Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-23T19:59:01.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fighting on Christmas: brawling as self-governance in rural Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2019

Edwar E. Escalante  and
Raymond J. March
Edwar E. Escalante
Affiliation:
Free Market Institute, Texas Tech University, Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas
Raymond J. March*
Affiliation:
Center for the Study of Public Choice and Private Enterprise, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota
*
*Corresponding author. Email: raymond.j.march@ndsu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper analyzes the Peruvian highland tradition of Takanakuy, a public brawling ritual occurring each Christmas to resolve conflicts between local community members. We argue that Takanakuy provides an effective way for locals to resolve disputes that Peru's formal judicial system is unable or unwilling to settle. Using insights from ethnographic fieldwork, journalistic articles, reports, and academic sources, we find that brawling during Takanakuy encourages social cooperation by preventing potential violence and offering community members a credible mechanism of law enforcement in an orderly fashion with social acceptance.

Keywords

Brawlingconflict resolutionself-governanceinstitutional analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , June 2020 , pp. 355 - 368
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, D. and Johnson, S. (2005), ‘Unbundling Institutions’, Journal of Political Economy, 113(5): 949–995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. and Robinson, J. (2001), ‘The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation’, American Economic Review, 91(5): 1369–1401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. and Robinson, J. (2002), ‘Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(4): 1231–1294.Google Scholar
Ahn, T., Sandford, J. and Shea, P. (2015), ‘Mend it, Don't End it: Optimal Mortality in Affairs of Honor’, Working Paper, available at http://paulshea.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Affairs-of-Honor.pdf (accessed 28 July 2019).Google Scholar
Allen, D. W. (2009), ‘A Theory of the Pre-modern British Aristocracy’, Explorations in Economic History, 46(3): 299–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, D. W. and Reed, C. G. (2006), ‘The Duel of Honor: Screening for Unobservable Social Capital’, American Law and Economics Review, 8(1): 81–115.Google Scholar
Anderson, T. L. and Hill, P. J. (2004), The Not So Wild, Wild West: Property Rights on the Frontier, Standford, CA: Stanford Economics and Finance.Google ScholarPubMed
Arce, M. (2008), ‘Batallas Rituales, Juegos Rituales’, Perspectivas Latinoamericanas, 5: 241–257.Google Scholar
Arias, G. (2003), Poder y Violencia en los Andes: a Propósito de la Costumbre del Takanakuy en la Comunidad Campesina de Ccoyo, CBC Colegio Andino.Google Scholar
Aviles, M. (2015), ‘Tortazos por Navidad’, El Pais, 25 December, available at https://elpais.com/elpais/2015/12/17/eps/1450368677_181457.html (accessed 28 July 2019).Google Scholar
Barrionuevo, A. (1971), ‘Chiaraje’, in Allpanchis, Cuzco, PE: Instituto de Pastoral Andino.Google Scholar
Benson, B. L. (1989), ‘The Spontaneous Evolution of Commercial Law’, Southern Economic Journal, 55(3): 644–661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burga, M. (2014), Takanakuy: Los Limites de la Cultura y lo Juridico, Revista de Investigacion de la Universidad Norbert Wiener.Google Scholar
Burt, J. (2009), ‘Guilty as Charged: The Trial of Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for Human Rights Violations’, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 3(3): 384–405.Google Scholar
Calero del Mar, E. (2002), ‘Dualismo Estructural Andino y Espacio Novelesco Arguediano’, Bulletin de l'Institut Rançais d’études Andines, 31(2): 153–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cama, M. (2013), Sangre Para la Hambrienta Tierra. Resolución de Conflictos a Traves del Takanakuy en los Andes del Sur: El caso de la comunidad campesina de Ccoyo, Departamento de Cusco-Peru, Madrid, ES: Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.Google Scholar
Cama, M. and Ttito, A. (2001), ‘Peleas Rituales: La Waylia Takanakuy de Santo Tomas’, Anthropologica, 17, 151–185.Google Scholar
Degregori, C. I., Coronel, J., Del Pino, P. and Starn, O. (1996), Las Rondas Campesinas y la Derrota de Sendero Luminoso, Lima, PE: IEP Ediciones.Google Scholar
Dell, M. (2015), ‘Trafficking Networks and the Mexican Drug War’, American Economic Review, 105(6): 1738–1779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Orellana Sanchez, S. (2008), ‘Interculturalidad Entre Culturas Asimétricas’, Revista de Arquitectura UNIFE, 3(1): 19–34.Google Scholar
De Soto, H. (2000), El Misterio del Capital: Por Que el Capitalism Triunfa en Occidente y Fracasa en el Resto del Mundo, Lima, PE: Editorial La Oveja Negra.Google Scholar
De Soto, H., Ghersi, E. and Gibellini, M. (1987), El Otro Sendero: la Revoluciíon Informal, Editorial Sudamericana, Lima, PE: Instituto Libertad y Democracia.Google Scholar
Djankov, S., La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Salines, F. and Schleifer, A. (2002), ‘Courts: The Lex Mundi Project’, NBER Working Paper 8890 [online] Available: www.lexmundi.com/images/lexmundi/PDF/courts_nber1.pdf?SnID=2 (accessed 28 July 2019).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easterly, W. (2006), The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest have Done so Much Ill and so Little Good, New York, NY: Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Ellickson, R. C. (1991), Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
