içerdiği ilişkiler ağı, semboller, anlamlar ve pratikler, Clifford Geertz'in yorumsamacı yaklaşımı esas alınarak incelenmiştir. Güreşlerin erkeklere taşra yaşamının dayattığı erkeklik normlarından uzaklaşma fırsatı sunmasının yanı sıra, bu normları yeniden üretme ve sergileme olanağı da sağladığı iddia edilmektedir. Bu bağlamda, boğanın erkeklikle özdeşleşen sembolik anlamları ele alınmış, güreşlerin taşralı erkeklere toplumsal baskıdan uzaklaşma fırsatını sunma biçimleri ve güreşlerde para harcama pratiklerinin erkeklik itibarı ile ilişkisi incelenmiştir. Bu çalışmanın, kırsal toplumlarda cinsiyet, güç ilişkileri, sosyal statü arasındaki kesişimlere odaklanan antropolojik çalışmalara katkı sağlaması umulmaktadır.

Keywords

Boğa Güreşleri , Taşra , Kırılgan Erkeklik , Spor Antropolojisi

References

• Azoy, G.W. (1982) Buzkashi, game and power in Afghanistan. University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Besnier, N., Guinness, D., Hann, M., ve Kovač, U. (2018a). Rethinking masculinity in the neoliberal order: Cameroonian footballers, Fijian rugby players, and Senegalese wrestlers. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 60(4), 839-872. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417518000312
• Besnier, N., Brownell, S., ve Carter, T. F. (2018b). The anthropology of sport: Bodies, borders, biopolitics. University of California Press.
• Bozok, M. (2018). Türkiye’de ataerkillik, kapitalizm ve erkeklik ilişkilerinde biçimlenen babalık. Fe Dergi, 10(2), 30-42. https://doi.org/10.46655/federgi.676599
• Brandes, S. (1980). Metaphors of masculinity: Sex and status in Andalusian folklore. University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Bridges, T. ve Pascoe, C. J. (2014). Hybrid masculinities: New directions in the sociology of men and masculinities. Sociology compass, 8(3), 246-258. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12134
• Connell, R. W.ve Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender & society, 19(6), 829-859. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205278639
• Çakır, H. ve Aksoy, H. (2016). Yozgat kırsalında yaşayan üç kuşak kadının aile içi cinsiyet rollerindeki değişim. Journal of Turkish Studies, 11(2), 259-280. http://dx.doi.org/10.7827/TurkishStudies.9122
• DiMuccio, S. H. ve Knowles, E. D. (2019). The political significance of fragile masculinity. Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 34, 25-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.11.010
• Driessen, H. (1983). Male sociability and rituals of masculinity in rural Andalusia. Anthropological Quarterly, 125-133. https://doi.org/10.2307/3317306
• Dunning, E. (1986). Sport as a male preserve: Notes on the social sources of masculine identity and its transformations. Theory, culture & society, 3(1), 79-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276486003001007
• Ertuğrul, G. (2017). Beyazlık ve göç. Mülkiye Dergisi, 41(2), 71-98.
• Geertz, C. (1973) Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. Basic Books.
• Giulianotti, R. (2015). Introduction to part one. Richard Giulianotti (Ed.) içinde, Routledge Handbook of the Sociology of Sport (s. 3-8). Routledge.
• Gutmann, M. (2023). Remarking the unmarked: an anthropology of masculinity redux. Annual Review of Anthropology, 52(1), 55-72. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-052721-041915
• İşçi Pembeci, B. (2021). Günlük yaşamda kadınlar arası mizah ilişkilerine antropolojik bir yaklaşım. Antropoloji, (41), 172-182. https://doi.org/10.33613/antropolojidergisi.915121
• Jeffrey, C. (2010). Timepass: Youth, class, and time among unemployed young men in India. American ethnologist, 37(3), 465-481. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1425.2010.01266.x
• Kalof, L. (2014). Animal blood sport: A ritual display of masculinity and sexual virility. Sociology Mains, 31(4), 438-454. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2014-0051.
