The art of toreo presents an inherent danger and risk of serious injury or death for each participant. In fact, injuries by the horn of a bull have been all too prevalent this past year. In each instance of injury, a well equipped medical team, consisting of several surgeons, doctors, and other medical personnel, is on site ready to operate if necessary. The goal of my research was to understand the ins and outs of medical care, the role of the physician, and the nature of horn trauma and other injuries associated with bullfighting. As a pre-medical and hispanic studies student, as well as an aficionado of toreo, the project was extraordinarily relevant and revealed a unique practice of medicine within a cultural realm rich with tradition. I interviewed a number of surgeons, including the chief surgeons of the Madrid and Sevilla bullrings, as well as retired bullfighters who have experienced a number of impressive injuries. All but one of the interviews was in Spanish.

I approached the project with two misconceptions: (1) that taurine surgery was a specialty of its own and (2) that bullfighters live lives fraught with disease, injury, and chronic pain, ultimately leading to significant physical consequences and a diminished life expectancy. From these two points, I sought to understand as much as could learn about all things relevant to health and healthcare in bullfighting. I quickly discovered that physicians have practices of their own or work in a public hospital and that the skills attained in becoming a surgeon qualify a physician to practice taurine surgery. There is no residency, no training program, nor a certification exam. There is, however, an international society for taurine surgeons, in which they seek to improve care for professional toreros and other individuals injured by bulls, such as participants in public events like the running of the bulls, popularized by Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. I discovered that bullfighters are generally young, athletic, strong, and understand the necessary steps in rehabilitation to make a complete recovery from injury. Granted, significant, life-altering injuries or death can occur, but these events are rare. The most frequent injuries, such a penetrating horn wound to the thigh muscle, is very manageable with no significant long-term consequences. Other injuries, such femoral vein and artery lacerations, wounds to the neck and face, or tossings resulting in head, neck and spine injuries, can present complications and lead to devastating consequences.

Without such talented medical professionals, the world of bullfighting would be diminishing quickly and many of today’s best bullfighters would be forced to retire or even dead. Through the project, I got a clearer picture of bullfighting from a very unique perspective and a better understanding of the nature of being a physician, even though medical practice was examined under extraordinary circumstances.

My Upperclassmen Monroe project investigated the German longsword technique of Johannes Lichtenaur. Master Lichtenaur was a medieval master whose students reproduced and passed down his technique for several hundred years. The style did not fall out of favor in the German lands until the seventeenth century. The preservation of many Fechtbücher, “fight books,” or instructional texts written by Lichtenaur’s students has made his longsword technique of especial interest to modern researchers. Christian Tobler is the most respected authority on the Lichtenaur technique in the U.S., and I worked largely from his book:  Fighting with the German Longsword. The ultimate goal of researching and training in the technique was to present a demonstration thereof to patrons of the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire at Wentzville. The timeline of the project demanded that the demonstration be performed twice each day of the Faire. The Faire runs for four weekends, including Memorial Day, meaning the demonstration was performed eighteen times. The weekend to weekend progression meant that much training was done during the week and that each weekend’s demonstration varied substantially. Patron reactions to the demonstration were equally varied and raised some interesting questions. Following the Faire, I was able to practice further and enhance my research. Hopefully, with training throughout the year, my partner and I will be ready to demonstrate full sparring at next year’s Faire.

This summer I spent four weeks volunteering with Travel to Teach in Nong Khai, Thailand.  I taught English at a public primary school to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders and conducted basic research on syntactical errors committed by English language learners.  I have summarized my research into a powerpoint presentation which can be accessed here:  Thai Lang