tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86255431133841219562024-02-07T10:04:44.800-08:00Capoeira & SecurityZoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-5915436504430898862020-05-15T02:27:00.003-07:002020-05-15T02:27:56.881-07:00Vlog 11. (The final one!) Structural Violence and Cultural Resistance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YMKOUKIZOUA/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YMKOUKIZOUA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-42832108519684977352020-05-08T00:37:00.002-07:002020-05-08T00:37:49.876-07:00Vlog 10. What are the implications for security analysis and policy?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EmsklHCJTYA/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EmsklHCJTYA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-19393474421539526232020-05-01T06:13:00.003-07:002020-05-01T06:13:34.377-07:00Vlog 9. What is the significance of capoeira to contemporary Brazil?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SXJ04OrY0fw/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SXJ04OrY0fw?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-70372622603758283602020-04-24T01:12:00.000-07:002020-04-24T01:12:02.896-07:00Vlog 8. How has security been distributed through capoeira?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Jtq_auH0DRY/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jtq_auH0DRY?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-26502194932507365182020-04-17T00:33:00.002-07:002020-04-17T00:33:42.469-07:00Vlog 7. Tricks & Magic in Capoeira<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c0hBVE8lTig/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c0hBVE8lTig?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-49629223201549748102020-04-10T03:37:00.001-07:002020-04-17T00:34:04.065-07:00Vlog 6. Class & Race in capoeira<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wEXZQDlEJcQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wEXZQDlEJcQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-22043661316435356892020-04-03T01:49:00.000-07:002020-04-03T01:49:08.705-07:00Vlog 5: Capoeira as a game of life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/t5Y7FUhAhnM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t5Y7FUhAhnM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-42721738694993339802020-03-27T03:39:00.003-07:002020-03-27T03:39:49.666-07:00Vlog 4: A brief history of capoeira<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This vlog sets out a little of the history of capoeira, focusing on the
different styles that were developed following the establishment of the
first capoeira academy in the 1930s - Capoeira Regional, Capoeira
Angola, Capoeira Contemporanea and street capoeira.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zsnpS1KislY/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zsnpS1KislY?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
My youtube channel is here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/zoemalunga/">https://www.youtube.com/user/zoemalunga/</a> </div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-16761740402698025032020-03-20T01:47:00.002-07:002020-03-20T01:47:33.874-07:00Vlog 3: Capoeira and Security Literature<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is the third vlog presenting the ideas of my book "Cultural
Resistance and Security from Below" (Routledge 2019).In this vlog I
present a short background to capoeira alongside a discussion on the
bias of mainstream security theory. I begin to ask how capoeira can fill
the gaps in security theorisation and challenge the processes through
which they occur.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/msrWGpDjWHk/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/msrWGpDjWHk?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
My Youtube channel with all my vlogs is here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/zoemalunga/">https://www.youtube.com/user/zoemalunga/</a> </div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-5185940116975064592020-03-14T05:01:00.000-07:002020-04-03T01:47:06.782-07:00Vlog 2: Outline of my book, "Cultural Resistance and Security from Below"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="style-scope ytd-expander" id="content">
<div class="style-scope ytd-video-secondary-info-renderer" id="description">
<span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto">Vlog 2. Here is an outline of my book "Cultural Resistance and Security from Below. Power and Escape through Capoeira" (Routledge 2019)You can see more here: </span><a class="yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto" href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fcapoeira-security.blogspot.com%2FThis&redir_token=vSekk3oaRuyp6UDUlgpPdZwcnid8MTU4NDI3MzU2NEAxNTg0MTg3MTY0&event=video_description&v=MGFYPPLHv20" rel="nofollow" spellcheck="false" target="_blank">http://capoeira-security.blogspot.com...</a><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto"> vlog sets up the enquiry into how security is distributed through capoeira. It asks three questions: 1. What knowledge is generated through playing capoeira, 2. How communicating this knowledge changes threats and protection, and 3. What implications can be drawn for security analysis and policy.</span></div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MGFYPPLHv20/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MGFYPPLHv20?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-75712987950937782412020-03-06T13:05:00.001-08:002020-04-03T01:47:34.298-07:00Vlog 1: I left Congo for Angola<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="style-scope ytd-expander" id="content">
<div class="style-scope ytd-video-secondary-info-renderer" id="description">
<span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto">Vlog 1 presenting the ideas in my book "Cultural Resistance & Security from Below. Power & Escape through Capoeira" (Routledge 2019). Check out other vlogs here: </span><a class="yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto" href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?v=S_G0o_tFBwg&redir_token=gnQiqCP26R_62DH7n2dw2G1gaed8MTU4MzYxNTA1OEAxNTgzNTI4NjU4&event=video_description&q=http%3A%2F%2Fcapoeira-security.blogspot.com%2F" rel="nofollow" spellcheck="false" target="_blank">http://capoeira-security.blogspot.com/</a><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto"> </span></div>
<div class="style-scope ytd-video-secondary-info-renderer" id="description">
<span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto">This vlog looks at how my work on security in the DR Congo led me to research the Afro-Brazilian art of capoeira as a black discourse of completeness and agency, countering descriptions of Africa as a place of passivity and failure.</span></div>
<div class="style-scope ytd-video-secondary-info-renderer" id="description">
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Lqr7hxMjfjU/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lqr7hxMjfjU?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="style-scope ytd-video-secondary-info-renderer" id="description">
</div>
</div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-30386786830862238082019-09-13T09:05:00.002-07:002019-09-13T09:05:16.243-07:00Book published! Cultural Resistance and Security from Below. Power and escape through capoeira<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This blog has been a little dormant but the good news is that my book is now out! It is called "Cultural Resistance and Security from Below. Power and escape through capoeira." It provides a full write-up of the themes or resistance and security that I've been presenting in this blog for the past few years. I'm working on some vlogs too, which will be appearing here shortly!<br />
<br />
The book is available (also as e-book) from <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Cultural-Resistance-and-Security-from-Below-Power-and-Escape-through-Capoeira/Marriage/p/book/9780367024932" target="_blank">Routledge here.</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz6z_U5Y168Fvsw6fG_NS6tmU3sPcGKWY-8BABs7_SMJsJ02WBcfo5nQd84LhsP84Kic3RlM_L2h74U3KB7GUysFess7FK3KHg_uBfbWMB3VbOrMyQpBpjAPadUfINxmkpr1KqAlgJKYM/s1600/CRSB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="559" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz6z_U5Y168Fvsw6fG_NS6tmU3sPcGKWY-8BABs7_SMJsJ02WBcfo5nQd84LhsP84Kic3RlM_L2h74U3KB7GUysFess7FK3KHg_uBfbWMB3VbOrMyQpBpjAPadUfINxmkpr1KqAlgJKYM/s320/CRSB.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-86299312560548337682018-10-30T06:55:00.001-07:002018-10-30T06:55:14.700-07:00The pretend guns of realism and the reality of resistance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have written some reflections on the election in Brazil and the art
of capoeira. Brazil has a violent and racist history; it also has some
remarkable resistance. The piece is called "The pretend guns of realism
and the reality of resistance." The struggle is not over!<br />
<br />
Available here: <br />
http://parliaments4people.com/writings<br />
http://parliaments4people.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Dr-Zoe-Marriage.-The-Brazil-election.-30-October-2018.pdf?fbclid=IwAR22h5pefz7qSbDB7Svr6vin6ZAaQ5z3wxvSXVWvalrpk2nSLlNGQvX3VlQ<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyuBTKBwFJPN6AQfqJDIfXFJMzau0AT9zwFgH8fhiskcTSljxCRuhCg4pNWh2w5GG_o02GOQ6dQX0_7s6oaEWqp3ErUGv5v0I4Ed74qBnko-swsSRLTCE-xpCZmYXlR6D435qJhiZbZ0/s1600/Do.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1299" data-original-width="1600" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyuBTKBwFJPN6AQfqJDIfXFJMzau0AT9zwFgH8fhiskcTSljxCRuhCg4pNWh2w5GG_o02GOQ6dQX0_7s6oaEWqp3ErUGv5v0I4Ed74qBnko-swsSRLTCE-xpCZmYXlR6D435qJhiZbZ0/s320/Do.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-40650883212036708592018-01-11T02:51:00.001-08:002018-01-11T02:51:53.512-08:00Evading Biopolitical Control: Capoeira as Total Resistance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">My article <em>Evading Biopolitical Control: Capoeira as Total Resistance </em>was recently published by Global Society. Here is an abstract and a link to the full article</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The analysis of ‘total war’ as
systemic, ubiquitous and unrelenting has increased the analytical and political
urgency of understanding resistance. Drawing on Foucault’s elaboration of
biopolitics and ‘making strange,’ this article theorises ‘total resistance’
through a study of the Afro-Brazilian art of capoeira. It explores how capoeira
adepts in the early 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century resisted the 'total war' of state
repression of capoeira and the heritage that it embodied.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This article argues that, by
engaging with, and protecting themselves against, the state, capoeira
practitioners demonstrated resilience through adaptation and diversification.
The corporeality of capoeira provided a holistic response to the biopolitical
power of the state, and capoeira players 'made strange' (in Foucauldian terms)
the normalcy of power, rescuing themselves and their way of life. In answer to
the ‘total war’ which makes patterns of violence apparently inevitable, the
‘total resistance’ of capoeira evaded obliteration, and maintained the
possibility of other outcomes. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The full article is available here: <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/cXx84cRBZxERWhvAbjmQ/full"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/cXx84cRBZxERWhvAbjmQ/full</span></a>
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxgX42Wizv-ivfyzQzdLmFDBkK2RIxKmM8slTB6MgUtItoTYAUo41GKk7rEMazsOzSPaNCzAi1Zu_JHhHIvFA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt;">
Mestra Gege e Saputi playing at the Praca da Dinha, Salvador in 2014</div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-46344248702345129922016-11-08T09:03:00.001-08:002016-11-08T09:03:21.796-08:00Capoeira piece in The Guardian newspaper<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/08/brazilian-women-kick-back-against-michel-temer-presidency-with-capoeira-protest" target="_blank"><img alt="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/08/brazilian-women-kick-back-against-michel-temer-presidency-with-capoeira-protest" border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRWxMT_RmRQlxCgOCkdOTichrWsXxoxTITffK30Y4n0uEZO7kL7kUb6mv5yqJ3ZXe75LONs8Bf56KqIb7LqgxkBD0mBPd-SJz2dJckkDGEITC1beX6BMTKGTEU2auWlhVqeIYG35UGcA0/s400/capo-guardian.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-37175791245832404952015-08-28T06:36:00.000-07:002015-08-28T06:36:09.711-07:00Capoeira and the art of Total Resistance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">In
my previous two blogs I have linked the study of capoeira to the
topics of inequality and identity. Taking these two themes together,
there is a potential for capoeira to present a model for a profound
form of resistance that counters inequality in a universal way
because it is founded in the identity of the player and the totality
of the game. Such a conceptualisation is analytically exciting, and
raises questions about how resistance makes it out of the roda of the
game into the roda of life.</span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq5-nj9S7Q9d1OAXZKTP4I7fuQgxAvO3TNh-EPeKHBLb63EUpoui-XXPgIjA9QjrZqeDOHG0paSADpyEDzxIuLV1_SgktjnQXHAQguiy-T3gej3hyphenhyphenXhd75ZzMOsJ_q3OTu6C2DC_ttudg/s1600/police+capo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq5-nj9S7Q9d1OAXZKTP4I7fuQgxAvO3TNh-EPeKHBLb63EUpoui-XXPgIjA9QjrZqeDOHG0paSADpyEDzxIuLV1_SgktjnQXHAQguiy-T3gej3hyphenhyphenXhd75ZzMOsJ_q3OTu6C2DC_ttudg/s320/police+capo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Policing the Forte de Santo Antonio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Since
2001, the era of the global terror and surveillance has generated
forms of violence and control that are infinite over time (endless)
and all-pervasive in their operations, employing political, legal and
security architecture to extend power from the global to the
individual. These forms of violence and control have been theorised
by Mark Duffield as 'total war', a conceptualisation that issues
political and analytical challenges in formulating and analysing
responses made, including artistic responses. How do people survive,
and what do art and resistance mean under conditions of total war?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfPHkhI96c8OjfkPeJTNQfnxA7c6EhSyoXPtAMFY044eDNPD8xUyHtlXm9c2RICmxMrCG3oJE4M-rTX9AUnUzArMQCw6HcsPbKUIvORArFdCEf-jTIt7UnV8mfHIg3coL-shBA6a-_cw/s1600/art.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfPHkhI96c8OjfkPeJTNQfnxA7c6EhSyoXPtAMFY044eDNPD8xUyHtlXm9c2RICmxMrCG3oJE4M-rTX9AUnUzArMQCw6HcsPbKUIvORArFdCEf-jTIt7UnV8mfHIg3coL-shBA6a-_cw/s400/art.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Art
– there's a lot of it about :)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Capoeira
developed under political configurations that attempted to control
the bodies, identity and expression of black people in 19</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
and early 20</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
century Brazil. Capoeira players not only denied the state the power
to assign them unequal status, but forged identities that have become
part of the Brazilian mainstream, and maintained a historical
continuity that the state was attempting to eliminate. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
boundless nature of state control attacked the identity – the
heritage, values and associations – of a marginalised population.
