Local and global meanings of the "sportization" of Brazilian rodeos

Abstract

The present paper attempts to identify the interaction of multiple local and global elements in the process of the codification of Brazilian Rodeos as sport. Our field work, based on ethnographic perspectives, employed a combination of techniques such as participant observation, photographic data and semi-structured interviews (n=13) The study shows that, as culture undergoes processes of change, certain types of bodily movement or activity are preserved in the form of games and become a veritable memorial of the body. Rodeo practices preserve - in the form of competitive game - bodily practices and social representations that are linked to rural work techniques. With the intensifying intertwining of local and global elements, this particular vernacular reference becomes increasingly pale, giving way to more generic representations that are more easily incorporated and assimilated by the public that watch rodeo competitions. For example, dislocations of the meaning of the rodeo are intensified as it is increasingly codified as sport. Nonetheless, although rodeo undergoes a sportization process and thus must embrace international rules, local contestants do not cease to turn this process inside out, applying new local meanings to globalized rodeo practices.