Playing Ludomotor Activities in Lleida During the Spanish Civil War: An Ethnomotor Approach

The traditional ludomotor activities (LA) are recognized by UNESCO as an intangible piece of cultural heritage. The ethnomotricity analyzes LA in its sociocultural context, taking into account the proprieties of rules or motor conditions (internal logic) and the link with local culture (external logic). The aim of this research was to identify and reveal the distinctive ethnomotor features of LA in order to understand the adaptations that occurred in the social scenario of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) in Lleida. The corpus of the research was constituted by 101 LA which were collected from the analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews. An “ad hoc” tool was designed and agreed upon by expert observers. It was comprised of a total of 27 ethnomotor variables related to LA. The experts achieved high reliability [Cohen’s kappa coefficient (κ) and Spearman’s correlation coefficient = 1] when the classification of LA was carried out on two different occasions. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations (Pearson’s chi-squared) effect sizes, and two-step clusters were performed by external and internal logic variables. The presence or absence of motor interaction (X(2) = 9.029; df = 1; p < 0.003; ES = 0.298) was enlightening when comparing LA with and without a war connotation. On the other hand, the hierarchy of variables rested primarily on IL-Domain (Psycho-Coop-Oppo-Coop/Oppo) (PI = 1). Among other singularities, while two-step cluster analysis revealed a corresponding ethnomotor silhouette with cluster 1, with the warlike connotation (n = 48; 96.0%), its homologous structure was expressed (Cluster 2) in the absence of the warlike character (n = 26; 50%).