It was met with the infinite nature of the game – a game that
encompasses musicality, physicality and spirituality; a game with no
rules, points or set timings, played in a circle. Congolese scholar
Fu-Kiau described games in Congo as containing ‘all the ingredients
a person needed to acquire mental and physical fitness…The music,
dance, lyrics, joy, and laughter were all means to create positive
energy that encouraged the community to join in an active
participation. Games were thus an integral part of the process called
life” (quoted in Chvaicer 2002, 537). Capoeira has this totality.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjOTMYtNRPp0DF6dZrrJvncAGioNWOGV8a18bYjbfJ78Ehc1YTx9BnP3F2xewYTARY-5j03PSrdIQAt9qRkuduqHTrfboQIJOJHY4dbAeXeEYohvdbEGg6DFU-8z5acxQeozrO-p36PE/s1600/capo+e+vida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjOTMYtNRPp0DF6dZrrJvncAGioNWOGV8a18bYjbfJ78Ehc1YTx9BnP3F2xewYTARY-5j03PSrdIQAt9qRkuduqHTrfboQIJOJHY4dbAeXeEYohvdbEGg6DFU-8z5acxQeozrO-p36PE/s320/capo+e+vida.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Capoeira
is life – from Kilombo Tenonde</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Capoeira
is a somatic dialogue of questions and answers; insecurity in
capoeira – as in life – derives from getting into a dangerous
situation that you cannot escape. Total war generates this form of
insecurity – militarily, politically, economically and
psychologically. Violence and control are differentially experienced
across the world, but the war is not defined only territorially.
Control of the means of violence, access to capital and the threat or
protection offered by surveillance mediate people's experience of
total war. Total war is about systemic management and resistance to
it is described by countering or escaping the politics of violence
and control. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Capoeira
prompts two lines of thought with regard to the art of resisting
total war. The first is that artistic resistance can be oblique and
unguided: capoeira is a source of inspiration and community rather
than a concerted political lever. The second insight is that, despite
– or because of – this lack of functional engagement, art
continually creates both a retreat from political assault and a
source of strength. Like other arts and forms of <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/08/mystics-time-terror-150820123019861.html" target="_blank">spirituality it provides a response to feelings of powerlessness and apathy</a> arising
from the aggression of total war</span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"></span></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">.
In doing so, art counters the inevitability of the violence of total
war with potentiality – the idea that other possibilities exist and
can be created.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Simply
playing capoeira was resistance for those whose identity was
threatened by the laws against it. Today, capoeira is a lens on
struggle – for most of its players it is not the struggle itself.
Power is defined as the ability to influence people, a definition
that can be extended to art. Using capoeira – or other artistic
pursuits – to influence the experiences of people who are
marginalised from collective identities, dignified life or physical
or psychological well-being are logical ways of channelling the
struggle. The other way of extending the resistance of capoeira is to
allow its history of struggle to change us – to internalise and act
on the values of equality and struggle that are embodied in the music
and movement to counter the forms of violence and control that
continue to threaten people through war and devastating poverty.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkeuUaov3vQ2eeMX1BZuIJ05mBW9MVNtkxWImiL8EwG1fA6wsHnH9pwzdSN1CJkiO-_e19_boQZ_47ntULhFUzov4y77tOx4ZDS-BOBJfnD6D-I4GVcxT2dC_VIf4n2roS9cbJJX93Sg/s1600/leaving+Salvador.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkeuUaov3vQ2eeMX1BZuIJ05mBW9MVNtkxWImiL8EwG1fA6wsHnH9pwzdSN1CJkiO-_e19_boQZ_47ntULhFUzov4y77tOx4ZDS-BOBJfnD6D-I4GVcxT2dC_VIf4n2roS9cbJJX93Sg/s400/leaving+Salvador.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leaving Salvador! It has been beautiful</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I
will be elaborating on these thoughts with Professora Paulinha
<a href="http://www.capoeirabemvindo.co.uk/" target="_blank">(Capoeira Bem-Vindo)</a></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
in a presentation for the </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/hip/201516-events/in-place-of-war/" target="_blank">In Place of War project at Manchester Metropolitan University</a> in
November<span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="pt-BR">Chvaicer,
M. T. (2002). </span><span lang="">"The Criminalization of</span><span lang=""><i>
Capoeira</i></span><span lang=""> in Nineteenth-Century Brazil."
</span><span lang=""><u>Hispanic American Historical Review</u></span><span lang="">
</span><span lang=""><b>82</b></span><span lang="">(3): 525-547.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Duffield,
M. (2007). <u>Development, Security and Unending War: Governing the
World of Peoples</u><span style="text-decoration: none;">, Polity.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-75309346270507412562015-08-21T11:53:00.001-07:002015-08-21T11:53:49.737-07:00Identity in the history and geography of capoeira<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I'm
in Salvador, training and playing in rodas. The Forte de Santo
Antonio, overlooking the Bay of All Saints, received a facelift in
the 1980s and has been the cultural centre for capoeira since, but
capoeira is played elsewhere too – in other academies and in the
street.</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span id="goog_1894743653"></span><span id="goog_1894743654"></span> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDhpxN39DMY9IGqqLlKBIhdtvyt1TUFw38m6WQlgUcc4t_oNd5br3Qfeq9u7Q7OSc3VkKBCq7faHysasYD8_CpyNjFb0I_8HY1rEfZemfdCZBJOPqH-_bdtBvkuaCMZH8nX0HJLxML1dk/s1600/bay+all+saints.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDhpxN39DMY9IGqqLlKBIhdtvyt1TUFw38m6WQlgUcc4t_oNd5br3Qfeq9u7Q7OSc3VkKBCq7faHysasYD8_CpyNjFb0I_8HY1rEfZemfdCZBJOPqH-_bdtBvkuaCMZH8nX0HJLxML1dk/s320/bay+all+saints.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bay of All Saints, looking lovely</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4SiJUMRO-wo3cb__Q1tJaSE_A39haokuErbJogqZAQut03esnJgdjFyEO3DxijsWEa5LTZAgbDVS0OBS-3Y9VVLUa0QRA5oCQqzKhv_mMjxY3FKFHZBF_0DB8xGlEDQ9zRE9g4uz49PA/s1600/forte.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4SiJUMRO-wo3cb__Q1tJaSE_A39haokuErbJogqZAQut03esnJgdjFyEO3DxijsWEa5LTZAgbDVS0OBS-3Y9VVLUa0QRA5oCQqzKhv_mMjxY3FKFHZBF_0DB8xGlEDQ9zRE9g4uz49PA/s320/forte.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the Forte de Santo Antonio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
groups in the Forte de Santo Antonio retain the characteristics of
their teachers' capoeira. The identity of each group is reproduced in
the conventions of training, movement, rhythm and repertoire. Playing
in the Forte de Santo Antonio is like taking a step out of time –
and space (as many of the students are foreign) – to a kind of
ideal capoeira, stylised by practitioners of the mid-20</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
century.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
attention to convention in the Forte de Santo Antonio contrasts with
the lawlessness of capoeira in 19</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
and early 20</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
century when it was played in the streets. Arguably the most
significant change in capoeira in the 20</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
century was the move from the streets to the academy in the 1930s and
1940s. Most academies are named after their founding teachers, and
teaching lineage is – for many – a mark of legitimacy of style
and identity. (For others it is constraining, and knowledge is
acquired through engagement rather than hierarchy). Just at there is
a contrast between the convention of the academy and the lawlessness
of the capoeira that preceded it, there is a contrast between
'purity' of lineage since the mid-20</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
century and the mixed African, indigenous Brazilian and Portuguese
heritage of the capoeira that preceded. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtkFrvc9PuWQVcP8e4ZpuHRlRgXbTNSyaR7G88HNHisFEV8-fDNwBuXTYvYlpuZYWcgKYqopt4zOx01p2YJEU6AojDFB0icCUdYNqoCfz5ImTl7MNyl30TW2rYz9sqPGgYB40Y5nat7mM/s1600/GCAP.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtkFrvc9PuWQVcP8e4ZpuHRlRgXbTNSyaR7G88HNHisFEV8-fDNwBuXTYvYlpuZYWcgKYqopt4zOx01p2YJEU6AojDFB0icCUdYNqoCfz5ImTl7MNyl30TW2rYz9sqPGgYB40Y5nat7mM/s400/GCAP.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roda at GCAP in the Forte (that's me on agogo!)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Identities
make historically and geographically links, and provide a framework
for navigating diverse and mutating capoeira lineages and groups.
They are also forged by the relationship between capoeira and the
state. Academies changed the identity of capoeira from an evasive
practice in ungoverned areas to a governed art – in fact
over-policed initially, when security agents attended games in the
early years.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Last
week I drew parallels between the attempts by the Brazilian state in
the early 20</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
century and contemporary European governments to institutionalise
inequality, noting that inequality has been the subject of various
theories relating to security. Identity, too, features strongly in
academic literature on security, and assessing how interests interact
with identities offers insights into the survival and growth of
capoeira.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
relationship between capoeira and the state puts the contrasts in
capoeira identities in political perspective, encompassing the
struggle for space (the street) and heritage (African/European). By
accepting the state's need for regularity, and some 'Brazilian'
ownership of capoeira, capoeira practitioners interlaced their
interests with those of state authority, reducing the perceived
threats. Today, groups in the Forte, other academies and the street
reach various settlements of allied interests with each other and
with the state. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWMZVR4WC_NRMTo2Z_A0Z-xmA-ji5ADutUvvMuASK-R5NSSSGaaCzL_vri0gFDAeE02rbTpjMs-izXQ9KCPgr1vNJm6J98_JF60Qnb9t4PuwXYjoDCZxVWJ7m6dRGaeG0CiRdwcH7-enI/s1600/M+Claudio+16-8-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWMZVR4WC_NRMTo2Z_A0Z-xmA-ji5ADutUvvMuASK-R5NSSSGaaCzL_vri0gFDAeE02rbTpjMs-izXQ9KCPgr1vNJm6J98_JF60Qnb9t4PuwXYjoDCZxVWJ7m6dRGaeG0CiRdwcH7-enI/s400/M+Claudio+16-8-15.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Workshop on the street with Mestre Claudio de Feira de Santana (I'm at the back in red!)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Capoeira
has flourished largely because its diversity enables it to adapt it
to different political and cultural conditions. There is no
overarching or united goal and therefore no rationality determining
strategic gains. Instead, Habermas theory of 'communicative
rationality' is helpful in detailing a rationality oriented towards
understanding. The practice of capoeira generates opportunities for
communication in the the game, group and teaching. While there is
abundant bickering between capoeira teachers and groups, there is no
fundamental incompatibility and the contestation of identities
maintains connection and difference.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Capoeira
provides a laboratory study in identity politics that throws
regressive contemporary politics in Europe into relief. Crucially,
capoeira groups have negotiated their own identities and interests,
rather than having characteristics assigned and manipulated by
others. Current portrayals of refugees, Muslims, welfare-claimants,
the unemployed, and migrant workers as threatening are determined
largely by the popular press. Ring-fencing sections of the population
– allocating them an identity – and presenting these identities
as having interests that are incompatible with the mainstream fosters
blame, competition or conflict. As the imperfect but strangely
functional case of capoeira demonstrates, though, diversity is a
strength not only in that it accommodates a range of predilections,
but that in doing so, it constitutes an adaptable and self-reflective
whole.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I
will be presenting these thoughts in the <a href="http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/english/research/queer-diasporas/psa2015" target="_blank">Post-Colonial Studies Convention</a> in the University of Leicester in September.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-80640313338840306112015-08-14T07:25:00.000-07:002015-08-14T07:25:28.955-07:00Finding inequality problematic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I
have returned to Bahia after three years. In the interim I have
changed capoeira groups. For the last two years I have practised
capoeira Angola and I now train with Professora Paulinha in <a href="http://www.capoeirabemvindo.co.uk/" target="_blank">CapoeiraBem-Vindo</a>.</span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I
have continued to think about how capoeira affects security through a
study of how capoeira players have reworked relationships of threat
and protection by gaining cultural and political space. A key reason
for choosing to study capoeira was that, as a subaltern voice, its
perspective contrasts with that of conventional studies in security,
which have been dominated by the powerful north. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Subaltern
voices do not simply complement more powerful voices, they provide
insights through the political challenges the pose. The subject of
inequality, for instance, has been researched from diverse
disciplines with regards to incidence of conflict, and the reduction
of inequality is central to progressive peace. At the same time,
though, the processes of capitalism and the priorities of
neoliberalism have reproduced inequalities domestically and
internationally. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
tension between the merits of equality and the realist demands of
politics is maintained because inequality is not genuinely
problematic for the powerful. The current securitisation of
migration, the political and media noise framing the threats posed by
migrants in the Mediterranean and Calais, can be understood as the
institutionalisation of inequality according to the political needs
of European governments.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Capoeira
is a form of embodied knowledge that has grown out of inequality –
of the slave trade and racial injustice – and it finds inequality
problematic as it is degrading and dangerous. </span>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0UvDj0RG3Me5pefJteCMAKxgEYw2LyM6sX2fy_U3FP55DyYN6EIHIqcaqk-wM9c5j-vZi_kmZ4vKEUx-lldT8x2y_WayAfgjTbVURedTW5sLPlsYGgbXosX82xyldShQfVY189Y6IjE/s1600/11792004_10207071096392736_7748254272886176001_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0UvDj0RG3Me5pefJteCMAKxgEYw2LyM6sX2fy_U3FP55DyYN6EIHIqcaqk-wM9c5j-vZi_kmZ4vKEUx-lldT8x2y_WayAfgjTbVURedTW5sLPlsYGgbXosX82xyldShQfVY189Y6IjE/s400/11792004_10207071096392736_7748254272886176001_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing capoeira with Treinel Marcelo (FICA) in Kilombo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I
have just spent three weeks in <a href="http://www.kilombotenonde.com/" target="_blank">Kilombo Tenonde</a></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"></span></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">,
a centre for capoeira and permaculture led by Mestre Cobra Mansa
(FICA). Kilombo is dedicated to promoting environmental
sustainability through bio-construction, and organic gardening and
agro-forestry. Capoeira training takes place every day from 6-8am and
there are music classes in the evening. The intensity and regularity
of training attests to the fact that capoeira is </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">not</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
a distraction, it is integral to the way that Kilombo operates.
