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Book Cover
E-book
Author Vaczi, Mariann, author.

Title Catalonia's human towers : castells, cultural politics, and the struggle toward the heights / Mariann Vaczi
Published Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, [2023]

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 263 pages) : illustrations (chiefly color), color map
Contents From "people of farts and burps" to crowning the Olympic Games -- The politics, erotics, and social class of touch and the body -- Risking the fall in political rallies -- Rivalry, antagonism, and identity among the Xiquets de Valls -- Bones have no gender -- The grace in every child -- At the height of death -- Epilogue : rebuilding towers in Messianic times and the global pandemic
Summary "The building of human towers (castells) is a centuries-old traditional sport where hundreds of men, women, and children gather in Catalan squares to create breathtaking edifices through a feat of collective athleticism. The result is a great spectacle of effort and overcoming, tension and release. Catalonia's Human Towers is an ethnographic look at the thriving castells practice-a symbol of Catalan cultural heritage and identity amid debates around national autonomy and secession from Spain. While the main function of building castells is to grow community through a low-cost, intergenerational, and inclusive leisure activity, Mariann Vaczi reveals how this unique sport also provides a social base, image, and vocabulary for the independence movement. Highlighting the intersection of folklore, performance, and sport, Catalonia's Human Towers captures the subtle processes by which the body becomes politicized and ideology becomes embodied, with all the desires, risks and precarities of collective constructions"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on July 05, 2023)
Subject Pyramids (Gymnastics) -- Spain -- Catalonia -- History
Recreation -- Social aspects -- Spain -- Catalonia -- History
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social.
HISTORY / Europe / Spain.
Civilization
Pyramids (Gymnastics)
Recreation -- Social aspects
SUBJECT Catalonia (Spain) -- Civilization. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85020927
Subject Spain -- Catalonia
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2023026492
ISBN 9780253067173
0253067170
9780253067180
0253067189
9780253067159
0253067154