Vlog 11. (The final one!) Structural Violence and Cultural Resistance

This is the final vlog introducing my book "Cultural Resistance and Security from Below. Power and Escape through Capoeira." It takes a look back at what changes have come about through the art of capoeira and looks into what relevance they have for other cultural and artistic practices.

Vlog 10. What are the implications for security analysis and policy?

What theoretical threads can be drawn from bringing capoeira to the study of security? Neoliberal security policy relies on claims of commonality that grew out of the Cold War. When claims of commonality deny differences of power and interest, though, poor people are framed as the threat to be contained and controlled. Capoeira contests unjustified claims of commonality by its core mechanisms of keeping inequality problematic, mobilising in structural violence, and maintaining the possibility of other outcomes.

Vlog 9. What is the significance of capoeira to contemporary Brazil?

This vlog looks at how capoeira is relevant in contemporary Brazil. Brazil does not experience insecurity in the form of invasion or war, but suffers from inequality, police and gang violence, and crisis in political institutions. Capoeira extends its reach through activism, projects and soft power. There are also regressive forms of power that are nurtured within hierarchical capoeira academies, as can be observed in widespread sexism.

Vlog 8. How has security been distributed through capoeira?

This vlog examines how security has been distributed through capoeira, and identifies three mechanisms: keeping inequality problematic, mobilising in structural violence and maintaining the possibility of other outcomes.

Vlog 7. Tricks & Magic in Capoeira

Capoeira does not rely on brute force but on trickery and magic. This vlog introduces the tactics, counter-rationality and anarcho-magicalism of capoeira to give some insights into the disruptive and creative elements of the art.

Vlog 6. Class & Race in capoeira

Capoeira movement and music generates and communicates knowledge. This vlog looks at the who, where and when of capoeira and notes strong references to Black Bahian working class men in the early to mid-twentieth century. Since the 1970s and 1980s, there has been more explicit mention of the African heritage of capoeira and this has interacted with a globalised discourse on race.

Vlog 5: Capoeira as a game of life

It is common to note that there is no real distinction between capoeira and life. This can be variously interpreted: that capoeira provides physical and psychological training for life's struggles, that it is better to play out differences in a controlled environment than in the street, or that capoeira is itself a way of life. Understanding the duality between capoeira and life is key to understanding the resistance that it offers.