Los problemas del patrimonio inmaterial: Uso y abuso de los animales en España

Abstract

Bearing in mind that societies which undergo modernisation and post-modernisation processes change their values considerably, this text is based on the hypothesis that traditional values associated with intangible cultural heritage may be contradictory and conflictive in post-industrial societies. To test this hypothesis with comparative methodology, this study explores a series of cases involving the presence of animals, which continue to be carried out in accordance with inveterate tradition, in which the animals are harassed, humiliated and subjected to unnecessary suffering. This is the case of bovines, an essential element of festivities in Spain, but also fighting cocks, which are common in some regions, such as Andalusia and the Canary Islands, and whose use and abuse suggest numerous similarities. Although social change in recent decades means that Spanish people generally favour post-materialistic values, increasingly distant from tradition, social groups more refractory to change maintain these traditions, which are firmly contested by abolitionists. In these circumstances, both central and regional governments have offered contradictory responses, on one hand promulgating laws protecting animals and on the other making numerous exceptions. These only reveal the growing difficulty involved in defending traditional values linked to intangible heritage in a late Modern society.