Sharing in the artistic practice of capoeira generates community, and
also provides a site for physical and mental well-being, reflection
and mobilisation.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Where
does this leave inequality and politics, conflict, peace and the
securitisation of migration? Inequality is problematic because it
enables the powerful to exert violence on the relatively powerless,
and subaltern voices start to redress the inequality in information
that imposes structures of violence on distressed populations. The
criminalisation of capoeira in early 20</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
century Brazil was the Brazilian state's attempt to erase African
history and the brutality of the slave trade from the future of
Brazil. The securitisation of migration in the 21</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">st</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
century is a similar attempt to erase historic and contemporary
violence from the future global order. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Capoeira
provides an example of how a struggle has been maintained in Brazil,
but as Kilombo demonstrates, art can provide a focus for undertaking
or understanding other struggles. It is not simply <b>what</b> is
said, it is <b>how</b> it is said: capoeira's constant celebration of
African heritage and its valorisation of artistic expression is not a
snapshot quantitative measure of inequality but a bulwark against its
political processes. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-WBdQ1lBlzOW73SgYpcJvJ6um7tQJNO2CKkg0egmi62yGPnf5fGdRuOyRK2XXioDo0a72AGbAP4NycfXFx-ZjFO1Dntnh8pOYIf8Myqh9pv9O7eItj_7pNBPa46OXk9Y59czwoWpmG4/s1600/P1040754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-WBdQ1lBlzOW73SgYpcJvJ6um7tQJNO2CKkg0egmi62yGPnf5fGdRuOyRK2XXioDo0a72AGbAP4NycfXFx-ZjFO1Dntnh8pOYIf8Myqh9pv9O7eItj_7pNBPa46OXk9Y59czwoWpmG4/s320/P1040754.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork at Kilombo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Attending
to the perspectives and experiences of people – whether they are in
Libya, Syria, the Mediterranean or Calais – is essential to the
process of finding inequality problematic in the sense of being
degrading, dangerous. Just as capoeira has celebrated its heritage,
contemporary subaltern perspectives illuminate the regressive nature
of northern security, and indicate how to work towards a future that
does not systematically exclude the victims of past and present
violence.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I
will be presenting these thoughts as Keynote Speaker at the
<a href="http://events.manchester.ac.uk/event/event:g12f-i56wx244-xzo872/international-conference-inequality-peace-and-conflict" target="_blank">International Conference: Inequality, Peace and Conflict</a> at
Manchester University in September.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-50616163375903608442012-09-06T07:52:00.001-07:002012-09-06T07:52:59.745-07:00Vamos vadiar!<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">This is my
last blog from this piece of research. It has been an amazing experience! It
has made me think not only about capoeira and security but also about the
processes of learning and knowledge. The insights that I have gained have been
intensely intellectually – and physically! – challenging and will continue to be so.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">My final
blog is dedicated to expressing thanks. I am very deeply grateful to the people
who have been part of my experience of capoeira in Salvador. I have played
dozens of games and I thank everyone for every single moment – in all the
classes and all the rodas – it has all been brilliant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">My greatest
gratitude is reserved for the teachers in the two schools in which I trained.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6H_YQlMQ-b7ZHXdAA2xos1ks8WBdbWxmSY6r0W-mW_9qerHF1ND-JL3G6_MoXqrmWJlQ3c_3Ci-tJBx9urfrfF-qF2psfqtUiiPTcZXvv3jEROCZwMhxQqX6n0TecfsmmN4eUSGtaj0Q/s1600/me+&+M+Nenel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6H_YQlMQ-b7ZHXdAA2xos1ks8WBdbWxmSY6r0W-mW_9qerHF1ND-JL3G6_MoXqrmWJlQ3c_3Ci-tJBx9urfrfF-qF2psfqtUiiPTcZXvv3jEROCZwMhxQqX6n0TecfsmmN4eUSGtaj0Q/s320/me+&+M+Nenel.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mestre Nenel!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">My
heartfelt thanks go to Mestre Nenel, the living legend of Capoeira Regional and
head of the <a href="http://www.filhosdebimba.com.br/ie/" target="_blank">Filhos de Bimba School of Capoeira</a>, and to Professor Berimbau who
oriented me patiently through my first Regional steps. Mestre Nenel taught me
the diversity and loveliness of the musical toques that accompany the Regional
game and shared the vast wealth of movements, each with a name, an objective
and an escape! I am grateful to him for inspiration, for technique, rhythm and
precision in capoeira and for the total magical happiness of it that makes
everything possible! And for his great rodas where the extremely young, the
extremely good and the extremely seasoned play – including many who trained
with Mestre Bimba. Through an extraordinary charismatic power, Mestre Nenel
lives, plays and teaches profoundly beautiful capoeira.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFH37KH72P57hlevYXn0q91v8HqjugepMA0ZJZQ0SfQJYHGPAWoKidayHKskLVMmKf45esVtJm6Ttu_ZNhLq9BbVTbtzO7DLJy80YOZ_GxgdnGmcDLPsdeuKqHIEsJVcKPHRijZRC2RYg/s1600/11+chamada.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFH37KH72P57hlevYXn0q91v8HqjugepMA0ZJZQ0SfQJYHGPAWoKidayHKskLVMmKf45esVtJm6Ttu_ZNhLq9BbVTbtzO7DLJy80YOZ_GxgdnGmcDLPsdeuKqHIEsJVcKPHRijZRC2RYg/s320/11+chamada.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mestre Valmir</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOANOdHpj1WmIL3eSZwp2wQMEhLSpLGZX1SNHde0UmBituMplQ-rvjvynZFAllZ0E0TMNT90mz1tBKugB7XSVhOac4O1roocLsqbTQC2izMGBrBJeW3XYtCewu0f2tiny2nWLrYIswjqk/s1600/Cobrinha+with+cacao+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOANOdHpj1WmIL3eSZwp2wQMEhLSpLGZX1SNHde0UmBituMplQ-rvjvynZFAllZ0E0TMNT90mz1tBKugB7XSVhOac4O1roocLsqbTQC2izMGBrBJeW3XYtCewu0f2tiny2nWLrYIswjqk/s320/Cobrinha+with+cacao+copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mestre Cobra Mansa</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">I extend my
deep thanks, too, to the FICA team – Mestres Valmir and Cobra Mansa,
Contra-Mestra Gege, Dija and Aloan. <a href="HTTP://www.ficabahia.com.br/html/" target="_blank">FICA Bahia</a> introduced me to the wonder of
Angola songs, the batería, the improvisation, the theatre of interaction, the
diversity of games and the intricacy of convention. I am grateful for the
stories that surround and work through capoeira Angola, the traces of history,
and the insights into the extremes of physical expression and the variety of
play. And for the experience of playing in the street, in the countryside,
everywhere – everything is capoeira! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Part of the FICA experience is <a href="http://www.kilombotenonde.com/ingles/" target="_blank">Kilombo Tenonde</a>,
Mestre Cobra Mansa’s lived witness to permaculture and capoeira Angola. I spent
some wonderful days weeding vegetable beds, working on an irrigation pump (!),
playing capoeira and music, and swimming in the river. Kilombo is testament to
the importance of sustainability and community and to how much work is
involved. And it is fantastic! Another world is possible – it’s already there!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">VAMOS
VADIAR!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4uZDCe3TAqOGXaQs32xSU_ta6bKXYdDT7ttm_5US09vyvxSbvDYGSAcX_doeXxOaIdn88Y34dogW2pS2KORz91yrMSHafuZT7Z4l9gOokrvVw_ZBuXepM7fD-jjkgAwPxG5eUT-teYM/s1600/hammock%252C+Goabim+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4uZDCe3TAqOGXaQs32xSU_ta6bKXYdDT7ttm_5US09vyvxSbvDYGSAcX_doeXxOaIdn88Y34dogW2pS2KORz91yrMSHafuZT7Z4l9gOokrvVw_ZBuXepM7fD-jjkgAwPxG5eUT-teYM/s320/hammock%252C+Goabim+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71nMY_S5zllHXWwTDlo1i8QAPWaYie2h2xHeR7ejT7N8NeoJ4vsESvrhUpnyVPXGqMGCUXkVv_uxBYqXCkINUuITqL9qAcdPxFz3mgRodZCEzKTieMemcWZOFrAD6BjgLVzJorS-TLmY/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71nMY_S5zllHXWwTDlo1i8QAPWaYie2h2xHeR7ejT7N8NeoJ4vsESvrhUpnyVPXGqMGCUXkVv_uxBYqXCkINUuITqL9qAcdPxFz3mgRodZCEzKTieMemcWZOFrAD6BjgLVzJorS-TLmY/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-52195149362268597632012-08-22T02:24:00.000-07:002012-08-22T02:24:02.571-07:00What are the implications for security studies?<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUA0H1hIQo2PvvntwgG22rCrPT_p9xzTpSVbYVgSKJCjBX0TLri7OK23Qq8icdo7-dov8V2jYy09ncv661h1zKc74FIRTitekuh2kd5hToyBjacsm6vnUP2fAIfo57xvBuddxJYyNhwPs/s1600/11+difficult+situations.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUA0H1hIQo2PvvntwgG22rCrPT_p9xzTpSVbYVgSKJCjBX0TLri7OK23Qq8icdo7-dov8V2jYy09ncv661h1zKc74FIRTitekuh2kd5hToyBjacsm6vnUP2fAIfo57xvBuddxJYyNhwPs/s320/11+difficult+situations.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting out of difficult situations</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Northern focus of security studies excludes the majority of the world’s
population from discussions on security. The dominance of strategic rationality
as the decision-making mechanism and the focus on direct forms of violence
discount the perspectives of weaker parties and in doing so compromise the
ability to understand threats faced by those who are not in positions of
power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">These
threats include the threat of military attack; in the east of Congo, operations
apparently designed to provide security for the distressed population have been
catastrophic. There is also a lack of conceptual apparatus to address AIDS,
environmental collapse, political anomie or marginalisation from a security
perspective. Mitigation attempts abound but a security perspective would
prioritise not ‘helping’ but changing the relationships of threat and
protection that reinforce insecurity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">These
shortfalls have become particularly disastrous since security programming has
been incorporated into mainstream development policy. Without an understanding
of the perspective of the weaker, development is unlikely to improve the
security of those on whose behalf the intervention is made.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>What
does the perspective of the weaker party contribute to security? <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">The history
passed through capoeira starts to fill some of the ‘historical absences’
generated by the northern dominance in security theorising and policy (Bilgin
2010). It has given insight into the tactics that are used in the strategic
space commanded by others. In doing so, capoeira has provided data and analysis
to map a much broader scope of rationality than is assumed by conventional
concepts of strategy. This is a step towards theorising disruption and
difference as counter-hegemonic discourses of resistance, rather than trying to shut them down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">A key part
of the investigation has been the extension of understanding of rationality.
