The Hidden History of Capoeira
Title | The Hidden History of Capoeira PDF eBook |
Author | Maya Talmon-Chvaicer |
Publisher | University of Texas Press |
Total Pages | 252 |
Release | 2010-01-01 |
Genre | Sports & Recreation |
ISBN | 0292773587 |
Capoeira, a Brazilian battle dance and national sport, has become popular all over the world. First brought to Brazil by African slaves and first documented in the late eighteenth century, capoeira has undergone many transformations as it has diffused throughout Brazilian society and beyond, taking on a multiplicity of meanings for those who participate in it and for the societies in which it is practiced. In this book, Maya Talmon-Chvaicer combines cultural history with anthropological research to offer an in-depth study of the development and meaning of capoeira, starting with the African cultures in which it originated and continuing up to the present day. Using a wealth of primary sources, Talmon-Chvaicer analyzes the outlooks on life, symbols, and rituals of the three major cultures that inspired capoeira—the Congolese (the historic area known today as Congo-Angola), the Yoruban, and the Catholic Portuguese cultures. As she traces the evolution of capoeira through successive historical eras, Talmon-Chvaicer maintains a dual perspective, depicting capoeira as it was experienced, observed, and understood by both Europeans and Africans, as well as by their descendants. This dual perspective uncovers many covert aspects of capoeira that have been repressed by the dominant Brazilian culture. This rich study reclaims the African origins and meanings of capoeira, while also acknowledging the many ways in which Catholic-Christian culture has contributed to it. The book will be fascinating reading not only for scholars but also for capoeira participants who may not know the deeper spiritual meanings of the customs, amulets, and rituals of this jogo da vida, "game of life."
Capoeira
Title | Capoeira PDF eBook |
Author | Nestor Capoeira |
Publisher | North Atlantic Books |
Total Pages | 377 |
Release | 2012-09-04 |
Genre | Sports & Recreation |
ISBN | 1583946373 |
Capoeira is simultaneously a dance, a fight, and a game. Created by the Africans brought to Brazil as slaves beginning in 1500, capoeira was forbidden by law but survived underground. When open practice was allowed in the 1930s it soon became very popular. Capoeira came to America around 1975, and has become widely recognized by dancers and martial artists. The author discusses capoeira's evolution from Brazilian street play into a way of life. The philosophy of capoeira, and the practical and spiritual benefits of this philosophy, are also discussed. Instructions and exercises in intermediate and advanced skills take up where the author's previous book left off. The book includes 100 black-and-white photos and illustrations.
The Little Capoeira Book, Revised Edition
Title | The Little Capoeira Book, Revised Edition PDF eBook |
Author | Nestor Capoeira |
Publisher | Blue Snake Books |
Total Pages | 238 |
Release | 2007-12-26 |
Genre | Sports & Recreation |
ISBN | 9781583941980 |
Nestor Capoeira, a long-time teacher of capoeira and noted mestre (master), begins this revised edition of his bestseller with an in-depth history of the Brazilian art, giving the most popular theories for the origins and purposes of this movement that combines the grace of dance with lethal self-defense techniques in a unique game-song structure. He discusses some of the most famous capoeristas and their influence on the art. In addition, he describes how the two major branches of capoeira (Angola and Regional) came about and the differences between them. The Little Capoeira Book’s clear descriptions of the game, or jogo, explain the actual application of capoeira, vaguely similar to sparring but very different in purpose and style. The music of capoeira, which is played during all jogo, is also examined, along with its main instrument, the berimbau. The author includes a how-to guide with photographs showing basic moves for beginners, with offensive and defensive applications for simple kicks, takedowns, advanced kicks and movements, head butts, hand strikes, and knee and elbow strikes. Each technique is vividly depicted with drawings that are easy to understand and learn from, and mestre capoeira includes an explanation of both Angola and Regional versions.
Capoeira
Title | Capoeira PDF eBook |
Author | Matthias Röhrig Assunção |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis US |
Total Pages | 286 |
Release | 2005 |
Genre | Capoeira (Dance) |
ISBN | 9780714680866 |
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art now spreading over the rest of the world and this book, the only complete history of the art in the English language, traces the history of the martial art and examines its influence.
Power in Practice
Title | Power in Practice PDF eBook |
Author | Sergio González Varela |
Publisher | Berghahn Books |
Total Pages | 182 |
Release | 2017-09-01 |
Genre | Performing Arts |
ISBN | 1785336363 |
Considering the concept of power in capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian ritual art form, Varela describes ethnographically the importance that capoeira leaders (mestres) have in the social configuration of a style called Angola in Bahia, Brazil. He analyzes how individual power is essential for an understanding of the modern history of capoeira, and for the themes of embodiment, play, cosmology, and ritual action. The book also emphasizes the great significance that creativity and aesthetic expression have for capoeira’s practice and performance.
Unknown Capoeira, Volume Two
Title | Unknown Capoeira, Volume Two PDF eBook |
Author | Ricardo Cachorro |
Publisher | North Atlantic Books |
Total Pages | 225 |
Release | 2012 |
Genre | Capoeira (Dance) |
ISBN | 1583942343 |
Companion vol. to: Unknown Capoeira: secret techniques of the original Brazilian martial art.
Hidden Powers of State in the Cuban Imagination
Title | Hidden Powers of State in the Cuban Imagination PDF eBook |
Author | Kenneth Routon |
Publisher | University Press of Florida |
Total Pages | 217 |
Release | 2010-07-18 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 0813043182 |
Despite its hard-nosed emphasis on the demystifying realism of Marxist-Leninist ideology, the political imagery of the Cuban revolution--and the state that followed--conjures up its own magical seductions and fantasies of power. In this fascinating account, Kenneth Routon shows how magic practices and political culture are entangled in Cuba in unusual and intimate ways. Routon describes not only how the monumentality of the state arouses magical sensibilities and popular images of its hidden powers, but he also explores the ways in which revolutionary officialdom has, in recent years, tacitly embraced and harnessed vernacular fantasies of power to the national agenda. In his brilliant analysis, popular culture and the state are deeply entangled within a promiscuous field of power, taking turns siphoning the magic of the other in order to embellish their own fantasies of authority, control, and transformation. This study brings anthropology and history together by examining the relationship between ritual and state power in revolutionary Cuba, paying particular attention to the roles of memory and history in the construction and contestation of shared political imaginaries.