Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal
College
Harriet L Wilkes Honors College
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Mock battles are a category of ritual widely recognized by cultural anthropologists, and yet the term as used stands as a wide umbrella covering an incredibly disparate range of human behaviors. Ethnographers have applied the label of “mock battle” both to events incorporating actual bodily harm—most famously, the Andean Tinku—and to non-violent theatrical performances such as the Moros dances popular throughout Spain and Mexico. To better understand the particular social functions of these rituals, I distinguish between two separate but interrelated “genres” of mock battle: the Civil War type, in which communities schedule limited outbursts of cathartic physical violence; and the Conquest Reenactment type, in which communities stage performances narrating the transition out of previous conflict into contemporary peace.
Advisors
Rachel Corr
Recommended Citation
Crawford, Benjamin
(2025)
"Mock Battles: A Time and Place for Conflict,"
Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 14, Article 3.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/faurj/vol14/iss1/3