Narratives of Tradition

Abstract

In this article I consider the bottom-up, narrative process through which traditions are invented, using rejoneo (mounted bullfighting) as a case study. I explore the construction of rejoneo as “the newest but also the oldest” form of bullfighting. To understand this apparent contradiction, I synthesize “narratives of tradition” with Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger's (1995 [1983]) “invented tradition.” In doing so, I consider rejoneo through multiple and overlapping narratives structured into historical “chapters” with common narrative elements of heroes, villains, tragic downfalls, and triumphant comebacks. These narratives are contextualized in periods of intense social, political, and economic transformation in Spain over the past three centuries. This article combines a review of the lay and expert understandings of the history of the Spanish bullfight with ethnographic fieldwork undertaken with mounted bullfighters in Andalusia from 2000 and 2001. It redresses a significant lack of attention to the mounted bullfight in relation to the footed bullfight, thereby contributing to a more comprehensive literature of bullfighting in Spain. Moreover, this article provides a model for understanding that one of the ways traditions are invented is through narratives of tradition, contextualized by the wider social, political, and economic forces emphasized by the invented traditions approach.