Spain Abolishes National Bullfighting Award in Cultural Shift

Spanish bullfighter Juan Ortega fights the 528kg bull 'Vivaracho' bull during a bullfight in the Plaza Monumental of Aguascalientes, in Aguascalientes, Mexico, 28 April 2024.  EPA/Tadeo Alcina
Spanish bullfighter Juan Ortega fights the 528kg bull 'Vivaracho' bull during a bullfight in the Plaza Monumental of Aguascalientes, in Aguascalientes, Mexico, 28 April 2024. EPA/Tadeo Alcina
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Spain Abolishes National Bullfighting Award in Cultural Shift

Spanish bullfighter Juan Ortega fights the 528kg bull 'Vivaracho' bull during a bullfight in the Plaza Monumental of Aguascalientes, in Aguascalientes, Mexico, 28 April 2024.  EPA/Tadeo Alcina
Spanish bullfighter Juan Ortega fights the 528kg bull 'Vivaracho' bull during a bullfight in the Plaza Monumental of Aguascalientes, in Aguascalientes, Mexico, 28 April 2024. EPA/Tadeo Alcina

Spain scrapped an annual bullfighting award on Friday, prompting a rebuke from conservatives over a backlash against a centuries-old tradition they see as an art form but which has run into growing concern for animal welfare.
Spanish-style bullfighting, in which the animal usually ends up killed by a sword thrust by a matador in shining garb, is for supporters a cultural tradition to be preserved, while critics call it a cruel ritual with no place in modern society, Reuters reported.
The Culture Ministry said it based its decision to abolish the award on the "new social and cultural reality in Spain" where worries about animal welfare have risen while attendance at most bullrings has declined.
"I think that's the feeling of a majority of Spaniards who can understand less and less why animal torture is practiced in our country..., and much less why that torture gets awarded with public money," Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun said on X.
The national award came in the form of a 30,000-euro ($32,217) government check and has been bestowed on famous bullfighters such as Julian Lopez, known as "El Juli", or cultural associations related to the bullfighting tradition.
It has recently become a defining issue in Spain's culture wars, pitting left-wing parties such as Sumar, to which Urtasun belongs, against right-wing conservatives who support the tradition.
Borja Semper, spokesperson for the opposition conservative People's Party, told reporters the government move showed that it "does not believe in cultural diversity or liberty", and that his party would reinstate the award whenever it regained power.
The PP leader of the Aragon region, Jorge Azcon, said it would introduce another award. "Tradition should be something that unites us rather than divides," he said.
Opposition to bullfighting has also grown in Latin America, where the tradition was exported in the 16th century, and in southern France, where it spread in the 19th century.
In Spain, the average bullfighting aficionado has gotten older and the number of bullfighting festivals dropped by a third between 2010 and 2023.



UAE Heritage Conference Recommends Documentation of Travel Literature

The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM
The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM
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UAE Heritage Conference Recommends Documentation of Travel Literature

The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM
The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM

The "Second Heritage Conference," organized by the Sharjah Institute for Heritage has issued several scientific and cultural recommendations to enhance studies on travel literature and representations of the "other" in popular heritage.

The conference held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others" took place at the Arab Heritage Center in the university city of Sharjah, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported Saturday.

Participants urged a reevaluation of the writings of travelers and Orientalists using contemporary scientific criticism methodologies, WAM said.

They advocated for analytical comparisons between groups of travelers from various geographical regions and similar time periods to derive a more realistic portrayal and compare it with available local studies, it added.

According to WAM, the attendees stressed the need to establish practical laboratories for translating Western research and studies on travel literature and forming scientific committees to review untranslated travel accounts, particularly Russian works.

Among the recommendations was the proposal to extend the conference from two to three days and to publish the presented research in a scientific book.

They also suggested creating an online library featuring works of travelers and Orientalists, along with a specialized database for researchers and translators in this field.

The recommendations further called for stimulating critical studies addressing representations of the "other" in popular heritage through various approaches, including anthropology, semiotics, narratives, and post-colonial studies.

Additionally, they highlighted the need to examine the interaction between oral and narrative cultures as described by travelers, questioning the ideological and epistemological backgrounds that shaped their representations and deconstructing the positions of self and other in their writings.

"The recommendations from the Second Heritage Conference embody our vision at the Sharjah Institute for Heritage, which aims to establish awareness of the importance of reading popular heritage from multiple perspectives, especially through the writings of travelers and Orientalists,” said Chairman of the Sharjah Institute for Heritage Dr. Abdulaziz Al Musallam.

“Through this conference, we sought to initiate a critical intellectual dialogue with these records, opening new horizons for understanding the self and the other, and enhancing the presence of our heritage in the global cultural sphere with a scientific spirit and objective approach,” he added.