Rationality has been seen to have communicative ends, in conserving and
expressing personal and group identities and values. Instrumental rationality
is diverse too: it makes tactical gains but it also employs counter-rationality
and magic – including music, charisma and play – to generate meaning and reduce
vulnerability. Reducing vulnerability is as important in security terms as
increasing arsenal and tends to be less aggravating. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF-ZM1lhgzWY-48vD-QJfmRA1PH92OAhp56MRkAvtbp25PaW2uXEBU74Fe9yHRzXA3h_vxoMYOzjkyG_qqretI9ipo44E5mDq9eqspmJiWIb18UVYQRbEUsVUzu_4bbTONkylips2fcG8/s1600/Roda+FUMEB.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF-ZM1lhgzWY-48vD-QJfmRA1PH92OAhp56MRkAvtbp25PaW2uXEBU74Fe9yHRzXA3h_vxoMYOzjkyG_qqretI9ipo44E5mDq9eqspmJiWIb18UVYQRbEUsVUzu_4bbTONkylips2fcG8/s320/Roda+FUMEB.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Filhos de Bimba, Salvador</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Capoeira
presents a further crucial challenge to dominant power in denying the
inevitability of its processes. The commitment of Mestre Bimba to recuperating
and codifying the art of capoeira has preserved elements that were in danger of
being lost. An equal task is now undertaken by his son, Mestre Nenel, who
maintains Bimba’s tradition in the face of strong pressures on the Regional
style. A different form of challenge confronts the heirs of capoeira Angola.
They have seen a less explosive diffusion of their art, but they also struggle
to preserve the style alongside preserving the fluidity and improvisation that
are integral to it. Through teaching and playing capoeira, the authenticity and
integrity of the game and the forms of political expression that it gives are
constantly renegotiated. The form that capoeira takes – the fact that it is
situated in the present and defined by its lineage - continuously denies and outwits inevitability. Outcomes are not predetermined, they are in a constant state of becoming.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>How are
power, freedom and security related?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Examining
capoeira has highlighted the political significance and construction of
freedom. Security and freedom have conventionally been conceptualised as
oppositional: populations relinquish freedom in return for security from the
state. A break was made in 1994 when Human Security was defined by the UNDP as
freedom from fear and freedom from want. This was a freedom from abstract
threats and was not explained in political terms. Following the attacks on New
York and Washington in 2001, the debate about security and freedom has been
reignited as many states have imposed extraordinary laws in the name of
security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Capoeira’s
counter-hegemonic discourse foregrounds freedom not as a price but as a
precondition for security. This is a freedom that is won from oppression, not
one that is granted by the law laid down by the powerful. Capoeira unpacks the power relations and differences of
interest that frame competing versions of security. It brings into focus the
question of: Whose security is it? The song “vou dizer a meu senhor” – “I’m
going to tell my master” recounts a slave’s lack of concern and abdication of
responsibility for a pat of melted butter. The position is: Yes, the butter has
melted, but it wasn’t my butter. Why should the slave care if the master’s
butter has melted? In myriad ways, people whose interests are not served by
dominant versions of security express lack of concern and an abdication of
responsibility for pursuing it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Without
slavery there would be no capoeira: capoeira developed in the runaway slave
settlements. Its form and reference is borne of experiences of powerlessness,
resistance and difference of interests, and is expressed through defiant or
oblique lyrics and the joy of playing despite everything. Without capoeira
slavery could be condemned as unjust, but there would be no continuity of
history, no cultural celebration or significance of agency. These constituent
elements not only convey a particular set of historical experiences and
priorities, they imply that there is no blue print for security. In drawing
attention to power they also problematise the political practicality of
providing security to others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTAElcvfBWVwCXqu2dRshSUtOJulFplFEJyyfz5UbOnMd8BsmVTOTUEH1slJA8prCqWW08XJC7KtVTF-Ob54rcn2o8S-lN3yLFp1fwKZeZPd5OgEuLiJjg6NhOGjLbQpBkzuLOgckjYtY/s1600/musicians%252C+FICA.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTAElcvfBWVwCXqu2dRshSUtOJulFplFEJyyfz5UbOnMd8BsmVTOTUEH1slJA8prCqWW08XJC7KtVTF-Ob54rcn2o8S-lN3yLFp1fwKZeZPd5OgEuLiJjg6NhOGjLbQpBkzuLOgckjYtY/s320/musicians%252C+FICA.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">A ladainha
contains the lines, “I am free like the wind, Ai meu Deus, ninguém vai <i>me
segurar</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">” – “no one
can hold me.” I am grateful to Lea Frehse, currently studying with us at SOAS,
for the observation that the word ‘security’ derives its meaning from the notion
of freedom from care; she explores how this can include also freedom from being
<i>cared for</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">. Human
Security promotes freedom within the hegemony of security as defined by the
powerful minority, and many contemporary security policies extend the control
exercised by the state. The critical angle presented by capoeira is the
opposite: a need for freedom from that hegemony – the ability to choose –
freedom to ACT, to BE!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>The last
word on rationality</b></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7BvyG-UZqMqv84rDMx44SUYXHRWrh4URrE-K9r0OjOWBjr9-dsA1z9E5x-KZ7scu4JYWjxUsQNyWtZyccVW0DyhPPP6F6vIjvQ5y1xMGoN1zGnYKiiQrAjc18zmiyEVVwy7Q1YZ5UMc/s1600/11+berimbau+phone.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7BvyG-UZqMqv84rDMx44SUYXHRWrh4URrE-K9r0OjOWBjr9-dsA1z9E5x-KZ7scu4JYWjxUsQNyWtZyccVW0DyhPPP6F6vIjvQ5y1xMGoN1zGnYKiiQrAjc18zmiyEVVwy7Q1YZ5UMc/s320/11+berimbau+phone.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Establishing communication</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">The strategic
rationality and northern bias of security discourse faces strident and profound
challenges in real world politics. Capoeira has provided a number of angles of
critique and elaboration on the dominant security perspective. It is not
obvious; if you see a capoeira game you are unlikely to think, ‘oh, cartwheels,
what an heritage,’ or ‘magic! How liberating!’ I have written this blog
alongside an intensive programme of training and playing. Capoeira’s
fundamentals are encoded, as counter-hegemonic discourses must be and many
counter-hegemonic discourses appear at first sight disoriented and
disorienting. Most are not as fun or as beautiful as capoeira. Many are not rational in a straightforward sense, but it would be irrational to
dismiss them just for that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">References:
<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Bilgin, P. ( 2010).
"The 'Western-Centrism' of Security Studies: 'Blind Spot' or Constitutive
Practice?" </span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Security Dialogue</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">41</span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(6): 615-622.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Rogers, P. (2000). </span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Losing
Control: Global Security in the Twenty-First Century</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">. London, Pluto Press.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">UNDP (1994). New dimensions of human security. </span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Human
Development Report 1994 </span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">United Nations Development Programme.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></b></span><br clear="ALL" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b>
</b></span><!--EndFragment-->
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71nMY_S5zllHXWwTDlo1i8QAPWaYie2h2xHeR7ejT7N8NeoJ4vsESvrhUpnyVPXGqMGCUXkVv_uxBYqXCkINUuITqL9qAcdPxFz3mgRodZCEzKTieMemcWZOFrAD6BjgLVzJorS-TLmY/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71nMY_S5zllHXWwTDlo1i8QAPWaYie2h2xHeR7ejT7N8NeoJ4vsESvrhUpnyVPXGqMGCUXkVv_uxBYqXCkINUuITqL9qAcdPxFz3mgRodZCEzKTieMemcWZOFrAD6BjgLVzJorS-TLmY/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b></span>Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-18247666490429883242012-08-07T10:04:00.000-07:002012-08-07T10:05:59.416-07:00How has security been distributed through capoeira?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="PT" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Quem bate não se lembra, quem apanha não se esquece”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“The one who gives the beating doesn’t remember, the one who is beaten doesn’t forget”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisRxuCBOlxMdSxFnT4LRw8OSew_l4Ccgt8YCv-os0wGKAzn3i-Kh3nt1xmn-R4TvIPlRtgcjZg5kt4iw5nnrBk5Edg7UjdQUVLXWXaJL2EcKC8x-n05ZQoG8kBtLideu6GXjUNGIyJrro/s1600/regional+roda.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisRxuCBOlxMdSxFnT4LRw8OSew_l4Ccgt8YCv-os0wGKAzn3i-Kh3nt1xmn-R4TvIPlRtgcjZg5kt4iw5nnrBk5Edg7UjdQUVLXWXaJL2EcKC8x-n05ZQoG8kBtLideu6GXjUNGIyJrro/s320/regional+roda.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Security relates to interests and power bases and, according to Fierke, </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">"assumes a field of relationships, including a threatener, the threatened, the protector or means of protection, and the protected" </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes;">(</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-no-proof: yes;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8625543113384121956#_ENREF_23" title="Fierke, 2007 #873"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Fierke 2007, 46</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes;">)</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> This provides a helpful template for analysing the distribution of security. How have these relationships of threat and protection been changed by capoeira? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Institutionalisation </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The institutionalisation of capoeira is a dominant part of the contemporary experience. In academies, rodas start on time, follow defined conventions, and there is no malicious violence. Students comply with the trappings of the institution, including the authority of the mestre, the rituals of instrumentation and music, and the use of uniforms. Institutionalisation is reinforced by the continuous assertion of identity, often through implicit or explicit differentiation with other academies, practices and strands of capoeira. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFlgcs9OW8bn4VF_rlNBH3ZwYwzZ8Qo6mafS7-ou2b8d8Ha5Te84kXYIIJ57ZFG8jMBrOzFxitHeed-oVBdOqy_iB0bAjpV1CGHCCo2UBx13pJAqSGNwe5_M3cF8ehQXqnyLgiq0ggQmA/s1600/6+Bimba.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" kda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFlgcs9OW8bn4VF_rlNBH3ZwYwzZ8Qo6mafS7-ou2b8d8Ha5Te84kXYIIJ57ZFG8jMBrOzFxitHeed-oVBdOqy_iB0bAjpV1CGHCCo2UBx13pJAqSGNwe5_M3cF8ehQXqnyLgiq0ggQmA/s320/6+Bimba.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FUMEB, Filhos de Bimba in Salvador</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">This institutionalisation stems from Mestre Bimba who performed capoeira to the Governor of Bahia in the late 1930s. In communicative terms this was significant: through capoeira, Mestre Bimba was communicating with the non-capoeira world and with the power that posed the direct threat. There was a risk involved in opening communications: capoeira was still illegal at the time and Mestre Bimba had already founded his academy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The communication that Mestre Bimba established with the political hierarchy and the institutionalisation that stemmed from it had the effect of reducing both the threats that the state posed to capoeira players and the threat that capoeira players posed to the state. In Cooper’s term’s capoeira was de-securitised (Cooper 2010). Regional Groups maintain communication as part of their tradition. They put on demonstrations and, within the game, the style has more extroverted elements of performance. The more ‘open’ game relies on rhythm and, in addition to its technical and competitive aspects, can allow for collaborative interaction, including the use of choreographed or semi-choreographed sequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Angola groups tend not to put on shows. In the 1930s, Angola groups increased their protection by playing in academies and reserving the knowledge of black history for black students. The Angola game is more ‘closed’ – the legs used to protect the body during cartwheels and handstands. It is also more crafty than Regional, with the pronounced use of feints and deception. This protective element is complemented by assertion: there are Angola street rodas, but the logic is of reclaiming the space rather than demonstrating capoeira to the people who might be in that space.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The institutionalisation of the academy era renegotiated the relationship between capoeira and the state, but also distributed security through changes in social relationships of power. Mestre Bimba was black and his students included many whites from the middle-classes. His authority over them – charismatic, reputational and physical power – contributed to the processes that were redefining social interaction and identity in early 20<sup>th</sup> century Brazil. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The popularity of capoeira Regional across Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s (at a time that Angola was in abeyance) extended the reach of capoeira across socio-economic classes and racial groups. This is seen by some as compromising in that capoeira was appropriated by the more powerful classes. It is a charge has weight in that some mestres were marginalised by the processes by which capoeira gained popularity, and also in that the cultural impact of capoeira was not matched by political or economic change. Within the game, though, the discourse is maintained and continuously re-asserted and re-communicated through the musical and somatic languages of training and rodas. </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Unimagined outcomes - what would the world be like without capoeira?