O feitiço do jogo: sociabilidade entre homens no Parque Halfeld de Juiz de Fora

Abstract

This work is intended to reflect, anthropologically, on the themes of masculinity, old age and the characteristic aspects of the play, based on an ethnography carried out in an area of sociability among men, old preponderantly, who gather daily to practice card games in Halfeld Park, located in the city of Juiz de Fora. I seek, first, address issues relating to ethnography, from my insertion in the field, in order to show the paths taken during the work, relating the initial perceptions of the object and the deconstructions that arise from the discovery process of the game territory. The word "spell" used in the title and throughout the text, refers to the intensity of the way in which the game captivates the player to constitute an "artificial world," different from the seriousness required in everyday life, resulting in a sociability in which the game content and the social games built from it are the greatest motivators. Besides the game itself, the spell can only be fully realized along with social game of joking relationships. With verbal taunts and physical performances of indecency and rudeness, mediated by a "learn to play", canalizes the everyday stress through such joke conflicts that involve the combination of a pretense hostility and real friendliness. It is also in a joking way that issues such as old age and masculinity are approached without the need to be taken seriously. Although it is a territory mainly occupied by men over sixty years, the discourses and practices of players and audience found in the field demonstrate a failure in the identification with the categories of "old" and "elderly", which appear to be associated with a number of negative characteristics attributed to old age. Being a intrassexual male sociability, experiences found in the field such as the phrase "turn into man" illustrate a constant (re) construction of masculinity from gestures and speeches that seek to attribute feminine characteristics to a man intending to disqualify him before others putting into doubt the maleness of the accused by homophobia. Dealing with the topic of sexuality in old age, despite of gerontologists expectations who suggests men to seek new erogenous zones, sexual interest of players and audience still appear strongly associated with the hegemonic model of masculinity that gives intense valorization of penetration and erectile performance.