• Keskin, K.E. (2021). Mert alkışlar: Artvin boğa güreşlerinde erkeklik, gelenek ve zaman. [Yayınlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi]. Ankara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Antropoloji Anabilim Dalı. Ankara.
• Leach, J. (yön.) (1976). Trobriand cricket: an ingenious response to colonialism. University of California, Berkeley.
• Lenneis, V. ve Pfister, G. (2015). Gender constructions and negotiations of female football fans. A case study in Denmark. European Journal for Sport and Society, 12(2), 157-185. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16138171.2015.11687961
• Lévi-Strauss, C. (1964). The raw and the cooked: Mythologiques, Volume 1. University of Chicago Press.
• Mains, D. (2007). Neoliberal times: Progress, boredom, and shame among young men in urban Ethiopia. American Ethnologist, 34(4), 659-673. https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.2007.34.4.659
• Malinowski, B. (1984). Argonauts of the western Pacific: An account of native enterprise and adventure in the archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. George Routledge & Sons. (Orijinal eserin basımı 1922).
• Mauss, M. (1990). The Gift: the form and reason for exchange in archaic societies. Norton.(Orijinal eserin basımı 1925).
• Marvin, G. (1984). The cockfight in Andalusia, Spain: Images of the truly male. Anthropological Quarterly, 60-70. https://doi.org/10.2307/3317580
• Masquelier, A. (2013). Teatime: boredom and the temporalities of young men in Niger. Africa, 83(3), 470-491. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972013000272
• McGarry, K. (2010). Sport in transition: emerging trends on culture change in the anthropology of sport. Reviews in Anthropology, 39(3), 151-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/00938157.2010.502216
• Mitchell, T. J. (1986). Bullfighting: The ritual origin of scholarly myths. Journal of American folklore, 394-414.
• Özarslan, O. (2016). Hovarda Alemi: Taşrada Eğlence Erkeklik. İletişim Yayınları.
• Özkan, K. S. ve Kaylı, D. S. (2022). Kırsal alanda yaşayan kadınların söylemleri üzerinden kadınlık kimliklerinin kuruluşu-Manisa örneği. Sosyoloji Dergisi, (43), 125-154.
• Pfeffer, C. A., Rogalin, C. L. ve Gee, C. A. (2016). Masculinities through a cross‐disciplinary lens: Lessons from sociology and psychology. Sociology Compass, 10(8), 652-672. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12396
• Pfister, G. ve Bandy, S. J. (2015). Gender and Sport. Richard Giulianotti (Ed.) içinde, Routledge handbook of the sociology of sport (s. 220-230). Routledge.
• Pitt-Rivers, J. (1971). The people of the Sierra (Vol. 55). University of Chicago Press.
• Ritchie, I. (2015). Social class and sport. Richard Giulianotti (Ed.) içinde, Routledge Handbook of the Sociology of Sport (s. 210-219). Routledge.
• Rye, J. F. (2006). Rural youths’ images of the rural. Journal of Rural Studies, 22(4), 409-421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2006.01.005
• Sahgal, S. (2020). Power of animal symbolism: bull as a metaphor of masculine might, political authority and cosmic evolution within vedic corpus1. International Journal of Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field, 6(12), 83-89.
• Sayır, E. (2023). Erkekliğin taşra halleri: Van’da eril güç ilişkileri, Feminist Tahayyül, 4(1), 33-64. https://doi.org/10.57193/FeminTa.2023.033
• Schielke, S. (2008). Boredom and despair in rural Egypt. Contemporary Islam, 2, 251-270. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11562-008-0065-8
• Schilt, K. ve Westbrook, L. (2009). Doing gender, doing heteronormativity: “gender normals,” transgender people, and the social maintenance of heterosexuality. Gender & society, 23(4), 440-464. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243209340034
• Turner, V. (1988). The Anthropology of performance. PAJ.
• Twiss, K. C. ve Russell, N. (2009). Taking the bull by the horns: ideology, masculinity, and cattle horns at Çatalhöyük (Turkey). Paléorient, 19-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/41496866