Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

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CONCLUSION 209 The impressive proliferation of the practice around the world obviously raises the question to what extent capoeira can still express Afro-Brazilian values. No doubt that capoeira’s globalization and transformation into a capitalist commodity contribute to a dilution of its ‘original’ meanings and undermines its ‘authenticity’. On the other hand, people around the world playing Afro-Brazilian instruments, singing Portuguese songs composed by slaves and their descendants and moving according to African-derived aesthetics remains a major achievement in a world dominated by Hollywood, Nike, Sony, Coca-Cola and Microsoft. Brazilian capoeira instructors teaching gringos the ginga are thus the effective ambassadors of African-derived, Bahian and Brazilian culture. This remains true even if capoeira is also permanently coopted and hijacked by corporations such as Nokia or the BBC. That is not a new development. Furthermore, the use of capoeira to advertise other products also helps the art to gain more recognition and to increase its symbolic capital. Throughout this book I have often questioned the idea that capoeira has always and only been a tool against ‘the’ oppressor, and attempted to show that the insertion of the art in each specific historical context was more complex than the simple dichotomy accommodation versus resistance can account for. The apology of vagrancy constitutes a negation of dominant values, but still remains within parameters of dominant discourse. The malandro is not a revolutionary. Elite politicians or corporations use capoeira to win elections or sell products. Thus the art is constantly hijacked by different social actors to serve purposes alien to its ‘original’ meanings. Does that indicate capoeira is co-opted and mainstreamed once and for all? All practitioners still repeat the ‘mantra’ of capoeira as cultural resistance—interestingly enough regardless of their individual style. Even though the institutionalization and commodification of the practice allows deconstructing this affirmation in many instances, the very insistence on resistance by adepts remains meaningful. Resistance is as much a question of intention as of objective criteria, and as such needs to be taken seriously. Perhaps one should not interpret resistance in the sense of a total refusal, as a rejection of acculturation or of any outside influence. Capoeira has always adapted to changing contexts by reappropriating external elements, from both subaltern and hegemonic cultures. Yet the acculturation urban capoeira went through was not a one-sided process of accommodation to dominant structures in contrast to, for instance, the heroic resistance of maroons in the backlands. As I have tried to show, creolization and acculturation entailed a number of different processes, which do not fit easily into a rigid opposition between resistance and accommodation. Acculturation is not necessarily a totalizing process leading to accommodation, but ‘has rather to be understood as the use of a resource, often only partially utilized’. 6 The strict dichotomy between resistance and accommodation does not allow an understanding of the more subtle mechanisms through which individual adepts and capoeira groups interact with dominant, hegemonic structures. The dialectics of structure and agency are perhaps better grasped through alternative concepts such as re-appropriation and self-affirmation. Re-appropriation does not necessarily include identification with the adopted elements and their inherent value system. As a matter of fact, successful selfaffirmation often incorporates alien elements and values. 7 Throughout history, capoeira has, by means of re-appropriation and self-affirmation, brought people together and conquered social space. Here lies one of its most important, even though not often recognized meanings. Capoeira might not be directly significant for party politics, but it is so for the politics of gender and race. Capoeira often constituted an alternative ‘black space’, where dominant values of white superiority did—as a general rule—not prevail. The institutionalization of the art has undermined that aspect, but in some respects it always was and still is an advantage to be black in rodas past and present. This means both black and white adepts learn to behave according to alternative models of inter-ethnic relations. Capoeira thus provides a space for the apprenticeship of equality and racial democracy. Therefore it contributes to develop citizenship and to make racial democracy less of a myth and more of an every day
210 CONCLUSION reality. The recent admission of women as full equivalents to male players has extended capoeira’s emancipating role even further to include gender equality (despite the existence, at the same time, of gender discrimination in the capoeira universe). Thus contemporary capoeira fulfils a core requirement of modern as opposed to ‘traditional’ sports: equality. 8 Beyond the politics of human rights capoeira represents the apprenticeship of the freedom of movement and the theatricality it develops contributes to enhance group interaction. Capoeira, in all its diverse and divergent meanings, represents thus an important Afro-Brazilian contribution to world culture. Adepts and styles can be labelled as traditionalist or modernizing, Afro-centric or Brazilian nationalist, black or white, antagonistic or playful, but again these oppositions are often too simplistic. In capoeira many different levels of meaning intersect to form a complex web of signification. At its core, however, are the game and its aesthetics. There seems to be a consensus above all controversies and styles that capoeira is, ultimately, an art. Capoeira practice is a quest for beauty, which every adept pursues in one form or the other. And if the notion of what is beautiful differ, does it matter? As the old capoeira corrido goes: Aidé, Aide! Play beautiful, for people to see! Aidé, Aide! Play beautiful, for me to learn! Hopefully this book contributes to a better understanding of the history of our game. I would appreciate your criticisms and comments at: matthias_capoeira@yahoo.com.br Bye-bye, bye-bye Have a good trip! Bye-bye, bye-bye I am going Bye-bye, bye-bye I’m going with Our Lord Bye-bye, bye-bye I’m going with Our Lady
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Capoeira First documented among Afr
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Sport in Australasian Society Past
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First published 2005 by Routledge,
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viii ‘Vagrancy’ in Bahia, c.189
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x 6.5 Performance by Mestre Pastinh
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xii If and when the possibly epheme
