Estructura y función del fútbol entre los yanomami del Alto Orinoco

Abstract

The football, as sport and social practice, for the enormous importance and diffusion that it has, constitutes a clear exponent of the globalization and in many places it can be understood as a «social total fact». Among the Yanomami, nevertheless, it has been scarcely studied or not studied at all, and not precisely for its nonexistence or few relevance, since for years and especially now it is very present in the daily, both communitarian and intercommunitarian, life. On the basis of ethnographic experience with several communities of the High Orinoco, three questions are addressed: how and by whom was it well-established?, what is its internal logic?, and what functions does it play at the moment? Previously, some theoretical foundations on the social and ritual dimension of Latin American football as center of attention are reviewed.