Deep Play: Notes On The Balinese Cockfight Analysis

Anthropology is defined as the study of human societies and cultures and their development through time. This is shown through Clifford Geertz essay “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight”. In his essay, he attempts to give insights on the Balinese culture and mainly focusing on the significance of Balinese cockfights within the Balinese culture. Throughout this paper, first, I will briefly summarize Geertz’s essay, then, I will discuss his use of ethnographic fieldwork and ethnocentrism in Bali and how it led him to the discovery of the Balinese culture. Finally, I will discuss cockfights and their meaning and significance within the Balinese culture.

Chapter 3 of The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology explains to the reader what culture is and goes into depth of the different concepts within culture. It defines culture as “the entire way of life for a group of people” (Ferris & Stein, 2010, p. 77). Culture is described as a “lens” through which one views the world and is passed from one generation to the next. This “entire way of life”, according to sociologists, consists of two major categories: material and symbolic culture. Material culture involves the entities associated with a cultural group, such as tools, machines, utensils, buildings, and artwork. When examining material culture, it can convey a great deal about a particular group or society. Symbolic culture embraces ways

The, “Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers”, is a ethnography written by anthropologist Edward Schieffelin, derived from his fieldwork with the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea. The main focus of the book of the book is how many of the fundamental notions that are implicit in Kaluli culture are found in the Gisaro ceremony, which Schieffelin uses as, “a lens through which to view some of the fundamental issues of Kaluli life and society” (p1).

Clifford Geertz in “Deep Play” gives us a detailed account of the Balinese cockfight which he defines as a sociological entity and a simulation of social matrix. Persistently ignored by the natives, anthropologist and his wife were only accepted into the community after demonstrating solidarity by fleeing from the cockfight like other villagers. Through his interaction with the Balinese and observation, Geertz attempts to disentangle the meaning and nature of cockfight which appears to play a significant role in Balinese society. At first, he analyzes the cockfight from general and universal perspective, assuming that cocks are “magnifications of the narcissistic male ego”, but then considers the particularities of the Balinese culture: Its

Turnbull recounts a story of men sitting and watching with “eager anticipation” as a small child made his way towards the fire, then “burst into gay and happy laughter” as the child reached into the hot coals. He further observed the mother of the child “glow[ing] with pleasure” that her child had given such entertainment to others. This apparent callousness and cruelty is throughout their culture. Someone falling, destruction of a creation, and physical violence were sources of great entertainment (Turnbull, p 112).

"A Philosophy of Theater « " East of Mina. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2011.

The question remains how to get past the natural biases one may have when interpreting cultures different from one’s own. While it is crucial to approach any study of another culture with an objective and critical view, one is able to further avoid bias by practicing how to interpret the meaning that is carried within the behaviours and symbols rooted in that society . (CA, 25) If we could understand the meaning behind our own symbols, we can then “take the abilities that have enabled us to dwell in our own culture and use them to understand the cultures of others” (CA, 26) Perhaps this idea could be understood by comparing it to Clifford Geertz’s analysis of the Balinese cockfight. When examining the Balinese cockfight, Geertz describes what appears to be a rather meaningless, barbaric activity, until he discovers how much the activity actually means to the Balinese, as it acts as a symbol of status, achievement, and masculinity. (CA, 27) These symbols only become familiar to us when we compare it to a phenomenon in our own culture that share similar meanings, such as a hockey game. By objectifying the practices of both our culture and another’s, the other culture’s behaviours become more familiar to us, thus limiting our cultural bias. (CA, 37) When examining the cock fight in the same context of a hockey game, the cock fight suddenly does not appear as bizarre or exotic. This is also true when comparing the Nacerima and North American culture. Whether or not we are brushing our teeth with a toothbrush and toothpaste, or “inserting a small bundle of hog hairs along with certain magical powers”, we are less instinctive to criticize the activity when we understand that both cultures simply view dental hygiene as something of value and importance. Thus the different behaviours are functional and logical in the context of each

“Ancestral lines” by John Barker is a book about the anthropologist’s experience in the Uiaku village located in Papua New Guinea. In the first chapter, Barker tells his readers briefly about him and his education, his and his wife’s experience with the Maisin community, and talks in great detail about the Maisin and their culture in the Uiaku village.

