"Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" is anthropologist and ethnologist Clifford Geertz's seminal work. Originally published in his book The Interpretation of Cultures in 1973, the essay is today the most recognizable of the collection. The book itself was included in the Times Literary Supplement as being one of the most important publications following World War II.
Geertz wrote the essay on the heels of his fieldwork in Indonesia. During the 1950s, he and his wife spent extensive time in Bali, engaging with the local culture. At the time, cockfighting was illegal, so Geertz and his wife were able to quickly bond with the locals because of their mutually shared secret. Noting how important the fights were to the local culture in Indonesia, Geertz was inspired to write the essay as a demonstration of a nuanced and complex society. Indeed, the Balinese viewed their cockfights as symbolic and demonstrative of themselves as a people.
Geertz (1926-2006) was a prominent figure in the field of anthropology and became America's most renowned member of the field. He pioneered the idea of analyzing a given culture through its own symbolism by translating and interpreting those symbols for academic purposes. "Deep Play" is the essay responsible for establishing this method of analysis. Throughout his career, Geertz worked for the University of Chicago and Princeton and received honorary degrees from Harvard, the University of Chicago, and Cambridge.