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xiv To a large extent the writing-u
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xvi
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2 INTRODUCTION ever since. 3 Capoei
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1 The competing master narratives o
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COMPETING MASTER NARRATIVES 7 that
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elaboration and the dissemination o
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popular classes—against capoeiras
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COMPETING MASTER NARRATIVES 13 mona
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COMPETING MASTER NARRATIVES 15 In t
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COMPETING MASTER NARRATIVES 17 Figu
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COMPETING MASTER NARRATIVES 19 Mari
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COMPETING MASTER NARRATIVES 21 Artu
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COMPETING MASTER NARRATIVES 23 In S
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COMPETING MASTER NARRATIVES 25 A mo
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[…] the diaspora experience as I
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COMPETING MASTER NARRATIVES 29 wome
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32 THE CONTEXT OF THE BLACK ATLANTI
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68 CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO 18
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70 CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO Th
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72 CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO th
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74 CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO Fi
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78 CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO pr
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80 CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO ha
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84 CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO
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86 CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO Gu
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90 CAPOEIRAGEM IN RIO DE JANEIRO wh
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4 Workers, vagrants and tough guys
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THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA 95 Figu
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hamlet Rio Vermelho on 2 February,
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Since his mention of the berimbau i
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War of Paraguay, such as ‘Humait
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THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA 103 Fig
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These three types of song and their
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THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA 113 dei
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Uncle Pascoal rewarded him one day
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THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA 117 ban
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THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA 119 to
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THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA 123 ful
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5 Mestre Bimba and the development
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BIMBA AND ‘REGIONAL’ STYLE 127
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ultimately meant adapting his style
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Figure 5.5 M.Bimba teaching soldier
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6 Mestre Pastinha and the codificat
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Vicente Ferreira Pastiña: his earl
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PASTINHA AND ANGOLA STYLE 151 Figur
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PASTINHA AND ANGOLA STYLE 153 gener
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PASTINHA AND ANGOLA STYLE 155 Pasti
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PASTINHA AND ANGOLA STYLE 157 dogma
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Page 178 and 179: PASTINHA AND ANGOLA STYLE 161 Dress
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Page 184 and 185: 7 Contemporary capoeira, 1950-2004
Page 186 and 187: CONTEMPORARY CAPOEIRA 169 This navy
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Page 196 and 197: CONTEMPORARY CAPOEIRA 179 them are
Page 198 and 199: CONTEMPORARY CAPOEIRA 181 Capoeira
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Page 202 and 203: e-invention of capoeira Angola. In
Page 204 and 205: state of the union. Many, if not mo
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Page 210 and 211: CONTEMPORARY CAPOEIRA 193 long run.
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Page 224 and 225: CONCLUSION 207 lamented that Europe
Page 228 and 229: Glossary Abadá 1 Tunics used by Mu
Page 230 and 231: GLOSSARY 213 Maculelê Dance from S
Page 232 and 233: Notes Series editor’s foreword 1
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Page 236 and 237: 87 Desch-Obi, ‘Engolo’, pp. 212
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Page 256 and 257: NOTES 239 29 Estatuto do Centro Esp
Page 258 and 259: NOTES 241 7 Lopes, A volta do mundo
Page 260 and 261: NOTES 243 78 Praticando Capoeira, V
Page 262 and 263: 152 Jornal Abadá-Capoeira, No. 30
Page 264 and 265: Bibliography References for archiva
Page 266 and 267: BIBLIOGRAPHY 249 Barthes, R., Mytho
Page 268 and 269: BIBLIOGRAPHY 251 Dossar, K., ‘Dan
Page 270 and 271: BIBLIOGRAPHY 253 Lesser, J., Negoti
Page 272 and 273: BIBLIOGRAPHY 255 Pastinha, V.Ferrei
Page 274 and 275: BIBLIOGRAPHY 257 Soares, C.E.Líban
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abadá 135, 172, 187, 209 Abadá Ga
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calinda 58, 209 Calmir, Mestre 183
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weapons 45; and withcraft 65; wrest
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Kongo 20, 22, 24 Kongo-Angola cultu
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and establishment of Angola style 1
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Training Centre for Army Officers i
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Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

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