El Peruano (2008), ‘Takanakuy: Lucha Ritual’, Variedades Semanario, Lima, PE: Diario El Peruano.Google Scholar
Enriquez, U. (2017), Concepciones de Justicia Legal, Universidad Nacional de San Agustin de Arequipa.Google Scholar
Espinoza, C. (2015), Culpa, Tinkuy y Pachakuti En Cuatro Cantos de la Huaylía de Antabamba, Apurímac, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.Google Scholar
Friedman, D. (1979), ‘Private Creation and Enforcement of Law: A Historical Case’, Journal of Legal Studies, 8(2): 399–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, D., Leeson, P. T. and Skarbek, D. (2019), Legal Systems Very Different from Ours, Independently Published.Google Scholar
Frisancho, S. and Pain, O. (2012), ‘Identidad Moral y Justicia en Personas con Compromisos Sociales y Morales Extraordinarios’, Revista de Psicologia, 21(2): 109–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukuyama, F. (1995), Trust: The Social Virtues and Reation of Prosperity, New York, NY: Penguin Putnam.Google Scholar
Girard, R. (1972), Violence and the Sacred, Paris, FR: Editions Bernand Grasset.Google Scholar
Glaeser, E. L. and Shleifer, A. (2002), ‘Legal Origins’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(4): 1193–1229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gootenberg, P. (2014), Between Silver and Guano: Commercial Policy and the State in Postindependence Peru, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gorbak, C., Lischetti, M. and Munoz, C. P. (1962), ‘Batallas Rituales del Chiaraje y del Tocto de la Provincia de Kanas Cuzco’, Revista del Museo Nacional, Tuscon, AZ: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Greif, A. (1994), ‘Cultural Beliefs and the Organization of Society: A Historical and Theoretical Reflection on Collectivist and Individualist Societies’, Journal of Political Economy, 102(5): 912–950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, M. (1972), ‘Otros Datos sobre las llamadas Batallas Rituales’, Actas del XXXIX Congreso Internacional de Americanistas. Lima, Peru.Google Scholar
Hayek, F. A. (1960), The Constitution or Liberty, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Holland, B. (2003), Gentlemen's Blood: a History of Dueling from Swords at Dawn to Pistols at Dusk, London, UK: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Hopkins, D. (1982), ‘Juego de Enemigos’, Allpanchis, 17(2): 167–189.Google Scholar
Huamani, L. and Quispe, C. L. (2017), Potencial Turistico de la Festividad Navidena Autoctona del Distrito de Santo Tomas, Provincia de Chumbivilcas, Cusco en el 2016, Universidad Nacional de San Agustin.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2017), ‘World Report 2017’, available at https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/world_report_download/wr2017-web.pdf (accessed 28 July 2019).Google Scholar
Kingston, C. G. and Wright, R. (2010), ‘The Deadliest of Games: The Institution of Dueling’, Southern Economic Journal, 76(4): 1094–1106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kostelnik, J. and Skarbek, D. (2013), ‘The Governance Institutions of a Drug Trafficking Organization’, Public Choice, 156(1–2): 95–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laime, V. (2003), Takanakuy: Cuando la Sangre Hierve, Cusco, Peru: Wilkar.Google Scholar
La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., Pop-Eleches, C. and Schleifer, A. (2002), ‘The Guarantees of Freedom’, NBER Working Paper 8759 Available at https://www.nber.org/papers/w8759.pdf (accessed 28 July 2019).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., Schleifer, A. and Vishny, R. W. (1997), ‘Trust in Large Organizations’, American Economic Review, 87(2): 333–338.Google Scholar
La Republica (2014), ‘Rechazan la Participacion de Menores en Tradicional Festival del Takanakuy’, 26 December, available at https://larepublica.pe/sociedad/844197-rechazan-la-participacion-de-menores-en-'TheDuel:CanTheseGentlementradicional-festival-del-takanakuy/ (accessed 28 July 2019).Google Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2007a), ‘An-arrgh-chy: The Law and Economics of Pirate Organization’, Journal of Political Economy, 115(6): 1049–1094.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2007b), ‘Trading with Bandits’, Journal of Law and Economics, 50(2): 303–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2007c), ‘Better off Stateless: Somalia Before and After Government Collapse’, Journal of Comparative Economics, 35(4): 689–710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2009a), ‘The Laws of Lawlessness’, Journal of Legal Studies, 38(2): 471–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2009b), ‘The Calculus of Piratical Consent: the Myth of the Myth of Social Contract’, Public Choice, 139(3–4): 443–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2011), ‘Trial by Battle’, Journal of Legal Studies, 3(1): 341–375.Google Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2012a), ‘God Damn: The Law and Economics of Monastic Malediction’, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 30(1): 193–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2012b), ‘Ordeals’, Journal of Law and Economics, 55(3): 691–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, Peter T (2013a), ‘Vermin Trials’, Journal of Law and Economics, 56(3): 811–836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2013b), ‘Gypsy Law’, Public Choice, 155(3–4): 273–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2014), ‘Oracles’, Rationality and Society, 26(2):141–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2015), Anarchy Unbound: Why Self-Governance Works Better Than you Think, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Leeson, P. T. and Coyne, C. J. (2012), ‘Sassywood’, Journal of Comparative Economics, 40(4): 608–620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P. T. and Suarez, P. A. (2017), ‘Superstition and Self-Governance’, Advances in Austrian Economics, 19, 57–66.Google Scholar