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">In conventional security terminology, capoeiristas relinquished some of their freedom in return for security from the state. They relinquished the freedom to live outside the law, fighting in the street and using lethal blows or weapons. Capoeira is still, though, strongly associated with freedom. Through the game, its history and community, capoeiristas enjoy an intense freedom of expression and association. It is a freedom that is meaningful in the roda and in life, because of or in spite of other constraints that people face. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVjPPMZBqsCX6_TTPCZSdm3U7xpNH1VyBaZRrdxjBN8s4KUGUCnwJHythI-kOdrP6vYa6hAbWpUE2lxpy7XUet7v-qOK-4zMidIlFd_-1dLCiLpcOsFJJ-Uz0Kb6FWyrnOPjrTTBrAVc4/s1600/10+capo+e+liberdade.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVjPPMZBqsCX6_TTPCZSdm3U7xpNH1VyBaZRrdxjBN8s4KUGUCnwJHythI-kOdrP6vYa6hAbWpUE2lxpy7XUet7v-qOK-4zMidIlFd_-1dLCiLpcOsFJJ-Uz0Kb6FWyrnOPjrTTBrAVc4/s320/10+capo+e+liberdade.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Disappointed by the Golden Law abolishing slavery, freedom is purposefully investigated through capoeira, particularly as it relates to security. The stories of Zumbi dos Palmares, the fighters in the Paraguay war, and the ‘battle’ of </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: PT-BR;">Camugerê</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> bring together freedom and agency: this is attack and escape! It celebrates people taking an active role in their freedom rather than having it granted to them by the powerful, and it has an enduring legacy. Attack initiates change through the challenge and renegotiation that it initiates. Escape not only frees the individual from a particular situation, it entails political escape from an inevitable future. Attack (kicks and take-downs) and escape (esquiva and negativa) comprise much of the game of capoeira. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The key strength of capoeira’s knowledge and power is that by changing individual or political trajectories, capoeira has forged unimagined outcomes, including security outcomes. At the beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup> century it would have been hard for anyone to imagine that Afro-Brazilian culture could impact on the dominant Brazilian identity. Galm writes that the “berimbau became less visible… due in part to dominant social pressures that strived to distance Brazil from its legacy of slavery” </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes;">(</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-no-proof: yes;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8625543113384121956#_ENREF_26" title="Galm, 2010 #1359"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Galm 2010, 161</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes;">)</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">. At the beginning of the 21<sup>st</sup> century it is hard to imagine Brazil with no capoeira, samba or Candomblé. The security that the state would have allowed if unchallenged would have been physically, politically and culturally disempowering for people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Creation of knowledge/power<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoiGNqE6jVqOlEDyjoOPIXbmg-jDDngjBfDXa0n4U-o3Rc78ZHtfTNV5VUbeepqCfOqGnQjCsER_mKxukjT5w9CW2_023Attw8H7j7EuRxehXOhNmntQnzYIxT8-WQRgW-SZFrBJlqYRQ/s1600/10+reco+reco.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" kda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoiGNqE6jVqOlEDyjoOPIXbmg-jDDngjBfDXa0n4U-o3Rc78ZHtfTNV5VUbeepqCfOqGnQjCsER_mKxukjT5w9CW2_023Attw8H7j7EuRxehXOhNmntQnzYIxT8-WQRgW-SZFrBJlqYRQ/s320/10+reco+reco.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The centrality of attack and escape to capoeira means that alongside the compromises of institutionalisation, capoeira has maintained its counter-hegemonic discourse. It presents elements of Africa and slavery, and of workers, the marginalised and the lower classes. Within the tactical counter-hegemonic narrative, there is a creative strategy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The development of capoeira is not a random or determined event. Mestre Bimba was not simply a practitioner but a creative force in developing and promoting the Regional style as was Pastinha with the Angolan style. Both mestres created discourses of capoeira that granted players access to forms of knowledge. Foucault argues that discourses “act to both constrain and enable what we can know” (<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">McHoul & Grace 1997)</span>; the ways in which capoeira presents and represents its origins and history reproduces knowledge of them and with it, power. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Ultimately, then capoeira embodies a (non-conventional) strategy because it generates space for identity, belonging, improvisation and expression. It performs a protective function – of the game and life of capoeira. It has established the significance of black history in the contemporary Brazilian identity. Capoeiristas adopt different relationships with power and may or may not offer resistance and defiance to the state – but in becoming a game, a cultural icon, and a way of life it states: I am me! Let’s hang out! That is a strong declaration in the face of what the state was trying to deny. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">References:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cooper, N. (2011) <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Humanitarian Arms Control and Processes of Securitisation: Moving Weapons Along the Security Continuum.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -36pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Galm, E. (2010). <u>The Berimbau. Soul of Brazilian Music</u>. Jackson, University Press of Mississippi.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes;">Fierke, K. M. (2007). <u>Critical Approaches to International Security</u>. </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes;">Cambridge and Malden, Polity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes;">McHoul, A. W. and W. Grace (1997). <u>A Foucault primer: discourse, power and the subject</u>. New York, New York University Press.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB30NYswKIhv9fmkSqAHbX6cNlq0Xtu-9TkZQVLKwx6pY2Bpob6of5TBbjXH8J4rLjSUoaOa4uAFyP9GjHO084RgClTXq5zzjZsxemL0VzXgGOrrhrvQdnT_sl-5iv9JKKOeUzriRE-xI/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB30NYswKIhv9fmkSqAHbX6cNlq0Xtu-9TkZQVLKwx6pY2Bpob6of5TBbjXH8J4rLjSUoaOa4uAFyP9GjHO084RgClTXq5zzjZsxemL0VzXgGOrrhrvQdnT_sl-5iv9JKKOeUzriRE-xI/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-78787704890225839212012-07-23T10:00:00.000-07:002012-07-23T10:00:25.612-07:00Anarcho-magicalism<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihYIAaXrnnGdfDYEaJsIqWsslzGkbC4UkGRTc46iRfqOMIMoWjFYwggWs0A0NTCyztI5O29RS3c4s9dwBw3eCDAlr4NdMGPePRovVI98WTGzm9qMki2owNXToq4NqaCJgTIEbRHorLabY/s1600/9+why+so+much+fun.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihYIAaXrnnGdfDYEaJsIqWsslzGkbC4UkGRTc46iRfqOMIMoWjFYwggWs0A0NTCyztI5O29RS3c4s9dwBw3eCDAlr4NdMGPePRovVI98WTGzm9qMki2owNXToq4NqaCJgTIEbRHorLabY/s320/9+why+so+much+fun.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why is this so much fun?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Researching anarcho-magicalism is intellectually exciting and I’m grateful to Nathalie </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=rdr_ext_aut?_encoding=UTF8&index=books&field-author=Nathalie%20Wlodarczyk"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none;">Wlodarczyk</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> for her brilliant book,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Magic and Warfare, </i>which brings data from fighters in Sierra Leone. There is a lot of magic in capoeira and it is a powerful vector of security. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Security studies is not conventionally concerned with magic. Its centrepiece of strategic rationality establishes what Lacy refers to as ‘networks of realism.’ As Lacy argues, these tend to block out consideration of non-conventional threats – environmental collapse, for example. Much, much further out is the realm of magic!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It is important not to be discouraged by this! In any culture, tattoos, prayers and the attribution of power to inanimate objects (lucky socks!) are routine and can boost self-belief or give meaning to violence or sacrifice. Magic relates to security through its association with protection, and with increasing influence and liberation. From the perspective of the weaker, it can disrupt the established order of things: for this reason I am using the term ‘anarcho-magicalism.’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">The what: mandinga, dendê & axé</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There is no standardised rubric for any part of capoeira. Like other elements of the game – the significance of history, the tactics, the identity of the capoeirista – there are variations in people’s relationship with magic. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwT3frkS7umikRiITaLjysZ4HjKWK8fxom6-mn4Yf3r0sH8M7bY0-z0mSbIPDmwLgnbHoKQaEmw7gqXjo4dupzTxLVIxY2o7ZPstgs8BqZnXnQ5bneZBxpzdNYuiDl_GaH274KKztLJmI/s1600/fitas.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwT3frkS7umikRiITaLjysZ4HjKWK8fxom6-mn4Yf3r0sH8M7bY0-z0mSbIPDmwLgnbHoKQaEmw7gqXjo4dupzTxLVIxY2o7ZPstgs8BqZnXnQ5bneZBxpzdNYuiDl_GaH274KKztLJmI/s320/fitas.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pandeiro with fitas</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There is remarkably little paraphernalia in capoeira; there are instruments and you need at least six foot square to play in, but beyond that there is no obligatory kit. Correspondingly, there are a few physical representations of magic: some capoeiristas wear patuas (amulets), or fitas (ribbons) that conform to or evoke certain social or religious codes, make things more fun and more beautiful, and give people identity and confidence. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There are some claims to magical powers; the quasi-mythological figure of Besouro got his name – ‘Beetle’ – from his ability fly away. This ambiguous physical form is a common motif in West African (and many other) cultures and is picked up in ladainhas: “I change into a coral-snake and give a poisonous bite that doctors cannot cure” (CD Mestres Bimba e Cabecinha). The practice of changing form, though, is not part of the game of capoeira and forms a magical atmosphere rather than the performance of magic itself.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There are, though, other forms of magic made with the body and the music that are fundamental to the mechanisms of the game. I will briefly describe three here: mandinga, dendê and axé. No attempt to place parameters on these concepts will satisfy everyone’s understanding or interpretation, but I’ll try to indicate where these forms of magic are located.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Mandinga</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> is fundamental to capoeira and takes it’s name from a West African ethnic group. It is the magic that a person performs in the roda as a ritual honour, and to distract or spook the other player. It is released through the style of play, sometimes by tracing signs on the floor or with the hands (which bear strong resemblance to some of the moves made in Candomblé ceremonies), or by using the movement of the body to play around with the other person emotionally, and laying claim to the tone of the game. It is referred to in song, for example, “release the mandinga!” – particularly if players are engaging in too straight a game, and “I’m not giving anyone my mandinga!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLrvOxNFguFH7eNgeZiJ_b-TTOZEuvb0k8KpDsQhae5zgokB9oMre-0F1npu89FamkSMDVrSpkVmVhrSLvkr1Snt18Mb0lLTlzofW7_kYB3179erWd7FJbNhgi-fu0dMBubI9zrtq4yA/s1600/9+dende+plant.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLrvOxNFguFH7eNgeZiJ_b-TTOZEuvb0k8KpDsQhae5zgokB9oMre-0F1npu89FamkSMDVrSpkVmVhrSLvkr1Snt18Mb0lLTlzofW7_kYB3179erWd7FJbNhgi-fu0dMBubI9zrtq4yA/s320/9+dende+plant.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dendê</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> is </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">an ingredient of the game. It is also an ingredient in food: it is a kind of palm oil used in Bahian cooking and is used in food offered to the Orixás. An English equivalent that nearly captures its meaning and use would be ‘spice.’ According to a corrido, Bahia has dendê; in fact pretty much anything connected to capoeira, including people, can be described as having dendê – and it’s a good thing!</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Axé</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> is the life force, the energy that flows during the game, when people sing unreservedly or play instruments, when they smile and hug. This is a creative force that generates fun, expresses feelings and liberates. It is not often mentioned explicitly in songs (although there is one that attests, ‘you have to have axé’), but it is present. In a song that is apparently about a pandeiro (tambourine) and a viola (small berimbau), the singer proffers, “I bring the force of the earth, I bring the force of the sea.” The ability to express this somatically and musically is axé.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">The how: protection, influence & liberation</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I have written about protection in former blogs and the invocation of luck is consonant with the perspective of the weaker and the quarters called on for protection. The three kinds of magic considered here, though, perform more powerful political and security roles: those of influencing others (getting others to do your will is one definition of power), and of self-empowerment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The ability to influence others through mandinga, dendê and axé is significant in security terms because they do not rely on the use or threat of force. Magic is executed with facial, bodily or lyrical expression, by the timbre of a singing voice or by the movement of the body. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Despite a silence on magic in security studies, it is of utmost importance: charisma is possibly the unifying characteristic of political leaders and its influence exceeds that of persuasion or rational thought. People who are able to galvanise groups, stir emotions, be loved by everyone at the same time, make people belief without recourse to evidence – these people have axé. The path of history is often changed in moment of irrationality: when rational judgement is suspended by oratory powers of charisma.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWuPxrKJaoV2xA7M26jeWSZr96tmmKcFbgMVu5Gcmj5rFt1nHWCFXMBnFsrjabUEfSDooOw3MaQBbSEyzX9ca0CdbbChRS-1mkiVJz9IofKIrMXP6QbrfaLrceCgtCcn2ANnbFSinjYXk/s1600/9+dende+bottle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWuPxrKJaoV2xA7M26jeWSZr96tmmKcFbgMVu5Gcmj5rFt1nHWCFXMBnFsrjabUEfSDooOw3MaQBbSEyzX9ca0CdbbChRS-1mkiVJz9IofKIrMXP6QbrfaLrceCgtCcn2ANnbFSinjYXk/s320/9+dende+bottle.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The ability to empower oneself is also important to security. There is self-expression in historical continuity and identity, and capoeira has social and political functions in transmitting historical and contemporary messages. Its power as a vector, though, does not lie in its political earnestness. Capoeira persists and enthrals people because it has dendê – it is fun. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not at all</b> like doing history homework! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The physical exhilaration, creativity and interactive improvisation of capoeira are themselves empowering. It is acknowledged by capoeiristas that magic brings responsibilities: a common refrain is “quem </span><span lang="PT" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">não</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> pode com mandinga, </span><span lang="PT" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">não</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> carrega patua” – “if you can’t deal with the magic, don’t wear an amulet.” One ladainha couples this with another comment: “if you can’t improvise, leave it to those who can” (CD Mestre Canjiquinha e Waldemar). This gives a vital clue about how it all works: magic is about creativity – it comes from inside! As Mestre Valmir puts it in the video ‘Tem dendê’, “capoeira doesn’t go in – capoeira comes out” (Apolo 2011).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">The why!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Magic is not defined simply by being rationally inexplicable, it also has the power to change things: noises to songs, movements to games, words to lyrics, randomness to meaning and enjoyment. Magic also makes things: atmospheres, games, camaraderie. And it is anarchic because it is not bound or defined by progress, profit or logic. Its mechanisms of elation, liberation and energy confound sterile experimentation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Including charisma and creativity in an analysis of security brings into focus the relationship between what is profoundly valued – in others and in oneself – and action. Creativity and expression through charisma emerge through spending time doing what one values and finds fulfilling. These things generate energy, community and significance. From the perspective of magic, the irrational behaviour is the rest – the parts of life that are not lived in accordance with values; life that is conservative or containing. Life that is calculating or predicated on fear and threat. Many things that, in other circles, pass for rationally strategic behaviour.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWmdFd14itJL4VCQACb_q-ctG3MBDBvl2HfK40bQdvjWt8zkhlcj9jrmUY1T8bk-JwHkxIJMymW5UJdp_SJycYyLsWpZcr4oJlq-Ak6qCPRGVOhyvn3IrcF6fW8rqPImnNRhlE7qmZJ0/s1600/9+barra1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWmdFd14itJL4VCQACb_q-ctG3MBDBvl2HfK40bQdvjWt8zkhlcj9jrmUY1T8bk-JwHkxIJMymW5UJdp_SJycYyLsWpZcr4oJlq-Ak6qCPRGVOhyvn3IrcF6fW8rqPImnNRhlE7qmZJ0/s320/9+barra1.jpg" width="303" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not magic - one of Salvador´s largest <br />
shopping centres claims to make you happy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">References: </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Apolo, F. (2011), </span><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Histórias da Bahia. A ladainha tem dendê. Capoeira Angola. </span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lacy, M. J. (2003). <u>Security and climate change : international relations and the limits of realism</u>. London, Routledge.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=rdr_ext_aut?_encoding=UTF8&index=books&field-author=Nathalie%20Wlodarczyk"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Wlodarczyk</span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">, N.</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> (2009), M</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">agic and Warfare: Appearance and Reality in Contemporary African Conflict and Beyond. New York, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Palgrave MacMillan<span style="color: black;">.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB30NYswKIhv9fmkSqAHbX6cNlq0Xtu-9TkZQVLKwx6pY2Bpob6of5TBbjXH8J4rLjSUoaOa4uAFyP9GjHO084RgClTXq5zzjZsxemL0VzXgGOrrhrvQdnT_sl-5iv9JKKOeUzriRE-xI/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB30NYswKIhv9fmkSqAHbX6cNlq0Xtu-9TkZQVLKwx6pY2Bpob6of5TBbjXH8J4rLjSUoaOa4uAFyP9GjHO084RgClTXq5zzjZsxemL0VzXgGOrrhrvQdnT_sl-5iv9JKKOeUzriRE-xI/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" /></a></div>Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-13341274199753270462012-07-05T10:53:00.001-07:002012-07-05T10:53:35.513-07:00Counter-rationality <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcqyte9lSgxeVk-pueXYg3IHeU-NVE1amCs1KsvtKvV5TIrfHPrBpJ8Gj-EynF4QGXVFkIlsFNMaHL0EkSIrd0izJw_05PY96a7J45zvvdGCUL2pCqqQSIQexIxCs8n_A75ji4eCCCFqM/s1600/8+hatching+turtle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcqyte9lSgxeVk-pueXYg3IHeU-NVE1amCs1KsvtKvV5TIrfHPrBpJ8Gj-EynF4QGXVFkIlsFNMaHL0EkSIrd0izJw_05PY96a7J45zvvdGCUL2pCqqQSIQexIxCs8n_A75ji4eCCCFqM/s320/8+hatching+turtle.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Counter-narratives</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are elements of the thief in capoeira – the use of deception to trick the other player and the tactical use of space and resources. I now want to extend the concept of instrumental rationality to include counter-rationality: forms of rationality that do not conform to the dominant notion but nonetheless render goals that are significant and valued. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Luis Renato Vieira argues that vadia</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ção</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> – vagrancy – and deception in capoeira generate a second reality to Western rationality and efficiency (<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Röhrig Assunção 2005, 116). Similarly, Abib theorises a ‘differentiated logic’ and ‘ambiguous strategy’ at work in capoeira (Abib 2004), which are deliberately baffling. These are two contributions to the exploration of counter-rationality.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Malícia</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Malícia</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> is where tactics meet counter-rationality. It is akin to trickery, but it makes a virtue and an art of deception: the use of malícia in capoeira proposes a different set of values and goals. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Malícia stems from the perspective of the weaker party and aims to outwit the stronger. Capoeira is about intelligence, not brute force and there is a degree of heroism in the confidence that the weaker will find a way round or a way out. A ladainha makes the observation: God did not give intelligence to the wolf and the cobra cannot fly. What is all that body worth without a head to think with? (CD Mestre João Pequeno/ FICA songbook p7)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micky-taking is the thin end of the wedge: “The king’s crown is not made of gold or silver, my friend – it’s made of tin!” Malícia is a constant playful presence in games: setting up expectations and then confounding them, jokey interaction followed by a forceful kick or takedown and a smile, persistent needling to confuse or wear through the other person’s resources by attrition. Malícia is not mentioned in songs – it is implicit, part of the fundamentos of capoeira, particularly Capoeira Angola. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Riddles</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMC9KhHv9myyozQKpazTwP5c3C3_SUgFdET2hVm0-3eat73aLcT5aXCwgjwVgPR785RcDwovDRqK72oNbhFaSfaGnlZLD322c-TzVRGvVtlJr9V82JeuWrLBZM7N83f_w05gaNj393EOs/s1600/8+forte+sign.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMC9KhHv9myyozQKpazTwP5c3C3_SUgFdET2hVm0-3eat73aLcT5aXCwgjwVgPR785RcDwovDRqK72oNbhFaSfaGnlZLD322c-TzVRGvVtlJr9V82JeuWrLBZM7N83f_w05gaNj393EOs/s320/8+forte+sign.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sign for the capoeira academy - for those arriving on their hands</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Canjiquinha o</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">pens his book, ‘</span><span lang="PT" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Alegria</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> da capoeira’: “1. When reading this book, don’t be guided by the punctuation marks you find in it. 2. Sometimes, there are contradictory assertions on the same page. Don’t be fooled. That’s how it is. Capoeira is a game of double meaning. It has two sides that are hardly ever really distinct” (Canjiquinha 1989,2).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Riddles are a common feature of capoeira songs, and build up the counter-rationality. They reflect on the tricksy and fickle way of the world and the need to respond accordingly. Some riddling is serious, presenting the puzzles of the cosmic order and the distribution of wealth. Riddles are used in ladainhas to assert the worth, strength or innocence of capoeiristas in the face of accusations to the contrary by those in power. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are also more light-hearted riddly statements made: ‘the chicken has two wings but it doesn’t have two gizzards’; ‘when I go, you come. When I come, you go.’ There are riddles in corridos as well. In the song ‘Paranà é’ presents two apparently unrelated riddles in consecutive verses: “I make a knot and tie the end, no one knows how to untie it” and “I am an arm of the tide, but I am the infinite tide.’ These perplexing or idiosyncratic situations are not resolved, they are simply observations on the contradictory nature of life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are also explicit critiques of science made in a riddly way. It is worth quoting the ladainha ‘I am free like the wind’ at length (</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[Cordel: Riachão] CD Mestres Boca Rica e Bigodinho/ FICA songbook p13). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Você diz que tem ciência <span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>“You say that science exists</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Me de uma explicação<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>So explain this - </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Como é que em doze horas<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How it is that in twelve hours</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Há uma transformação.<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>There’s a transformation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Não é o sol quem se move<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>It’s not the sun that moves</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Este e fixo em seu lugar<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>- that’s fixed in its place.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A terra ta sobre o eixo<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>The earth is on an axis</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">E o eixo faz rodar<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>and the axis spins it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Uma cobra tão pequena<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>A snake that is so small</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mata um boi agigantado”<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Kills a huge bull”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Faced with such a line of questioning the scientist who is being addressed is likely to reach for a large gin. It is not quite that the questions are too difficult, but the ladainha applies a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rasteira</i> to rationality – sweeping the rational feet away. It is destabilising because it appears interested in science but then does not grace the dominant rationality with a cogent investigation (which would be submission).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimpYrUCSIU8uQPsfyhpo8fPGdv1VXnWK1KcaYHNdhG1rpUSd_PoIMyqA8FmnjcWtgdcM4dYCfD5CELDFw6aA6xdZN2ZSczRUij4x5n-eR8XvCJSlyVxQnmhvYtOw_heDsLP9qInbYil9U/s1600/8+rasteira-j.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimpYrUCSIU8uQPsfyhpo8fPGdv1VXnWK1KcaYHNdhG1rpUSd_PoIMyqA8FmnjcWtgdcM4dYCfD5CELDFw6aA6xdZN2ZSczRUij4x5n-eR8XvCJSlyVxQnmhvYtOw_heDsLP9qInbYil9U/s320/8+rasteira-j.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A rasteira - </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">From Jair Moura (2009) “A capoeiragem no Rio de Janeiro através dos séculos. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">JM Grafica e Editora Ltda, Salvador/Bahia.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Chance</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A third aspect of counter-rationality is chance: the belief that things happen for random reasons or for no reason. The corrido ‘oh sim sim sim, oh n</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ã</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">o n</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ã</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">o n</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ã</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">o’ is defined by the verse: ‘Today I have it, tomorrow no.’ No explanation is proffered for this unhappy turn of events. Life for slaves or the severely marginalised is routinely disoriented: work is not related to money and there is no insurance or compensation in case of attack. Life itself is largely determined by luck. A ladainha recounts the disembarkation of slaves with the words, ‘Africans arriving <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">by chance</i>, or having died on the crossing.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This theme is explored in the ladainha ‘Eu tive um Sonho’/’I had a dream’ (CD FICA), in which the singer relates having a dream that he was rich. It goes on to explain that in reality he works in a coffee plantation to earn money to buy capoeira clothes and to make a berimbau. But, the ladainha recounts, that too was a dream and he was robbed of his earnings. That’s the end! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Chance is linked to the cosmic order – still with no explanation. Love God, but be careful. “He makes one person rich, another poor. He makes one blind, another maimed. He made Solomon king, and he made Saint Peter a soldier.” The ladainha records no outrage at this distribution of grace, though. It ends, “I’m going a long way away. I’m going close to my God” (FICA CD).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Crooked world, crooked way</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: yellow; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-highlight: yellow;"></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpXNudOAuWzCMjGeSZVnxW08dwQdlEBbHBafYQvjNzSjA6Kq86piIPB_5sQY3yjT-Fc9W1evddggkb9UaMWWUteuljh5lUuaSp8HbN78dG4w9EOk-faIwZ7-EJMIWSBwApYHcSaheKhiU/s1600/8+half+au.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpXNudOAuWzCMjGeSZVnxW08dwQdlEBbHBafYQvjNzSjA6Kq86piIPB_5sQY3yjT-Fc9W1evddggkb9UaMWWUteuljh5lUuaSp8HbN78dG4w9EOk-faIwZ7-EJMIWSBwApYHcSaheKhiU/s320/8+half+au.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The use of malícia and riddles, and the acceptance of chance generates a consistent message: it’s not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">me</i> that’s wrong – it’s the world. And a counter approach is needed in order to survive the twisted order and ‘rationality’ imposed by the powerful.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The confusion of the capoeirista is commonly expressed: Mestre Paulo dos Anjos’ ladainha ‘Fickle world’ starts out ‘I don’t know what to do to live in this world’ and lists the tensions he experiences: ‘if I’m clean [people say] I’m cunning, if I’m dirty [people say] I’m filthy” (CD Mestre Paulo dos Anjos). Others follow similar formats: “I don’t know how to live in this fickle world. If I talk a lot, I’m talkative, if I talk a little I’m sly.” (CD Mestres Cajiquinha e Waldemar). This ladainha ends intriguingly: “I’m always telling you that envy killed Cain.” Cain killed Abel, but what did Cain die of? The Bible doesn’t tell us, but we can work it out. There are whole untold truths to be uncovered by taking a counter-rational step away from the dominant version of events.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Counter-rationalities challenge conventional analyses of decision-making. The notion of ‘strategic rationality’ dominates understanding of security but assumes access to information and power. If one or both of these elements are missing, the decision-making process is changed. If underlying values do not conform to the supposition of conventional strategic behaviour the model is further adrift. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During the Cold War, US strategists established increasingly complex game-theory models to predict the decisions that the USSR would take. The need to understand the enemy has a long history in security thinking. On the other hand, attempting to understand populations for whom security is to be provided – through demobilisation programmes, peace agreements, power-sharing arrangements – is often overlooked. Frequently, too, such programmes are rejected or fail to establish security. Recognising counter-rationalities establishes the intellectual ground for analysing action that does not comply with conventional assumptions of strategy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">References: </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Abib, P. R. J. (2004). Capoeira Angola: Cultura popular e o jogo dos saberes na roda. Campinas-São Paulo, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação, Doutorado em Ciências Sociais Aplicadas à Educação. </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-no-proof: yes;"><a href="http://www.capoeiravadiacao.com/attachments/204_Capoeira%20angola,%20cultura%20popular%20e%20jogos%20dos%20saberes%20na%20roda-Pedro%20Abib.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.capoeiravadiacao.com/attachments/204_Capoeira%20angola,%20cultura%20popular%20e%20jogos%20dos%20saberes%20na%20roda-Pedro%20Abib.pdf</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes;">.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Canjiquinha (1989). <u>Alegria da capoeira</u>, Fundação Cultural do Estado da Bahia. </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-no-proof: yes;"><a href="http://www.kimcapoeira.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/canjiquinha_alegria_da_capoeira.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.kimcapoeira.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/canjiquinha_alegria_da_capoeira.pdf</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes;">.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes;">Röhrig Assunção, M. (2005). <u>Capoeira. The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art</u>. London and New York, Routledge.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB30NYswKIhv9fmkSqAHbX6cNlq0Xtu-9TkZQVLKwx6pY2Bpob6of5TBbjXH8J4rLjSUoaOa4uAFyP9GjHO084RgClTXq5zzjZsxemL0VzXgGOrrhrvQdnT_sl-5iv9JKKOeUzriRE-xI/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB30NYswKIhv9fmkSqAHbX6cNlq0Xtu-9TkZQVLKwx6pY2Bpob6of5TBbjXH8J4rLjSUoaOa4uAFyP9GjHO084RgClTXq5zzjZsxemL0VzXgGOrrhrvQdnT_sl-5iv9JKKOeUzriRE-xI/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" /></a></div>Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-70996805539820725382012-06-22T11:20:00.000-07:002012-06-22T11:20:10.193-07:00Tactics!<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ4bYJEXlVtZmxKKatp4KJ-NLsW9n1ZtpIdcR8kt-n22w_RCIFKd_knncIfokCCT3iG-skfOcwH-YOJJWFjS3UDFUCYvK-bslLpnEodNVpUwmQiSlmhp3f7JJHPhUEPU694bAE4D_wACA/s1600/P1020252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ4bYJEXlVtZmxKKatp4KJ-NLsW9n1ZtpIdcR8kt-n22w_RCIFKd_knncIfokCCT3iG-skfOcwH-YOJJWFjS3UDFUCYvK-bslLpnEodNVpUwmQiSlmhp3f7JJHPhUEPU694bAE4D_wACA/s320/P1020252.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing in the available space</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Communicative rationality functions alongside instrumental rationality, and can itself be instrumental in some ways. This blog and the two that follow will explore instrumental rationalities within the game and history of capoeira. This blog looks at tactics – the gains that can be made within the available space and according to which the weaker party conforms to the same rationality as the dominant party. A destitute thief and a rich person may have different perspectives on the law but agree on the value of money.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">De Certeau differentiates between strategy and tactics, whereby strategy involves the ability to command and shape and environment. Conversely, “The space of a tactic is the space of the other. Thus it must play on and with a terrain imposed on it and organized by the law of a foreign power… It operates in isolated actions, blow by blow… It is a guileful ruse… In short, a tactic is an art of the weak” (de Certeau 1984, 37).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Attack! Escape!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The history of capoeira and the identity of the capoeirista derives from the perspective of the weaker party: it was developed in slave communities and then among people who were politically and economically marginalised. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Contrary to other martial arts and mainstream security thinking, there is little notion of defence. People talk about defence in capoeira but there is no block. Players swipe away kicks that have not come to full force, but they do not stand in the way. The key defensive tactic in capoeira is escape – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">esquiva</i>: ducking the kick, or moving to the side or behind. This allows the game to continue. As Mestre Poncianinho observes: ‘escape is infinite.’ In security terms, having an infinite resource is helpful.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ4wo25Rxtwu0Qg8UE5x0NT4WkRGwqe4M5prL3M7n26QqQQiRvRCD4FeaRe-WcMJ7RG-xq_W1M_vtMniZ0DO06be_DrSd1aa6JWaET0QDaXRQRDzTD0s-hgybDT8nfTjytJPQQqtwxNYQ/s1600/7+esquiva.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ4wo25Rxtwu0Qg8UE5x0NT4WkRGwqe4M5prL3M7n26QqQQiRvRCD4FeaRe-WcMJ7RG-xq_W1M_vtMniZ0DO06be_DrSd1aa6JWaET0QDaXRQRDzTD0s-hgybDT8nfTjytJPQQqtwxNYQ/s320/7+esquiva.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">from Alexandre Robatto’s 1954 film ‘Vadia<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ção</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’; photo displayed in Forte de Santo Antonio</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The game of capoeira is not role-play, and there are strategies that are employed within the characteristically tactical context: players try to dominate space and the stronger player has some advantages. Of greater significance, though, is malandragem – being streetwise. Capoeira is a streetfighting art: songs celebrate no wrong step, no move in vain. The kicks are not the point; the point is to take down the other person, preferably using a rasteira – a sweep – something that goes under the radar and takes away the other person’s feet when they are attacking. As a corrido puts it, “tough guy, I’ll give you a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rasteira</i> and put you on the ground!” (FICA songbook p27).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Protection</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xq6NFC-vfPGLKifrHjhHaF8A2Yf4_VsLW1U9cRf3M0tQqCJqnHDtN7ZYheq4HOSbH2SZWRIDazyXSyzU60dQ09TnSo9CxdK7HiZbCbYCdDXI-_toWXPfwmHTQDxT57P_o3Dd-9D3kEE/s1600/7+santo+antonio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xq6NFC-vfPGLKifrHjhHaF8A2Yf4_VsLW1U9cRf3M0tQqCJqnHDtN7ZYheq4HOSbH2SZWRIDazyXSyzU60dQ09TnSo9CxdK7HiZbCbYCdDXI-_toWXPfwmHTQDxT57P_o3Dd-9D3kEE/s320/7+santo+antonio.jpg" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Santo Antonio – He’s a busy man</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Protection is a recurrent theme in the moves and the songs, reflecting the vulnerability of the weaker party. All moves involve an element of protection – the capoeirista can be attacked at any moment: one hand always protects the face, and the body is protected by being ‘closed’ – using the legs or arms to protect the torso.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is a strong theme of protection in the songs too. A commonly sung corrido is ‘Saint Antonio is the protector’: firstly protector of Noah’s ark, then of capoeira, quite often of Salvador, and finally of love! Orixás, too are called on for protection, either by name or by allusion. The corrido “my mermaid, queen of the sea, don’t let my boat capsize’ is addressed to Yemanja, Orixá of the sea, often depicted as a mermaid.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiIIAgxE_DGyJIDZM3PXmbJyYCfNC3e_WriUKcHKu7L4fkMIm8cwkbldS4pJb6bR2aqhXVVs4c1lisWfpJwLvxDEkjw0b-4KvjzJ6HGykBE-9ekpzud9LFnCCiaHh8KzWkEjo5cFiuOtc/s1600/7+sereia.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiIIAgxE_DGyJIDZM3PXmbJyYCfNC3e_WriUKcHKu7L4fkMIm8cwkbldS4pJb6bR2aqhXVVs4c1lisWfpJwLvxDEkjw0b-4KvjzJ6HGykBE-9ekpzud9LFnCCiaHh8KzWkEjo5cFiuOtc/s320/7+sereia.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yemanja taking care of a boat</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God is another source of protection: </span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“a little with God is a lot. A lot without God is nothing” (Retrato da Bahia. CD Mestre Paulo dos Anjos). </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The ladainha ‘Iê Senhor Bom Deus’ (‘Oh Lord Good God’ – sorry, this one is really lost in translation!) (FICA CD track 3) makes clear allusion to the Lord’s Prayer, but is a honed-down version, especially for capoeiristas! Firstly, ‘make me a good capoeirista’ (with the usual ambiguity between the game and life). It then misses the majority of the prayer and cuts to the protective elements: deliver me from temptation, all evil and my enemies. It concludes with a prayer for protection. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Reducing vulnerability</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The identity of the capoeirista is a ‘small’ one: ‘pequeno sou eu’ – ‘I’m small’ is a constant refrain, especially in chulas (the songs sung between the ladainha and the corrido). But the diminutive size of the capoeirista amplifies the size of the protector: ‘Maior e deus!’ – ‘God is great.’ That reduces vulnerability. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The animals invoked in moves and songs also signal an element of vulnerability. They are not predatory: they are frogs, monkeys and birds, not big cats, bears or wolves. In ladainhas there are frequent references to being wary or careful: ‘I don’t go to your house, you don’t come to mine’; ‘I say my prayers with a knife in my belt.’ By allusion too, the capoeirista is often threatened: ‘the German canary killed my songbird.’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2EqpavYuDjxhOAbp3XCiX_mZ7I0_4qQ35tPgwVYy2rD8JLcJXuYcbZ9bZxAG_RKEmFSHWpinHzOfujHZv0azug-u184MIVqKaLeUzRxCYQfoU7pyGPqnL3F6YbVw0uRCUhusVkgm560/s1600/sapinho.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2EqpavYuDjxhOAbp3XCiX_mZ7I0_4qQ35tPgwVYy2rD8JLcJXuYcbZ9bZxAG_RKEmFSHWpinHzOfujHZv0azug-u184MIVqKaLeUzRxCYQfoU7pyGPqnL3F6YbVw0uRCUhusVkgm560/s320/sapinho.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">S</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">apinho – want to play?