Ethnography of Mexican professional wrestling by a female wrestler and scholar

The World of Lucha Libre is an insider’s account of lucha libre, the popular Mexican form of professional wrestling. Heather Levi spent more than a year immersed in the world of wrestling in Mexico City. Not only did she observe live events and interview wrestlers, referees, officials, promoters, and reporters; she also apprenticed with a retired luchador (wrestler). Drawing on her insider’s perspective, she explores lucha libre as a cultural performance, an occupational subculture, and a set of symbols that circulate through Mexican culture and politics. Levi argues that the broad appeal of lucha libre lies in its capacity to stage contradictions at the heart of Mexican national identity: between the rural and the urban, tradition and modernity, ritual and parody, machismo and feminism, politics and spectacle.

Levi considers lucha libre in light of scholarship about sport, modernization, and the formation of the Mexican nation-state, and in connection to professional wrestling in the United States. She examines the role of secrecy in wrestling, the relationship between wrestlers and the characters they embody, and the meanings of the masks worn by luchadors. She discusses male wrestlers who perform masculine roles, those who cross-dress and perform feminine roles, and female wrestlers who wrestle each other. Investigating the relationship between lucha libre and the mass media, she highlights the history of the sport’s engagement with television: it was televised briefly in the early 1950s, but not again until 1991. Finally, Levi traces the circulation of lucha libre symbols in avant-garde artistic movements and its appropriation in left-wing political discourse. The World of Lucha Libre shows how a sport imported from the United States in the 1930s came to be an iconic symbol of Mexican cultural authenticity.

"“The World of Lucha Libre describes a strange and fascinating place in which masked men and women possessing incredible strength and agility punch, kick, and pummel one another into submission. For those reasons alone the book is worth reading, but, as Levi demonstrates, it’s the layers of meaning encoded in all that strange violence that make the struggle interesting.”" - PopMatters

"“The World of Lucha Libre is an informative and entertaining read based on thorough and definitely innovative research methodology that contributes substantively to our understanding of contemporary Mexican national identity. There is much that readers at all levels of familiarity with Mexico can take from this text and much that this text can contribute to discussions of cultural performance and national life beyond Mexico.”" - A Contracorriente

"“[The World of Lucha Libre] remains an excellent study of popular culture, politics, and identity in twentieth-century Mexico, one that will be of interest to scholars and perhaps even some lucha libre fans.”" - Journal of Anthropological Research

"“Besides having the coolest cover I’ve ever seen on an ethnography, the book is riveting – I never thought I would be so fascinated by wrestling and men in tights, but I guess that’s the magic of a well done ethnography.”" - Picking Up Sticks blog

"“Levi's entertaining The World of Lucha Libre assumes the role of engaged anthropologist. Levi takes the novice into the world of lucha libre, veering between explaining the basics (moves, traditions, the difference between rudos and técnicos—bad and good guys, respectively) and recounting a thorough history of the sport, touching on major fighters, developments and its frequent intersections with Mexican politics and identity. The author knows her lucha libre. . . . This book entertains, informs and breezes by. . . .”" - Los Angeles Times