Introduction
Clifford Geertz's Deep Play Notes on the Balinese Cockfight is a cultural text that focuses on one of the most common rituals in the Bali region. Apart from studying the ceremonies, it also investigates the possible links between the men of Bali and the ritual. Geertz employs an interpretative approach based on participant interpretation, in which first-hand accounts of the cockfights aid in interpreting the relations between the ritual and the Balinese people's personalities. Despite the initial animosity, the author is able to clarify what it means to be a Balinese. Through the narrative, Geertz provides a profound meaning of the cockfights and how its significance is viewed by the Balinese.
The Balinese Cockfight Ritual
The Balinese cockfight is illegal, but still, it is practiced secretively in corners that are secluded in Bali. It is a very popular ritual in Bali whereby two cocks that have spurs attached to their legs are made to fight by the people. After observing a number of cockfights, he recognized the comparison of the cocks to the men during the cockfights as many of the men identified themselves with their cocks and even channeled the inner emotions of anger and rage as the cockfight was ongoing. The reason for the channeling of emotions is because when the cockfight begins they become so involved that they feel that they are the ones fighting and not the cocks. This how deep their connection is with these cockfights. The ritual of cockfighting is of very high significance to the Balinese men as it is a symbol of their masculinity. Geertz states that the Balinese men have a profound psychological identification with their cocks and the double entendre is deliberate. By being keen on the language, he comprehends that the word cock which is called Sabung is applied in some metaphors like warrior, champion, and hero. This signifies that the metaphors are associated to their fighting cocks which also indirectly are related to their lives. Some of the men's characters are even compared to the various metaphorical implications of the cocks. In the fighting ring, the cock represents the owner that is why they take special care in regards to their diet, cleanliness, and treat them with utmost care. This can almost be understood as an owner feeding his narcissist male ego through the provision of exceptional care to his fighting cock. Geertz also describes how the cocks are groomed and pampered by the Balinese men as they consider the cocks to be their pride. Any time the Balinese gather around for a cockfight, it is not just two animals fighting it is of more importance because it is a representation of their ego. Because the cocks are a metaphorical representation of the men, they are given the best care and much importance so much that they even have traditional folklores on cocks. For many, the subject of cockfighting might seem to be savage, but for the Balinese society, it is a system of male hierarchy that holds pride, rules, and gambling.
Gambling and Social Status
Through the aspect of gambling Geertz makes an observation of how the Balinese participate in cockfighting and how they put value on their social status over the accumulation of money. Geertz also notes the methods of betting of the Balinese people, their betting methods were related to the social position of the owners of the cocks that were involved. This indicates that the Bali people are loyal to the local cock in the same one would be loyal to their local sports team. Geertz states that the cockfight is captivating as he sees it as a shift in the betted money as well as the sense of status. He claims that the Balinese feel that along with the money they are betting on the fight they are also betting on their dignity and prestige. When a person loses the cockfight, their status gets stripped from them with others even walking away after they have lost. In reality, there is no status shift, but the men usually feel as if they have descended the tiered hierarchy of ranks. He refers to this feeling as "a migration of the Balinese status hierarchy into the body of the cockfight" (Geertz 8).
The Ethnographic Method and Challenges Faced
The text is a thick description because Geertz uses both etic and emic approaches in which etic he analyzes the symbol of the cock from the perspective of an outsider like the observations of masculinity and status. Regarding the emic perspective, he uses the point of view of an insider to explain the motivations and cultural implication of this event. The text does not consider the power, gender, or the economic systems that motivate ideas, history, and class structures. The author analyzed the behaviors of the people towards the cockfights so that an outsider would be able to get the meaning. The hostility that Geertz faced at first from the Balinese and how he put effort to overcome it shows the many difficulties that anthropologists face during their fieldwork. Geertz refers to the most common challenges that anthropologist have to face while in the field conducting their research which includes gaining trust, establishing a rapport, being ethnocentric, adapting, people being suspicious of them, and false assumptions about them being made by individuals. The author, in his effort to overcome these challenges, he chose to use the ethnographic research method and it not only gained him access to the people's trust, but it also gave him an opportunity to understand their culture from their perspective. He pursued the most appropriate research method that related to his situation, and at the end, it provided the highest insights. When an individual needs to understand a culture on a deeper level, one must follow the ethnographic method in which the anthropologist will have to immerse themselves into the lives of the people they are trying to learn about. Through the application of this method, they will be able to attain an understanding of their culture and their meanings from the direct experience rather than learning about them from a third party. This process helped Geertz to be able to decode the meanings of the Balinese related to the cockfights.
Geertz as a Cultural Relativist
Geertz is a cultural relativist because of how he immersed himself in learning the culture of the Balinese. The author describes the Balinese culture in terms of the Western Culture when he says that in the same way, Americans come out in numbers to a ballpark, golf link, race track, or around a poker table even the Bali surface in the cock ring (Geertz 2). This comparison of the Balinese culture to the Western Culture is not ethnocentric as he does not bring out the superiority of the Western Culture he tries to bring their similarities of how they support the things that they love. Many evolutionists differ with the approach that Geertz used to get the information mainly because he applied the thick description to his anthropological studies. Geertz works were involved in getting the meanings of the language to understand the people, and he believes that culture does not require laws. During the first stages of his research, he only just observed their rituals and practices; he was unsuccessful in getting the complete information about their culture, and he also received a cold shoulder because the villagers treated him as an outsider and not one of them. He was interested in their culture that he started imitating how they ran from the police when they bust them while he knew very well that he did not have any fault, by doing this he unknowingly won the trust of the people and became a co-villager. After that incident, the people started to consider him as one of them, and from then henceforth they gave him more information.
Conclusion
To unravel the deeper content behind the rituals of culture, it is vital that one engages in active participation. Geertz's active participation opened the doors for him to be able to get a better perspective of the Balinese language and the bets that were made and he observed that there were patterns that were emerging. Active participation made it easy for the author to understand and successfully interpret the cockfights rituals and its relation to social status, alliances, and masculinity in the Balinese culture.
Work Cited
Geertz, Clifford. "Notes on the Balinese Cockfight." Deep Play (2008): 1-11.
