Contested intangible heritage: equestrian sport and animal welfare in Mexico

ABSTRACT

Heritage is a cultural process that is constantly exposed to contestation and therefore to reconstruction, resignification and repositioning. This paper goes beyond anthropocentric interpretations and recognises that heritage often involves other species in human-defined heritage practices. Based on an ethnographic approach, this study examines how contemporary practitioners of Charrería – a Mexican equestrian sport – embrace their intangible cultural heritage and problematise some of the interactions between the species involved. It evidences how Charrería participants navigate tensions between national identity and pride in their cultural heritage, on the one hand, and the ethics of involving other animals in sport and human heritage, on the other. The animal ethics issues involved threaten not only the social licence to operate of Charrería as a sport, but also the status and preservation of Charrería as heritage. This paper concludes that international and national organisations that institutionalise heritage play important roles in guiding efforts to protect and maintain intangible cultural heritage while addressing the changing ethical demands of interspecies relationships.

KEYWORDS:

• Contested heritage
• equestrian sport
• animal welfare
• social licence to operate
• Charrería
• intangible heritage

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México under Grant 6724/2022CIB.

Notes on contributors

Carlos Monterrubio

Carlos Monterrubio is a researcher and lecturer at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Mexico. His research interests focus on gender and interspecies relations in tourism, leisure and events in the Global South. He is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences (AMC) and the National System of Researchers in Mexico (SNII). ORCID: 0000-0002-3706-4644

Katherine Dashper

Katherine Dashper is Professor and Director of Research Degrees in the School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University, UK. Her research interests focus on gender and human-animal interactions in tourism, events, sport and leisure. She has published widely on these topics, including a research monograph Human-Animal Relationships in Equestrian Sport and Leisure (Routledge, 2017) and a co-edited collection Humans, Horses and Events Management (CABI, 2021). ORCID: 0000-0002-2415-2290

Helen Wadham

Helen Wadham is Reader in Sustainability at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Her research explores sustainability via collaborative approaches across sectors, species, generations and communities. Current projects include a focus on human-animal work and off-grid living. She is a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and a member of the British Academy of Management and the Institute of Place Management. ORCID: 0000-0002-9980-4409