Wrestling Beetles and Ecological Wisdom: How Insects Contribute to the Cosmopolitics of Northern Thailand - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Southeast Asian Studies Année : 2019

Wrestling Beetles and Ecological Wisdom: How Insects Contribute to the Cosmopolitics of Northern Thailand

Combats de scarabées et sagesse écologique. Comment les insectes contribuent à la cosmopolitique du Nord de la Thaïlande

Résumé

In Northern Thailand, a game that builds upon an uncanny cooperation between human beings and rhinoceros beetles (xylotrupes Gideon) has developed at a high level of refinement and institutionalization. Beetle-fighting is even being widely presented as a marker of the local identity and a local ecological wisdom. In this paper, I will show how it is not so much the coleoptera that symbolize a harmonious connection built by human populations with their natural environment, but rather a question of what happens in the intimate relationship between human beings and insects. Following the way players build on the great alterity between them and the insects, this article will address how the technical and conceptual handling of the beetles shapes pragmatically an original cosmology. It will pay specific attention to the ways players try to connect with their coleopteran by projecting human traits on them and adopting their communication mode. Through these, we can examine how beetles force humans to reflect on their engagement in the world, up to the point where it brings this game onto the stage of political ecology.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
SEAS0801_Rennesson.pdf (2.64 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte

Dates et versions

hal-03029855 , version 1 (03-12-2020)

Identifiants

Citer

Stéphane Rennesson. Wrestling Beetles and Ecological Wisdom: How Insects Contribute to the Cosmopolitics of Northern Thailand. Southeast Asian Studies, 2019, 8 (1), pp.3-24. ⟨10.20495/seas.8.1_3⟩. ⟨hal-03029855⟩
32 Consultations
73 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More