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Image / Boy in boxing pose, San Basilio de Palenque, 1976

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Title
Boy in boxing pose, San Basilio de Palenque, 1976
Creator
Cross, Richard, 1950-1983
Date Created and/or Issued
1976
Publication Information
California State University, Northridge
Contributing Institution
California State University, Northridge
Collection
Richard Cross Photographs (Bradley Center)
Rights Information
Use of images from the collections of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center is strictly prohibited by law without prior written consent from the copyright holders. The responsibility for the use of these materials rests exclusively with the user.
The Bradley Center may assist in obtaining copyright/licensing permission to use images from the Richard Cross collection. http://www.csun.edu/bradley-center/contact
Description
A boy stands in a boxing pose and looks at the camera. The boy is wearing a white t-shirt and a hat. San Basilio del Palenque produced three boxing champions: Antonio Cervantes aka Kid Pambelé, a boxing world champion in 1973 and 1976 (welterweight class), Ricardo Cardona (world champion in 1978) and Rodrigo Valdez (world champion in 1977). For the village's residents boxing was part of the socialization since childhood. At four or five, the young boys would convert the cattle corrals into boxing rings and practice punching. They would usually fight within their age groups, but one age group could challenge another to a match. The girls would learn to fist-fight as well by holding each other's body and would usually do it when they went at the creek bed to collect water with older women. When Pambelé won the world boxing championship, the Colombian government asked him what he wanted and he asked for electricity to be installed in Palenque. Piped water followed in 1978. Colombian anthropologist Nina S. De Friedemann had been studying the Afro-Colombian community of San Basilio del Palenque for the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and Richard Cross joined her to do work as a visual anthropologist in June 1975. This image illustrates Cross's anthropological category: Social organization.
Un niño se encuentra en una pose de boxeo y mira a la cámara. El niño viste una camiseta blanca y un sombrero. San Basilio del Palenque produjo tres campeones de boxeo: Antonio Cervantes, alias Kid Pambelé, campeón mundial de boxeo en 1973 y 1976 (clase de peso welter), Ricardo Cardona (campeón mundial en 1978) y Rodrigo Valdez (campeón mundial en 1977). Para los residentes del pueblo, el boxeo fue parte de la socialización desde la infancia. A las cuatro o cinco, los muchachos convertirían los corrales de ganado en cuadriláteros y practicarían golpes. Por lo general, pelearían dentro de sus grupos de edad, pero un grupo de edad podría desafiar a otro a un partido. Las chicas también aprenderían a pelear a puñetazos cogiéndose del cuerpo de la otra y generalmente lo harían cuando fueran al lecho del arroyo para recoger agua con mujeres mayores. Cuando Pambelé ganó el campeonato mundial de boxeo, el gobierno colombiano le preguntó qué quería y él pidió que se instalara electricidad en Palenque. El agua corriente siguió en 1978. La antropóloga colombiana Nina S. De Friedemann había estado estudiando la comunidad afrocolombiana de San Basilio del Palenque para el Instituto Colombiano de Antropología y Richard Cross se unió a ella para trabajar como antropóloga visual en junio de 1975. Esta imagen ilustra la categoría antropológica de Cross: Organización social.
Type
image
Format
Photographs
image/jpeg
Black-and-white negatives
Extent
35 mm
Identifier
99.01.RCr.N35.B2.44.15
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/6311
Subject
Boxing
Boys--Colombia--San Basilio del Palenque
Portraits
Place
San Basilio del Palenque (Colombia)
Relation
99.01.RCr.N35.B2.44.15.tif
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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