</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In this threatened role, the priority of reducing vulnerability is higher than that of increasing influence. Besouro de Mangangá – ‘Beetle’ is the name of a quasi-mythical capoeirista (some say he is mythical. Mestre Joao Pequeno, when asked about him said, ‘yes, he was my father’s cousin’). The beetle has a protective shell but is small and does not pose a threat. It can fly away though (and Besouro is credited with the ability to fly when pursued by the police), so it is able to outwit and destabilise its persecutor. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Resilience</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The boat capsized, sailor! There is treasure on the ocean floor!” – corrido.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPN7Zo4WAcv8OMP-v1yDDZxoYA0XPHTbNdW4gm1vdkY1x6fsOHeBvxhD9IYozE2oohTBDFw78wMZi-e9UIzbEJQ58CXCvc5NcBjpX92yWp_vhNNC4L7qNvi73YAP7Al3akuKTAHN9upOg/s1600/7+boats+dinha+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPN7Zo4WAcv8OMP-v1yDDZxoYA0XPHTbNdW4gm1vdkY1x6fsOHeBvxhD9IYozE2oohTBDFw78wMZi-e9UIzbEJQ58CXCvc5NcBjpX92yWp_vhNNC4L7qNvi73YAP7Al3akuKTAHN9upOg/s320/7+boats+dinha+2.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Head above water? Missing opportunities!</span></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nancy Scheper-Hughes has written about psychological responses to violence and theorises resilience as the ‘refusal to be negated’ (Scheper-Hughes 1992, 19). A short ladainha observes, “The miner bird doesn’t sing when it’s in a cage. It only sings when it’s by the anthill and sees an ant outside!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Resilience is a subject that is taken up in Claudia Seymour’s ground-breaking work on young people’s <a href="http://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff61086.php" target="_blank">experiences of violence in eastern Congo</a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, in which she explores how people cope in various ways and to various degrees with incessant violence. She finds, amongst other things, that the way that people recount their own histories is significant in attributing responsibility and meaning to violence. In capoeira, too, the preservation of cultural identity and the tactics used in the game demonstrate a strong form of resilience: you smile in adversary, if you are taken down you get up, if you are taken down again you get up again. You look the other person in the eye. You sing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is a clear instrumental rationality in staying in the game (literally or figuratively) by whatever means, and this has some lessons for the pursuit of security. Mearsheimer identifies the inability of states to cooperate as the ‘Tragedy of Great Power Politics.’ The reason, he argues is that ‘it pays to be selfish in a self-help world’ – both in the short and the long term (Mearsheimer 2002, 33). The ‘tragedy’ as far as great powers is concerned, is of political stalemate and environmental collapse. But a much more immediate ‘tragedy’ faces weaker states: that of political, cultural or literal obliteration. The tactical responses offered in and by capoeira inform an understanding of the quest for security for the majority of the world. Escaping, seeking protection, reducing vulnerability and refusing to be negated are tactics that start to fill some of the conceptual void created by the assumptions of conventional security studies – assumptions of strategic rationality and power. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">References:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">de Certeau, M. (1984). <u>The practice of everyday life</u>, University of California Press.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mearsheimer, J. J. (2002). <u>The tragedy of great power politics</u>. New York London, W. W. Norton.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQYDGJzu_RORLrLtRmbJlilpUGQroW3pkSGkuxNpg4wH_YarwI30W2y3iEawF7N8azycPe7REccvCcd2cM_KnDctKGsBb3iu46ehG1sw8PCT4r5BsbLgx1zLujjmf16yw32HftGuCVdcs/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQYDGJzu_RORLrLtRmbJlilpUGQroW3pkSGkuxNpg4wH_YarwI30W2y3iEawF7N8azycPe7REccvCcd2cM_KnDctKGsBb3iu46ehG1sw8PCT4r5BsbLgx1zLujjmf16yw32HftGuCVdcs/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8625543113384121956.post-27716842280366748812012-06-07T11:24:00.001-07:002012-06-07T11:36:44.436-07:00Capoeira sou eu! Capoeira I am!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RFQSEc-Ll9IHM1iJjqJ_0IhRpIAsKmuDD1sDTJTgk9hz0lv0FUEv5ZH2iSrcgmnz3GsE22unGYFpWfiYt-3R8KIF3raHHxQxXo9xjgLEupgCqQNgpaJT_O0u87PGHM66KYyWh0Gks2c/s1600/4+macaco.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RFQSEc-Ll9IHM1iJjqJ_0IhRpIAsKmuDD1sDTJTgk9hz0lv0FUEv5ZH2iSrcgmnz3GsE22unGYFpWfiYt-3R8KIF3raHHxQxXo9xjgLEupgCqQNgpaJT_O0u87PGHM66KYyWh0Gks2c/s320/4+macaco.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A poetic context of Africa and slavery is complemented by a more recent and literal history of market, dock and farm workers. Considering Habermas’ notion of communicative rationality, Miller argues that, “Common understandings arrived at consensually provide the basis for a morally valued way of life and the construction of collective identities that transcend the individual” (Miller 1992, 29). This blog will be looking at capoeira identities that derive from common understandings. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: PT-BR; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Menino, quem foi seu mestre? Kid, who’s your mestre?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Capoeira preserves few names before the 20<sup>th</sup> century, and those that survive have quasi-mythical status. From the early 1930s onwards, capoeira was taken from the street to the Academy. This allowed for more formalised histories and hierarchies within groups and mestres are celebrated in song, among them Bimba, Pastinha, Waldemar and João Grande. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Preserving names in this way is consistent with an oral history. It also cements the significance of the mestre and the importance of descent. The question ‘kid, who was your mestre’ (related in songs) presents the status of a capoeirista as the child of a history and is the first question that is asked of anyone visiting an academy. The figure of the mestre is mixed in with family line: there is a strong notion of being ‘son’ or ‘grandson’ of – invariably male – lineages. The ladainha ‘Tradition’ includes the assertion, “Whoever has no father or mestre also has no tradition” (CD GCAP 3).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The notion of ancestry is reinforced by rituals that are performed in various ways: some academies honour the birthdays of past mestres, some have ‘baptisms’, some include in this the use of capoeira names – apelidos. Baptisms establish identity within a capoeira family and in doing so ritually reclaim space from Catholic church,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> which forced slaves to be baptized, disorienting them from their familial roots. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is also some ground seized from the state. Capoeira does not render a national identity. Foreigners can play capoeira and become accomplished without any aspiration to being Brazilian. Brazil is scarcely mentioned in capoeira: the geographic setting is Bahia – and the geographical parameters are set by the sea not the state. The identity derived from capoeira comes from Salvador, Bahia or Angola, not from Brazil.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Power is also reconfigured. A ladainha on Mestre Pastinha’s CD includes the lines, “If you want to learn, come to Salvador and get in touch with Mestre Pastinha, he is the best teacher.” Another song claims, “I’ve never seen anyone better than Mr Bimba!” Within the group, the authority of the mestre is unquestioned and there is an associated responsibility in the guidance given within a relationship of confidence. The generation of status and respect that are distinct from and – formerly – contrary to the state establishes a community and source of support that shifts the distribution of power.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Angola & Regional</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In discussing identity, some consideration is needed of the two major strands of capoeira. The ‘Regional Fight of Bahia’ known as Capoeira Regional was established by Mestre Bimba’s academy in 1932 and brought the combative elements to the fore. Around the same time, Mestre Pastinha opened an academy for ‘Capoeira Angola,’ placing greater store by the African roots and ritual elements of the game. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkY8PlOotWngdfbarXp9VFcEd21INWSZsniF3tk1aQhMYWG5rjP2rNjh9N42czR4zJ_IIN89EeTbVJl6KbGN-LA9BdSHwFwnXrYXDgLVBvLousevo5fmQbg7PRex18wlvQ7rtTHdRNxL0/s1600/6+filhos+de+bimba.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkY8PlOotWngdfbarXp9VFcEd21INWSZsniF3tk1aQhMYWG5rjP2rNjh9N42czR4zJ_IIN89EeTbVJl6KbGN-LA9BdSHwFwnXrYXDgLVBvLousevo5fmQbg7PRex18wlvQ7rtTHdRNxL0/s320/6+filhos+de+bimba.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Filhos de Bimba, heirs of M Bimba</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are significant differences between the two schools in the music, games, values and histories. Angola and Regional function as concurrent universes of capoeira, with scarcely any acknowledgement of each other. ‘Contemporary capoeira’ is influenced by both schools and cites both styles or both founding fathers in its songs. I have come across only one reference in Capoeira Angola to Capoeira Regional. The song, ‘Tudo é diferente na Angola’/‘Everything is different in Angola’ seems to be an implicit comparison to Regional: the details are, ‘the viola responds to the gunga (referring to the conventions of interaction between the berimbaus); the berimbau is tuned; the game is low.’ (I don’t think it’s talking about the country). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh56Fh07rp7tjxwQN0uYxQ3fPHPNWv2sLRL9usYzYGDv84G_K82CQu3ebk4pDP7tfTh2eJYLtOSM0j8NZkYwlPAeyJ2Mye3Z3SEVRbNqSTdpWNNCwGySnzL5HXBRY8KSEQUcagJBZ_59uE/s1600/6+GCAP.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh56Fh07rp7tjxwQN0uYxQ3fPHPNWv2sLRL9usYzYGDv84G_K82CQu3ebk4pDP7tfTh2eJYLtOSM0j8NZkYwlPAeyJ2Mye3Z3SEVRbNqSTdpWNNCwGySnzL5HXBRY8KSEQUcagJBZ_59uE/s320/6+GCAP.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GCAP - heirs of M Pastinha</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Few capoeiristas are born into their capoeira line. Most choose their group and identities are constructed through the conventions and values of the group: the sway of the ginga (the core capoeira movement), the composition of the batería, Angoleiros wear yellow and black and train in hat and shoes, Regional schools have various colours but no shoes or hat. Regional schools have coloured belts to indicate level; Angoleiros ask how many years of training you have. Regional players enter the roda with exuberance; Angoleiros engage in ritual and then sneak in warily. I am not making an exhaustive comparison of the two schools, merely indicating some of the many ways in which identities are reproduced within and across groups. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Both the Regional and the Angolan branches of capoeira have universalising discourses: Regional popularised capoeira, for the first time training whites and people from the middle class, and arguably saving capoeira from obscurity. Pastinha also insisted that anyone could learn – asserting ‘capoeira is for men, women and children’ – but was keen to save capoeira from popularisation. He was specifically inclusive: one of his ladainhas states that generals and doctors can learn – but they need to submit to capoeira’s conventions. It’s the difference between taking capoeira to the people and bringing the people to capoeira.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Self-presentation</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Capoeira is my name</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Capoeira is in my blood</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Capoeira is to live well” (CD GCAP 3/ FICA songbook p17)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Capoeiristas are descendents of a general and particular lineage and, through their participation in orality and tradition, they become part of it. By joining a group they become integrated into its history and assume various duties of commitment and behaviour. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They are responsible for the t-shirt they wear; when visiting other academies they are implicitly representing their group and their mestre.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Capoeira draws on – and feeds into – community (maintained by common exclamations ‘vamos vadiar’, ‘vamos embora’ – let’s play capoeira), but it is not a team sport. The realization of ancestry and training is the game that takes place in the roda, and that is about the individual and what he or she can do. Capoeira is not simply about presentation of history or the representation of a group or its conventions. Ultimately it is about s</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">elf-presentation: how the capoeirista interacts with conventions, tests them and extends them through improvisation, creativity and expression. ‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Capoeira sou eu!’ It is personal – it is never ‘we are,’ it is always ‘I am!’</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘I have no superior, I am the son of freedom.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m not recounting my life, because there’s no need.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am not on the run, and you are not the authority” (CD Mestre Canjiquinha e Waldemar/ FICA songbook p9)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">References:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Miller, B. (1992). "Collective action and rational choice. Place, community and the limits to individual self-interest." <u>Economic Geography</u> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">68</b>(1): 22-42.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQYDGJzu_RORLrLtRmbJlilpUGQroW3pkSGkuxNpg4wH_YarwI30W2y3iEawF7N8azycPe7REccvCcd2cM_KnDctKGsBb3iu46ehG1sw8PCT4r5BsbLgx1zLujjmf16yw32HftGuCVdcs/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQYDGJzu_RORLrLtRmbJlilpUGQroW3pkSGkuxNpg4wH_YarwI30W2y3iEawF7N8azycPe7REccvCcd2cM_KnDctKGsBb3iu46ehG1sw8PCT4r5BsbLgx1zLujjmf16yw32HftGuCVdcs/s1600/volt+logo.JPG" /></a></div>
</div>Zoe Marriagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576614274028452103noreply@blogger.com0