In today 's society, culture is impacting our everyday life, experience and social relations; we are all categorized by our cultural “groups”, but this has changed rapidly throughout the years from one generation to the next. Cultural studies were developed in the late 1950’s, through the 1970’s by the British academic scholars. The British scholars were able engaged cultural analysis and the developed then transformed of the different fields, for example, politically, theoretically and empirically that are now represented around the world.

Ng, C. (2010). Symbols of Affinity: Ceremonial Costumes in a Minangkabau Village. The Heritage Journal, 5, 26-55.

The job of an anthropologist is complex. It requires a very diverse arsenal of talents and abilities that few can use successfully. An anthropologist must be able to observe the in-depth content of human nature within a society, analyze it from all aspects, and perform cross-cultural comparisons. The essay "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" is written by a well respected anthropologist by the name of Clifford Geertz, who details his observations of the Balinese culture. Geertz was a professor at Princeton and received his Ph.D. from Harvard, as well as publishing several successful books in the field of anthropology. Geertz's essay presents a study and analysis on the Balinese culture through the male's obsessive affiliation

“Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight” is divided into eight or nine sections, each with their own distinct style and message. The first section is titled “The Raid” and is told in the style of a narrative. In it, Geertz reflects on his time in Bali with his wife in April of 1958. He reflects on the way the Balinese people treated him; during his first week or so in Bali, Geertz and his wife were treated as though they didn’t exist. After witnessing a cockfight and running away just like the Balinese people who also attended, however, Geertz and his wife were treated as though they were Balinese themselves, and were completely accepted into Balinese society. In the second section, “Of Cocks and Men”, Geertz reflects on different aspects of Balinese culture and how Balinese men, despite cockfighting being illegal, strongly identify with it and even use the term to refer to different types of men and their personalities. Additionally, Geertz points out that besides cockfighting, the Balinese are strongly against doing anything that resembles an animal,

The Kaluli are a small clan of indigenous people who live in the rain forests in the Southern Highlands of the Great Papuan Plateau found in Papua New Guinea. The Kaluli people’s residency includes up to twenty longhouses each with about fifteen families in them, numbering roughly to about sixty to ninety people in each longhouse. The Kaluli culture does not involve any ranked social structure or individuals with hierarchical authority over others, however relies on strong egalitarian and equal values. The purpose of this of this paper is to highlight the Kaluli people’s identity, their unique upbringing and their struggles faced by missionization. This text will first identify how Kaluli children, both male and female are socialized and encultured in different ways through the mother enforcing certain traits, attitudes, behaviors, traditions and work ethics. Secondly this text will consider how missionization, i.e. the communication of other cultures and the indoctrination of Christianity by missionaries has disrupted the Kaluli’s sense of place. It will focus on the introduction of European-based time, the introduction and demise of some types of languages and the ownership of land and identity. Thirdly this paper will discuss how the enculturation of Kaluli children differs from more civilized enculturation of children and possible reasons for this

Our participant-observation work with Romeo was helpful in helping understand the cultural differences. In Guatemala, the most noticeable difference between American culture and Romeo’s culture is the markets that the citizens run and sell their goods at. Romeo was kind enough to take videos of what the markets were like, including the exchanging of food and some negotiation that was going on between sellers and people buying. In our class we engaged in a participant-observer method where we observed Romeo’s daily life through the videos, pictures, and our video chats. Bernard talks about participant observation saying, “Participant observation involves immersing yourself in a culture and learning to remove yourself every day from that immersion so you can intellectualize what you’ve seen and heard, put into perspective, and write about it convincingly” (Bernard, 324). Through this participant observation we can look at the differences that the Guatemalan culture experiences as opposed to what we experience in America. With the marketplace in Guatemala, we can compare it to what grocery stores are like in the United States and how our shopping is different from each other’s. Anthropology played a part with my understanding another culture because without the course and learning about various ethnographic approaches to building a rapport, then my understanding about what Romeo’s life is like in Guatemala wouldn’t have happened. Bernard later establishes, “Most basic

Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1962) identify over 150 scientific definitions of the concept of culture. Indeed, many authors have tried to define culture and this is why there are so many definitions and that a unique one is hard to find. First of all, Kroeber and Kluckholn (1952) assume that culture is a suite of patterns, implicit and explicit, “of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artefacts” (p.47). Later, Hofstede adds that culture is “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another” (Hofstede, 1991, p.51). This definition is the most widely accepted one amongst practitioners. For Winthrop (1991), culture is the distinctive models of thoughts, actions and values that composed members of a society or a social group. In other words,