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Image / Boys playing in a dirt field, San Basilio de Palenque, 1977

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Title
Boys playing in a dirt field, San Basilio de Palenque, 1977
Creator
Cross, Richard, 1950-1983
Date Created and/or Issued
1977-03
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 group of young, barefoot boys run around a dirt field, play games wrestle each other. For the residents of San Basilio de Palenque, boxing was part of the socialization since they were children. 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. The village produced three boxing champions: Antonio Cervantes aka Kid Pambelé, Ricardo Cardona, and Rodrigo Valdez. When Pambelé won the world boxing championship, the Colombian government asked him what he wanted to be done for his community and he asked to install electricity in San Basilio de Palenque. Electricity was immediately installed in 1974 and piped water in 1978. Colombian anthropologist Nina S. De Friedemann had been studying the Afro-Colombian community of San Basilio de Palenque since 1973 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 grupo de niños descalzos corren alrededor de un campo de tierra, juegan y, muchas veces, luchan entre sí. Para los residentes de San Basilio de Palenque, el boxeo fue parte de la socialización desde que eran niños. A los cuatro o cinco años, los jóvenes convertían los corrales de ganado en arenas de boxeo y practicaban tirar golpes. Por lo general, peleaban dentro de sus grupos de edad, pero un grupo de edad podría desafiar a otro a un encuentro. Las niñas también aprenderían a pelear a golpes sosteniendo el cuerpo de la otra y, por lo general, lo hacían cuando iban al lecho del río para recoger agua con las mujeres mayores. El pueblo produjo tres campeones de boxeo: Antonio Cervantes, también conocido como Kid Pambelé, Ricardo Cardona y Rodrigo Valdez. Cuando Pambelé ganó el campeonato mundial de boxeo, el gobierno colombiano le preguntó qué quería hacer por su comunidad, y él pidió que llevaran la electricidad a San Basilio de Palenque. La electricidad se instaló de inmediato en 1974 y el agua entubada en 1978. La antropóloga colombiana Nina S. de Friedemann había estado estudiando la comunidad afrocolombiana de San Basilio de Palenque desde 1973 para el Instituto Colombiano de Antropología y Richard Cross se unió a ella para trabajar como antropólogo 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.B4.78.01.13
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/4863
Subject
Boys--Colombia--San Basilio del Palenque
Play
Play environments
Place
San Basilio del Palenque (Colombia)
Relation
99.01.RCr.N35.B4.78.01.13.tif
Richard Cross Collection
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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