Leon, R. (2014), Chumbivilcas Lazos de Oro, Lima, PE: Hudbay Per.Google Scholar
Molleapaza, Y. (2018), Impacto Social y Economico con la Implementacion de los Programas Sociales ‘Pension 65’ y ‘Juntos’ en el Distrito de Santo Tomas, Provincia de Chumbivilcas, Cusco, Anos 2012 al 2016, Arequipa: Universidad Nacional de San Agustin.Google Scholar
North, D. C. (1990), Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North, D. C. (2005), Understanding the Process of Economic Change, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrom, E. (1990), Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrom, E. (2005), Understanding Institutional Diversity, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Palmer, D. S. (1994), The Shining Path of Peru, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petterson, J. C. (2010), All This Dies with Us: The Decline and Revision of a Mestizo Gentry (Chumbivilcas, Cuzco, Peru), Dissertation, San Diego, CA: University of California.Google Scholar
Poole, D. A. (1987), ‘Landscapes of Power in a Cattle-Rustling Culture of Southern Andean Peru’, Dialectical Anthropology, 12(4): 367–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poole, D. A. (1994), Unruly Order: Violence, Power, and Cultural Identity in the High Provinces of Southern Peru, San Fransisco, CA: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Posner, E. A. (1996), ‘Law, Economics and Inefficient Norms’, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 144(5): 1697–1744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, B., Ford, R. and Nowrasteh, A. (2008), ‘Somalia After State Collapse: Chaos or Improvement?’, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 67(3–4): 657–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, R. (1993), ‘What Makes Democracy Work?’, National Civic Review, 82(2): 101–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Remy, M. I. (1991), Los Discursos Sobre la Violencia en lLos Andes. Algunas Reflexiones a Propósito del Chiaraje, CBC Centro Bartolome de las Casas.Google Scholar
Schwartz, W. F., Baxter, K. and Ryan, D. (1984), Be Acting Efficiently?' Journal of Legal Studies, 13(2): 321–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skarbek, D. (2010), ‘Putting the ‘Con' into Constitutions: The Economics of Prison Gangs’, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 26(2): 183–211.Google Scholar
Skarbek, D. (2011), ‘Governance and Prison Gangs’, American Political Science Review, 105(4): 702–716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skarbek, D. (2012), ‘Prison Gangs, Norms, and Organizations’, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 82(1): 96–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skarbek, D. (2014), The Social Order of the Underworld: How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. (1776 [2005]), An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.Google Scholar
Starn, O. (1999), Nightwatch: The Politics of Protest in the Andes, Duram, NC: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stringham, E. (2002), ‘The Emergence of the London Stock Exchange as a Self-Policing Club’, Journal of Private Enterprise, 17(2): 1–19.Google Scholar
Stringham, E. (2015), Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tegel, S. (2018), ‘Corruption Scandals have Ensnared 3 Peruvian Presidents. Now the Whole Political System Could Change’, Washington Post, 18 August, available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/?utm_term=.c9e67da43507 [accessed 28 July 2019].Google Scholar
Tello, A. L. (2018), The Takanakuy: Performing Justice and Reconciliation in Cuzco, Peru’, Enfoques, available at http://brujula.ucdavis.edu/uploads/8/1/9/3/81930408/4._tello_ana_lucia.pdf (accessed 28 July 2019).Google Scholar
Theidon, K. S. (2013), Intimate Enemies: Violence and Reconciliation in Peru, Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trelles, E. (2010), Muerte y Lesiones Graves Producidas por la Practica del Takanakuy en el Distrito de Santo Tomas y su Tratamiento Juridico por la Justicia Penal, Durante el Periodo 2006–2007, Arequipa: Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria.Google Scholar
Vahabi, M. and Hassani-Mahmooei, B. (2016), ‘The Role of Identity and Authority from Anarchy to Order: Insights from Modeling the Trajectory of Dueling in Europe’, Economic Modelling, 55, 57–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, H. S. (2013), ‘Expanding Western Definitions of Shamanism: A Conversation with Stephan Beyer, Stanley Krippner and Hillary S. Webb’, Anthropology of Consciousness, 24(1): 57–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White & Case LLP (2014), Access to Justice for Children: Peru, available at https://archive.crin.org/sites/default/files/peru_access_to_justice_0.pdf (accessed 28 July 2019).Google Scholar
Williamson, C. R. and Kerekes, C. B. (2012), ‘Securing Private Property: Formal versus Informal Institutions’, Journal of Law and Economics, 54(3): 537–572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar