A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE: AND SOCIAL INCLUSION IN THE PERIPHERY OF ,

BY JACLYN DONELLE MCWHORTER

A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

2018

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© 2018 Jaclyn Donelle McWhorter

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank my parents, family, and friends who supported me in different ways throughout my personal journey. I also thank Contra-Mestre Bocão, David de Lima, without whom I would have embarked on a different path. I thank my advisor, Peter

Collings, for counseling me from the very beginning of my entrance into the program and pushing me through the final steps when I needed it most. I also thank my committee members Larry Crook, Tanya Saunders, and Chris McCarty for all of the comments and feedback to make this project a success, as well as Mike Heckenberger for the help early on. In addition, I thank every single person who did not believe in me or who gave me negative energy along my journey, because without you I would not have grown the strength and courage to complete this work for myself.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... 3

LIST OF FIGURES ...... 6

ABSTRACT ...... 7

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION ...... 9

The Journey ...... 11 The Research Context ...... 15

2 THE FOUNDATION: CAPOEIRA AND ITS CONTEXTUAL SOCIAL THEMES ..... 22

Background ...... 23 The Practice of Capoeira ...... 24 The Basics ...... 27 The Origins ...... 29 The Lessons ...... 30 The Complications ...... 31 Context in Urban Brazil ...... 34 Cultural Capital ...... 36 Resistance ...... 38 Citizenship ...... 46

3 METHODOLOGY ...... 54

Participatory Action Research ...... 54 Geographic Space ...... 58 Methods ...... 60 Complications in Positionality ...... 64 Primary Research Participants ...... 69 Practicum Project ...... 74

4 THE PHILOSOPHY: LIVING AS A CAPOEIRISTA ...... 81

Case Study Methodology ...... 82 Living As A Capoeirista: 11 Stories ...... 83 Mestre Coruja: The Adjective of Ability ...... 83 Contra-Mestra Grazi: An Example for Everything ...... 87 Contra-Mestre Negão: The Opportunity to be Respected ...... 90 Professor Cicinho: Sharing Life Experiences ...... 92 Professor James: A Salvation ...... 94

Professora Maré: Balance to Deal with Situations ...... 96 Instrutor Perna: Interpreting Different Sides ...... 98 Instrutor Passarinho: Reaching Your Dreams ...... 100 Instrutora Felina: Changed my Life for the Better ...... 103 Instrutor Guaiamum: Life Perspective ...... 104 Instrutor Xaréu: Being the Best You Can Be ...... 107 Analysis ...... 110

5 CAPOEIRA AND COMMON THEMES IN BRAZILIAN SOCIETY ...... 112

Outlying Perspectives: 11 Stories ...... 114 Mestre Coruja: The System does not Open Itself ...... 114 Professor James: The Street ...... 117 Professor Cicinho: This is Reality ...... 121 Instrutor Passarinho: A Path Without Return ...... 125 Instrutor Perna: Wanting to Be Somebody ...... 126 Contra-Mestre Negão: The Ego of the Capoeirista ...... 129 Instrutor Xaréu: Impeding and Discriminating ...... 132 Contra-Mestra Grazi: The Issue of the Power of the Woman ...... 133 Instrutora Fernanda: Sometimes We Suffer ...... 137 Instrutor Guaiamum: Machismo Starts from the Woman ...... 140 Professora Maré: Disrespect for Women...... 142 Analysis ...... 146

6 CONCLUSION: THE ESSENCE OF CAPOEIRA ...... 149

Capoeira and Social Inclusion ...... 149 Common Themes from the Interviews ...... 155 Complications of Research ...... 156 Capoeira to Me ...... 163

LIST OF REFERENCES ...... 166

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...... 171

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

2-1 Capoeira Instruments ...... 53

2-2 Map of city of São Paulo within Brazil ...... 53

2-3 Map of Pirituba within the city of São Paulo ...... 53

Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE: CAPOEIRA AND SOCIAL INCLUSION IN THE PERIPHERY OF SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL

By

Jaclyn Donelle McWhorter

August 2018

Chair: Peter Collings Major: Anthropology

This research employs phenomenological methodology to dissect the underlying implications of the Brazilian martial art of capoeira, and how it is utilized as a form of social inclusion for participants. Capoeira was first developed in the 1600s, as enslaved

African immigrants disguised it as a dance in order to trick their masters and seek freedom. Because it is historically rooted in resilience and resistance, capoeira has become a philosophy of life for most of its practitioners today. This ethnography demonstrates alternatives to the development discourse, as this discourse tends to focus on top-down westernized approaches that oppress the other cultures in which they are incorporated. My approach differs by observing ways that community-based approaches utilize culture as a tool for resilience and resistance in the modern struggle for citizenship and agency.

The phenomenological approach employed in this dissertation follows the writings of Freire (1970), who calls for the inclusion of participants in the creation of the research design in order to allow the locals to shape the problem and identify meaningful themes that frame the overall project. This methodology includes

understanding structures of experience and consciousness, and how capoeira may or may not alter these phenomena. The reflexive properties of performance empower participants though the understanding of meaning, development of critical analysis, and thus the creation of agency or what my participants refer to as “citizenship”. I conducted unstructured interviews and participated actively over a four-year period to unravel the complexities involved with structures of power and how they are created within this community. During fieldwork, participants highlighted what it means to live as a capoeirista, defined as a practitioner of the art of capoeira, as well as other particular conundrums that are inherent in their society.

Participants discussed the aspect of capoeira as a philosophy of life and what it means to live as a capoeirista. These data highlight what they learn from capoeira that they can apply to their lives outside of the academy, as well as outlying factors that individuals address pertaining to themes within Brazilian culture in the periphery of São

Paulo, Brazil.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Brazilian Paulo Freire measures development as “whether or not the society is a

‘being for itself’” (Freire, 1970:163) rather than through statistical measures of per capita income or gross national product. For Freire, quantitative evaluations more accurately exemplify modernization, not actual development. He argues that development is attained through cultural action in order to achieve unity within a social structure. His critique of development projects argues that developers often further marginalize the communities in which they seek to support, because projects both distract communities from addressing issues occurring in reality and reinforce hierarchies that exacerbate the inferiority of community members. Freire also analyzes the role of conscientização, or how to learn to recognize social, political, and economic contradictions and take a stand against oppression in society by becoming consciously aware of the myths that are instilled by the oppressors. He highlights the necessity of the creation of “conscious beings” through education in acts of cognition, not mere transfers of information passed from one person to the next (Freire 1970:75).

Freire’s approach is phenomenological because the act of creating consciousness and transforming realities relies on active lived experiences. People participate in the transformation of their world by engaging critically with their reality and taking action against its oppressive elements. Freire highlights the importance of praxis, of reflection and action, which is fundamental in transformation. Active participation is essential for conscious awareness (Freire 1970).

This project employs Freire’s phenomenological approach to dissect the underlying implications of capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art historically rooted in

resilience and resistance. Following Freire’s examples, this dissertation employs methodologies that emphasize understanding structures of experience and consciousness, and how capoeira may or may not alter these phenomena. In order to avoid imposing the expectations of western social science on local understandings, I began my field research by analyzing daily human behavior and how individuals understand the world, before I asked questions. This analysis also involved discourse on the themes that were presented by the research participants.

Due to its historical significance in Brazilian culture, capoeira has developed as a strong symbol of resilience and resistance for marginalized populations in Brazil, and, more recently, abroad. This form originated among enslaved African immigrants as a tool to fight for their freedom. After liberation, it developed further as a means to defend their communities. Capoeira’s unique style incorporates , defense mechanisms, and acrobatics as a means for unarmed men to defend themselves against armed attackers. Capoeira was practiced for hundreds of years as a fighting strategy for marginalized populations to protect themselves and their communities, and was illegal up until the 1930s. Since then, it has further evolved to become a philosophy of life in contemporary society, as it represents a more generalized struggle against oppression and offers a message of hope (Lewis 1992).

Although the discourse of capoeira has been researched previously, as I highlight later in Chapter 2, it has not been approached through the lens of a social development perspective. Capoeira was first developed in the 1600s by enslaved

African immigrants in Brazil to rebel against their owners and seek freedom. Today capoeira has evolved and is often employed in low-income communities as a tool for

social development to overcome oppression and offers youth an alternative path to drug trafficking and violence. Capoeira is a diversion from daily life in the periphery in São

Paulo. In addition, capoeira is also a philosophy of life and expands beyond the academy to teach lessons that are useful in daily life on the streets. This concept follows the work of Huizinga, who discusses the importance of play and how it relates to culture and the concept of a social code, as the nature of play is free, but often play spaces are bounded (Huizinga 1955). This dissertation poses the question if capoeira can provide an alternative path to drug trafficking, violence, and everyday oppression and thus change their lives by creating an outlet. This research provides a voice for individuals in a marginalized low-income community in the periphery of São Paulo and tell their story to demonstrate alternatives to the development discourse by observing ways that community-based approaches apply culture as a tool for resilience and resistance in the modern struggle for citizenship and agency.

Among the capoeiristas in my research community, it is the feeling of having agency that defines citizenship, embodying the idea of a universal human citizenship that transcends local and national confines. This type of citizenship is the capacity of the individual to have the freedom to make choices and act upon them and to be treated by other members of society as equal functioning members of society. Social inclusion is a product of this form of citizenship, as members of society seek to be treated by others with respect. My definition of social inclusion encompasses the ability for an individual to be included, and thus respected, as an active participant in society.

The Journey

My interest in Brazil began in 2003, while studying photography and international studies as an undergraduate student with dreams of traveling the world as a

documentary photographer. While taking a summer photography course in New York, I indulged in all things Brazilian before taking my first trip there. Perhaps due to my cultural background as a New Orleanian and avid soccer player, I began to see many parallels to Brazilian culture with my own. Several examples include the multiethnic nature of the place, vast income inequality, corruption in politics, Catholicism mixed with traditional African religions, and especially the relaxed party atmosphere surrounding

Mardi Gras or Carnaval. I spent the years following my graduation traveling back and forth to Brazil, leading to my pursuit of a master’s degree in International Development.

In studying the complexity of development projects and the lack of connection between decision-makers and communities, I soon had a different perspective on development and questioned who actually benefits from development. It seemed to me that the majority of the projects funded by developed countries to aid developing countries in obtaining basic human needs were often beneficial for a small few, and more often than not it was for those who were already better off. So, who were these projects for, and why were they created?

Anthropologist Arturo Escobar (1995) explains that discourses on development maintain hegemonic domination and inequality by defining development based on the cultural values of Western societies. Through his ethnographic work, Escobar offers new understandings of systems of social policy that provide in depth perceptions of cultural backgrounds and local groups. He incorporates the work of Foucault on the dynamics of discourse and power, and how development rhetoric detaches itself from social reality. He likewise follows the work of Edward Said in his study of Western domination and authority over development in the East. Said studied western

discourses on the Orient, stating that, “Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (Said 1979:3). Such an analysis questions the representation of developing countries in the development discourse.

William Easterly (2006) also discusses the conundrums of global poverty, by highlighting the failed attempts of international development projects due to their lack of local knowledge on the ground. He uses the example of the United Nations Millennium

Project, with a total of 449 interventions to end world poverty with an inefficient implementation strategy. Because project leaders were agencies all from other countries with different cultural, economic, political, and environmental backgrounds, they lacked essential information about local realities. For example, project leaders lacked sufficient local data, such as how many children in specific locations had malaria and how many doses were needed at each clinic. Because many aid different agencies did similar studies on malaria, no one knows who is to blame for shortages or mishaps that often result in dying children. Local workers were unmotivated due to being paid poorly, and local residents do not have a way of communicating results to the agencies.

Although there are different types of development: economic, political, social, and environmental, it is usually economic development that, for outsiders, defines the well- being of a place. This generalization caught my attention during the 2008-2009 economic crisis. While experts discussed Brazil’s huge economic success and how it would trickle down, I was at work in the low-income areas and the trickling drops were nowhere to be seen. During the lead-up to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, violence and crime soared due to police operations and housing relocations and evictions disrupted these marginal communities. I concluded that successful

environmental, political, and even economic development depends on social development. If individuals cannot meet their basic needs, there will be increased threats on the environment, corruption in political arenas, and crime and violence leading to economic instability.

We see these examples everywhere and they have been addressed by various academic disciplines over the past decades. I saw the principal fallacy of projects in

Brazil as the lack of connection with the members of the communities at the ground level, whom the development projects affected the most. Data were too often collected by sampling small portions of the populations, and results were based on generalizing that all humans were the same as the representative sample. Although I find these data very useful to get a bigger picture, I do not view it as the end result for development projects. It is the duty of the anthropologists and those of other disciplines to make use of methodologies that promote the agency of individuals within the communities to make proper decisions for their own livelihoods and to acknowledge their voices as fellow human beings living on this planet to make proper decisions for their livelihoods. Other methods in the past have dehumanized groups in favor of capitalist ventures to retain power, domination, and privilege for particular interest groups.

I first discovered capoeira in 2003 on the trip to New York mentioned previously.

During my visits to Brazil over the following years, I learned more about the martial art and its history, and still remember listening to cassette tapes in the car about capoeira on the way to the beaches. During travels in 2006, I visited Salvador, , and saw people playing capoeira in the streets every day, their activities pulsating with emotion and energy. I was immediately drawn in. Upon returning to the United States, I met a

capoeira instructor while watching the Brazilian World Cup games at a sports bar and became even more intrigued. I have since studied capoeira and taught capoeira even as I have pursued my academic degrees. While working on my master’s degree 2008-

2010, I studied the model of AfroReggae, as they seek to employ culture as a tool for social development. I learned that they also applied capoeira within their project to strengthen cultural pride, while building confidence, focus, and discipline. Following the example of a development project created by community members of a low-income neighborhood called AfroReggae, I sought out on ways that culture could be used as a tool for social development. Through the philosophy of the project of AfroReggae, I saw the potential of capoeira in the realm of social development. Thereafter, I began training capoeira with more dedication, and it soon became the focus of intrigue for my research project.

The Research Context

São Paulo is Brazil’s largest city, with a population of over 12 million in the city limits and 21 million in the larger metropolitan area (IBGE 2017). It is estimated that 20-

30 percent of the city’s population resides in urban slums often referred to as favelas, accounting for approximately 3 million people. São Paulo contains the largest slum population in South America, as more than 70 percent of its housing is sub-standard and one-third of the city’s population is below the poverty line (UN-HABITAT 2010). São

Paulo experiences a high crime rate, with offenses ranging from theft to homicide.

Street crimes are an immense problem, most prevalent being armed robberies and rape. There were a total of 962 documented homicide victims in the city of São Paulo between July 2016-June 2017, with peripheral areas bearing the majority (SSP 2017).

For comparison, in the United States, Chicago had the most homicides with a total of

650 in 2017 (Mirabile 2017), although has a lower population at an estimated 2.7 million

(US Census 2018).

In the community of Pirituba, in the northwest periphery of São Paulo, Mestre

Coruja teaches capoeira for the group Capoeira Cordão de Ouro Mangalot. Contra-

Mestre Bocão graduated from this academy, and claims that capoeira is a philosophy of life, and has the ability to reeducate youth and offer social inclusion to create good citizens. He says that capoeira teaches people to see the world in a different form and creates new opportunities. For example, capoeiristas of low-income areas in Brazil are invited to countries around the world, such as Mexico and the United States, and have conversations with people from other social classes. He gives the story of our friend

Gugu, who is from the streets of downtown São Paulo. Gugu won the capoeira championship in Brazil in 2018 and capoeira opened many doors for him with various opportunities to travel the world and teach others the art of capoeira. I seek to critically unravel Bocão’s claim in order to understand more about the context of capoeira in this community in São Paulo. Is capoeira a form of social inclusion? Could capoeira be a form of insurgent citizenship, cultural capital, or conscientização, as I noted above?

What other factors play into the habitus of the individuals of this capoeira community?

The term habitus refers to the structures that organize the way individuals perceive the social world around them due to their own life experiences, and how they react to them.

This concept is discussed more in depth in Chapter 2 (Bourdieu 2012).

This work is the result of 4 years of fieldwork between 2014-2018, working with individuals specifically who trained capoeira in the neighborhood of Mangalot, all from the district of Pirituba in the northwest periphery of the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Supplemental material involved frequent travel to this specific area in Brazil, as well as travel to Mexico and throughout the United States to attend capoeira events. All of these experiences bear on the interpretations that follow, but the focus will be on capoeira in the periphery of São Paulo and how the context of that environment instilled specific systems of meaning that were later transnationalized and exported to Mexico and later the United States as practitioners left the city and moved abroad.

There are several Portuguese words used in this text that should be defined.

Atual was used by Lewis (1992) to define an emerging style of capoeira, combining aspects of both Angola and Regional styles. Capoeira Angola refers to a traditional or conservative style of capoeira which is played lower to the ground to a slower musical rhythm and is associated with Mestre Pastinha. Regional is a more innovative, modernized style played upright to a faster beat. This style is associated with Mestre

Bimba. The berimbau is the lead instrument in capoeira in the form of a musical bow played by striking with a stick accompanied by the caxixí, which is a woven rattle. The atabaque is the traditional drum, the pandeiro is similar to a tambourine, the reco-reco is a ribbed scraper, and the agogô is a two-tone clapperless bell or gong, all used in the capoeira roda. The roda is the circular space for playing the game of capoeira, but is also used to describe the actual event of the game of capoeira played by capoeiristas.

Capoeirista simply describes a player or practitioner of capoeira. The term jogar refers to play against an opponent in a game. The game is referred to as the jogo. The highest rank in capoeira is the mestre, who is the senior capoeira teacher or master, followed by the contra-mestre, who is an instructor still working under the guidance of the mestre.

Below the contra-mestre is the level of professor, followed by instructor, monitor, and

graduado in our group. Anything lower than graduado is simply an aluno or student of capoeira. Other Portuguese terms used to describe capoeira are malícia and malandragem. Lewis (1992) defines malícia as deception, trickery, cunning, double- dealing, dissimulation, and indirection. Malandragem is hooliganism, shady activities, and a synonym for capoeira play. Candomblé is a major variety of Afro-Brazilian religion, whose saints are called orixás referring to a class of spirit beings or deities.

Machismo refers to sexism and an exaggerated masculinity.

In the following pages, I provide a detailed description of this research project and explain particular concepts that are important in the understanding of the subject area. In Chapter 2, entitled, “The Foundation: Capoeira and its Contextual Themes,” I provide a more detailed description on the Brazilian martial art of capoeira. This chapter focuses on its history as a form of liberation, and examines how that liberation is applied today in modern society. I examine the context of Brazilian culture, highlighting how crime and violence permeate all factions of daily life, especially in the periphery, due to complexities of the definition of citizenship and socioeconomic inequalities. Because resistance is an important theme of capoeira, I unravel how I define resistance here for this research and provide examples of different types of resistance and the intricacies that ensue. Finally, I discuss the terminology of citizenship, and how that definition evolves and adapts cross-culturally. The concept of citizenship in this particular community has a distinct definition, that which is clarified by cultural citizenship or insurgent citizenship, but is best defined by Foucault’s concept of bio-power and how that adheres to agency and class structure. Capoeira is closely linked to these forms of

resistance on various levels and this is demonstrated in the concept of capoeira acting as a philosophy of life.

In Chapter 3, entitled “Methodology”, I explain the methodology employed in the research and the reasoning for this application. I chose participatory action research

(PAR) methods to foster collaboration between research participants and myself throughout the study to give them an opportunity to co-create the knowledge through lived experiences. The methodologies of Paulo Freire were used to encourage participants to think critically about the realities in which they live, rather than determining the research in a hegemonic manner. By allowing them to have a voice in this research and discussing what is most important for them as individuals, they are able to transform their own consciousness and become aware of social practices that maintain inequality. This approach is termed activist or engaged anthropology, as the anthropologist is actively engaging with participants throughout to advocate for social change.

Chapter 3 outlines and defines the geographic space where the research took place, as well as methodologies for selecting research participants and how I went about the interviewing process. In addition, I define some particular complications based on my positionality within the community and the cultural biases that must be addressed as relevant to the study. Finally, I give a brief description of research participants and their living situations to provide a window into their daily lives.

In addition, Chapter 3 discusses a previous project I carried out in the city of

Atlanta, Georgia in the United States, designed for the completion of a practicum project in conjunction with my work in Brazil. I taught capoeira for two months in the summer of

2015 within a project for youth in a low-income community where they learned all the components to capoeira, including but not limited to physical movement, musical coordination, community, and history and culture. I focused on these four principles, but overall my goal was to teach capoeira as a philosophy of life.

Chapter 4 employs a case study approach to explore capoeira as a philosophy of life. Work with 11 participants provides a descriptive account of the different interpretations of what it means for them to “live as a capoeirista” and examines how the practice provides meaning and structure in dynamic and difficult social settings. This allows for the unique perspectives of each individual to be displayed, as I provide separate accounts for each participant. Because we as humans have distinct experiences, particular meanings adapt and evolve to encompass the holistic nature of the art of capoeira.

Chapter 5, entitled, “Capoeira and Common Themes in Brazilian Society”, expands the narrative of Chapter 4 to include all of the outlying cultural themes that play into their definitions of living as a capoeirista. These include examples of, but are not limited to, insecurity, violence, crime, machismo, and other perceived social problems that are staple themes of Brazilian culture. These perspectives are fundamental in the understanding of how and why capoeira creates resistance or citizenship for these members of society, as they explain detailed accounts from their daily lives. Because lived reality is different for each of us based on our individual circumstances, it is important that we understand such contexts to co-inhabit this planet with other human beings.

Finally, the conclusion in Chapter 6 discusses the essence of capoeira, and how that applies to unique individuals. I offer conclusions for this study and questions for further study, related to the human element that applies to the art of capoeira and the world around us. This chapter delves through the themes of social inclusion, insecurity, cultural relativism, power, and human nature, and how each relates within human behavior inside capoeira. As a practicing capoeirista myself, I conclude by providing a more personal account of what capoeira means to me and summarize what I have learned from this study. The exploration of capoeira as a form of resistance and guiding philosophy of life requires and understanding of it’s roots and origins, which follows in the next chapter.

CHAPTER 2 THE FOUNDATION: CAPOEIRA AND ITS CONTEXTUAL SOCIAL THEMES

It was a cold, rainy day in the winter month of August in Brazil. I finally arrived to a place I had seen for many years, but only on videos: Casa Mestre Ananias. It was not an academy, but a spiritual and cultural center named for Mestre Ananias, one of the oldest and renowned capoeira mestres in the city of São Paulo who passed on in 2016.

The Seal of Soloman, symbol of protection for capoeiristas, is represented by a wooden frame within the concrete floor. Berimbaus hang from the walls, accompanied by the of Brazil. The roof is covered with thatched grass. I notice just above the door two lit candles next to the statues of Ogum and Oxossi, two important deities or orixas of

Brazilian Candomblé. I feel the energy upon entering the space.

The music begins. I take a seat in the middle, humbly knowing I will not be able to play capoeira, but so thankful to be in the space to watch the phenomenon as a fellow capoeirista. The music connects everyone, by churning a unified energy. I am in complete awe, watching all of these amazing players and in complete childlike excitement. All of a sudden the game ends, and I hear my friend Gugu shout, “Dourada!

Dourada!” This is my capoeira nickname. I respond, “No, no, no, I am not playing today.” But then I see Mesquita lower himself at the foot of the roda, motioning for me to enter by holding out his hands. Of course, due to the cold, I have several layers of jackets and wearing shoes and socks instead of the usual flip-flops and am removing clothing rapidly, in panic partly because I know everyone is waiting on me for the game to continue, but mainly because I am about to play capoeira in the roda at Casa Mestre

Ananias. Once I touched Mesquita’s hands to enter the game, I was trembling. The energy of the space, accompanied with the music of the bateria, and all of the people

present created intense emotion. I played with precision and attention, because I knew from my lessons in capoeira, that we must enter the space of others with caution. I entered into the game with an au, or a cartwheel, and began to ginga, allowing my opponent to the first attack. He kicked and I escaped, and we both performed our movements on the floor in strategy. Then I attacked as he escaped, and because

Mesquita is much more advanced than I, he did get me in a few rasteiras, or tripping moves. But, instead of making me fall, he simply marked the moves to show that he had me, because that is simply enough for the game of capoeira today. I connected with the other player in a game of intense strategy, until I felt my body could no longer continue.

I gave him my hand in appreciation, still shaking immensely and thanked him so much for the game. Afterwards, in discussion with Mesquita, I said, “Man, I got so tired so fast.

I am not sure what happened.” I thought maybe it was the traveling, the capoeira events all week that I had attended, the cold, lack of a balanced diet on the trip, but it was none of the above. Mesquita responded, “It is the energy that is created there. We all feel it.”

Background

Any inquiry into capoeira requires understanding the origins of the practice and how it fits within the politics and . In the first chapter, I gave a brief description of the origins of capoeira and how it has evolved to incorporate a philosophy of life to provide an introduction on the subject matter. In this chapter, I delve deeper to provide a more detailed description of the meaning behind its history as a form of liberation and how this history resonates with modern themes in Brazilian society.

Resilience and resistance are ingrained into Brazilian culture due to centuries of socioeconomic inequality and injustice. This has complicated the definition of citizenship in Brazil, leading to increased crime, violence, and personal insecurity.

Crime, violence, and insecurity are deeply embedded in the social structure of

Brazilian life in São Paulo. As a result of these social parameters, resistance becomes a consistent theme among capoeira practitioners. After I provide a description of the practice and meaning of the art of capoeira as a foundation for other phenomena, I will explain the context of urban Brazil, in particular, the city of São Paulo. Following that discussion, I will explain what resistance means in this situation and how it relates to this project. Another essential element in this context is citizenship, so it is necessary to also discuss the implications of the term on a cultural level to unravel underlying meanings and actions carried out by members of a given society. In this chapter, I provide a foundation to contextualize the situational complexities of capoeira in the culture of urban Brazil. I first describe the practice of capoeira then discuss issues of context, resistance, and citizenship to situate the foundation for the research that will be discussed in later chapters.

The Practice of Capoeira

Anthropologist Lowell Lewis (1992) states that capoeira is related to what Geertz referred to as a blurred genre, due to the many different aspects of its fundamentals.

Because Lewis’ supplies an immense work on meaning and capoeira, I will rely on his work for the description of the origins of capoeira, as well as my personal knowledge.

Symbolic meaning is highly significant in all forms of expression in capoeira, as it is derived from the basis of liberation from slavery, class domination, the habitus of poverty and the constraints presented by one’s own body. Many social scientists, beginning with Durkheim, have highlighted the lack of freedom in social systems and thus offer the distinction that play offers a diversion from these patterns. Capoeira can be viewed as a diversion from daily life in the periphery in São Paulo. In addition,

capoeira is a philosophy of life and is able to expand beyond the academy and teach lessons that are useful in daily life on the streets. This concept follows the work of

Huizinga who discusses the importance of play and how it relates to culture and the concept of a social code. Although capoeira is often viewed by outsiders as simply a sport or a game, the holistic embodiment of capoeira can only be understood in reference to the historical and political forces that have shaped the art of capoeira, as well as those who practice it.

Capoeira becomes a form of liberation, as practitioners become so focused and exhausted that they escape reality from their daily anxiety and social responsibilities.

Players concentrate solely on the game, on the players in the roda, on the berimbau or the beat of the atabaque. Capoeira provides a different form of communication between individuals, on a deeper level that has nothing to do with skin color, personal income, social prestige, status, occupation, kinship, or previous history (Lewis 1992). It is liberation from slavery, class domination, the poverty of ordinary life, and the constraints of the individual mind and body. Capoeira is about the here and now, the contextual intricacies that are occurring with these people in this place at this time, because if one is altered all of the energy changes. It is here that capoeira reveals its deep cultural patterns through ritual and play and can serve as a framework for contextualizing social encounters (Lewis 1992). Reflecting on social encounters, the idea is to control oneself strategically, but sporadically a game often ends up in an actual fight, at which time respected individuals would intervene. Interestingly enough, this intervention does not always occur for various reasons, mostly all with foundations in the human ego due to the personal insecurity that is inherent due to the contexts in which they are subjected

to in the periphery of São Paulo. However, this phenomenon is not isolated to this area alone. Many people around the world inhabit this ego and feel the need to prove themselves within the capoeira hierarchy and in Brazilian society as a whole, as they have not always been treated as citizens as I will discuss later in this chapter.

Although capoeira has its origins in resistance as a martial art, the practice of capoeira is conceptualized as play. Greg Downey (2005) explains capoeira is played as a game between two players, who seek to outmaneuver their opponent in the game.

Practitioners use the verb jogar (to play) capoeira and the noun jogo (game) to describe capoeira rather than terms such as “sport” or “fight”. Practitioners of other martial arts refer to self-defense, while capoeiristas refer to the “game” of capoeira, with the ideal experience of the game as being improvised in the roda. Capoeira includes many historical references to maintain the balance between the creative playfulness and violent seriousness, demonstrating that even in its play, capoeira can still be violent.

Different strategic movements in the game refer to the ambivalence of the play of capoeira, to often catch the opponent off-guard to trick them with malícia, or cunning.

However, playing can often turn into fighting if the game increases in intensity, as in the game of life, which is why malícia is a most admired trait in a capoeirista. Mestre Nestor

Capoeira (2006) states that players of capoeira can channel their aggression and fighting instincts into play, without having to harm others. J. Lowell Lewis (1992) also discusses capoeira play, referring to play as a form of cultural expression. The fight of capoeira is only metaphorical; the real fundamental aim is liberation, liberation from slavery, poverty, oppression, and constraints of the body. Play is a more liberating term as it expresses this freedom and creativity, as it breaks daily patterns in its

improvisation, which is reflective of breaking patterns of sociocultural order. The play of the game capoeira is a philosophy of life, and can be expanded to threaten the social system with the interplay of malícia.

There are several variations in the style of play in capoeira. The style Angola is a more traditional game played lower to the ground to a slower rhythm of music, preserved by Mestre Vicente Ferreira Pastinha. Angola is played with the body more closed to avoid being vulnerable to an attack. The style of capoeira Regional differs, as the game is played more upright, higher off the ground with the body more opened to a faster rhythm of music. Regional uses sequences created by Mestre Bimba when he opened his academy in 1937. The style of capoeira referenced in this research- practiced by my research participants, as well as myself- mediates between the two styles of Angola and Regional. Lewis (1992) calls this style of capoeira atual, which was created by Mestre Suassuna in São Paulo into a more evolved game that is comfortable both high and low. We specify in a particular type of game, called miudinho. The word miudo means small, so miudinho, means very tiny, referring to a very small, inside game, where players play capoeira very close to one another. There is a song that explains this type of game:

O Jogo do Miudinho: Miudinho não é angola Miudinho is not angola, Miudinho não é regional Miudinho is not regional, Miudinho é um jogo manhoso Miudinho is a sly game, É um jogo de dentro It’s an inside game, É um jogo legal It’s a cool game

The Basics

‘Capoeira’ refers to the physical game of attack and defense in the Brazilian martial art, but the term also references the music, folkloric songs, and acrobatic and

dancelike movements that involve communication between two players. Capoeira is played in a roda or a circle, in which players who are not actively playing the game are standing together to keep the energy in the circle, while clapping their hands and responding to the chorus in the songs played by the bateria or those playing the musical instruments. Music is always played during a capoeira game in a roda, however musicians also exchange the responsibility of playing instruments with others physically playing the games so that they also participate in the physical game. The word ‘roda’ also refers to the larger event itself, such as “there is a roda every Saturday”.

The lead instrument is the berimbau: a single-stringed bow played with a stick and rock (Figure 2-1). Other instruments in capoeira’s musical ensemble include the atabaque (conga-like hand drum), the pandeiro, which is similar to a tambourine, the agogo (wooden or metal bell) and the reco-reco (wooden or bamboo scraper). In addition to the instruments, songs are sung with lyrics that often tell a story about capoeira or recount a tale about past capoeiristas. One example is the story of Besouro

Mangangá, preserved in the song lyrics, sung by capoeiristas all over the world.

Besouro Besourinho: Agora sim, que mataram o seu Besouro Now it's so, they killed my Besouro, Depois de morto, Besourinho cordão de ouro After death, little Besouro Golden Belt Besouro Besourinho Besouro, little Besouro Cordão de Ouro Golden belt

Besouro is one of the most legendary heroes in capoeira. He used his fighting tactics and his mandinga, or magic, to resist the police. He used his power to transform himself into a beetle when he needed to escape, hence earning the nickname “Besouro”, which means ‘beetle’ in Portuguese. He became well-known as a defender of the poor and resilient to the oppressive system in Brazil during the early 1900s (Assunção 2005).

The Origins

Although there are many explanations for the word ‘capoeira’, the origin of the term is uncertain. The most accepted derivation is from the word caá puêra in the indigenous Tupi-Guarani language, meaning “extinct forest”, otherwise translated to secondary growth (Lewis 1992:43), which is where the escaped slaves would hide to attack their opponents at close range without armed weapons.

Those who play or train capoeira are referred to as capoeiristas. A senior instructor of capoeira is referred to as a mestre, followed by the ranks contra-mestre, professor, instrutor, monitor, graduado, and aluno, which is simply the student. Most players are referred to by their nickname, or apelido. Because capoeira was illegal and viewed as an activity of former slaves, capoeiristas used nicknames to mask their identities, a tradition that continues today.

Capoeira players often unmask the hypocrisy of the social system by the consistent lessons capoeira provides, even outside of class time, as capoeira can be applied to daily life. Later in Chapter 4, I will explain these lessons in detail. For example, a key aspect of capoeira is malícia or trickery and cunning. This malícia was also a form of slave resistance through dissimulation, which has a common pattern among subordinate groups worldwide. Upon meeting a new student, a mestre may reach out for a handshake and then use his malícia to the student, while teaching the lesson to always be aware and never trust too much. The brutality of the lesson reflects the brutality of the wider system; behind each blessing there is potential danger so be cautious (Lewis 1992).

The Lessons

The game within capoeira teaches students to never trust anyone too far. Often students are told they are not malicious, which is a lesson that is learned in the roda play of capoeira, but also applied to life outside as well. This notion of extending principles of capoeira to life outside the roda is the underlying theme of this work. As

Mestre Vicente Ferreira Pastinha said, “Capoeira é tudo que a boca come” (capoeira is whatever the mouth eats), meaning it is all the things that come in life (Almeida 1986:1).

Capoeira today embodies the rebellious spirit against the oppressive system, which in turn represents liberation (Lewis 1992). As capoeira developed in urban settings in colonial times, it became correlated with criminality by the police and, especially, the upper classes of Brazilian society. As a result, this created the stereotypes of capoeira that linger today. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, capoeira became associated with the term malandro, a stereotype for a lower-class urban male typically of African descent who engages in malandragem (trickery), and can signify anyone who is engaged in devious or dishonest activities. Malandro was also applied to some singers, also having similar ethnic origins as capoeira.

Another term associated with capoeira is vadiação, which means “to be idle, to loaf, to bum around” (Lewis 1992:47). Capoeira was also associated with survival, as the capoeirista would often play for money, or the malandro would intimidate others into getting what he wants. However, malandragem also became associated with positive culture value, as it enabled the capoeirista to adapt and survive by using his cunning skills and his physical strength in a world with unequal opportunities (Lewis 1992).

The Complications

Capoeira became decriminalized on July 9, 1937, when the state of Bahia legally registered the academy of Mestre Bimba, however street capoeira still continued to be illegal (Assunção 2005). Capoeira is still largely a male activity, and traditionally it was exclusively practiced only by males, although this is currently changing. However, this change in gender restriction is correlated with income level. A pattern has been observed that when capoeira is played in the middle class and gains a higher social status, there is increased participation by women, even if on an occasional basis.

However, when capoeira is a lower class activity, it remains dominated by males (Lewis

1992). Although some women do participate in the academies where I conducted my research, it is highly dominated by males, which based on this pattern could be due to its location in a lower income community in the periphery of São Paulo.

Capoeira represents the metaphor of liberation, as it historically represents the struggle of minorities against oppression. It is a living experience that demonstrates that liberation is a possibility even when , offering a message of hope that is needed. A positive energy is exchanged between players of the game as they strive, suffer, and triumph together while growing (Lewis 1992).

However, within this game also exists the need for domination of one player over the other, often through the means of attempting to make the opponent angry while remaining calm within, thus humiliating or frustrating the opponent and causing him to lose control. The game of power is played as domination and submission are tested and players attempt to manipulate their emotions. Often players feel powerless to an attack, as to retaliate would show the other player’s power over him (Lewis 1992).

These power plays are a way that lessons from capoeira can be applied to outside life. In social life, this struggle between dominance and submission also exists.

It is like a combat, of strategy and knowing when to attack and defend. The roda is often referred to as the world, as you “go around the world” when you walk around the roda.

Therefore, it is a metaphor to what occurs in the world. There are many lessons learned here that apply to the outside world: always be prepared to defend yourself against attacks, don’t be tricked by someone’s friendliness, and don't trust anyone too much.

Capoeiristas often view the real world of the broader society as a battlefield and through the game they are preparing themselves for life (Lewis 1992).

Anthropological studies into masculinity and machismo unravel the power inequalities distributed by hegemonic and subordinate social structures, (Gutmann

1997), which is also inherent in capoeira. There are various ways in which some men procure, claim, and capitalize on various forms of power over women and other men.

Depending on the cultural context, performing manhood is perceived distinctly between

“being a good man”, and “being good at being a man” (Gutmann 1997:386), which complicates relations in capoeira. In the context of this study, machismo refers to sexism and exaggerated masculinity as a structure, as it is as a central concept that is understood locally as social structure rather than individual behavior. An example of machismo appears in the traditional songs of capoeira, as women are referred to as being jealous, a reference to the association between the capoeirista and sexual prowess, which characterizes many practitioners today. This promiscuity among some players is reflective of the general machismo in Brazilian culture, as it is a dominant tendency in the society of both the country as well as in the practice of capoeira. I will

address these themes in greater detail in Chapter 5 including the tension among those that do not have this mindset who feign to fit in as part of the group. There are also numerous derogatory references to women in song lyrics. This machismo combined with the reputation of men as having few morals when taking on many lovers has created a barrier for women to enter the sport (Lewis 1992). One example of music lyrics refers to women as ‘jealous’, relating to this promiscuity of men.

Dente de Ouro: Ela tem dente de ouro She has a gold tooth Foi eu quem mandei botar It was I who had it put in Vou te rogar uma frage I’ll beg you for a rock Esse dente se quebrar To break that tooth Casa de palha é palhoça A straw house is flimsy Se fosse fogo eu queimava If I were fire I would burn it Toda mulher ciumenta All jealous women Se eu fosse morte eu matava If I were death I would kill them

Other references to women demonstrate that either they are lesser citizens in capoeira, or simply sexual objects in the following two songs.

Paranaue: Quem bate pandeiro é homem, Who plays the pandeiro is a man, Paraná Paraná Quem bate palmas é mulher, Who claps their hands is a woman, Paraná Paraná

Dona Maria do Comboatá: Dona Maria do Comboatá Ms. Maria of Comboatá Tira a saia e vamos deitar Take off your skirt and let’s go to bed

Finally, the most famous song in capoeira also incorporates lyrics proposing that men are the ones who define behavioral norms for women by stating what they should or should not do. In particular, this construct has several layers, aside from deciding behavioral and beauty norms. Aside from telling women that they should not wear makeup, that it is from the devil, they perhaps do not want their woman to wear makeup

as to not be attractive to other men. Additionally, if the woman does not wear makeup and stays in the house to work, the man is often attracted to other women that do wear makeup, as it makes them more sexual beings. But, he does not want his wife to be sexual for fear she will be attracted to someone else.

Paranaue: A mulher pra ser bonita, Paraná In order to be beautiful, Paraná Não precisa se pintar, A woman doesn’t have to wear makeup, Paraná Paraná A pintura é do diabo, Paraná Makeup is of the devil, Paraná Beleza é Deus quem dá, Paraná It is God who gives beauty, Paraná

Context in Urban Brazil

This research is geographically situated in the periphery of the city of São Paulo,

Brazil, the most populated in the country of Brazil with over 21 million people in the metropolitan area (IBGE 2017). Although characterized as the West Zone of the city by social standards, the district of Pirituba is in the northwest periphery of the city, which by bus takes approximately one hour to reach downtown São Paulo. There are many neighborhoods within and surrounding Pirituba, but the capoeira academy is located on the main avenue, Avenida 1, in the neighborhood of Mangalot. Figure 2-2 illustrates a map of where São Paulo is located within the country of Brazil, and Figure 2-3 shows the location of my research community within the city of São Paulo. The city of São

Paulo and its environments have been studied in numerous different ways, but violence and insecurity rise to the foreground.

Due to the economic situation in Brazil, violence becomes more prevalent and exacerbated in urban areas. Insecurity then becomes normalized; it is the way of life.

Insecurity is enculturated into the youth and creates a vicious cycle, as children become adolescents and later adults who then become examples for their own children.

Through his ethnography spanning over four years in São Paulo, James Holston

(2008) studied citizenship, because asserted its importance and use the word in everyday life. Although Holston has worked in Brazil for over two decades, this project occurred in two periods, 1995-1997 and 2001-2002. He describes the complexities of citizenship in São Paulo, as the marginalized citizens of the periphery have formulated an insurgent citizenship to fight for social justice. The agency of citizens can be that of resistance, but an also produce entrenchment, persistence, and inertia, so it is important to consider the structures of power and their practices as well.

Because injustices are distributed through social differences, those who live on the periphery are discriminated against due to the historical problem in Brazil’s development and its persistence of inequality and segregation. As a result, crime and violence ensue, and these communities are victims of criminalization.

Teresa Caldeira (2000) also conducted anthropological fieldwork in São Paulo for many years. While studying social movements on the periphery, she noticed that everyone talks about an increase in crime, which sparked her interest to do ethnographic research between 1989-1991. Caldeira highlights the relationships between crime, segregation, and citizenship in these communities. She explains how violence permeates daily life of nordestinos (migrants from the Northeast of Brazil) living on the periphery of São Paulo, who are socially marginal due to the vast income inequality. In retrospect, Caldeira argues the cycle of violence has a socioeconomic basis. Because violence violates human rights, it affects the quality of individual citizenship. She also discusses the concept of lutar, to struggle, and its association with hard work and persistence, as well as social movements. Those in weakened positions

who are not able to struggle, are believed at being at a high risk for being affected by criminal activity. In Marxist terms, these migrants who end up in the periphery of São

Paulo, represent an underclass. They become a force of reserve labor that is nearly completely outside the system, isolated and prevented from joining the mainstream social structure of São Paulo itself.

The research of anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes (1982) sets the stage for the normal violence and suffering of everyday life in Brazil. In her research, she discusses the Nordestino metaphor of the luta (fight) and explains how life is often a struggle between strong and weak, powerful and powerless, and rich and poor. Like

Bourdieu (discussed below), she argues that violence and peace should not be seen as opposites, but that they should be analyzed as a continuum.

Another aspect of life on the periphery and the cycle of violence is the persistence of insecurity. In his ethnography based in the low-income neighborhoods of

Rio de Janeiro, Ben Penglase (2014) explores how violence shaped the everyday lives of the residents of the Caxambu community he observed during his fieldwork in the late

1990s and early 2000s. He unravels how the fear of crime leads Brazilians to restrict their activities, which changes experiences and meanings. Violence is a way to employ power in a system dominated through hegemony and marginalize communities on the periphery of the city. Lefebvre argues these spaces can serve as a way to control and dominate through structures of oppression.

Cultural Capital

The work of French sociologist and anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu plays a key function in our understanding of social positioning and various forms of capital, introducing the notion of cultural capital. He points out that cultural capital can assist

individuals in society obtain their goals, defining cultural capital as: “the possession of education, special knowledge, and skills” (McGee and Warms 2012:566). Following the work of Bourdieu, culture is constantly reorganized by different individual social agents as well as the structures imposed upon them, which is similar to the actual game of capoeira. I am interested in how culture and agency are always affecting each other and endlessly changing. As a result, the habitus is a product of an individual’s particular history, which is acquired and structured through ongoing relationships with economic, political, social, and cultural conditions. These structures become objective realities.

Habitus is the internalization of the social world one is part of. It is therefore important to connect both systems of knowledge and power with social and economic conditions

(Moore 2012). The habitus is created by certain structures of conditions, such as violence, citizenship, insecurity, and power. However, the habitus also allows for the creation of free thoughts, perceptions, and actions, which, in this case, may or may not be influenced by the participation in the art of capoeira. This concept does not focus solely on these structures, but seeks to transcend this limited capacity and let the infinite unfold. Bourdieu also introduces the concept of class habitus, which presents characteristics of a particular group. However, this is presented critically, as no two individuals have the same life experiences (Bourdieu 2012).

Another French philosopher that exerted a tremendous influence on anthropological studies is Michel Foucault (2012), demonstrating the operation of power. Foucault was interested in the relationship between knowledge and power, and identifying the individuals who create and use particular forms of knowledge. He unravels how power is fundamentally linked to discourse and control, as institutions of

power either permit or prohibit certain discourses to even take place. Finally, Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (1970), referred to previously, states that it is the dominant elite who structure power, so they may facilitate the process of domination and depersonalization. These concepts of knowledge and power are encompassed by the concept of cultural capital. Cultural capital is a form of knowledge that can be transformed into power.

Resistance

Resistance is “cultural guerilla activity”, often demonstrated by those who are marginalized from society or those who feel their rights are deprived (Merrell 2005:124).

In capoeira, resistance is a defensive move against an attack. This movement, called the resistência is utilized to avoid the kick of the adversary, as the player descends in a backwards manner with both feet and one hand on the ground, while the other hand is up to protect the face and guard for defense (Merrell 2005). Although scholarship on the origins of capoeira frequently focus on it as an act of resistance at different levels (to a physical opponent, to the historical conditions of colonialism and slavery, to ongoing social justice), in this section I am setting up the broader concept of resistance to provide what the term encompasses in the context of this research. My argument is that through resistance, capoeira is a mechanism for generating meanings that promote change in people’s lives.

Resistance has been reconceptualized as occurring when “subjects who are subjected to multiple discursive influences create modes of resistance to those discourses out of the elements of the very discourses that shape them” (Caldwell

2007:16). Actions taken in forming and transforming cultural identities can be referred to as agency and are utilized by individuals as well as groups. According to Kottak (2014),

resistance, practice, and daily actions can create and recreate culture and meaning.

Agency has increased as a result of these dominant discourses, which produce and engage resistance and make counterhegemony possible as new cultural meanings emerge (Caldwell 2007).

However, rather than sustaining new versions of the hegemonic, an insurgent citizenship is developed that disrupts the state and society as it is conjoined to the marginalized populations in response to the inherent inequalities that are rampant in the peripheries of urban Brazil (Holston 2008). Insurgent citizen movements create new urban citizenships and democracies where legalized inequalities dominate society.

Because dominant historical hegemonies oppress counterformulations, these contemporary citizenships typically develop under dangerous and unstable circumstances. The insurgent emerges at the heart of the entrenchment, because the same factors that disenfranchise the poor are the ones that mobilize resistance.

“Insurgence describes a process that is an acting counter, a counterpolitics, that destabilizes the present and renders it fragile, defamiliarizing the coherence with which it usually presents itself” (Holston 2008:34). Insurgent citizenship counters the popular opinion of society and transforms the habitus of daily experience.

Resistance in the urban peripheries is often seen through that act of legalizing the illegal. Law is a system of power that generates chaos through the creation of injustices and illegalities. The illegal occupation of land for housing in the peripheries of urban areas makes land accessible to those who otherwise could not afford legal residence. When conflict ensues, the residents usually succeed in legalizing their

claims, making this a common and reliable way for marginalized populations to resist the unequal power structure (Holston 2008).

Over the last two decades, Brazilian democracy has produced new forms of violence, injustice, corruption, and impunity that have increased dramatically, creating insecurity. As a result, insurgent citizens have democratized urban spaces and increased access to resources, but also added to this climate of insecurity due to increased conflict. This heightened friction has led to abandonment of public spaces, fortification of residences, criminalization of the poor, and support for police violence.

Although the insurgent destabilizes the systems of power, conceptions of right, and hierarchies of privilege, new inequalities, injustices, and discriminations are born along with new forms of resistance (Holston 2008). Elites respond to insurgencies by withdrawing themselves from personal contact in public spaces by creating social and physical barriers. They enclose themselves in residential and commercial enclaves with private security guards and high-tech surveillance that blatantly segregate urban space.

Closed condominiums have in turn developed into a symbol of status and are the most desirable type of housing in São Paulo. In addition, they begin to racially criminalize those from the peripheral areas, leading them to oppose human rights and citizenship while supporting police violence (Caldeira 2000).

On the other hand, criminals and police then use their insurgent citizenship to justify their violent reactions. Criminal violence takes place as a result of the lack of order and inherent injustices committed by the system, and police violence is an attempt to reestablish order where it is lacking, often in ways that violate human rights and thus proliferate injustice (Holston 2008). Male youths of marginalized communities engage in

illegal activity and join violent gangs as a form of resistance to the inequalities of society in an effort to gain the status and respect denied to them. In retrospect, they are labeled criminals and are further disenfranchised. Therefore, in the actual resistance of violence, they are choosing a more resistant and more violent path. In addition, due to the lack of social mobility, gang leaders become the predominant role models or heroes within low-income communities and demonstrate to these youth that they are capable of becoming like them, but not of becoming a prestigious citizen legally (Goldstein 2003).

Due to the lack of state intervention in problems of security, local residents often engage in violence to take matters of security into their own hands to punish criminal activity. Similar to Brazil, barrio residents in Bolivia are neglected by the police and judicial authorities and many are victims of crime. Therefore, they agree that action must be taken to counter the crime and delinquency. Residents resort to lynching criminals, as many feel that violence is the solution to creating security (Goldstein

2012).

This fear of violence leads to a sense of insecurity that causes residents to restrict their movements and activities, abandon public spaces and privatize others, and support private measures to security, restructuring lived experiences and social realities of Brazilians. In their resistance to violence, they produce new meanings, emotions, practices, and forms of subjectivity. Residents employ “social tactics” to address the different types of violence and the burdening social implications that occur as a result

(Penglase 2014:6). These tactics do not necessarily challenge systems of power but are ways that individuals function within them, such as the concept of malandragem previously discussed. Knowing how to live in these contexts requires tactics of constant

attentiveness and schemes on how to cope with life on the margins. This involves avoiding confrontation with forces of power, such as drug-traffickers or the police, yet insisting on their own agency, identity, and pride. Residents also attempt to resist the marginalization and criminalization symbolically. In the community of Caxambu, a statue of populist President Getúlio Vargas seeks to insist that the residents of the community are not criminals, but are in fact hard-workers of the same working class that Vargas supported and praised. The statue also attempts to add historical value to the community, reminding everyone that Vargas paid a visit to the community, and that it is not solely an area of violence and crime. The everyday violence experienced by residents not only disrupts particular forms of order, but also creates new meanings of space and social practices that resist social invisibility and criminalization. By the creation of their own meanings, they are refusing to allow the contexts of their community to be defined by hegemonic forces (Penglase 2014).

The appearance of conformity can also serve as a strategy of resistance, while underlying means of deception are used for survival. This type of resistance has deep roots against the slavery conditions in Brazil, as the slave often created the image of conformity while using deceptive strategies to resist, secretly plotting how to sabotage the plantation with cunning practices throughout the workday or by planning patterns of rebellion. Conformity disguises resistance, and thus creates a reality that goes against appearances, often concealing violence and conflict. In turn, violence produces reluctant conformity, which fuels resistance. This strategy of resistance is embedded in

Brazilian culture through their use of malandragem or the jeitinho to demonstrate agency in a hegemonizing culture (Merrell 2005).

Hidden transcripts of resistance, such as deception and laughter, can be powerful acts of insubordination as they are disguised forms of protest. Any form of oppositional culture is resistance, and it is often subtle, unorganized, diffuse, and spontaneous. It inserts itself into contexts of daily life that are burdened with danger and tragedy in the form of laughter or humor to make light of a situation. This is an attempt to establish agency and control over reality and to demonstrate that specific events do not control the agent’s state of emotions, and he or she maintains the power and displays this in the reaction of humor. Goldstein gives several examples of this form of resistance, such as when Celso called her to return to the favela and laughed as he stated, “It’s clean, it’s clean”, in reference to the fact that he had just cleaned up the blood in the streets in front of his residence after his friend was shot in the back of the head eight times (Goldstein 2003:174). Another example of oppositional culture that

Goldstein mentions is the strategy of religious conversation utilized by women to resist the male oppositional culture of gang membership and violence. These women enter an alternative reality that prohibits drinking, advocates moral redemption, and believes in honest work as a response to the men who disappear, become involved in drug- trafficking and thus violence, and often end up dead (Goldstein 2003). In response to the higher mortality rates in these communities and the effects of structural violence, poor Brazilians create mental barriers to transform and control their emotions. An excess of emotions is viewed as problematic and unhealthy, while the lack of emotion becomes the norm (Scheper-Hughes 1992).

Others exemplify resistance by mobilizing the culture of the oppressed to reconstruct knowledge, history, identity, and collectivity. In contrast, violence

disconnects communities and decreases the ability for solidarity. If culture is valued, history can be reclaimed to challenge the system and resist violence. Cultural forms of this type of resistance include Candomblé, samba, reggae, and hip-hop as expressions of marginalized collective identity and history. This connects lived experiences of violence, marginality, and unequal citizenship (Da Costa 2014). Hip-hop artists in São

Paulo try to present themselves as role models for youth of the periphery by telling their personal stories of resistance. For example, rapper Thaíde demonstrates his concern for those tempted by a life of crime in his lyrics by narrating his experience, offering alternatives to crime, and explaining how rap was central in changing his own life. He also gives advice and provides examples of individuals who succeeded in resisting a life of crime and drugs. By sharing personal experiences, he reaches out to youth who are coping with similar daily experiences in the periphery. This provides a foundation, which can change their behavior and lifestyle by increasing social integration (Weller et al.

2011). Racionais MCs is the most successful hip-hop group of Brazil, whose songs are about class struggle and critical analyses of social and economic inequalities in São

Paulo. Mano Brown, the leader, emphasizes that crime is always the worst option and what is most important is learning how to stay alive and live life by taking advantage of knowledge, information, self-esteem, and black pride. In addition to individual strategies, cultural policies that generate social inclusion have been showing positive results in combating violence, criminality, and idleness through the sponsorship of programs in teaching activities such as rap, break dance, and graffiti, as they increase creativity and self-esteem (Weller et al. 2011).

An example of one of these programs is AfroReggae, whose philosophy is to utilize the maximum number of available resources to increase the self-esteem of participants. AfroReggae uses culture to save youth from drug-trafficking, but also seeks to increase the self-esteem and aspirations of favela residents and change the societal attitude in general with relation to these communities. This perpetuates a new movement that is working towards the dignity and respect of the favela residents who wish to continue to reside in these communities (Platt and Neate 2008). Aside from being a nonprofit organization, it has also become a social movement and an ideology.

It enriches the value of Afro-Brazilian history and culture to celebrate heroes of resistance through teaching music, dance, theater, and other performing arts.

AfroReggae also passively protests the injustices of society in the lyrics of their music.

Although the AfroReggae cultural center is located in one of the most dangerous areas of , drug-trafficking factions support the program because they also resist the social structure that persists in urban Brazil and want an alternative if not for themselves, for the future generations of favela residents (Perlman 2010).

The role of resistance in my project is both an object of my ethnographic inquiry and an analytic concept that frames my research questions and methodology. Although

I am not focusing directly on resistance in either case, it cannot be denied that it is embedded in the underlying conceptual notions throughout the project. In terms of an object of ethnographic inquiry, it is related to my main themes of citizenship and reeducation, which can both be exemplified as forms of resistance against social inequalities. It could also be considered an analytic concept that assists in the framing of my research questions and methodology, as participatory action research is

influenced by Paulo Freire and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which seeks to engage participants in the creation of knowledge and critical reflection so they can engage in their own struggle for liberation.

Citizenship

My concept of citizenship deals more precisely with what citizenship means to the capoeiristas in the community of my research in the periphery of São Paulo. They conceptualize different forms of citizenship, which includes a kind of universal human citizenship that transcends local and national confines. As previously mentioned, this type of citizenship is the capacity of the individual to have the freedom to make choices and act upon them and to be treated by other members of society with respect as equal functioning members of society. Social inclusion is encompassed in this form of citizenship, as individuals feel as though they are part of a community. This definition of citizenship, based on how I am understanding my community to define it, presents the view of what Foucault called “bio-power”, that which “brought life and its mechanisms into the realm of explicit calculations and made knowledge-power an agent of transformation of human life” (Dunn 2011:82). Citizenship among these capoeiristas is the feeling that they have power and agency in their lives, no matter how this feeling is attained.

Unlike classical theories of citizenship, Brazilians use the term in a different manner, which is best described with the terminology of cultural citizenship. Miller states that cultural citizenship refers to the “maintenance and development of cultural lineage through education, custom, language, and religion and the positive acknowledgement of difference in and by the mainstream” (Avelar and Dunn 2011:3). This definition of citizenship focuses on how rights and duties are interpreted by individuals and in what

ways participation in decision-making can be utilized in the best interests of the disenfranchised population (Avelar and Dunn 2011:4). This notion of cultural citizenship highlights the marginalized social identities within a society, supporting the theories of multiculturalism (Moehn 2011). I am also interested in the concept of what Holston describes as an “insurgent citizenship”, in which the working classes and urban peripheries have become new types of citizens based on their lived experiences and hardships of inequalities and its challenges (Holston 2008:4). The insurgent citizen disrupts hegemonic notions of citizenship through the display of social inequalities and is conjoined with the empowerment of marginalized populations (Holston 2008).

Citizenship not only deals with state and civic responsibilities, but also the notion of agency and subjectivity with respect to hegemony and relations of power and the active participation of individuals and group collective identities (Pardue 2011). Dunn explains that the lived experience of “citizenship” and the resulting individual “citizen” are unequal and constantly fluctuating, determined significantly in the context of both time and space. Often spatial distance of the periphery or margins of prominent geographic centers cause particular communities and individuals to be deprived the basic human rights that are enjoyed by other members of society. Citizenship in Brazil according to Dunn (2011) is not necessarily a constant set of rules and forms of conduct, but rather is unstable and consistently changing, especially in Brazil. Dunn provides examples from São Paulo that citizenship is often expressed through the ability of consumption, as those from lower income communities do not have these same consumption privileges as those of higher classes, therefore depriving them of particular rights. Because citizenship in the case of Brazil has never been universal or consistent,

it was used for purposes of social control or hegemony in asserting class privilege.

Those who live in the margins of society are often deemed to live outside of the law and are consequently treated like criminals. Therefore, it is personal status that determines principles of equality to the law and access to resources (Dunn 2011).

In his work on music in Latin America, Yúdice demonstrates that outlets of popular culture have the ability to create citizen representation that was previously unattainable by the population. In Brazil, this exemplifies the agency of culture, because the Brazilian experience is quite different from average accounts of citizenship in other countries due to its political history. The Brazilian state has served as an impediment to the process of what it truly means to be a citizen, as individuals are treated differently based on their relations to power (Avelar and Dunn 2011).

Because of this disjunction of civil, political, and social citizenship in the Brazilian case, civil rights remain inaccessible to the majority of the population as they are marginalized. This is due to the highly polarized class structure, as Brazil’s Gini coefficient used to measure income inequality remains on of the worst in the world at

.57 in 2005 [although decreased slightly to .53 by 2013, (World Bank 2016)], as the lowest 20 percent of the population retains only 2 percent of the nation’s wealth while the highest 20 percent of the population earn 64 percent of the total income of the country (Moehn 2011). However, this polarized class structure also functions on the basis of race, violence, education, and place-such as the periphery.

Interestingly enough, the case of Brazil was much more inclusive when compared to the United States, as the formal status of citizenship was not a key component to Brazilian law and practice. Citizenship was not denied for racial or

religious reasons, and racial mixing was even encouraged. Brazilians included everyone in their national identity, while the United States imposed restrictions on citizenship for individuals under specific criteria. Although inclusive to all, Brazilian citizenship was far from egalitarian. Even though everyone was considered a citizen, not all citizens had equal rights, which is inherent in the laws of the United States. Holston defines Brazil’s type of citizenship as an “inclusively inegalitarian national membership” (Holston

2008:64). Colonial legislation by the Portuguese discriminated against blacks and mulattoes together, whether they were free or enslaved. However, widespread practices of miscegenation complicated this practice, which led the way for other forms of discrimination. Brazil created a form of citizenship that is distinctively their own (Holston

2008).

During the authoritarian regime of the Estado Novo in the 1930s, Getúlio Vargas created a new standard for the model citizen in Brazil, which was based on social responsibility through disciplined work. The Brazilian worker felt like a true citizen once the labor laws were put into place (Paranhos 2011). Also during this period, school education was a key factor in the creation of citizenship as society was being transformed. A sense of nationalism and Brazilian-ness fueled the way for more holistic experiences of education through moral, civic, and aesthetic principles, with more of an emphasis on music and culture. If children were educated in this manner, they were better prepared to be a part of a more cohesive society and contribute. Aesthetic learning methods, such as music, were thought to assist children morally and keep them away from negative influences (Oliveira 2011).

As previously noted, the cultural practice of capoeira has its roots deeply embedded in resistance and liberation: “liberation from slavery, from class domination, from poverty of ordinary life, and ultimately even from the constraints of the human body” (Lewis 1992:2). Because capoeira originated in communities of enslaved African immigrants, it is a true expression of liberation as it was an outcome of slavery.

Because the act of playing capoeira exemplifies freedom, it resists limitation to the arena of play (the roda) and is expanded into all areas of social life as a phenomenological method to understand human encounters and how to be an acting citizen in society. Capoeira also demonstrates historical preservation and cultural patterns rooted in Brazil as it continues to evolve with changes in the social order.

Capoeira represents rebellion, liberation, and the fight against oppression of marginalized citizens of society. In this sense capoeira offers a message of hope and resilience, as it is a representation of the struggle for civil rights, which demonstrates that liberation is a living possibility even when it seems impossible. It also offers comradeship as members of a group create a positive bond as they train, struggle, suffer, and triumph together (Lewis 1992).

As Mestre Acordeon (Bira Almeida) explains, capoeira is not just a sport, it is a

“way of life” (1981:17). This is why I attribute capoeira as being a philosophy of life, as it teaches us so much more about the world around us. The game of capoeira teaches lessons of historical resilience in the music lyrics and cunning, which was an important lesson in slavery and is still highly applicable in modern society today, especially in the corrupt system of Brazil. It also teaches lessons on life and social situations of never letting your guard down and trusting other individuals during physical play (Lewis 1992),

of challenging yourself and your body, and overcoming difficulties building strength and character. Another lesson in building cultural citizenship is being accountable to the consequences of your actions and to be conscious of your behavior because how you treat people in the game is how you will in turn be treated. Capoeiristas are also taught specific techniques in the game that are applied to life, such as to catch yourself when you fall and to always be alert to your surroundings to avoid danger. When someone is attacking you in capoeira, it is best to evade the attack and strategize a counterattack.

Not everyone you come across is an adversary, and experiences should be used to improve yourself because often we are our own adversaries (Essien 2008).

In this chapter, I have described capoeira and contextual social themes present in my research community to provide a background for the analysis. Cultural capital in the form of capoeira provides a knowledge base in the form of special skills and holistic education that can transform the habitus of practitioners. As daily structures are transformed and individuals possess increased awareness, resistance to hegemonic discourses increase. Marginalized populations intersecting race, gender, and social class form resistance through insurgence to counter the unequal power structure and increase their access to resources. As these individuals increase their agency, they obtain new types of citizenship through the knowledge-power dynamics. As populations become active agents of their realities, they partake in the transformation of societal life.

But aside from the published literature on capoeira and citizenship, I feel this connection is best exemplified from a quote from Contra-Mestre Bocão, who is originally from the periphery of São Paulo. He states:

The best part of capoeira is the process or reeducation, because the youth have a poorly formed education. The capoeira professional is a re-

educator of youth. When capoeira enters the veins of a youth, it is preparing them to be a citizen of the world. The youth within these communities do not have many options or expectations for the future because the system blocks their vision and the formation of their mind, then capoeira enters and it does not block their vision and the continuity of capoeira opens various expectations for their future. Capoeira saves lives even of those who were already loyal to trafficking because it shows an opportunity for the youth that until before he did not have the opportunity to be a citizen.

Figure 2-1 Capoeira Instruments

Figure 2-2 Map of city of São Paulo within Brazil

Figure 2-3 Map of Pirituba within the city of São Paulo

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

For this project, I have carefully selected my research methodology to best fit the needs of my overall encompassing goal. In the previous chapter, I gave a background of the practice of capoeira along with the context of urban Brazil, highlighting themes of cultural capital, resistance, and citizenship. In this chapter, I will outline the research project, including the geographic location, methods used, my positionality and complications, and background information on the research participants. I conclude this chapter with a local practicum project that reflects the themes of this research.

Because I am working in a small-well connected community, who often think they do not have agency or an active voice in the societal system in which they maneuver on a daily basis, I have chosen to give them more freedom in the way the interview process was carried out. Aside from the obvious topic of capoeira, they were able to each construct their own stories based on individual experiences. In this chapter, I will outline specific methods used to obtain the results for my research.

Participatory Action Research

Participatory action research (PAR) is the construction of knowledge through the combined efforts of the researcher and the participants, which promotes critical awareness of the world around us. Rather than focus on the goal of advancing science, the participants direct PAR goals, and they define what they want and need. It involves participants in all stages of the research process, including the planning, implementation, and dissemination of results. Therefore, research is facilitated collaboratively with the community, rather than for the community as in traditional participant observation. True collaboration shifts the emphasis of the research toward

people’s lived experiences to co-create knowledge, rejecting the dualisms created by traditional research methods that disconnect the researcher from the participants in the study (McIntyre 2008).

Brazilian educator Paulo Freire has influenced this type of research with his notion of conscientização, or “conscientization”, which is the act of critical reflection on social, political, cultural, and economic contexts that influence the actions taken by members of society against oppressive elements (Freire 1970:19). He argues that this counterhegemonic learning process is vital for individual and social change in oppressed communities to enable them to construct knowledge by becoming conscious of their realities and seek to improve their conditions (McIntyre 2008). PAR follows

Freire’s (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which is a pedagogy that is created in consultation with marginalized individuals instead of for them, so that they may identify oppression and its causes through critical reflection and thus engage in the struggle for liberation and transform their own realities.

Through the act of transforming consciousness, members of a marginalized community become aware of social policies and practices that serve to maintain their inequality. By working collectively with the research participants, researchers can identify what issues are of highest importance, which Freire referred to as generative themes. This challenges traditional concepts of development by allowing the locals to determine their own problems and solutions. Herr and Anderson (2005) reference this as co-learning, essential in the creation of active agents taking part in their own society.

The fundamental importance of collaborative research is for the researcher to gain access to the knowledge base of those who are disenfranchised from the process. This

allows participants themselves to reflect critically on their realities and take action by making changes they deem necessary in their society. Freire states:

The silenced are not just incidental to the curiosity of the researcher but are the masters of inquiry into the underlying causes of the events in their world. In this context research becomes a means of moving them beyond silence into a quest to proclaim the world. (Freire 1982:30-31)

PAR falls into a suite of approaches often labeled as activist or engaged anthropology, which Goldstein states (2012:36) “goes beyond the narrow limits of academic social science” to unravel the possibilities of contributing to the communities that we research by critiquing social inequality and injustice. Goldstein further argues that activist anthropology is an ethical responsibility of contemporary ethnographers, but he also states it may be the only form of anthropological research that produces viable systems of knowledge about the human experience. Cultural critique is necessary to display power and hegemonic forces that fuel inequality and injustice in marginalized communities. Activist anthropology seeks to engage participants actively in the research process to identify the sources of contention so the tools of the discipline can aid them in their struggles and effect change. The approach discredits traditional anthropological notions of field researchers maintaining distance, detachment, and neutrality from the participants, arguing that positioned objectivity of the cultural and historical context conforms the actions of the researcher. Activist anthropology includes the methods and topics that are most relevant for investigation, as knowledge cannot be removed from the context of its production and interpretation (Goldstein 2012).

Participants are incorporated in my work through ongoing dialogue, which is fundamental to the evolution of education and the creation of knowledge. This ongoing dialogue took place over a total of 4 years, as I would revisit the community and discuss

more in depth each time, as well as traveling at events and maintaining communication on social media, over the phone, and by texting. I would ask questions and open the platform for them to also ask me questions as well. We often revisited previous responses to have a more in depth conversation and clarify any previous discussions.

Such dialogue not only requires critical thinking but also generates further critical thinking through continuous communication, allowing participants to create their own ideas and opinions as they are taught how to think, not what to think. Freire (1970) argues that educators and researchers alike who deny this reflection and action are invalidating their own praxis, because they are simply imposing their beliefs onto others without creating new systems of knowledge. Freire believes this is the purpose of education, as all individuals in society have the capacity for the creation of knowledge because we each have distinct contextual lived experiences (Murrell Jr. 1997).

Therefore, the dialogue cannot commence with an agenda disconnected from the participants, but will divulge the present situation through collaboration and mutual respect. This affirms human agency and creates hope by viewing participants as active producers of history (Fraser 1997). Constant dialogue challenges traditional research methods as it destabilizes anthropological authority to allow the participants to shape the research goals and outcomes (Goldstein 2012).

I extended the concept of dialogue to the collaborative reading and interpretation between myself and my research participants to narrow the divide between my academically positioned narrative on the community and the community-positioned conceptions about their realities. I followed Lassiter (2001) to further engage my participants in the study by collaboratively reading and interpreting the ethnographic text

alongside my participants as it developed, and use this developing text as the foundation of evolving ongoing conversation. This method helps shift the position of power and control of the text from the ethnographer to the actual dialogue between the ethnographer and the participants. For example, I sat down with participants after class or during meals to discuss my project and brainstorm ideas and themes that were important to them. During the interviews, we revisited some of these previous conversations to get their point of view on the topics. After we discussed the subjects from the brainstorming conversations, I went further to ask each participant what was most important to him/her and what was most important about capoeira to them or to their story. This form of collaboration extends the interpretive method to a more profound understanding of the ethnographic process by seeking the native point of view throughout each step in the research process. Rather than focusing on the interpretations of the outsider, this allows for a deeper understanding of the participants’ perspective, and thus truly fulfilling the moral responsibility of the ethnographer.

Geographic Space

The specific place of inquiry is the capoeira academy of Cordão de Ouro

Mangalot, and the spatial networks created out of this context. This academy is situated in the northwest periphery of São Paulo in the district of Pirituba, within the neighborhood of Mangalot. Therefore, the context for this study is the academy and the surrounding areas, such as schools, residences, and in the streets. Individuals that I consulted are members from the capoeira community that have their foundation in this capoeira group, under the supervision of Mestre Coruja.

The majority of the interviews took place in the community of Pirituba in São

Paulo. Pirituba is a neighborhood in the northwest periphery of the city, hosting a

population of approximately 437,500 people in an area of 54.7 square kilometers (Gov. of São Paulo 2009). This location has been selected due to its strength in capoeira, its location on the margins of the city of São Paulo, its historical context, and the resilient population that resides there due to the daily strife linked to violence, crime, and insecurity. However, because the capoeira mestres, contra-mestres, professores and instrutores travel frequently, I also traveled with them in Brazil, Mexico, and the United

States. This project is multi-sited because of the personal relationships and experiences created in different contexts, since the analysis is based on key individuals. I blurred transnational genres, as I am teaching capoeira and working with individuals from this community that reside in the United States, while traveling back and forth to Brazil. All of my participants were from the community of Pirituba, and from the academy of the capoeira group Capoeira Cordão de Ouro Mangalot. Participants were selected though a snowballing technique working out from the mestre to obtain subjective understandings of how people are experiencing capoeira. This technique began with

Mestre Coruja in Brazil, and followed his extension to Contra-Mestre Bocão in Atlanta.

This experience of immersing myself into the practice of capoeira and engaging in the lives of participants directly links the participatory work of collaboration to the project goals of understanding culture and meaning of the native perspective because I am not separated from the lives of the participants of my study, and they are not separated from the construction of the study. My interpretations of our conversations were understood on a deeper level as I took part in the lives of these individuals and both dialogue and collaboration allowed me to better comprehend their points of view.

Methods

I am interested in how capoeira is incorporated into the daily lives of the students of this academy, and I seek to understand what types of citizens are produced in this specific context of this space. This critical ethnography will take into aspect the structural attributes of society, including but not limited to social class, education level, and ethnicity to challenge policy and research. Ethnographic research allows me the opportunity to describe the richness of the meaning embedded in social practices (Berg

2009). I have been training capoeira for eight years, four of which were with Contra-

Mestre Bocão in Atlanta, and I have been introduced to my research community while traveling with them, as they are a mobile group. I interacted with members from the capoeira community that have their foundation in the group Capoeira Cordão de Ouro

Mangalot, under the supervision of Mestre Coruja. I targeted 15 individuals that represent diverse economic backgrounds, different ages between 18-45, and varying years training capoeira, with the most being 25 and the least being 5 years at the level of mestre, contra-mestre, professor, and instrutor.

My research methods stem from a grounded theory inductive process by immersing myself in the lifestyle of capoeira to learn about how capoeira and development are culturally constructed in this community (Bernard and Gravlee 2015).

Grounded theory enables research participants to identify meaningful themes that frame the overall project. Through the creation of these topics, I can ground them to the data I uncover in the research process through participant observation, or rather observant participation, which is the act of participating before observing. The end goal of this research is the observation through participation, to observe objectively what I find important about the specific contexts of the situation. In this instance, it is the

participation that is being modified, as my position as a practitioner of capoeira gives me a unique viewpoint on the things I am participating in and allows me to bring anthropological eye to it. I focus on open-ended participation to discover the dialogue that emerges from the specific setting. This study is an ethnographic analysis of experiences of capoeira, social inequality, and violence as expressed by selected members of this group from this specific community, to determine how they fit into something larger.

The research methodology focuses on the critical theory of Paulo Freire and shifts to a participatory framework. Although I went in with a broad toolkit, the questions actually emerged from the context to define the application. By having set methods and objectives, such as to collect quantitative data regarding pre-established problems, does not allow local voices to enter the equations. However, this does not mean that quantitative data is not collected in the process. I use a more engaged or activist anthropology approach to allow participants to tell their own stories. They were asked what is most important to them, what needs should be addressed, and what capoeira and social development actually means to them individually to understand local meaning.

I allowed participants to define the problem of the research question and thus giving a greater voice to the people whom are being observed in the research process.

They are incorporated as participants in the research design, rather than objects of study, as they determine the direction of each individual oral history when they tell their own story and emphasize what is of most value to themselves. The overall research

question and problem has thus far been collaboration between myself, and my Contra-

Mestre, who currently resides in the US.

I began by asking each participant what would he or she like to see as an outcome of the study. I wanted to determine what has been most significant to their lives in the context of capoeira in the periphery of São Paulo. Then, I proceeded to ask what questions do they think should be asked, to exemplify this phenomena. After working through the dialogue collaboratively, I compared and contrasted concepts about culture and meaning among participants, as well as my own interpretations.

I conducted informal unstructured interviews to collect personal biographies in the form of conversations with informants to listen to their point of view on capoeira as social development through the context of their individual life experiences, while occasionally asking questions to focus on the topic or to clarify specific points. These oral histories are related to the structural elements within the community, such as education, violence, family, marginalization, income inequality, and drug and alcohol abuse, while focusing on the students and the community at large. This method allowed me to obtain more contextual, meaningful results, more insight into the community, and be less intrusive to the population being studied, as I allowed them to tell the stories that they want to be told, rather than pre-structuring interview questions and ordering them to give specific answers (DeWalt and DeWalt 2011). Unstandardized interviews allow me to obtain additional information, which perhaps was not previously considered based solely upon exploratory research. Throughout the interview process, I developed, adapted, and created questions that pertain specifically to the context of the

conversations, and generate follow-up probing questions that are appropriate to the given situation and the main focus of the research (Berg 2009).

I asked questions that my participants deemed most important for the dialogue and touched on questions about how they represent the community. This was participatory because we often had group discussions as to which topics were of utmost importance and discerned together what should be dissected in the interviews. It was structured as a group-reflective inquiry in order to learn and improve specific conditions or situations, as they are all interested in the concept of social change.

This project has been contingent on my training capoeira daily for several years.

No matter while working in Brazil, US, or Mexico, I train one to two times a day, and dedicate my time to social development projects as well as programs in schools (public and private). I also teach classes at the capoeira academy. We work with children of all ages, in groups of ages from 3-5, 6-12, and others 13-18. Then, nightly we return to the academy for training. Often on weekends we give public performances in parks, festivals, or for specific events to demonstrate the art of capoeira. Although I gain a lot of understanding and experience in the immersion of these daily events, the strength of the interpretations in this dissertation are formed from the biographies and individual statements of participants. I use the results on personal interviews to develop context of discussion among participants to consider how individual statements reflect broader views of capoeira and what life is like growing up in the periphery of São Paulo. As a member of the capoeira group, I use a team approach to tackling issues that they consider of importance.

Complications in Positionality

My position as an American female both practicing and researching capoeira, a

Brazilian male dominated sport, presents some complications. As Whitehead (1980) explains, the failure to analyze these issues can lead to cultural biases in fieldwork data.

Although being an outsider has its objective advantages in terms of noticing phenomena that a Brazilian male may not call to attention, ethnocentrism still becomes problematic even though anthropologists are significantly trained in cultural relativism. As an

American woman, I am confronting issues of overidentification with my research community. Having been previously married to a Brazilian for nine years, I had lived in

Brazil on and off since 2003, for the past thirteen years, and am a fluent speaker of

Portuguese. Therefore, I established a strong identification with Brazilian culture, which worked to my advantage as I quickly established good rapport with the Brazilian capoeira community. I assumed that I had already experienced the cultural differences of the inherent machismo within the , as well as within the context of sports. I have been a soccer player since the age of six, played on several state teams and co-ed leagues and will never forget one of my first trips to Brazil when I was not allowed to play soccer with my ex-husband and his friends simply because I am a female. But, little did I know, that experience was nothing compared to the gendered world of capoeira.

I noticed several parallels in Tony Whitehead’s (1980) work in Jamaica as an outsider with my experiences in Brazil. Whitehead conducted his dissertation fieldwork in 1974, and has since published his reflections on cross-cultural experience and comprehension of the self and the other. He explains that it is important for anthropologists to share their human problems they experienced while carrying out

fieldwork in other cultures. Regarding finances and money, I have also learned to be more keen and not let others take advantage of my situation, while steering a fine line because trade and trust often establishes rapport. As a consequence of working in a low-income community, there is a generalization that Americans have money. Ironically enough, as a graduate student it is indeed quite contrary to their beliefs. People often ask me to bring over brand clothing, perfumes, protein supplements, cellular phones, and anything else that import tariffs and inflation in Brazil make difficult for them to purchase, as the price is much higher. In exchange, they help me purchase capoeira instruments, clothing, and other items. However, it is rather difficult to receive payment for the items that I have brought, and I have learned not to give them the items until I receive payment, so not to lose friendships over money and cultural notions of exchange.

Also similar to the Jamaican case is the admiration of cunning, which Brazilians refer to as malandragem. I do not believe it is anything against me as a person, but that corruption and trickery are embedded in Brazilian culture. Aside from my individual personhood, however, there may be a part of their conception of power and ego in the fact that they are able to outwit an American on the concept of finances.

Ethical contributions to discussions have also created conundrums, as I will admit that I am overinvolved to the extent that I am not longer the detached interviewer.

I, too, teach capoeira classes everyday and am part of the group socially. However, in terms of the actual research questioning process, I am asking questions that they merely ask themselves and letting them define the research problem and questions. In addition, I cannot take myself out of the situation at times and am internally conflicted as

to when it is right to take a stand, or if being in the situation is unethical in terms of being a researcher. Although the separation seems easy on paper, in the field I am living and experiencing life and cannot just jump out, nor play the American girl card and stay at home when a fight breaks out and am asked to come along (Whitehead 1980).

Examples from my research range from physical violence to anger in the lack of respect for women in conversation.

Because as an outsider there are often gender and cultural barriers, many researchers begin by seeking out a place to be known to feel less alienated and isolated. In my instance, I changed capoeira groups to be a part of the group in which I am researching. The fact that I practice capoeira and am a group member makes me less of an outsider, although that is not to say that it diminishes all barriers. By becoming more involved, I am able to follow their activities at a closer range and often explain my research and goals of the study, and many people expressed interest in my study through this process, which was similar to the experience of William Kornblum in his work in South Chicago. Kornblum studied working class politics among steel workers for three years beginning in 1967 to unravel the complexities of working class race relations, while being sensitive to his role as an outside researcher intricately involved in the lives of his participants. I also participate in the informal life of the group by attending as many events as possible, which is why I travel frequently throughout

Brazil, Mexico, and the United States to establish rapport and prove myself as a passionate capoeirista. The more I have learned about capoeira, the more important it has been for me to commit myself on a daily basis to training and dedication (Kornblum

1989).

One method that I utilize to gather information is that I am cautious to maintain a neutral stance during conversations and the interviews process, because I do not want to influence the participant’s responses, due to my American cultural perceptions or insistence on respect for women- which has been difficult. However, I also do not want to create an awkward situation due to my lack of engagement in the conversation, as I do not want my participants to simply feel like an outsider is interrogating them

(Whitehead 1980). To counterbalance these instances, especially those that adamantly disrespect women, I often laugh or state in a jokingly manner that my culture is much different- which is completely true.

These instances allow the researcher to analyze experience and comprehension of the self, through the concepts of breakdown, resolution, and coherence. This occurs when the researcher’s expectations are not met during fieldwork, and forces the researcher to see him or herself in a different light. Although I had previous experience in Brazil with the concept of masculinity, the culture of capoeira adds a whole other layer to my conceived notions of gender distinctions and respect to women.

Researchers often have early frustrations due to the increasing problems in their actions taken to develop rapport with the local communities (Whitehead 1986). One of my early faults was my kindness and naivety towards sexuality. I often engage in conversation with these Brazilian men who are higher in the hierarchy of capoeira, and who take advantage of women because of their position of power. I began training capoeira in

2006, but my Brazilian husband at the time was against his American woman playing a sport that is often oppressed by elite Brazilians due to its historical origins in slavery and thereafter associated with illegalities of the lower classes. After our separation I returned

to the same group in 2012 to find the capoeira professor had cheated on his wife with another student, who was also dating another student, which led to the breakup of groups. After that professor relocated to another city, I began training with the latter, which sent me to Miami, leading to more complications. After an incredibly short relationship with another capoeira practitioner, his machismo led to immense jealously and a violent physical attack where I was beaten and strangled. After he spent one month in custody, the mestre accepted him back into the group, perhaps because he had a higher cord in the level of hierarchy, and then the mestre continued to tell me that he, himself, loved me and wanted to sleep with me, though in much more perverse language. This incident was similar to that of Kornblum, as I also felt anger and humiliation and did not feel that I deserved to be treated this way. I realized that I reached a point of diminishing returns in my participation, leading to me leaving that group and almost to stop the practice of capoeira (Kornblum 1989). Since then, I am more cautious of my openness and friendliness, and have been approached several times for sexual encounters, which unfortunately leads to complete disassociation. But now, I have created a strong bond over the past two years with those that I have chosen to interview and with that a higher level of respect.

The breakdown of the self forces the researcher to separate the other from the self. The concept of social responsibility and contradictory values depends on who is using the term and in what context. Similar to Whitehead’s experience with contradictory statements on social responsibility and irresponsibility, this case within capoeira demonstrates the leadership of the mestre and the philosophy of life that the phenomenon can provide, yet these same individuals are more often than not cheating

on their wives and using their privileged status to directly exploit less privileged females.

However, the concepts of respectability and reputational are completely contextual within the culture in which they operate, rather than conforming to western notions of respect and morals. This process of resolution “calls into consciousness what the phenomenon is not” and allows us to “bring into existence an account of what the phenomenon is” (Whitehead 1986:223). Resolution allows us to enter into coherence, where the researcher develops strategies based on comprehension of social balance.

By learning to establish limits, I have been able to establish a balance and often explain that I am from a different culture and gender, and that my points of view are based on my own life experiences as I have different habitus (Whitehead 1986). Throughout this process, I have learned that self-acceptance and being comfortable in my own skin is the most effective strategy. Instead of trying for force measures or being disappointed with participants, I am working with the people who want to work with me, and moving past the rest.

Primary Research Participants

My first visit to this community in São Paulo was in 2014, so I got to know all of my research participants very well over 5 visits, each consisting of approximately one month each. Aside from my visits to São Paulo, the majority of my research participants traveled frequently to the United States and Mexico, where I met and traveled with them to learn more about capoeira and be a part of their transnational community.

Although I stayed with Mestre Coruja and his family for the majority of my visits to

São Paulo, I decided to rent an apartment in the neighborhood for the duration of one month for the interview process to have a secure place to interview my participants. The main reason was to ensure the comfort of my research participants. If the interviews

had taken place in public, perhaps they would not feel liberty to discuss some of the complicated topics that arose in conversation. I also could not interview people at

Coruja’s house, as there are many people who live there. If I interviewed individuals at their own residences, it would also compensate information about the details that they chose to share with me about their families and life complications. Therefore, I thought it best to have a quiet place undisturbed by other members of the community.

I scheduled for participants to come to the apartment at their convenience, which was walking distance from the academy. I had coffee and snacks so they would not feel inconvenienced if coming or going to some other place before or afterwards. Each interview was approximately one hour in length and all information used was recorded with their verbal consent with IRB# IRB201700289.

Mestre Coruja was the only exception. His interviews took place in his room, which is in the very back of his house. Because his room was a converted garage and former capoeira studio, it is separated from the rest of the house by the laundry room and the room of his daughter, who now resides with her mother and grandmother.

Therefore, during our conversations we had privacy.

Mestre Coruja resides with both of his elder parents, a younger brother with down’s syndrome, followed by a sister and her two sons, then another younger brother.

They all share a home with 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, and 2 bathrooms, which is just up the street from the capoeira academy. At the time of the interview in 2016, Coruja was

38 years old. He and his brother both have cars, facilitating the management of the capoeira business as well as taking care of the family. I got to know Coruja and his family really well, as not only did I reside with them throughout my research, but he also

travels frequently to the United States and Mexico, where I have accompanied him for capoeira events. His income is solely based on his work in capoeira, as he maintains his academy and is paid to travel frequently for events around the world.

Contra-Mestra Grazi was Coruja’s sister-in-law, sister to his ex-wife. Although she lived at home with her mother, sister, and niece, during the time of the interview in

2016, she was in the process of moving to downtown São Paulo about 25 minutes away with her boyfriend, who is also a practitioner and teacher of capoeira, but from the

South Zone of the city. Her boyfriend has a car, which makes it easier for them to get around the city. Since moving, she took over the academy in downtown São Paulo in

2017 and they both teach there, but continue to train with Mestre Coruja. Grazi is currently studying at a university to receive a degree in physical education to continue her work in capoeira.

Contra-Mestre Negão also left the neighborhood. He lived with his mother and moved around frequently in São Paulo, but moved to Mexico in 2008. He currently teaches in Hermosillo and lives with his mother-in-law, wife, and 2-year-old son. I unfortunately have not had the pleasure of visiting Negão at his home. Negão teaches capoeira to the community in the garage of their home, but works outside of capoeira to supplement his income to provide for his family.

Professor Cicinho has always lived about 20 minutes from the academy, although it takes him roughly an hour by two buses. He moved to São Paulo at the age of fourteen with his migrant parents from the Northeast state of . He lives in the community of Paquetá, which is also in the district of Pirituba, however has much more extreme living conditions, violence, and poverty. I have visited his community very

often, as I also have other close friends that live nearby. Cicinho makes a living by teaching capoeira classes in nearby schools and condominiums to support himself and his family financially.

Professor James also lives in another low-income community, infected with the same issues. However, his community is closer to the West Zone of the city on the outskirts of the city of São Paulo very close to an area known as Osasco. He currently lives with his entire family including his wife, parents and siblings, as well as aunts and uncles. He has a motorcycle and his family has several vehicles, making transportation easier. His aunt owns a business, so he works for her running errands on occasion. He does not teach capoeira. He recently announced that he will be expecting his first child around December 2018.

Professora Maré comes from a higher working class neighborhood, as she works as a police officer inside the office as a trainer. She lives in Limón with her husband and two children, a teenage son and younger daughter, all whom train capoeira. They each have their own car. They do not teach capoeira, nor rely on capoeira as a means of income.

Instrutor Perna resides with his family, and is one of the younger members of the academy. At the time of the interview in 2016, Perna was 18 years old. He lives with both parents, his brother, and his grandmother, very close to the low-income area of

Mandioca, where there is intense violence and crime. However, his residence is just outside of this community, close to the Pirituba bus station. His family is embedded within the local samba community and plays samba music frequently in the nearby locales.

Instrutor Passarinho resides just up the street behind the academy with his mother and brother. He holds a job outside of capoeira, and works often to support himself and his family, so is not able to train capoeira as much as the other members.

He has a motorcycle, and has taken on odd jobs, such as delivering food and items to residents.

Instrutora Felina lives with her mother, sisters, nieces and nephews in an apartment above a small grocery market, also very close to the academy. Her mother is a Mãe de Santo, a priestess in Candomblé, so there are people from the community always coming and going from her house and her extended religious family is large.

Felina teaches capoeira to children and to those with disabilities in nearby academies and community centers.

Instrutor Guaiamum, or Gui technically lives with his mother and abusive father, but has been escaping the last few years and living with his girlfriend, who also trains capoeira. She lives with her mother, and 4 siblings between the approximate ages of 18 to 6 years old. Gui was 20 years old in 2018 at the time of the interview. They all live within walking distance to the academy, although farther than others and dangerous for the girls to walk home at night by themselves after leaving the academy. Gui teaches capoeira as well, in local schools and condominiums to sustain his income.

Finally, Instrutor Xaréu lives with his family in the next neighborhood over form the academy called Jaguará. He is more into the party scene when compared to other participants and has many friends outside capoeira. His life changed drastically when one of the members moved to the United States, and sold Xaréu his car, as he then could go and do as he pleased.

Practicum Project

While residing in Atlanta, I took on a practicum project for course credit through the University of Florida’s Tropical Conservation and Development program to follow some of the ideas about my research project in Brazil. This practicum project observed the ability of capoeira to positively affect communities though the lens of a social development perspective. This research project has immensely expanded my understanding in what it takes to create community projects outside academia, and has also enhanced my view of the projects in which I study for my dissertation research to enable a more holistic understanding. This practicum not only allowed me to learn more about application, but has been a learning experience of humanity as a whole, and thus assisting in my growth as an anthropologist as well as a human being.

The proposal for this project began in Miami, Florida. I relocated to Miami

January of 2014 and began laying the groundwork for the youth development project. I worked diligently for 3 months, creating a booklet outlying the personal histories of the instructors to show to all of the prospective venues through which the project could be carried out. After I finally had everything in order to teach classes at the African Heritage

Cultural Center in Liberty City, we had a final meeting to finalize everything and everyone became distrustful over money and the project crumbled due to greed, ego, and lack of faith in humankind- which can often be the case based on my experience in working with projects such as these in low-income communities. Therefore, I returned to

Gainesville in August 2014, and switched capoeira groups due to this incident as well as another violent confrontation in fear of my own personal safety.

For the following five months, I worked rather closely with Contra-Mestre Bocão of Capoeira Passo a Frente in Atlanta, Georgia. Although the majority of my dissertation

project takes place in São Paulo, Brazil, it is multi-sited and follows the students of

Mestre Coruja of Capoeira Cordão de Ouro Mangalot to tell the personal life stories of these specific individuals, which lead me to Atlanta. Contra-Mestre Bocão has trained capoeira for 18 years under Mestre Coruja and was born and raised in this community in the periphery of São Paulo until leaving in 2008 to teach capoeira in Mexico before opening his academy in Atlanta in 2010. After explaining my story to Bocão, he decided to train me to teach classes so that I could have the agency and begin to embark upon my own project. I relocated to Atlanta in January of 2015 and attended all of the youth capoeira classes to watch and understand, and assist from time to time, while also engaging in my own training to ensure I had the capabilities of becoming a teacher. In order to teach under the guidance of Contra-Mestre Bocão, I began this practicum project in the summer of 2015.

I began this project in one of the most dangerous areas in the city of Atlanta in the neighborhood of Washington Park, just off Joseph E. Boone Blvd NW, dangerous due to high-incidence of drug-trafficking and violence. The City of Refuge was created in this area to assist those in need, “from food, clothing and shelter to job training, placement, housing, healthcare and education” (City of Refuge 2015). Through offering capoeira classes to youth in grades 6-12 in this community, it could provide social development while utilizing culture as a tool for resilience and resistance in the modern struggle for citizenship and agency.

Each class was dedicated to the Brazilian martial art of capoeira and all of the components that compromise this art. This includes, but is not limited to physical

movement, musical coordination, community, and history and culture. I focused on these four principles, but overall my goal was to teach capoeira as a philosophy of life.

The first thing the students were introduced to in the project consisted of physical movements. I began each class with stretching activities and then went into basic capoeira movements for beginners. We did these movements in sequence together, not too fast or too slow so that all members had the ability to participate and learn in a healthy environment. After doing exercises individually students paired up with partners to practice movements with their peers, and switched partners consistently. Students obtained sufficient amounts of physical exercise, whereas these types of activities are not readily available in this community.

After about an hour of physical movements, we went on to practice music, as music is a strong component of capoeira as well. I brought instruments into class and allowed the students to play them. I taught them songs in Brazilian Portuguese and the basic 1,2,3 clap, which accompanies the music. One of my favorite things was towards the end of our time together, students would enter class singing capoeira songs and clapping their hands to the beat of the music.

They not only challenged their bodies and their minds, but also learned discipline and respect. By learning to partake in activities together, they learned how to work together as a group. Some students even began to take on the roles as group leaders and helped other students who had more difficulties. By working with others and always switching partners, they became more confident working with different types of people, and thus more confident in themselves. They learned about the communal aspects of capoeira and that we always do everything in a circle. Students pointed out that this

creates unity and we are all engaged in the same energy and to keep that energy positive. Underlying principles that I learned in capoeira that I also passed onto my students are principles of respect, as capoeira is not only a fight but has evolved to be so much more so it was also important to teach them the background of capoeira and encourage them to engage in research on the subject matter as well.

When partaking in the music portion of the class, I translated all of the song lyrics into English from Portuguese and explained the meanings of the songs so that they could attach this meaning to their lives. I issued terms for them to research in between classes to perhaps find specific things that interest them outside of class. I also showed a film on capoeira and had my group to come in and do a presentation on the last day of class to demonstrate their potential.

In addition, I deemed it important for these youth to understand the struggle of the Afro-Brazilians who created this art, so that they may learn not to take things for granted in life and also to fight for what they believe in. These aspects teach them to appreciate many things in life that may become overlooked because although some may have it bad, there are always others that may have it worse but yet continue to struggle for their success.

After the project was complete, I returned and obtained permission to have them fill out a questionnaire to better understand what they learned from their point of view, and know what they were most focused on and what they were going to take away from the project. I was also interested if they would like to continue to practice capoeira, as I would be interested in setting up an annual project in conjunction with the group in

Atlanta. I had overwhelmingly positive feedback. I asked students a series of three questions:

1. What is the most important thing you learned in capoeira class?

2. What did you learn in capoeira class that you could apply in your life once you leave summer camp?

3. Would you like to continue capoeira class after summer camp is over?

The majority of students mentioned the term “respect” in their answers in relation to their peers, friends, or generally just to respect others. Others mentioned that capoeira teaches them to “stay focused”, “be calm and patient”, “don’t be nervous”,

“think before you act”, and “loyalty” among many others. Several also mentioned that it teaches them self-defense or protection, which is also a contextual response, perhaps based on what they are exposed to on a daily basis. Others noted their appreciation of the history of capoeira, and explained how this form of education teaches them about love and respect by reflecting these concepts in their daily lives. Many students were very gratuitous after the project ended, and I believe they truly loved capoeira and learned a lot from this experience. One student stated, “When we get in a circle, it means unity. This could help me to learn to be social.”

There were several things that I experienced in this opportunity that I could not have gained from a classroom course. From the personal experience in Miami, Florida to the perseverance gained when allowed to complete this project in a different location allowed me to not only make better professional judgments but also enabled my individual character growth as I did not give up when cards did not fall into the right place, as happens more often than not in life. After the move to Atlanta I worked hard to have the opportunity to run the project and teach the classes on my own, as my own

personal training in capoeira had reached more advanced levels and I became more dedicated and pushed myself harder to reach my goals. Finally, working with the youth itself taught me more than any of these experiences put together, as I watched other individuals grow with one another. I saw several individuals struggle and assisted them through issues of self-confidence, attention disorders, some physical, others mental that just needed someone else to believe in them to allow them to believe in themselves. I hope to return back to this community and continue teaching there in the near future.

This project has enabled me to have a much better understanding and appreciation for my dissertation research as a whole, by having the opportunity to view the scenario from within the community rather from the outside and understand more about how difficult it is to manage projects in low-income communities. However, by being given the opportunity to not only organize but in this case also to teach the classes I was even more actively involved in the project. In this instance, I was able to see the reaction of the youth on a daily basis, converse with them, see what excites them, understand which things bring out which emotions in particular individuals, and overall understand how to help them challenge themselves and grow as individuals and above all- smile and be happy. It is phenomenological teaching experiences such as these that give individuals the strength to grow as citizens and provide social sustainability for our future.

In this chapter, I have explained the outlines of the research in terms of the location, methodology, and background on research participants and previous projects.

In the following chapter, I will move into the interviews, focusing on the stories told by

my research participants and will concentrate on capoeira’s philosophy of life and what it means to live as a capoeirista in daily life.

CHAPTER 4 THE PHILOSOPHY: LIVING AS A CAPOEIRISTA

Capoeira has a deeply imbedded history that affects the meaning of the martial art in modern culture. In the previous chapter, I explained my research methodology in relation to the work of Paulo Freire and the need to create conscious critical thinking so that those in the community have a voice, rather than telling them what to think, or what should be important to them. We co-created the research project to uncover what, exactly, is most meaningful and important to the lives of the practitioners of capoeira.

For the capoeiristas of the group Cordão de Ouro Mangalot, the meaning of capoeira under the instruction of Mestre Coruja is different than in other places, and in some cases even varies among individuals within this community due to unique life experiences. However, all individuals interviewed spoke of what it means to live as a capoeirista. Individuals who have trained capoeira for some time and are advanced in the practice, maintain that there is a drastic difference between those who merely train capoeira, and those who live as a capoeirista. Living as a capoeirista for these practitioners forms a philosophy of life.

In this chapter, I explore narratives of 11 capoeira practitioners to illuminate what it means to live as a capoeirista. For my research participants, “living as a capoeirista” provides meaning and gives structure to the dynamic and difficult social settings they encounter. This chapter employs a case study approach, to uncover the common themes that underlie what it means for each of these participants to live as a capoeirista.

Case Study Methodology

As discussed in Chapter 3, I became a participant in the capoeira academy and trained with the community during my visits and kept in touch with them over a two-year period to gain rapport before beginning interviews. Because I have been visiting Brazil since 2003. To ensure privacy and security in conversations and to make my participants comfortable during interviews, I rented an apartment in the neighborhood instead of staying with families of the capoeira group members. Each participant engaged in a semi-structured interview about living as a capoeirista, machismo, insecurity, and other topics that they suggested. Interviews were recorded and lasted approximately 1 hour each. I was already fluent in the native at the start of the research, so I conducted the interviews in Portuguese. I did the coding in

Portuguese, and then translated the appropriate passages that I cite in this work into

English. The interviews form the primary data collection technique, but everything is supplemented by my long-term experience with this group of people through my knowledge of their histories, living situations, and participant observation. Thereafter, I transcribed the interviews by annotating key subject matter, then returning to the recordings to provide accurate quotations throughout. I present each case in the following section, coding for the common theme throughout the interviews. Because I am editing the quotations from the original Portuguese, I am also lightly editing for readability and comprehension for presentation purposes.

The use of case studies can provide a deep understanding of phenomenon, events, people, or organizations by taking a closer look at the processes created and used by those involved in the experience. By developing an enriched understanding, we are able to see how individuals create meaning and comprehend their interpretations of

the phenomena in their lives. Case studies open the way for new discoveries, which is beneficial for scientific inquiry (Berg 2009).

In the following chapter, I will discuss additional themes that each participant discussed that highlight the influence of outside factors on the art of capoeira that are present in their cultural settings.

Living As A Capoeirista: 11 Stories

Mestre Coruja: The Adjective of Ability

Mestre Coruja (João Ricardo Patriota da Silva) is the leader of the group Cordão de Ouro Mangalot. Coruja is 40 years old (2018) and began capoeira at the age of 18.

He lives with both of his parents, his 3 siblings, and his 2 nephews in the neighborhood of Mangalot in Pirituba. He holds many philosophical values about capoeira that he also teaches to his students and shares with others around the world. Since he began capoeira, Coruja noticed a multitude of positive discourses within capoeira and he believed they should be shared in society. “In capoeira you have access to an uncommon happiness that only capoeira has, that sensation of freedom from everything.” Most practitioners of the art did not have access to liberty due to life conditions. He decided to be a capoeira instructor because he desired to share this happiness with others by educating and uniting everyone while creating mutual respect.

“Everyone has problems and difficulties, but capoeira liberates them from unpleasant situations because it helps them forget the problems, stress, and tiredness and they want to share this with their community.”

Today, he understands that capoeira encompasses even more cultural richness because within capoeira is the struggle for its survival, including what the capoeira professionals endured to construct the history of capoeira with quality. “Today I

understand that capoeira has more richness, the fight for survival, the struggle for strength. The components of folklore, experience, physical, and poetry. The leader in capoeira has to have all of this.” Coruja continues:

Capoeira is a marvelous art. If there is something bad, it is in the person. So, I believe that when we see something that is not the size that capoeira deserves, we have the obligation to correct a student to sing well, sing correctly, play instruments well, play instruments correctly, to know how to teach a good class, to know how to educate others, to treat others well, to know to spread the quality of capoeira… because she [capoeira] gives a quality of life to us, and we have to return this with respect and quality in the representation of capoeira.

He explains the balance and equality that capoeira provides:

In a roda of capoeira, no one is socially more than anyone else. Everyone is equal in that moment, and it should be like this in life. Everyone in the roda has their own space, their freedom, and their opinion inside the game of capoeira. There does not exist the better or worse, neither the right or wrong. Everyone is free. And with time when you turn yourself into a real capoeirista, you end up transporting this to your life. So, you end up having a balance, a balance of these behaviors that capoeira influenced you to have. You start to be equal, to have a logical vision of equality, and this should be the world, balanced, without prejudice, without inequality, involved with happiness and capoeira provides this.

Coruja explains that capoeira liberates us from the hidden slavery that society obligates us to live and teaches us to respect others. Everyone endures problems and difficulties, but capoeira liberates them from unpleasant situations because it helps them forget the problems, stress, and tiredness and therefore, they want to share this with their community. Therefore, these ideologies exemplify the work of Mestre Coruja. He explains, “the base of my work is to live as a capoeirista. I discovered that living as a capoeirista is marvelous, and consequently you learn to respect and give value to many things.” He says his students follow a different path that outsiders are not aware of:

Living as a capoeirista means you know how to absorb and carry out everything that capoeira has to offer. This is something you can employ at

your university, your job, or anywhere in your daily life even with your family. You can be a capoeirista in all forms of your life.

Coruja then glorifies capoeira:

Capoeira is perfect and so marvelous that it does not exclude anyone. There are good people and bad people, but there is space for everyone, for all different types of people. Capoeira helps you unfold situations. You obtain balance to coexist and separate your differences. For example in the roda of capoeira, you pass through uncomfortable situations, situations of danger, and you learn to defend yourself if caught off guard in the roda, preparing you for danger in your day to day life.

He also explains that it also teaches adaptation techniques for different types of people in your life, such as a person whom they refer to as “uneducated”, whose ideas you do not like, or you can have a conversation with an intelligent person because capoeira prepared you to adapt to any situation:

This goes for inside and outside the roda as well, this is what it is to be a capoeirista…A capoeirista has to be prepared for anything, all the time… When playing capoeira in the roda, if you become distracted you will lose if attacked or you will lose the opportunity for an attack. You have to be prepared for all this, it will happen in all [situations].

Coruja explains, “in capoeira you never lose. You only lose when you don't take risks, when you don't try.” So for him, there are various ways in which you can live as a capoeirista. Coruja continues to explain how living as a capoeirista can give you many advantages:

Capoeira is the game of life… it is the adjective of ability for any other activity that you choose… If you direct your experience in capoeira, in any other situation you will have a card up your sleeve that capoeira gave you… Through the ‘jogo de cintura’ [ability to escape difficulties] that capoeira gave you, your trickery in a good sense, you will get along well in dialogue with others. If you do any type of business interacting with others, and you have the game of life that capoeira awoke in you, you will get along well. The chance of you losing will be much less. Capoeira leaves you alert, prepared for diverse situations, a surprise. Capoeira has so many surprises… so many situations that you don’t predict, that you will be prepared for any surprise that life gives you.

Coruja tries to show this world to everyone around him because: “If everyone shares this philosophy with those close to them, we can transform the world for the better.”

He continues:

Capoeira is an art that gives you the conditions for you to liberate yourself from any system [of oppression], gives you freedom for you to not hide yourself from anything… the moment you have confidence, you don’t depend anymore on other people… there are those who depend and there are others who are free.

He explains more on the concept:

Capoeira gives you the space for people to believe in you. So, people will say damn, you are capable, man. You are really good. It’s only that before this happened in capoeira, no one ever said he was good at anything. Because good for the system is who has a car and better clothing. But not in capoeira. Capoeira gives you space to represent yourself as a human being. So, capoeira gives you these conditions for you to encounter what you need from her.

In living as a capoeirista, you also have to learn to be a leader, to guide others and share the positive aspects with your community and use every opportunity to lift people up and show them that they can have a positive world. Capoeira also develops unexpected abilities in people. He tells me, “capoeira provides you with the ability to constantly manage actions, emotions, and surprises and in living capoeira you develop special abilities because inside this universe of freedom you are one more step closer to enriching the entire universe.”

For Mestre Coruja, living as a capoeirista represents the struggle for freedom and equality. He explains that capoeira gives you the sensation of freedom, as it gives you the vision of equality and happiness. He takes the lessons he learns inside capoeira to other situation in his daily life to adapt to different types of people, as he has to adapt while playing capoeira in the roda. The philosophy of capoeira gives him advantages in

life because he remains aware and alert in all situations. It also gives you the ability to believe in yourself and overcome challenges that are presented in life.

Contra-Mestra Grazi: An Example for Everything

Graziela Andrade, who is known as Contra-Mestra Grazi, explains that she lives as a capoeirista by using various types of malícia or cunning, as discussed in Chapter

2, in her day to day life that she learned in capoeira. She tells me of the lessons capoeira teaches:

I learned how to get along in the street and leave and enter particular places because capoeira has taught me to have a different vision on life. Capoeira works your mind, body, and culture and makes you a better person…Capoeira is always an example for everything.

They use capoeira to learn other things, such as each individual’s learning methodology. For example, she explains Lobinho could not read and absorb what he was reading, so he began recording videos to learn in a different manner. They take these lessons from capoeira and apply them to their daily lives. Many people do not know that capoeira facilitates in such ways. Grazi tells me that she has to do something in order to learn it, not just see it. But it was only in capoeira that she learned this concept. She also became aware that she doesn’t have to know how to do something in order to teach it.

She says that you relate everything in capoeira to your life, not only the malice and trickery of the game. “You learn diverse things, inside of only on thing…Capoeira takes you wherever you want to go; there are no barriers.” It is not the same as other sports in that everyone does the same thing the same way. She continues:

We are all unique individuals, and everyone brings their own personality into capoeira. Everyone participates in the same class, but each individual does not play the same way because each person has their own characteristics. This is what enchants me most in capoeira, the difference

in the people. The difference of the fat, the skinny, the black, the , the ones who can sing and the ones that don’t know how to sing, everything mixed together, you know? The woman with the man. When I leave a roda happy it’s when I see a woman give a beating on a guy hahaha. There is nothing better than a woman beating on a guy.

Grazi used to get into a lot of fights when she was a child. She played in the streets every day, so she experienced various situations fighting in the streets and at school. She describes her daily life as a child, and recounts when she and her classmates would leave school in the afternoons:

I fought a lot in the streets. We would also fight at recess or when we were leaving school we would say ‘I’m going to get you when we leave school’. And when we left school and turned the corner there were always a lot of kids, cheering around and fighting- I did this a lot. But I stopped once I started training capoeira. Capoeira helped me a lot with this. In the matter of discipline and these [types of] things. My behavior.

They would often fight over simple things, which Grazi says is derived from their nature of growing up in the streets. “We started fighting because of soccer teams, or because someone got your ball and these things would happen and leave you to be more aggressive.”

She began capoeira at the age of 13 and explains that time in her life:

During this period, my friends from my adolescence when they were about 15 years old they would drink alcohol and smoke marijuana, so I imagined that if I hadn’t entered capoeira, maybe I would have done the same things as them. I started drinking alcoholic drinks when I was 23 years old. When I was an adolescent, I never even tried a cigarette.

She explains that there are some mestres that drink a lot, but during this time in Mestre

Coruja’s group it was different because they were all adolescents and studied at the same school and therefore were active and not involved in such activities. Their routine was to train then retire to Coruja’s house to watch capoeira videos, as everyone would

stay together even when they were not in the capoeira academy. She says today the younger group drinks more, but it was not that way during her time.

However, she points out that a big problem with living capoeira is that they often become obsessed and addicted to capoeira. “I think there is an issue of addiction to capoeira.” She says that they do not participate in many things in order to do capoeira.

She missed many of her friends’ parties and many other life events due to capoeira. “All addictions are not good. There is the good side of capoeira, but there is this side that you practically abandon…. some people live in this obsession of only doing capoeira.”

But when she misses other things, she benefits in capoeira. She gains experiences with every event she attends, whether good or bad, and always has stories to tell. She takes the good experiences and adapts them into her life, and uses the bad experiences to teach her what not to do:

I like to work with children, because within capoeira I want to bring the cultural side, you know? I want to present diverse cultures of capoeira to the children, things that will be lost…So, I don’t want to graduate capoeira players. I want to graduate a child that is an informant of cultural opinion, you know? I want this child to have this vision of the importance of capoeira in our Brazilian culture because capoeira is ours, but the people do not value it. So, my idea to work with capoeira inside the school is this.

This vision is fundamental to the culture of capoeira, making capoeira culture applicable to social contexts. Capoeira assists in the creation of ideas that are far more fundamental than solely training movements with the body. Movements are important in the sport, but the mind is connected to the concepts. In this way, capoeira connects the body with the mind and soul. What is most important to Grazi is her vision within her work. She highlights the fact that she is a woman that succeeded in capoeira. She believes in herself and believes in capoeira as a way of life

and as a profession to excel in life.

Capoeira has taught Grazi how to have a different vision on life and she can relate everything back to the game. Capoeira does not have barriers and allows each individual to bring their uniqueness into the roda. Living as a capoeirista also helped her become less violent and more disciplined.

Contra-Mestre Negão: The Opportunity to be Respected

While Contra-Mestre Negão also lives as a capoeirista, he also sustains himself with capoeira economically. Therefore, for Negão it is a large responsibility. “I live capoeira because before I depended on it financially I liked to train because it brought me happiness and I wanted to overcome my limits. It helped me grow personally.”

With his friends, he lives as a capoeirista every day, listening to music, singing songs, and watching videos of movements. To live as a capoeirista, you must overcome your limits and enjoy it. He explains, to live as a capoeirista, you also must value capoeira:

The capoeiristas themselves have to valorize capoeira more. Principally, who lives capoeira, those who depend on it to eat have to see capoeira as a business. Of course it can never lose its tradition, it can never lose its roots, the capoeirista cannot forget where he came from, and can’t forget that he had chances and he can give a chance to a student also, but you have to see it as a business.

He explains that you have to view it in this way to valorize capoeira and show stability:

Capoeira is so rich in things, you can encounter anything you want inside in her. You can encounter friendships, you can encounter a relationship inside capoeira, you encounter everything. You encounter music, you encounter sport, capoeira is super complete, it is a very rich sport.

Negão explains that many people devalue capoeira because of the Internet.

Some just look on YouTube for movements and forget about the meaning in everything else. Often those with higher graduation cords abuse their hierarchy and lose the ethical value of capoeira. “They are abused by their own mestre and this is what also dirties the

image of capoeira, he tells me. To live as a capoeirista, you have to not only be good at capoeira, but also have to know how to be a good leader and work with diverse types of people.

Negão began capoeira when he was 14 years old and discusses why he continued:

What made me stay in capoeira was this chance of friendship, of family, and I no longer felt so alone…what made me mature were these friendships, this familiarity of being together that I had with everyone. Going out, the parties, the seriousness that Coruja passed on for the work, the responsibility….I said to myself, ‘here I have family, people, friends that will take care of each other. This is why I stayed with capoeira, because I had all of this.

Negão also explains how capoeira lifts self-esteem, because for some there only exists capoeira and life in the favela. “The part of ethics, education, discipline, capoeira projects with a good foundation, with support, can change many lives, and has already.”

He gives the example of a boy who began capoeira in a project they had in the academy:

He will see that he has value inside of capoeira. That through capoeira, people can applaud him, people can admire him, for him to be good at capoeira…for being a capoeira professional. If he doesn’t gain this in capoeira, maybe he can gain this in drug-trafficking. Capoeira gives you the opportunity to be respected…you are the center of attention in capoeira. If he didn't have this in capoeira, he would have this in drug- trafficking, because the only things he had in this moment were capoeira in the project and the life in the favela, because all of his uncles were drug-traffickers. Capoeira gives you all the support for you to be a highlight within it, for you to be someone better…if you train, if you run after it, you will be a good capoeirista, and people will admire you, people will pursue you for being a good capoeirista, and they will respect you…This kid he can encounter self-esteem in capoeira that he would not have in other places because he wasn’t searching for it, he wasn’t interested. If he didn’t have self-esteem in capoeira, he would have it in drug-trafficking.

Living as a capoeirista gives Negão friends, family, and an education. He says capoeira changes lives because it gives people the ability to be respected, demonstrating that if you work hard for something that you can achieve it in the end.

Capoeira can make you a better person, as you learn to be a good leader and work with diverse types of people.

Professor Cicinho: Sharing Life Experiences

Cicinho, with the graduation level of professor, has an even different perspective of this concept. He states:

Living as a capoeirista is you sharing information that you acquired during your life to your friends and students…your happiness, your emotions, your life experiences. To always pass on something positive to other people, to share good moments. A good message, that passes security, that passes happiness to a person that is suddenly in a troubled moment, passing a complicated moment in her life, you through capoeira have the force to call the person to your side and say, ‘let’s go…you are capable…you can achieve this...let’s go you have something cool to do that is positive and makes you happy and leave their negative thoughts aside. Capoeira taught me this, because I lived in a place, and environment that I did not know many things outside of the reality that I was in, so I was able to live a different life. I met new people and visited places that I never imagined I would be able to have through capoeira.

He continues, “you can share positive experiences in various ways while playing capoeira in the roda, or even talking after the roda, in training, and in events.

Happiness, meeting new people…and sharing life experiences with others.” He continues explaining what you can share with others, “You can also share things that were not good for you, because sometimes your example serves to influence others to not follow it. Your example serves as an example for that person.” He also shares his experiences in capoeira with others in his community:

I am from a needy place, I grew up there. I was talking about this yesterday with one of my friends that got out of jail, two of my friends went to jail when I was traveling out of the country. Yesterday when I was in the

street where I live I ran into his dad. He came to talk to me and was very happy and all that his son got out of jail. We talked and everything and one of the things I said is: ‘If you want it, you are capable’, there doesn’t exist anyone who is not capable of anything. I was a big example of what? I was raised in a place very needy of many things in relation to everything, things to play with, I didn’t have a lot of these things in my childhood. I lived in a very poor place in a favela and we didn't have many resources, and the things that were shown to you daily were negative things. People using drugs or death, thieves, and from there it goes on. Many things if I keep talking here I will be talking the whole afternoon. I want to share [the happiness of capoeira] with others because I came from a place like this, and through capoeira I found another reality.

Cicinho also learned about life experiences through capoeira. He explains:

“in capoeira, I learned how to differentiate what was right and wrong, many people dying in front of me and everything, but beleza (it’s all good). And through this that I experienced, I had to find capoeira.” He explained that once he found capoeira and met so many different types of people in capoeira that it began to open his mind. He discovered the positive value that his own life experiences could offer, as he can share his good and bad experiences and use this to give advice to others. “This helped me in question of what? Experience of life.”

Capoeira generates happiness for Cicinho because it not only joins people together, but also allows him to travel to different places, which he believes would not be possible in any other type of work. He states:

I learned many things that I wouldn’t have learned in school. Life stories, for example. Grand mestres, or also people who are close to you. How they managed to do well through capoeira. Sometimes they don’t even have a place to live, and it gives you all of this. It gives you a place to sleep, something to eat, humbleness, companionship, it gives you all of this. It even suddenly gives you that happiness that you would not encounter in your day-to-day life in your stressful environment in the street.

In capoeira, he says he evolved as a person and changed his mentality. He thinks differently about society and the world because it has opened up his mind. The

academy has people with different types of work and levels of education, so he learned what is good for him may not be good for others and vice versa. He attains that he has grown as an individual through training and teaching classes because he changed the way he talks and his teaching didactic, because what is good for one person may not be good for another. He says he must continue this work because he believes in it. He explains:

Capoeira gave me a lot of happiness and friends. It gave me a big family…the academy is my second home…It made me grow in relation to everything, in relation to the way I view life, to valorize the place where I come from [Northeast Brazil], to valorize people that do not have expectations for their future.

Cicinho believes living as a capoeirista means sharing experiences with everyone from all walks of life. Capoeira allows you to share positive experiences to spread happiness, and share bad experiences to teach lessons of life and always serve as an example. Capoeira taught him right from wrong and helped him with life experiences. Cicinho says he has evolved as a person and has found happiness living as a capoeirista.

Professor James: A Salvation

Also at the level of professor is James, who lives capoeira by taking everything that he learned from playing in the roda into his daily life. “Capoeira deserves the best, so I will strive always to give the best to capoeira. For me, today capoeira is something so natural that it is a part of me. I live capoeira naturally.” James explains more about what this really entails:

Daily life is capoeira. Sometimes you think in the smallest things and say ‘damn, this is capoeira’. Even the way that you cross the street…and this I also bring into capoeira. I always liked the streets a lot; I learned a lot in the streets…the streets took away my fear, I never was a guy that was afraid. If we had to confront something we did, if we had to embrace

something. The street left me very eclectic and I know a little bit of everything. You can’t be 100% closed, but also can’t be 100% open. You have to always be in that game in the middle, knowing that each person has their own way. More or less, capoeira is actually life, because in life you aren’t going to treat everyone equally; each person in a different manner. There are people that are more happy, there are people that are more closed, one person may laugh more, while another will converse more formally, capoeira also is the same thing. There is someone that you will play more relaxed with, if you know the person, you know? Another person you will play more formal. I am more practical in everything.

James is dedicated to capoeira because believes he has to return what capoeira gave to him back to capoeira. He follows the path of what he thinks is best for capoeira, because he sees capoeira as a salvation that took him out of the streets, because he chose to follow the positive path. He explains this concept in more detail:

Capoeira added a lot to my life, coming from a poor neighborhood, where I had a lot of opportunities- of good and bad. I had good opportunities because I always had a good family that supported me and helped me, and I also had many bad opportunities because I was always from the streets. I stayed in the streets, I always fought, I always was involved in things like this. So there are these two sides of the streets in São Paulo. So, capoeira entered my life as a salvation, and took me out of the streets and brought me to the side to be a person that chose the good side. But I also think inside of capoeira there is a good side and a bad side too. It’s not worth it to say capoeira is citizenship and all if the person doesn’t want to turn into a good citizen. If the person doesn't want to be a good citizen- he can be in the best things- but won’t become a good citizen. So the part of citizenship, is only if the person is willing to surrender himself to citizenship. This is the part of citizenship more or less that I see. You have to be willing to change. Capoeira for me entered my life as something that I knew I wanted. And with time, you change yourself and see that you can’t, you don’t drink, so the discipline of capoeira takes you to be a person like this- if you want.

He later explains:

Principally, very few people see capoeira as a way of life. A way of life, sport, culture. A normal Brazilian from the periphery sees capoeira as a fight. I didn't imagine that capoeira offered so much…I know many people today, that without capoeira, they are nothing…Capoeira is a constant study, if a guy enters a university he can graduate in 4 years, but capoeira does not stop. Everyday there are new things, new information, new things appear, new movements appear, so it is a constant study. And who

doesn't accompany, they stay behind. Evolution is very fast. Everyday there are new things, everyday you are learning new things. Whoever doesn't accompany the evolution of capoeira will stay behind. It is a study that doesn't stop.

Capoeira offered James many friends and brothers that he considers family. It offered him the chance to travel to many different places that he never imagined he would visit. Capoeira also gave him a quality of life, as he likes to have good health, discipline, and respect, because with this he believes he will gain a lot in the future. He tells me:

Capoeira for me is where I feel good, where I feel happy, where I want to be. Sometimes I spend all day thinking ‘Damn man, when will the time come for us to be able to go to the academy? I want to train.’ It is a thing that you miss a lot. It is the place where I laugh, where I feel the happiest. All of this. It is different. I like many other things, but capoeira is different. Nothing will leave you with so much absence like when you have the absence of capoeira.

For James, living as a capoeirista means taking everything he learned from playing in the roda to be applied in his daily life. He can find examples of capoeira even in the smallest of daily mundane activities. Capoeira was a salvation for his life, as he believes that it rescued him from life on the streets. Capoeira has brought James friends, happiness, and a quality of life that he did not have prior to practicing.

Professora Maré: Balance to Deal with Situations

Professora Maré has a different vision on what it means to live capoeira. Maré explains:

First, I will not say that capoeira taught me to lead with people, it didn't. It didn't because my education that I had [at home] was with a lot of love. So this part of love, of people, of friends, of union, it wasn’t in capoeira that I had this. Because for many, yes [it was]. If you talk of union, they didn't have union at home, and even today you know inside the academy, there are families that are totally without structure, that have war inside the home that search for capoeira as a refuge. Because there, there are good people that welcome you with every problem that they have. But, capoeira

that I carry with me today, taught me a lot of security, capoeira taught me to believe in myself, it was a fundamental piece to show that I can, understand? I can. And I carry capoeira with me today in everything that I do. Let me see how I can explain this to you. When we talk about capoeira in regards to balance, because we work a lot with balance, I think about balance in everything. Capoeira teaches this to us. You have to work on the part of agility, balance, deal with situations, situations in the roda, the way in which you play with one, you may not play the same way with another, and you bring this into your job outside [capoeira] the way in which I deal with my boss is different than another boss. So I carry this too. Another thing that I carry with me from the academy is the posture he has, the form that he deals with and speaks with us, the students, this firmness, this security I take this to my daily life in my job too.

She explains that living as a capoeirista is also having empathy for others, without holding grudges with anyone. In the roda, you learn to have vision for your life, that you take with you to the streets and pay attention. In capoeira, you have to listen to the music and pay close attention to the game, because everything is a game in life.

However, it is a struggle for her to live as a capoeirista. Her parents were always against capoeira and prohibited her from practicing. Her father prohibited capoeira because he is Christian, and assumed capoeira to be connected to Afro-Brazilian religions. Even today, she has a problem with her in-laws because they judge their priorities assuming they ignore their responsibilities. Maré says capoeira is a part of her life story, so she could not ever cut capoeira from her life. Capoeira brought her husband to her and she has two children that were raised in the academy. Everyone played with them and helped her with them, which she values still today. This created a strong connection between her and capoeira. Every time they needed their friends in capoeira they were there and this is also an important part in her story in capoeira.

By living as a capoeirista, Maré and her family take many things out of capoeira into their daily lives. She clarifies:

It is not only the part of martial art, but in everything you appreciate a culture. There is a history and we can share this history. We have a culture here in Brazil and we do not value it very much. In the teachings, we have a more ample vision of everything. In the case of the games, the harmony that you have to see, the roda with the game, singing, clapping hands, there has to be a synchronicity, a harmony and this we take out [of capoeira] also. João teaches us these things of balance, like when we are walking in the streets you are playing capoeira. I wasn’t understanding and I said, ‘How so?’ So capoeira taught me how to walk too. Because you are there, you are attentive, you have more agility, because you have to be paying attention to everything. If there is a hole in front of you, if there is a car passing beside you, if there is a person coming close to rob you, understand? You work the part of the game of your body if you are walking in the street, these crazy streets, so this I am able to take to my daily life. I didn’t need to do any other type of art because capoeira is a complete art. You work all of your body muscle, capoeira already works every part of the body.

Maré believes that many people like capoeira because of this harmonious environment because everyone is welcome. Maré hopes to bring this harmony to her life outside capoeira and have more patience and tranquility in everything she does.

For Maré, living as a capoeirista is balance in life in different situations. Capoeira taught her to believe in herself, and she carries that into everything she does. She says everything in life is a game, just like capoeira, so you must learn to have vision, agility, empathy, and pay attention. Capoeira gives her a synchronicity, a harmonious environment where everyone is welcome. She strives to spread these lessons from capoeira into her daily life.

Instrutor Perna: Interpreting Different Sides

For Instrutor Perna, to live as a capoeirista is to be educated and expand your mind. He expresses:

For me capoeira, is without words. For me capoeira is marvelous. It helped me with many things. Today I can do anything because of capoeira. It helped me a lot, to talk and interpret others things in different ways, also in my mode of expression. It helped me to speak well, to speak normal, exchange ideas, to know how to speak at all times, with many

people, or just you with one other person, to know how to talk in general. It taught me this in practice, observing João, because he always told me that I have to be ready for everything. So, I look at videos of others talking also, Edi, Grazi, and viewed them as mirrors and did as they do. I learned to interpret everything from all sides, everything that you see in a picture. There are various ways to interpret a picture. Capoeira did this through João, he was a guy that helped me a lot with this. He always told us we have to see how to interpret things and find a way to see, so him doing these things allowed me to see and perceive that I have to really do this and see things in a different way, to see the side of the professional, the side of friendship, the side of evil, the side of everything, and interpret in various ways. Capoeira helped me in this…sometimes I see someone walking in the street and observe why he is walking a different way.

He says he listens to João because he has traveled a lot and has experienced different types of situations. So he pays close attention and tries to absorb everything that he says.

You live capoeira constantly. At home, there is no way to describe it because once you start capoeira you don’t stop thinking about it. At home, I keep doing movements, watching videos, listening to music. I get to the academy, and there is the source. Capoeira is marvelous, it’s beautiful. [He smiles.] One good aspect is friendship. Friendship in capoeira is different than any other place. Second, because I like it so much and like to train. I also like the music. But the most important thing that I like is the game. To know how to play the game with any type of person I think is the ideal from my point of view is to play. Every game I play I learn something.

Perna falls and gets back up, and learns how he can better himself for the next time. He also learns from watching others play capoeira. From the roda, he also learns how to be humble in life:

From the roda, I take humbleness into my life, for you to know how to lose and not be with that pride. If you don't have humility to fall in a roda, how are you going to learn to fall in life? If you fall in life, you will say I’m fucked and all...no. So, I think that I carry this with me too. Because sometimes you receive a lot of ‘no’ but one day you will receive a ‘yes’.

The roda has also taught him how to observe things in life, as he does in the game of capoeira. He must examine everything while he is walking in the streets, especially at night, observe his surroundings to see what types of people appear close

in proximity, and pay attention to the ways of other people, which is exactly as he does capoeira. Perna tells me:

I think I have matured a lot. I evolved a lot because I was very hard- headed, I thought I was a lot, I thought I was so much. I was very egoistic and thought I was always good, so I think I matured a lot. It opened up my mind a little because I was hardheaded and all but capoeira changed me a lot.

But it is his education which capoeira brought him that is most important to him because many people from this area are not educated and lack manners. He explains in detail:

The education I received in capoeira was the same education I received at home, but in a different form. I will give you an example here. If you go to the house of others, or an academy, you ask permission to enter the house of others, so when I arrive at another academy I ask permission and enter…observe what is happening and try to not disrespect others in their home.

Perna distinguishes living as a capoeirista as being educated and expanding your mind. Capoeira taught him to be ready for everything, and to interpret everything from all sides. Perna says he lives as a capoeirista in all that he does, and learns how to be humble in life. But most importantly, Perna has learned to have class and be educated in many different environments.

Instrutor Passarinho: Reaching Your Dreams

To live capoeira for Instrutor Passarinho is to believe in and appreciate capoeira.

In his words:

I had a dream to travel, to know any other place in the world. Because where I come from, everyone thought it was impossible for that little boy to have the possibility to travel outside the country. No one believed it outside capoeira, but inside capoeira we believed it. We believed we could go far, because if I did not choose the path of capoeira, I would have chosen another path that is not good, drugs, alcohol, parties, things that you far from sports, that throw you far from a healthy life, a life with quality. So capoeira was very good for me when I was young, because I gave much more attention to capoeira than I gave to the streets and getting involved with other things. Of my 7 or 8 friends that started

[capoeira] with me, today 3 are dead, 2 are in jail, and 3 are good working and studying. Because capoeira also was an incentive to be a better person, because we come from a difficult place, where society throws you down and tells you that you will not be anything, and you believe in this and following the wrong path- the path of drugs, robbery, all the perverse paths. Capoeira for me was the biggest incentive. I had mirrors inside of capoeira. Because if I stayed in the street during that period, I would have stayed beside the drug-traffickers and I would have wanted to be a trafficker. They have money, but they are in the wrong world because they have motorcycles, cars, they have lots of things but all because of trafficking. They are always running from the police. So, in the society that we live in today, the kids look up to whoever is close to them. And who is close today? If you don’t have a good person, you will have a bad person. And a child or adolescent will have hope in that person. And capoeira was good, because it had marvelous people. And I said when I grow up I want to be like them and I will dream to travel around the world. Because during that time if I did not have good examples I would be in the streets learning bad things and never have contact with capoeira because if you start in this life here in São Paulo we say if you don't have a good head it is a path of no return, because you start to use drugs, you start to be influenced by bad people, start to rob, go to jail, and inside that society in the jail or in the juvenile center, you aren’t going to learn good things. When you get out, you are even worse and will do the same things again and stay your whole life with these ups and downs. So, capoeira for me was very important in this phase of my life. Without the influence of capoeira, I could be in jail, I could be doing the wrong things, I could be dead, I don't know- I could be dead. So capoeira on this side, helped me a lot.

Passarinho was able to reach his goals and travel outside of the country of Brazil due to capoeira. He tells me about the opportunities he has been given:

Here in São Paulo, if you work you have money, but even so it is very difficult to travel outside the country. Look at the value capoeira has. It allows you to meet people from other countries, then you turn into friends, as we are, the things that ‘my house is your house, you can come to Mexico, you can come to the United States and you will be well received here, you will have a place to stay here’. Capoeira is good because we create friendships not only with people from our own country, outside our country. So it is very important. If I had not known capoeira, I think I would have never traveled to Mexico because I would not have a Mexican friend.

His trip to Mexico was fulfilling a life dream. During his trip to Mexico, Passarinho saw many different places in the country and traveled more while in Mexico than he

ever has in his home country of Brazil. He says he matured a lot and lived as a capoeirista all day and all night, traveling to events all over the country:

I had this opportunity to travel outside the country, thanks to capoeira. So where do I want to arrive? I want to arrive at that part where I was that little boy, that no one believed in me. It was impossible of the social class that I come from, for a person to travel outside the country, to meet another country, another culture, other people. It was completely difficult because our own country here, our own civilization doesn't prioritize you or give you this dream. Everything is very difficult for us. But we have to do what? Battle and chase after.

Capoeira changed Passarinho’s life, because without it he thinks he would be doing bad things in the streets. He said the capoeira professors always guided him to stay away from drinking, drugs, trafficking, and thievery. Passarinho always had lots of people in capoeira to look up to and show him the right path to follow. He still seeks to live as a capoeirista even more than he already does and believe more in capoeira. He tells me more about what capoeira has offered him:

Capoeira is also education. If you grow up in a place that does not have education, you will not have education [class], so inside capoeira I had education too. In the streets, you have education from who? No one. So I came to capoeira and had an education. Wherever I go, I say good morning, good afternoon, good evening and remember capoeira because I learned this too in capoeira. I learned how to greet everyone in capoeira. So, you greeting others you have what? Education [manners]. You are an educated person. Understand? So, capoeira is with me wherever I step, whether I want it or not. If I slip and fall on the ground, I readily exit in a rolé [a metaphor using a rolling movement in capoeira]. My mind is automatically trained for my body to respond to that type of situation because of capoeira. So, wherever I go, wherever I step, capoeira is with me.

He says that if you believe in capoeira, you will go far in life. You just have to believe in capoeira.

Living as a capoeirista is believing in yourself and in your dreams for Passarinho.

It gave him the incentive to be a better person and do the right things, because he had

good examples in capoeira. Capoeira taught Passarinho to have manners and gave him an education that he would not have received otherwise.

Instrutora Felina: Changed my Life for the Better

For Fernanda Marostegan, also known as Instrutora Felina, to live as a capoeirista is incredible, as it teaches her to overcome difficulties in her life. She discloses:

It changed my life for the better, with certainty. For example, if someone is depressed, I think if you go to capoeira and understand that it brings you joy and happiness, understand that a teacher of capoeira can bring you this, you already gain points with this. I learned this recently, I was feeling bad, feeling unhappy and suddenly I was able to see that capoeira was changing my life. That it wasn’t only one time that capoeira changed my life, it has already changes my life many times…I was unmotivated and sad and realized capoeira could transform my life.

She always tries to supersede her limits, and when she is discouraged capoeira gives her the strength to be able to overcome obstacles and achieve anything. She has prevailed over physical and professional challenges, because she believes in capoeira and in herself. She says that capoeira can change the lives of others, as a child that is rebellious is often focused in capoeira class and therefore behaves well. She also teaches capoeira to students of special education, where they love capoeira and the movements and are always trying to also surpass their limits. She continues providing additional examples:

It changed my life for the better, because sometimes we transform our life into a problem. When I would go to capoeira, I realized it was doing me good and leaving me less stressed. When I started capoeira, I spoke many curse words, I was uneducated [without class], and capoeira helped me to be better in this, to converse better with others, to understand better and not explode, because in capoeira you have to be calm, just as in the middle of the storm you have to be calm. I look to be calm in everything that I do, because capoeira helps me not only in the academy, it helps me outside too. As João says, if you are going to cross the street, you have to look both ways. Every time I cross the street and look both ways, I

remember him telling me this. I don't cross the street without looking both ways because I always have him in in my mind saying this. You have to look both ways, you have to be sharp not only in the academy, but outside.

Fernanda states that capoeira is present everyday. “Capoeira is a complete art, not only physically, the historic part, the daily part. You live capoeira. I see capoeira as the good things it provides.” It has taught her to overcome difficulties in all that she does, as she lives it daily. Capoeira gives her the strength to overcome obstacles and believe in herself.

Instrutor Guaiamum: Life Perspective

Guilherme, or Instrutor Guaiamum, says that he lives as a capoeirista daily, all the time, that in fact we are living as capoeiristas in this very instant. He gives several examples from his life:

We live capoeira walking, every place that you go, even you crossing the street you are living capoeira. I think this from my point of view. So, capoeira is every moment. You wake up thinking about capoeira, you go to sleep thinking of capoeira. I wake up thinking about what time I will go train capoeira. I go to sleep thinking about that specific movement that I have to do tomorrow. I watch videos on the Internet, and this is living capoeira. You are with it all the time, thinking about it, using it. I talk with people outside capoeira, and use capoeira to talk to these people. For example, I give an idea of capoeira for this person to understand life a little more... If you play capoeira, you have to be attentive with everything. If you are in a roda of capoeira, you are attentive to all of the other participants of the roda. So, when I go out with my mom sometimes she is distracted in the streets and I say, ‘hey, aren’t you going to look both ways? Look at that person coming behind you. You aren’t looking you aren’t aware of who is beside you. You have to have one eye here, and one in front. One on this side and another on the other.’ This is what I teach. Sometimes something falls on the ground and I say, ‘careful ey, look at the foot of the person there, could be your enemy [trying to distract you and take advantage].’ This is the way I teach to people in my family, others that I know, my friends, and like this it goes. I share a little of my knowledge of capoeira for them to learn about the dangers of life. This also comes from the periphery, as João says to be a good malandro or trickster. If you are in the street, you have to be sharp with everything that is happening. I watch a lot of the mestres from the past that walk with a

rock in their pocket, and I wanted to do the same. These are things that come from the periphery. The kids that come from the condominium where Cicinho teaches do not have this, the kids don't know this, they don't know how to live, they don't know how it is day to day, they don't know how to live capoeira. They do capoeira, but don't live it. They only practice capoeira, they don't understand it as a way of life. This is because these things only come from the periphery…there are few capoeiristas that [live capoeira] in my opinion. There are lots of people in the academy, that the majority are not, there are people that do not use capoeira in their life. I look to use capoeira all the time.

He explains that his friends go out to clubs and fight, and that he explains to them that this is not capoeira because the capoeirista avoids confrontation when possible. “You have to be more calm, because the more calm the better you are in capoeira and capoeira is my life and I live it all the time so I have to be calm in my life also and better this.”

Everything in his life changed when he began living as a capoeirista. Guilherme tells me:

Capoeira entered my life during a very difficult moment. It was very difficult, as it still is today. It hasn't changed a lot, but now with capoeira I am able to be happier. Because in my house my dad has a lot of problems with my mom, I already have grown tired of my dad wanting to kill my mom, and my dad lives using a lot of drugs and all of those things, and this was a big influence on me. I had to listen to everyone in the streets saying, ‘you are going to be the same as your dad, filho de peixe peixinho é (the son of a fish is a little fish), you will be this, you will be that’. So, all of this messed with my head, until I discovered capoeira. This messed a lot with my head I thought, ‘my God, am I really going to be just like him? One day I will have a wife and I will do the same?’ My biggest fear in life today is to touch a woman. I think that…I won’t lie, it already happened. It happened recently, but it wasn't with my girlfriend, it was nothing. I die of fear, this is my biggest fear and I have trauma of this type of thing, because I saw this happen a lot. Since I started capoeira, everything changed. Everything changed in my head, and I no longer thought that I would be the same as my dad. I had a different perspective of life, because before I didn't even have a perspective of life, like, I didn't even know what I would be. Before I knew I would be a capoeirista, I imagined I would be only a truck driver. I wanted to have a truck, and travel with a truck. So, capoeira gave me a perspective of life. I know that I would train because I wanted to be good and all and that with this future I would be

able to teach classes and have a job, things that I never had in my mind. So, capoeira entered my life in this way. I saw many things as I told you, my dad, the things he would do, and he was a big influence on me, that I didn't even realize. When I was a child I saw him and I thought he was super cool. I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to go to the Corinthians [soccer] game, I wanted to go to fight, I wanted to be just like him. Because he would go to the soccer games and fight and I said, ‘when I grow up I want to fight just like my dad fights.’ I thought it was awesome him on the field fighting with the guys, everything was pretty to me, I thought this was perfect. But it wasn't. It isn’t. And this still continues…What taught me that this wasn't pretty was capoeira. It was only capoeira that taught me this. My mom always came and talked to me and all, but it didn't enter. I wanted to be like this, I wanted to be just like him, and I would end up being the son of the fish yet in reality. So, after capoeira everything changed. Because I had different mirrors as men. I had other people that were influential to me…they were all older with higher cords, they were men not little boys so all of them were my heroes in that moment…so from this moment I had another vision of what life was because I had different inspirations in my life, not only my dad, not only his reference, I had other references.

Guilherme continues to explain the power that capoeira embodies:

Capoeira has a very strong energy, that I have already felt, two times in my life, and I am not able to explain what it is. I do not know. That day I think I was gifted because I felt it. So it has a big influence with religion with everything. I can accept this. In that moment I accepted that it took over my body and let it speak the way it wanted. But other people that aren’t of the religion can enter capoeira as a sport and do capoeira with movement and aesthetics and capoeira can be this. But what I bring, I am not religious in anything, I don't have a religion, but I take with me, whatever is good, I want for myself. So I think capoeira has a lot of energy, that after time passes, people that do not understand this and that talk bad of capoeira being religion or to think capoeira is macumba (black magic), after they experience capoeira they feel this energy and this is what makes the person stay. It’s not only playing capoeira, but the energy it has in everything. You are with other people in capoeira, and you have all of this energy involved in your daily life, with people at parties in all of this. It is very cool and I think that this is the main point of the person to understand when they are in capoeira. They don't have to take capoeira as their religion, but have to understand that capoeira comes from a religion. Its influence is religious… there is something mysterious about capoeira and we don't know what it is, but it’s there.

Guilherme says that capoeira should be valued and respected for the way that it is, although people try to change it and place rules in capoeira, as he explains:

Many people suffered for capoeira for it to be where it is today, and no one should devalue it today. That will say what it is, or what it isn’t. No one has this right. Capoeira is a sequence that has to be followed its way. A house has a pillar, and it has to be followed. The pillar structures the house; this structure cannot change. No one can change capoeira, it has to be the way it is, and only to be better, to be better without breaking the pillar of capoeira.

Capoeira was very important for Guilherme. “If it wasn't for capoeira, I wouldn't know what I would be, I wouldn't have an outlook on life. In capoeira, I found my heroes.

The people that are references for me, I found a lot of ‘dads’ in capoeira, when I didn't have one.”

For Guilherme, living as a capoeirista is having it be a part of your life all day everyday. He uses capoeira tactics to pay attention while he is out in the streets, and he teaches this to others. Capoeira changed his life because it changed his life expectations and taught him that violence is not the way to solve problems. Capoeira gave him a better outlook on life, with many good examples to follow.

Instrutor Xaréu: Being the Best You Can Be

Gustavo, known as Instrutor Xaréu, emphasizes that he lives as a capoeirista, but capoeira is not his life. “I live capoeira because I do what it offers me. I am always with my heart open to do what it wants me to do. I do what my will tells me, I don't force myself to do anything. My life of capoeira is what I like to do.” What helped him most in capoeira were the friendships he has made since he started training.

Xaréu continues explaining this concept:

I live capoeira even though capoeira isn’t my life. I don't train capoeira all the time. I like to listen to music and go out with my friends, but I am a capoeirista 24 hours a day. You are a capoeirista if you are seated, if you are walking in the streets, and this is also the life the capoeira gives you, the way you live your life. If you are walking in the streets, especially today, some people don't know what’s happening, but a capoeirista walking in the streets is clever, knowing what is happening. If a car comes

here, you have to know how to escape, understand? This is the game of life, of capoeira. You are always aware…You are in your neighborhood with your people and everything, but anything can happen here. You have to be aware that you could be assaulted walking in the street, you could have an accident, you have to always be aware.

He has a way of being more pacifist than other in the group and first considers the motives of adversaries in order to stay out of violent situations, which is relevant inside capoeira and on the streets. (Ironically, it was Xaréu who got into a fight in the academy that led to the streets and caused much contention in the academy and in the domestic lives of participant and friends.) Xaréu explains:

You are the same person outside of the roda as you are inside the roda. You take a part of your personality with you inside the roda. I am that person that I am trying to help everyone, even though sometimes I don't want to do something I do it. I have a fear of annoying people or for them to have something against me. So much that this is my defect…and in capoeira it's the same thing. Sometimes you are playing capoeira there and for others people try to be violent, and I say for what? It is something that I am even trying to change in myself. I am trying to be more, how do you say, altruistic. To be that person that goes and says ‘here I am’. It is also a matter of insecurity too. You have to know that you are not more than anyone, but also that you are not less.

Xaréu also attributes his personal growth to capoeira, as it has taught him a lot about life. He says:

The way I am, my personality, I owe a lot to capoeira…I am trying to be more secure, as I said to know I am equal to everyone else, that I have my place already, and that I suffered to arrive where I am today and that is my place and I know what I know and I will contest anyone that says otherwise. I owe my personality to capoeira, my way to live.

He says that capoeira helps him overcome insecurity, gives him more self- esteem:

We are raised in a system of insecurity. If you go out in the streets someone could follow you; you are walking in the streets and someone comes to assault you. So when you leave the house you are already alert to all of this...for us this is natural. You leave alert, someone following you, if you are leaving the house you look, if it is in the morning, you see who is

on the bus, who does the same path as you everyday. If something strange happens you automatically perceive it because you are already accustomed to deal with these situations here….if you go play in a roda, you will already enter attentive, the same way you would be when you go out in the streets, because you know something could happen….for you to have lived capoeira here inside, going out already paying attention, a guy that you are playing with, if he does that thing you already imagine that he wants to do something to you, you know that he can come and you imagine that he may be violent with you. You already have this same system that you were raised in the street inside capoeira too.

But most importantly for Xaréu, he has learned not to compete with anyone else or compare himself to anyone. He has always strived to be the best he can be and simply compare himself with who he was previously. This concept of pushing himself to his limits makes him happy. He says this is what is most important in capoeira, to not want to be the best in the world, but to be the best you can be:

I think what is most important for me in capoeira is I never wanted to contest anything with anyone, I never wanted to compare myself to others or contest anything with anyone. I always looked to be the best that I can be. I always wanted to compare myself with who I was previously, who I was yesterday. I am happy being who I am, being the best Gustavo can be. If I thought something was missing from who I am, I would not be completely happy, because each time I would be seeking for more. I think that you being the best you can be, this is what is most important in capoeira. Not you wanting to be the best in the world, you be the best you can be.

Living as a capoeirista for Xaréu means that he follows his heart. He explains that he is a capoeirista 24 hours a day, even when he is not training because you have to be alert in the streets as you are in the roda. Capoeira has taught him that he is equal to everyone else, and has helped him overcome his insecurities, giving him more self- esteem. But most importantly, it has taught him that he does not have to compare himself to others to grow. He just tries to be the best he can be, and is happy with who he is.

Analysis

Living as a capoeirista embodies several core elements. It is a philosophy of life that signifies the struggle for freedom and equality. Capoeira teaches lessons to practitioners on how to adapt and be alert in all situations in life. Living as a capoeirista provides a different vision on life with expectations that were previously unavailable.

Capoeira breaks down barriers and allows participants to believe in themselves to overcome life’s challenges. It also provides an education with proper manners on how to treat others from diverse backgrounds, by sharing your story with others and expanding your mind. Capoeira can make you a better person and even save your life if you allow it to, by removing you from illicit activity on the streets as it teaches you right from wrong by providing good examples for you to follow. Capoeira allows you to be respected for your talent, and teaches you to work hard and persist to follow your dreams. Capoeira provides balance in life, and can be applied in every situation in life.

Participants in this research share the majority of these overlapping themes on what it means to live as a capoeirista. Perhaps this is due to their common leadership roles in the academy, as this philosophy is passed down through Mestre Coruja (João).

In this community of capoeira, it is of utmost importance to live as a capoeirista, although what it means to live as a capoeirista slightly varies among these participants as highlighted in the above discussions. Although subtle, these differences are explained through the diverse experiences held by individuals in the group, in relation to such things such as geography, gender, and social environment, among other variables.

It is important to note that these interviews highlight the positive effects of capoeira and seek to give value to a cultural activity that continues to suffer oppression.

This is the ideal culture of capoeira, the philosophy of life and the goal we aspire to meet. However, there are contradictions that exist in living practice that took place during fieldwork off the record, in fact due to the human condition. Power dynamics are becoming increasingly questionable, as they recreate the very system they are so much against within the arena of the capoeira academy. In the following chapter, I will discuss particular cultural phenomena specific to this community to shed light on additional pressure and constraints that were discussed in length during the interviews.

CHAPTER 5 CAPOEIRA AND COMMON THEMES IN BRAZILIAN SOCIETY

In the previous chapter, I discussed the different facets of the philosophy of what it means to live capoeira. It is a philosophy of life that provides strength in the struggle for freedom and equality, lessons to be alert in dangerous situations, and an education to expand your mind and share your vision with others. The intricacies of the lessons learned in capoeira through the different life experiences of my research participants, as they all take important lessons out of the capoeira academy and apply them to their daily lives at home, at work, and at leisure. Based on these accounts, capoeira liberates individuals and provides them more self-confidence to believe in themselves and open opportunities that too often seem unattainable. These lessons create awareness and make individuals more cautious, enabling quick reflexes to protect themselves in an insecure environment. It teaches students how to deal with difficult life circumstances with adaptability and understanding of different points of view. Capoeira also educates in a manner to treat others with respect and to gain respect in return. Finally, it demonstrates the impossible, and enables individuals to manifest their dreams and supersede their limits by opening their minds to have new perspectives and hope in life.

Although living as a capoeirista has many beneficial qualities, the context of living in the periphery of São Paulo, Brazil has many cultural components that assist in the creation of what it means to live capoeira. In this chapter, I dissect additional common themes that were discussed during interviews. These themes include commentary on the system and Brazilian society, violence, insecurity, and the concept of machismo, to unravel some of the intricate complexities that members of this community live with inside and outside of capoeira and how life and culture blends with capoeira. In this

chapter, I will discuss the ways in which capoeira reacts to and reenacts common themes in Brazilian society. For practitioners, capoeira is but a microcosm of the world we live in, highlighting power dynamics, domination, insecurity, equality, and vulnerability.

As discussed in Chapter 4, I conducted semi-structured interviews with participants about living as a capoeirista, machismo, insecurity, and other topics that they suggested. Interviews were conducted in Portuguese and coding was completed in

Portuguese, before I translated the appropriate passages that I used here into English. I transcribed the interviews by annotating key subject matter, then returning to the recordings to provide accurate quotations throughout. I present each case in the following section, coding for themes outlying the common theme presented in Chapter 4 of living as a capoeirista. Because I am editing the quotations from Portuguese, I am also lightly editing for readability and comprehension for presentation purposes.

The term machismo used here refers to sexism and exaggerated masculinity as a structure. Machismo is as a central concept that is understood locally as social structure rather than individual behavior. This term embodies a sense of machismo as replication of the patriarchal system. Machismo is gender, class, and race combined together in this complex social system as a structure of power. I am discussing machismo and sexuality as they appear in my interviews. Although this represents a heterosexual agenda, there is a wider universe with more fluidity in Brazilian sexuality.

But I am only going to discuss this case and represent what was said directly in the interviews.

In lieu of creating concrete themes to examine throughout this chapter, I have organized the chapter based on the narratives of each individual to specifically highlight what each individual addressed specifically based on their experiences and thus perspectives. Rather than organize based on years in capoeira or seniority, as I did in the previous chapter, I have separated the narratives based on flowing and blending themes from each participant. I will begin with my interview with Mestre Coruja, also referred to as João. He is, after all, the mestre.

Outlying Perspectives: 11 Stories

Mestre Coruja: The System does not Open Itself

Mestre Coruja does not believe that capoeira has the power to reeducate anyone, because “nobody reeducates anyone”. It is only possible for him reeducate someone if they actually want to be educated and also want to be a capoeirista. The idea of capoeira creating citizenship does not exist. “If the person does not know the value that capoeira has as an art and as a culture and the historical value and the social contribution that it has, everything is empty.”

Coruja explains that there is something that exists in everyone that is referred to their nature. He states:

You are born with this, nobody can change other people. If you are born to have a good nature, you will be a good person. If you are born with bad nature, you will continue to have a bad nature. You will be a capoeirista and will pass your entire life as a capoeirista with bad nature. Human nature has nothing to do with capoeira because nobody can change anyone. No one can change anything. That is my point of view.

He explains that you can have thieves and murderers that are capoeiristas. “The art of capoeira is one thing, and the practitioner of the art is another.”

However, the other side of things also exists. For example, someone who is born with a good nature can be in the company of those with bad nature. “So for the lack of another option, he will start hanging out with these people, and will do things that are wrong together with these people.” But, in the midst of all of this, he can find capoeira and the good-natured individuals within capoeira. He explains more:

If he feels more comfortable with these people he completely changes his world and becomes a good person too. But he already had the nature for this…it wasn't capoeira that changed him. Capoeira only gave the option for him to choose… good or bad.

These statements create a seeming paradox, the idea that our natures both good and bad are fixed, but also by association it seems one can change. In these conversations, he does not reconcile the difference between the two, but I understand that he explains that although capoeira can change your place in society and open opportunities that were not available, but capoeira cannot change your personal human nature.

Interestingly enough, he explains the contrary can also occur, as he states:

There can be a person that hangs out only with good people, only that he has a bad nature and encountered a capoeira group that only has bad people with bad nature, and if he fell in love with capoeira and started to hang out with bad people he will do bad things.

The theme demonstrated here is that of the inherent nature of individual temperament, that we all come from unique backgrounds and experiences and that outside influences or individuals do not have the power to control others. It is only the individual that has the power to change within him/herself.

Coruja believes that capoeira liberates us “from the hidden slavery that the system obligates us to live…it breaks these chains of today…and allows you to liberate yourself from the ostentation and ambition that the system created.” Capoeira issues opportunities “for the guy who is least-favored by the system to be equal because the

system does not open itself.” It gives him the space for others to believe in him and in consequence believe in himself. He explains further, “you are capable, you are very good. Before [capoeira] nobody ever said this to him because good in the system is to have a car or good clothes.” But Coruja also points out, “even though capoeira provides so many things, you can still have someone that is on the contrary inside, because of human behavior…capoeira does not change human behavior if the person does not want.

Coruja also comments on the system of society, and questions the concept of slavery and profit:

If you are going to be a capoeirista, how will I make a profit from you? In Brazil, you have to generate profit for someone else. How can you be an athlete, what will you gain with this? This is education slaveocracy. What is the actual slavery? Everyone is blind.

Coruja explains this by giving examples of the phases of life in Brazil. He says after you are born, you start to think and analyze life when you go to school:

You are expected to start work at the age of 14, and because of this they have school half-term. You learn in school that men have to have a signed worker’s card, so they will study not what you want, but what the job needs you to study…And capoeira comes breaking this. Slavery exists in everything. You have to make money for what? To buy things. Then you will shit, and pay because you are shitting too. You pay sewage. Are you a slave? You are a slave, my [friend].

Mestre Coruja provides a theme of human autonomy, in that human nature cannot be altered. However, opportunities can present themselves for humans to express their true nature. He exemplifies the system of oppression in Brazil, and states that slavery exists in everything due to hegemonic capitalism. His view is that we are slaves to society, because the system does not open itself for those in the periphery to enter, contrary to the American Dream where you can climb up the ladder. There are

very few cases in Brazil where someone from the periphery has an opportunity, as the quality of education is much lower than the wealthy areas, and the majority never has the opportunity for higher education. They become slaves to the system and are forced into a life with no voice and few choices. He demonstrates that capoeira can break the system, as it provides opportunities and experiences for individuals that would not appear in other circumstances.

Professor James: The Street

James liked to be in the streets all day everyday. He says he would stay 2-3 days in the street without notifying his mother, but explains that he learned a lot there. You find many things in the street, both good and bad, in which he has had friends of both sides. But it was his family that always influenced him to stay out of trouble. James recounts life in the streets:

The street is a world so big, a parallel world where you have everything. I could be in the street today with 3-4 friends playing soccer, then 20 minutes later we could be flying kites, from here one hour we could be downtown, after we would return and meet up with another group and go to another place, after other ideas and others conversations, see if we have money to go to a show, suddenly we have to return because a fight broke out here, others would go there, things with drugs, things with robbery, after everyone would get together again to go out at night to a bar or things like this, so after you come back you get (steal) a motorcycle here, already go here there, the day is short in the streets because there is so much to do.

He said as they would get together, one would suggest they rob a place so they would all go together, or another would suggest they get drugs, so they would all go. They went in a group of 30 guys, more or less. They would fight with other regions. But he further explains where these guys are today:

Today out of these 30 that I know well are 2… 2-3 that I see here. The rest continue today still. Some are imprisoned, some died, some involved with drugs, the street is dangerous too. There is that side from where I look I

say ‘thank God I have capoeira in my life’. It could be easy still because I was always there in the middle of the people that were more or less the head of the organization.

James also complains about the lack of recreational activities available to kids from the periphery and complains about the government:

The Brazilian periphery is very rich, but is also very poor at the same time because there is nothing for you to do. The government doesn't offer you leisure activities. Today you find more than in my time, but the government doesn't offer anything. Nothing. The maximum that you encounter in the periphery in Brazil is a soccer field, poorly cared for. Very poorly administered.

James explains that there is violence but he feels more secure there because he knows where to go and what to do. He knows what places are violent and explains that it is a choice to frequent violent places or not. Unfortunately, there is a lot of insecurity in

Brazil. But for James, he says he can walk in any place at any time, but has already wondered how he survived certain situations. But this is difficult to change because the politicians aren’t concerned with making Brazil more secure. But for James, it is safe.

However, he says it is much more dangerous for a woman because it is easy to rob women because they are more fragile and offer less of a risk:

The law is very weak here. There are lots of failures…here, no one has fear of being imprisoned… if I robbed you without using a gun, I would not go to jail, so what is the risk for me to rob you? None. Because I wont go to jail. If I killed you today, here, now, and left, and tomorrow, right now its 3:15, at 3:15 tomorrow afternoon I went to the police station and if I said it was me that killed you I won’t even go to jail because already left the window of 24 hours. So the law is very faulty in all aspects and will continue like this because the government doesn't have interests to make things better because the government doesn't have interest in having a person with a structure, to have a population with a structure, to know what they will want. So everything that the put in place is correct, pronto acabou (done. It’s over). I say this too because I worked giving class in the juvenile center. In the juvenile center, unfortunately, the possibility of a person leaving there reeducated is very low. Zero infrastructure.

He tells me the kids leave there, preferring to rob again, knowing that they will go to jail again another 3-4 months rather than getting a job where they make close to nothing:

Drug-trafficking offers much more…because Brazil is a country that lives for status. If you have the best pants, the best shoes, the best clothes, the best car, the best gold chain, you will have the best women. It is a ostentação mentiroso (boisterous lie), because the Brazilian does not have the conditions to pay R$1,000 for tennis shoes.

But James says the tennis shoes are a must for him to be well accepted in the places he wishes to go. “An honest worker only makes R$800, so the street offers much more temptation to obtain your objectives than to be dedicating yourself to other things. The periphery of São Paulo is more or less this”, he says.

Capoeira is received well in the juvenile center, but James admits he doesn't have a way to actually change the life of someone because the system of the center controls what he can and can’t do. He says, “your own system cuts you.” It is a constant fight because they like capoeira but when they get out they want to buy new tennis shoes or get a motorcycle and they have more desire to be in the street. He says it is a disloyal fight, because you are working in the system but then have to fight against it.

“My neighborhood where I live is a violent place,” James discusses:

There is drug-trafficking, thieves, there is everything. But I, personally, I have already seen many cases of violence. I have already seen people dying, I have already seen people getting beaten, I have already seen people getting run over on purpose, I have already seen more than 1,2,3 being killed, from a gun, knife, a fight, I have already seen personally face to face. I believe that of this region that is it one of the neighborhoods with the most fame of being violent. But it has been some time since I have seen violence like this…if it happens more often I don't see it because I am there very little because I am always training. But it has been 4-5 months since I have heard of anything, them killing someone or the police getting someone, beating someone, or beating another, or sometimes because of drug-trafficking because truthfully it is a place where trafficking reigns because it is different type of drug-trafficking. Trafficking is predominate, but I believe it is more organized. It is the region of the PCC. So, more or less this. But I don't see it with much frequency normal.

Sometimes I hear they robbed one or another, things like this. But unfortunately this is normal daily life for someone from São Paulo.

He tells me he thinks they are so accustomed to seeing violence, that sometimes they don’t even perceive what is actually violent and what is not. At times, they do not even notice. He tells me, “I have already seen a lot of violence. And there will always be violence because there is nothing else to offer.” He says the first thing that needs to change is the education. He believes Brazil has good professors but they do not have the material because the government does not invest in education. They also do not invest in recreation or sports. The government does not want to educate people because they do not want to have individuals with structure knowing what their options are to start to manipulate the system. He agrees that the government wants to form the opinions of other and brainwash individuals to control society. “An educated person will create opinions.” Someone uneducated cannot form such intelligent ideas. But someone educated will “bate o pé (beat their foot)” and say what they want and what they deserve. The government likes the Brazilian who lives a simple life who wakes up, goes to work, watches the soccer game and drinks a beer, and that's it.

For James what is most important is the reality of Brazil and capoeira. It’s easy to write about the good things, but sometimes there are kids that are training hungry or cannot train because they don't have money for the bus. He tells me that they lost their social project at the academy because so many kids were hungry and could not handle the active training without food. Often they are discouraged because of their harsh living conditions and end up quitting capoeira. “But, you have to help where you can”.

James discusses the intrigue of life on the streets in the periphery, although the majority of his friends are unfortunately dead, imprisoned, or involved with drugs. This

narrative gives the sense that the problems of the periphery of São Paulo are largely government-related. Things could be better if the government would provide services to keep people out of trouble, but they refuse to do it. Capoeira fits into this dynamic as a force for change, as it changes the lives of the members of community. It also serves as a coping mechanism for others to find their space in the system where they otherwise do not fit in by providing a community.

But James displays a lack of trust in the system because the government does not have the “interests” to improve the structure of society, as they want to keep the power in the control of the elite. There is little hope for children leaving the juvenile center, as Brazil does not offer economic opportunities so they return to drug trafficking or robbery. The theme of citizenship is present in this discussion, as violence violates the quality of citizenship. In retrospect, drug trafficking offers citizenship, as they gain respect in the community as an individual with power and agency. Otherwise, with the poor-quality education, they would receive a job where it would be difficult to supplement basic human needs. Criminals use the form of insurgent citizenship, discussed in Chapter 2, to justify their actions. In São Paulo, citizenship is also defined as the ability of consumption, so drug trafficking and robbery also become attractive because individuals then have the ability to own name-brand clothing and shoes, in addition to motorcycles, gold chains, and consistent access to basic needs and medications.

Professor Cicinho: This is Reality

Cicinho wakes up every morning and thanks God that he has capoeira so that he does not have to work in a place that people order him around and treat him badly. He does not pay attention anymore to the people that talk about the way he dresses using

Havaianas flip-flops and a baseball cap. He says they think if they use name brand clothing and tennis shoes that cost R$1,000 that they will gain status, and sometimes that does happen, but Cicinho pays no attention to this. He says, “you be what you want”, not what society wants you to be. In capoeira, Cicinho feels good being who he is.

Cicinho feels that capoeira is dignified work, as it exports many people out of

Brazil who previously did not have proper living conditions or expectations for their life.

Capoeira takes you out of the country and gives opportunities to work at universities or schools and even learn other languages. Therefore, they cannot say that capoeiristas are not citizens, even though there are many people that continue to say this today.

However, this does not come without difficulty. Cicinho says that many people do not believe that capoeira has much value, and that he needs to work in an office with a company. They think that because he is in capoeira that he does not take life seriously, that he is just jumping around not doing anything interesting. But to Cicinho, his reality is different. He works with dedication, searching for more knowledge and always sharing it with others.

Cicinho recounts the story that two of his friends went to jail, and just the day before our interview, he ran into the father of one who was ecstatic and telling Cicinho that his son had just gotten out of jail, explaining to him that he makes his living from capoeira now. “Se você quer você é capaz…(If you want it, you are capable)”.

Cicinho continues:

I grew up in a very needy place, of many things in relation to everything, such as things to play with things to participate in, good things for you to see. I did not have a lot of this in my childhood. I lived in a very poor place in a communidade or a favela and we didn't have many resources. And

the things that it showed you in the daily environment were negative things, may they be drugs, robbery, death, thieves, and so on it goes. But there are many things that if I am going to talk about [this] here, I will be talking the whole afternoon….Many people were dying in front of me, mas beleza (but it’s all good).

He explains that many capoeiristas come from needy places, and often times they do not have clothes, they go hungry, they do not have things to play with or cultural activities to participate in, and sometimes are even involved in violence and drug trafficking. He continues to give examples:

As everyone in the periphery, the resources that you have for play were not many. We had the games of the street, soccer, marbles, spinning tops, jump rope, fight hahaha sai na mão ( each other or literally, take it out with the hand)…to go to the cinema, for example, is something that in my time was a different reality. I didn't have the conditions for this. My relatives didn't have the conditions to give me this. The people that I hung out with also didn't have conditions for this.

Cicinho tells me in more detail about what it is like to have grown up in his neighborhood:

Where I lived was very violent…there were a lot of drugs at that time… any place that I walked there were drugs, people exchanging guns in front of me, putting bullets in the guns, a lot of trafficking at that time, police in the streets all day. At a certain time you had to be inside the house and you couldn't go out anymore because there were lots of conflicts between gangsters and the police. Deaths on my street, for example, were almost everyday there was a death. There were days, for example, that there were 3,4,5, depending….I saw this many times. I saw friends of mine right by my side and I would say, ‘I’ll be right back to play soccer’…’I’ll be right back to play marbles’… ‘to fly a kite’ and when I came back for example the person was dead or had been shot lots of times or was running from the police because they messed with drugs for example. They were running from the police, or had been shot and were dead. This I saw many times, right beside me…this was my life. I had to live together with this….For me this was normal….this was my reality. You can grab people who hung out with me at that time that are alive today thanks to God married, they have a family, studied, have a cool job, they will tell you the same story. And I will tell you that it was this that [allowed] some to survive, and others unfortunately no, or they are imprisoned, or they are selling drugs. But the reality was this one. I don't have a reason to lie about this, because this is what I lived in my time….so this was normal.

My day to day was this. My life was this. My life was to wake up in the morning, go to school, play soccer, marbles, these games, arrive home around 6pm, leave the house without a shirt to go to the streets to play, jump walls one side to the other, fight all night, depending on what all was happening in the streets, of the violence, at 10pm everyone had to get out of the streets. ‘Everyone go home! You can’t go out!’

When Cicinho didn’t have anything to do, he would go to the street fair and work on the weekends, watching the cars for shoppers (so they did not get robbed), or work in a tent to make some money. He would use this money to buy some pants or shorts, or help his mother, or buy a kite. Sometimes he would even put money together with the kids on the streets to buy a soccer ball, because they could not afford to buy a ball alone. He worked also during the weeks, selling things in the street selling homemade food or fruits and vegetables, and this made him happy to make this money. He said he knew that selling drugs was not the right thing to do, due to the following reasons:

I saw people beside me that were close friends of mine, or neighbors that were dying because they were doing this. They were bad, for example, because they were using drugs. They were bad, for example, because they were snorting cocaine. They were bad, for example, because they were drinking too much. Drinking was of the least [harmful] at that time, because people did things much worse that this as I told you…they were running because they were selling drugs.

He says that people end up selling drugs because they want tennis shoes that cost

R$1,000 that he would never be able to buy with this salary, but Cicinho felt good because he thought he was doing the right thing. He did not pay attention to the things that he did not have and felt more confortable doing what he thought would be good for him.

Cicinho indicates that capoeira is a counter to Brazilian society, as he does not have to have lots of expensive things to have citizenship within the capoeira academy and feels good being himself. Themes in this interview are dignity and autonomy, as

Cicinho prides his work in capoeira. This narrative also reflects the citizenship that consumption provides, as you gain social status when you have name-brand clothing and shoes. He discusses the opportunities that capoeira provides in an otherwise closed system, as reflected in the interview with Mestre Coruja. Like James, he highlights the fact that these communities do not have proper resources, which leads to drug trafficking, robbery, and violence. This leads to increased insecurity for the individuals of the community.

Instrutor Passarinho: A Path Without Return

Passarinho tells me that if he had not had the opportunity to be involved with capoeira, that he would have chosen the other path, of drugs, alcohol, and parties. He had about eight friends in the group that he hung out with while growing up and recounts where they are now:

[Of] these eight friends that I had, three are dead, two are imprisoned, and three are good, they are working, studying…we come from a difficult place, where the society throws you down, says you will not be anything and you believe in this and you end up believing in this and following wrong paths of drugs and robbery…if I had stayed in the streets during that period, I would have stayed at the side of the drug trafficker. I would have wanted to be a drug trafficker. He has money, but is in the wrong world because he has a motorcycle, has a car, and lots of things, but thanks to the drug trade, always running from the police. So, in the society that we live in today, the kids look up to those they are close to…Who doesn't have a good person [close], will have a bad person, and the child or teenager will be looking up to this person, understand?

He tells me that if he wasn't in capoeira:

I could have been in the streets learning the wrong things…If you start in this life, here in São Paulo we say that if you don't have a good mindset, it is a path without return. Because you start to use drugs, start to have bad influences, start to rob, go to jail, and inside that society, inside the jail or in the juvenile facility, you will not learn good things. You will leave from there worse. You will leave there worse and will have the same and will stay your whole life with these ups and downs…Without capoeira, I could

be imprisoned, I could be doing lots of wrong things, I could be dead, I don't know. I could be dead.

Passarinho explains that society does not value capoeira, but especially the country of Brazil does not give capoeira the value it deserves. Because of this lack of valorization, this is why so many capoeiristas want to live and work outside of their home country of Brazil. Someone from his income class level, does not get to travel the way he has been able to with capoeira. He says thanks to capoeira, that he never went to jail or used drugs because he was able to live in a different reality than the reality of the favelas:

The reality that we live in today in the deficiency of the peripheries, whichever neighborhood it may be, if you don't have structure, if you don't have someone or something to encourage you to put you on the right path, you end up doing things that are wrong. You end up diverting from your path and from your focus. Diverting I say, to drugs, to [alcoholic] drinks, to the bad things in this life and you wouldn’t be able to be at the place that you are today. Understand?

But what is most important to Passarinho is for people to know where he comes from and how he has passed the difficult phases with the references he has in his life and look back to how far he has come. His narrative reflects themes presented previously by the previous interviews, as capoeira provided an opportunity to choose a different path out of drug trafficking, robbery, and violence. He explains someone from his social class would never have the opportunities that capoeira has presented and live a different reality. He highlights “travel”, which is also another form of citizenship through consumption that gives social prestige.

Instrutor Perna: Wanting to Be Somebody

Perna also discusses the complications in life in the periphery:

Now it is really complicated, because before we had a period that there was an “owner” of the favela. So, for example, the little old man wasn't

robbed and there we few assaults….there was one ‘owner’ [in the West Zone] that everyone knew, and in each favela there was a type of ‘manager’... like a pyramid. There were negocios (business affairs) and all, the owners were imprisoned, the managers were imprisoned, so it remained without the owners. Today it is very difficult to love here because there are lots of assaults, lots of assaults.

He said this occurred about three years ago, and that everything has gotten more dangerous. He explains it is more dangerous because:

The owner didn't allow them to rob. Today they rob a little old man, the old man get money from the retirement bank, and the guys go there to rob the little old man. Like, R$1,000. In the past, we didn’t have this. People are even robbing children or a pregnant woman. They are robbing almost everything. So, I think that in the past there wasn't a lot of this.

He explains that before, there was only one owner and he commanded everything. Now everything is complicated because other drug-traffickers have come in to take over the area and everything is unstructured and there are conflicts between groups, creating increased volatility and insecurity in the area. He says there are many different reasons that people enter trafficking, and that each one has their different reasons. Some enter because they think they don’t have a choice. But Perna thinks it is because:

The people want to be someone. They want to be of malandragem they want to win respect. How do I say, they want to appear and gain respect. They want to be respected because of their malandragem. I think it is mostly this. Because almost everyone has an opportunity; everyone can find a job here in Brazil.

So he says that it is not a lack of opportunity that causes people to join in drug trafficking. “I think it more to show off, or to want to be somebody. I think it is more of this, to want to be somebody, to have respect.” But he explains that the term ostentação is “he wants to be somebody, without actually being anybody.” He says it is only gaining status, with name-brand clothes and gold chains on your neck. But if you gain money honestly, and buy these things, you are at a higher risk for being robbed. The drug

trafficker gains status more easily because he is not in danger of showing it because he will not be robbed because of who he is and who his friends are. They make lots of money really quickly. They can gain up to $50,000 per month, as compared to a worker that makes R$2,000 per month and has to pay his bills. It is much more difficult for the trafficker to be robbed because they stay in their area and everyone knows them. If they are robbed, they tell others in their gang and they go after the person who robbed him.

Perna also displays similar points of view on machismo:

I think people don't really respect women. I think…the men. But also, its not just the men, it's a little from the women. Like, because the women, they even lower themselves…the women have to give themselves more value, grow for themselves.

He also highlights how Brazilian culture possibly affects the culture of capoeira:

The Brazilian culture is changing a little now, and has already changed a lot, but the Brazilian culture always said like this, women serve to clean and to cook. Housewife. Women have to be housewives. Like, women can’t work, women can’t play sports, women can’t…and this comes from the past, it’s not from today. It’s very old. So, they think that women can’t be in politics, women can be capoeiristas, and from there it goes, successively. But I think this is changing a lot because there are many women in politics. Now the president, ex-president, was a woman. She was the first one to be president.

Perna distinguishes the difference between the types of women that go to the academy to train, and discusses what causes women to be viewed as sexual objects in capoeira:

If there is a woman with posture, that doesn't give liberty, that arrives normal, that doesn't say ‘heeeeyyyyy, how are you’ (in a sexy voice), I think no. But now, a woman that arrives like this saying ‘heyyyyy, how are you’ (in a sexy voice), I think that yes.

He explains that some women are more promiscuous because they want others to notice them and like the attention they receive.

Perna’s narrative also discusses the insecurity that is permeated throughout the community due to drug trafficking and violence. He reflects themes of social status and respect, as people decide to be drug-traffickers in order “to be someone” and have citizenship. Unlike previous interviews, his point of view differs because he thinks that

Brazil does offer opportunities. However, if you achieve status and purchase things legally, you are at a higher risk for becoming a victim of robbery. Those engaged in illicit activity are in less danger of being robbed because of their social networks. They also make money very quickly and in abundance to others who make much less on an honest wage.

The dialogue with Perna also introduces the concept of machismo, that women are not respected. The theme of citizenship is recurrent throughout, as women do not have the same status or citizenship as men. It is not only men that disenfranchise women, but also women do it to themselves with their own behavior. Women do not value themselves, and as a result are often viewed only as sexual objects in capoeira.

Interestingly enough, this seems to be a form of insurgent citizenship, as the women realize they can use their sexuality to obtain power and social prestige. But parallel to the drug traffickers, whose activities also provide social status, it is a fleeting one that will not encompass societal change. And thus, the cycle of violence, insecurity, and machismo continues.

Contra-Mestre Negão: The Ego of the Capoeirista

Negão bluntly states:

Unfortunately, not all, but some are like this, and are good capoeiristas and are like this: ‘I am good at capoeira, I am going to go out of the country, I am going to make lots of money, and I will fuck lots of women.’ This is what kills capoeira; the ego of the capoeirista. What kills capoeira, is the ego of the capoeirista.

He explains that a lot of capoeiristas lack professionalism because they travel often, and are very good at capoeira, but do not have any ethics and do not know how to administer or lead a group. “I think that a capoeirista is egotistical and thinks everything is his, ‘é meu é meu é meu, quero pra mim’ (It’s mine, it’s mine, it’s mine, I want it for me).”

“I think that their mentality has not matured yet,” he claims. He says they want to go out at night and have fun, but do not understand that they have to maintain their image. Negão tells me that you have to have your self-esteem in front of everything and have humility, and be careful not to ruin your reputation. He explains how fame is dangerous:

Fame is like wine. A delicious wine. You go drinking and drinking because it is delicious. Only there will arrive a moment that you will not be able to bear its hangover because it’s very strong. So, fame is like this. It helps you a lot, it is delicious. Everyone will talk about you, various women will be all over you. But there will arrive the moment that it will drown your life.

He explains that this comes from the culture of the individual. Often the capoeirista comes from the favela and wants to make money. But he is not doing this for himself, he is doing this to show others, “look at my nice car, look I am getting so many women, I have friends like this.” Negão tells me, “this comes from the culture of the neighborhood.”

On the subject of machismo, Negão tells me that machismo exists because of the lack of attitude and posture on the side of the woman. There are lots of women that hook up with various mestres. Also, he explains that there is a lack of women leading in capoeira academies and events. He says that machismo will stop when women start to have stronger attitudes. He also disagrees with having a women’s event, but thinks that women should play instruments in general events. But that we need to fight for the need

to not have these events because they only occur because of machismo. “I know it is difficult because machismo exists, but also women don't need to play the role of the victim so much. She has to exploit this, and win her space if she feels she is being discriminated.”

But as others have mentioned, he does notice different behaviors of women as well, as part of the human species. “Each one can wear the clothes that she wants, but there are some that do things in a way to call attention… I think it is a lack of self- esteem.” Negão highlights general discrimination that occurs with both men and women. “[Capoeira] is an expression of freedom, to get out of slavery, and unfortunately today many times a student ends up living in slavery. He ends up living in discrimination, because there are mestres that discriminate students.” Then he goes on to explain why these instances perhaps occur. “Capoeiristas are very jealous. They are afraid to lose their space, they are afraid to suddenly lose the shine they have….this is bullshit. And it happens with a lot of people.”

Insecurity is at the forefront of this narrative, as reflected in previous interviews members from this social class do not have many opportunities. The lack of opportunities leads to lack of self-esteem and problems with the personal ego. The ego is what leads to the social conflict, occurring inside and outside capoeira. This ego is fueled by the need for social status, to feel like a citizen of society. Often the capoeirista obtains opportunities, but then ends up exploiting them to gain wealth and status through consumption activities to gain citizenship. Mestres often discriminate students in the need to feel that they have power, and Negão states that even the capoeirista begins to live in slavery due to the system created inside capoeira. Here is an example

that individuals within capoeira often recreate the hegemonic system that they claim to be actively fighting against, which I will discuss more in Chapter 6. The human element and ego creates social conflict within capoeira due to insecurity and the need for citizenship.

Negão also states that machismo exists because of the lack of posture of the women, as they often go to events and use their sexuality for power instead of being respected for being strong in capoeira. He returns to the theme of insecurity, as the way women dress and present themselves he attributes to a lack of self-esteem.

Instrutor Xaréu: Impeding and Discriminating

Xaréu explains instances of insecurity:

I was always raised inside the system [of insecurity]. You have a certain insecurity to leave the house…but who was raised in this system already knows that it’s like this...you leave in the street someone could follow you, when you are walking in the streets someone comes to assault you, so when you leave the house you are already attentive to of all this here.

Xaréu also talks about machismo in relation to capoeira:

Unfortunately the majority of people bring sexuality inside capoeira. There are exceptions, of course there are women that train capoeira because they like capoeira, as there also are women who go to capoeira because they like the capoeiristas, understand? Sometimes I think they end up impeding each other, these types of people. Maybe the capoeiristas will advance on a woman that is there for capoeira, to play capoeira and train capoeira, and try to take advantage of this. As there is also the woman that ends up hooking up with a capoeirista that is there for capoeira also, and vice versa one with the other. It ends up, how should I say, being kind of discriminatory, one with the other.

He speaks more about the relation between men and women within this environment, and different perceptions from both sides. “This side of machismo happens a lot, principally on the side of the men. There are many men that look at women in capoeira, and already desire her. And maybe don't even look at what she has to offer

capoeristically.” He further discusses that capoeira traditionally has more men training in academies, and that when a woman comes to put herself in the middle of these men, it is because “she wants to give it to one, or give to all hahaha.” Often these men see it as a competition to see who will “get” her first. Sometimes this is not what the woman wants, but sometimes it actually is, he explains.

In this narrative, Xaréu highlights the impact of insecurity on daily life, due to assault and robbery. Insecurity reflects back to the previous analyses on the lack of opportunity and the need for insurgent citizenship. Insecurity also is prevalent in the discussion on machismo, as he mentions some women go to capoeira to be with a capoeirista to enhance their social prestige in a system that is not open for the advancement of women, and therefore they need a man for survival. Unlike other narratives, Xaréu does place some of the blame of machismo on the male practitioners, explaining that some do see women simply as sexual objects and do not respect them as capoeiristas.

Contra-Mestra Grazi: The Issue of the Power of the Woman

Grazi did not have problems with violence, she says. She never went hungry, even though she lived in a poor neighborhood. But her friends, were not so lucky:

I was never beaten, and never was sexually abused, but I had friends that were violated. One friend that was raped by her own brother, another that was beaten her whole life by her dad and mom and had to run away from her house. People from the periphery have difficult stories.

She tells the story of how she grew up spending time in the streets since she was about

7 years old:

I played the entire day in the streets, so I ended up experiencing various situations…I fought a lot in the streets. I wanted to beat [people up]. I fought a lot in school, but there is a lot of that in Brazil. When we would leave school, we always stopped at the corner to fight….we would say ‘I

will get you when we are leaving school’...there were lots of people cheering.

She continues to discuss the affects of insecurity:

We are raised with insecurity, especially women because there are a lot of bad people… we learn not to pay attention to people we do not know. We did not go to dangerous places and streets…on the bus it is very common to have a guy rubbing [his penis] on you. My friend was alone with her son and the guy next to her was masturbating himself. When I was 6 or 7 years old a guy rubbed [his penis] on my arm. People see, but they don't do anything. They think, its not happening to me so leave it be. Here in the neighborhood, people go after them and beat them up, but on the bus it’s different. The side of violence is always the fault of the men.

Grazi claims, “there has always been machismo. The woman makes less and works more.” For example, the women on the Olympic soccer team make less in comparison to the men, but the women think it is normal. Grazi believes that behind every great man there is always a great woman. But she explains that women think it is normal to depend on a man and work all day to arrive home and do everything, while the man does nothing. But it gets even worse. “There are women that don't work that stay home all day without having money to buy underwear and everything depends on the man.” Women always speak of machismo and dependency, but when the time comes to do things on their own, women do not have security. “It is very easy to say he is machista, but after to do things on her own it is difficult. The women are very dependent on the men, unfortunately.” But Grazi says they are raised that way.

In capoeira, many women complain about machismo, but Grazi never suffered inside the academy of Mestre Coruja. However, there are many stories of other mestres that treated women very poorly. But Grazi had problems playing capoeira because the guys don’t accept taking a hit by a girl while playing in the roda. “They say, ‘damn, I was got by a girl’. Afterwards, the guys wanted to get me because I humiliated them in the

roda.” At the annual event called Capoeirando in Bahia, Grazi says that girls want to play but if they enter, the guys cut them out. She provides an example:

I have my position in the academy, but outside of this you will encounter machismo. If I ask a guy [to play] the berimbau, he will look at you like this, ‘you know how to play the berimbau?’ There is a lot of this. The last time I went, there were only big guys exchanging kicks and punches.

But Grazi played anyway, but was only to exchange about 2 kicks because women only clap their hands and sing to lift the energy for the guys to play. When a woman would cut the game to play, she would be cut out immediately because the guys do not have respect for women. There is a lot of this. When Grazi was playing the berimbau, she lowered it to not allow a guy to cut the game quickly in this manner, and he said, “I can’t play?” And Grazi said, “No, who is controlling the roda right now is me.”

She took the guy out of the roda, and he went crazy. Grazi explains:

If it were a man that put down the berimbau he would have respected [it], so I had to confront him and we fought in front of everyone...so I was obligated in front of everyone to bust him. I will bust as many times as needed.

So Grazi says:

It’s very pretty to say today there are so many women in capoeira and all of that. Yes there is. There are a lot for the men to fuck, this is the reality. There are a lot of women in capoeira that the guys are using and abusing, destroying lots of things because of all this, all of the things that us women are chasing after the guys end up fucking up. This is how it works. And it is very complicated because the issue of the power of the woman in the roda, to be able to play [instruments], to be able to command, to be able to do [these things], the guys don’t teach these things. You see very little women doing this.

Grazi says here in Brazil, the culture is different. She issues an example from school:

When you are in elementary school, in physical education class, the teacher already says, ‘be careful with the girls because the girls are delicate’. [Brazil] doesn’t raise a woman to be strong. [Brazil] doesn’t raise

women to do the same things as men. The woman is already raised in this form, raised inferior to the man.

Grazi gets angry when people say that when women are good they ‘play like a man’. She says, “no, it is a woman that plays good. It’s the same in the Olympics with soccer, they say Marta plays like a man.” (Marta was a player on the Brazilian national women’s soccer team.)

But Grazi did not have many female references in capoeira when she began: There were many more men, but there are many more women entering capoeira today than in the past. But still women have not conquered their space in capoeira. Women train capoeira, but they are still inferior to men in capoeira unfortunately.

Grazi highlights the theme of insecurity and violence in the community, especially sexual assault towards women. She issues many examples of machismo in Brazilian society at both the macro and micro level. She explains how this leads to a sense of dependency on the man, as women are not equal citizens. Women do not receive equal pay and equal treatment as men, but the system has created a culture of hegemonic domination by controlling the minds of society and instructing women of their place in society.

When speaking of capoeira, Grazi creates a paradox, as she mentions she did not suffer from machismo in the academy, yet provides many examples. It is then questionable what she perceives as machismo, because our cultures often determine our meanings and preferences. She does allude to the fact that there exists increased machismo outside of her academy. Grazi explains that in capoeira, as in society, women are oppressed and disrespected, as they do not hold equal citizenship as the men. She makes a blatant point that men in capoeira are using and abusing women,

and that much effort and investment on the part of the women is wasted because in the end, “the guys end up fucking up”.

Previous narratives highlighted that women do not have posture and that machismo is the fault of the women, but Grazi explains that the men do not teach women to play instruments and take charge of a roda. Machismo is embedded in the culture, treating girls as inferior and delicate since they were children. Although sexuality is not mentioned in this interview, it becomes the insurgent citizenship in these situations as women fight to be equals and continue to be inferior except when they use their sexuality. In retrospect, this further marginalizes women, as they have more power taken from them as they are discredited in society as merely sexual objects, continuing to be inferior.

Instrutora Fernanda: Sometimes We Suffer

Fernanda says that women need to impose themselves more in capoeira.

Women have to have the posture to grab the berimbau and play, and not let the men walk all over them. “There are guys that are machista, yes. There are a lot.” But she says she never suffered from machismo in capoeira. Which is interesting, given some of her examples below. However, if she wanted to play in the roda, she always played regardless. Fernanda prefers to train with the guys. She is also against capoeira events for women, because she says, “there are not events for men, so why are there events for women? I am against it. If you want equality, it has to be a mixed event.”

But Fernanda agrees that the Brazilian culture is very machista. “Men think they have the right to do what they want and the women have to accept it without

[resistance]. Women do the same work and earn less.” She experienced this when

another capoeirista passed his work onto her after he left the country, and the gym said they were going to pay her less because she was his back-up assistant.

But she does say that women are treated different in the capoeira academy.

There are many men that take advantage of the situation to get closer to the women.

This happened with Fernanda, as she thought that someone was admiring her work in capoeira and wanted to bring her to his event because she was good in capoeira, but later she realized that was not the truth. “He asked for me to do movements and all, then asked Coruja about my work and got my WhatsApp [phone number] and wanted my videos, wanted me to go to his city to give a class.” When she cut off any other subjects unrelated to capoeira, he cut her off completely. She said there are lots of guys that send her messages, but she thinks most of them are taking advantage of the situation to get closer to her. She voices her disappointment:

This is very bad for us, because sometimes we suffer. We want to be known as a capoeirista, we want to be known in the world of capoeira, but as a capoeirista, not as the cutie from Mangalot…I was upset after this, I was disappointed…it’s not only one or two either, it is the majority.

She explains that it is very difficult for women, and that you hardly ever see women traveling out of the country for events. But men travel often. “They travel, they lose their notion of the time they are out [of the country], forget they family, forget they have everything, and live in that world of illusion, do a lot of bullshit, then return to Brazil without money.” She explains they can be really good at capoeira, but do not know how to be professional and do not know how to separate the two. This is one of the things that disappoints Fernanda the most about capoeira, that they do not know how to be professional and respect their students. Aside from this, what disappoints her are the guys that drink alcohol and then go to capoeira events and play in the roda. She also

thinks this is disrespect and it damages the positive image of capoeira, which she among many others fights so hard for.

Insecurity is rampant in this neighborhood in the periphery of São Paulo.

Fernanda was assaulted on the street right next to her house. She recalls the occurrence:

The guy put a gun here and I thought it was Passarinho, until I turned and said ‘Passarinho are you crazy’ the guy pulled my purse. I could have been shot there, understand? I was right next to my house. So if you stop to think, the security in Brazil, not only in Mangalot but in Brazil is precarious, and this was right next to the police station, on the street of the police station, you know?

Fernanda believes in social projects. There are many kids that want to train, and they are very different than kids that are in private classes. She explains:

It is very good that you can help, but unfortunately it is not only us that can help…the schools here are disappointing. In the school there is a teacher that will not teach class, a teacher that is on strike because they don't have a good salary, a kid that goes to school, already drinking [alcohol] at school, there is a lot of this. Kids that use drugs, so there is no use in us wanting to help if they arrive at school and don't have a good base, arrive at home is worse yet because they live in the favela. Generally it is not all but generally most have a mom that is drugged up, a dad that is drunk, and they don't have that example to have a good life.

Sometimes Fernanda sees kids that have left the academy and are in the streets and she says, “damn, I don't believe it”. But there are people like Guilherme whose life changed because of capoeira. Fernanda believes that if Brazil had a better education system that it would help a lot. She says the kids are the foundation for the future.

The theme of machismo continues to be inherent in my interviews with women.

Like Grazi, Fernanda mentions she has not suffered machismo, yet provides several personal examples of being discriminated at work as well as in capoeira with men assuming she is a sexual object. My thoughts return to the question of the cultural

definition of machismo and how gender dynamics are perceived cross-culturally.

Perhaps these women are not allowed to state they have suffered machismo for fear of being excluded from the group dynamics, thus referring back to lack of citizenship and insecurity. Fernanda actually prefers to train with the guys, demonstrating a tinge of discrimination within.

Fernanda also comments on the topic of the system of oppression being recreated within capoeira, as capoeiristas do not know how to be professional as they disrespect their students and participate in careless activity, such as drinking alcohol before going to capoeira events and playing in the roda. Each individual has unique experiences in life that lead to making particular decisions and taking contextual actions. This is true inside of capoeira, as well as outside in daily life. She also discusses the rampant insecurity of the neighborhood and how that affects perceptions.

Like previous interviews, she blames the government for not providing adequate resources such as education, because teachers are not paid a proper salary. Children do not have a proper foundation at home due to the environment they live in and often go to school on drugs or alcohol, which make it increasingly difficult to change the cycle.

But capoeira has had an influence on a few, such as Gui, who had a refuge from his life at home or in the streets.

Instrutor Guaiamum: Machismo Starts from the Woman

Guilherme, began capoeira through the social project offered at the academy. He explains that capoeira entered into his life in a difficult moment, but says even today things are difficult, as things have not changed much at home but with capoeira he manages to find happiness. He tells me:

In my house, my dad has lots of problems with my mom. I have already seen and am tired of seeing him wanting to kill my mom, and my dad lives a lot using drugs and these [types of] things, this was bringing big influences to me to listen to others in the streets say, ‘you will be the same as your dad’.

So as a consequence, this had a large effect on his psychological health.

Guilherme experienced a lot of machismo, and explains:

Women for me don't have a chance because I saw the figure of my mom there, being mistreated and everything, and I thought that a woman doesn't have to be treated poorly, but thought that women were like that, in that way, weak. Without having options. That a woman can’t be in a place alone, can’t be independent. I thought that the woman had to be dependent on me.

But he has changed his mindset on this as he has grown older.

Guilherme also does not believe that there should be women’s events in capoeira. “Machismo starts from the women.” Women want to do women’s event but do not want to be discriminated against. There is machismo from the side of the men too, he explains, as they do not allow the women to play in the roda or play instruments. But, he believes women are also responsible. “I think it is completely wrong to have a women’s roda. A men’s roda does not exist, so why does a women’s roda exist? With this, women put themselves further below the men. Understand? This is what I think.”

But Guilherme does state that he sees a lot of machismo on the side of the men, principally from the older mestres. In times before, women only did what men wanted and, for example, did not even leave the house, and the mestres bring all of this into capoeira today. Guilherme went to the roda of Mestre Ananias every Tuesday and said that he would yell at the women and tell them to stop singing, and would not allow them to play the instruments. It was the same with Mestre Suassuna, as he did not allow women to train in the special training called GTE. But today, Guilherme says that

machismo comes more from the side of the women because they want to separate themselves and have women’s rodas.

Guilherme reverts back to insecurity and violence as he recounts episodes from his past at home. Capoeira provided a refuge in his case, as in many others presented in this chapter. He watched his mother growing up, and this gave him the image of a weak, dependent, inferior being when compared to the man. Although his mindset has changed as he has matured, this machismo he witnessed is reflected in capoeira. He states that machismo begins from the women, as the women seek to separate themselves from the men by hosting women’s events in capoeira, further marginalizing the population. He does point out that men do not allow the women to play capoeira in the roda or play instruments. Older mestres reflect machismo even more, as they disenfranchise women from taking part in capoeira as the men do, thus lessening their citizenship.

Professora Maré: Disrespect for Women

Maré also agrees that part of the problem is machismo, but also the fault of the woman of not believing in herself. “I believe that it is this lack of security to assert themselves… and prepare themselves. The woman doesn't get the book and go study.”

She explains that João studies and searches for more information on capoeira constantly:

The woman can, but she has to want to. João [Mestre Coruja] told me, ‘you are good, but you have to believe, you have to take the first step.’ So what happens with the woman is this. You can open Facebook, look at videos and everything, even in the roda, and what is prevalent is the masculine because the woman doesn’t take that first step to believe in herself.

She goes on to highlight that the situation is more complex from a cultural standpoint:

In truth, the situation is more here in Brazil. I speak of what little I follow, of a few foreign women, and you see the difference. The grasp, the willpower, and if I was to speak of culture, I think it is the culture, of the woman. Even though the woman can be independent, that independency on one side yes, but on the other, she still is a little hidden behind the masculine sex.

No only is this common in Brazilian society, but Maré gives specific account of machismo in her daily life in capoeira:

I feel this even in our proper academy often. I am a professora [cord level], the other is a professor, and the other is a professor also. Then our friend arrives, I won’t say his name, he comes and gets in front of me, totally disrespecting me because I am a woman. You understand? And there are more things.

She explains that is difficult for them to let her play instruments or sing and cut her off:

You think I will fight? I don't want to fight. I want to be in a happy environment because we have already fought a lot in this academy. Understand? So, I don't want to anymore. I don't want to fight anymore. So, if I go to enter the roda and if someone gets in front of me, I will leave. Because if not he will make a bad face, but he needs to respect my graduation [level].

But it is worth it for her to continue in the art of capoeira. She explains:

It is a world that has a lot that I have to filter. There are many good things in capoeira, but it also has a lot of rotten things. So, I don't like it and I prefer to exclude myself to only absorb the good things.

However, when women are oppressed by the social system, Maré has an interesting opinion:

There are lots of women here in Brazil that really are seen [as sexual objects]…but it is because of the position she puts herself in. If you go to the academy, greet everyone seriously…. and don't give too much liberty they will respect you and won’t look at you as a sexual object.

She explains it is all in the way the woman carries herself, if she laughs and flirts with everyone, or if she is serious with posture to demand respect. She explains how she is a different person at home and at work, because at work in the police station she works with a lot of men. If she doesn't have a serious firm posture at work, the guys get the wrong message and try to take advantage. She clarifies:

You have to respond serious, everything in posture in the way you place yourself. Understand? And in the way you talk also, in the way you look [at others], understand? The way you walk; you have to walk seriously, because I am in the middle of men, understand? And in capoeira, it's the same thing. You have to assert yourself for them to respect you, because if not they will look at your ass at your legs, and they will only look at you in this way, understand? If you are a person that allows it, this happens. And many women let this happen.

In order to be treated as a citizen, a woman has to continue the fight. “You have to win your space. It’s difficult, very difficult, but it’s not impossible.” She explains that it is very difficult to find mestras, mestres who are females, at events with leadership.

Aside from machismo, there are also other problems that capoeira life presents.

Maré questions the significance of freedom and liberty that is exemplified in the theme of capoeira:

There are a lot of people that capoeira is everything in their life…Capoeira was liberty in the period of the negros. But what is liberty if you only know how to talk about capoeira, if you only know how to breathe capoeira, if your religion is capoeira, your music is capoeira, and if you only have friends in capoeira and do not have another social life. I don't think it becomes liberty anymore, if you are a slave of capoeira. Do you understand? This is not beneficial. I take capoeira as what? Capoeira for me is a sport.

She also highlights the contradictory nature of the behavior of other capoeiristas.

“They talk a lot about freedom, freedom, freedom, but then there are there in the morning, the afternoon, and at night in capoeira. They don't have limits of time.” She tells me that they stay training all night until dawn, come home and nap, eat breakfast,

and return to the academy to train. “Your life closed itself in that, you know? Your mind doesn't know anything else.”

She uses the example of Mestre Coruja (João) to describe this phenomenon:

He [Mestre Coruja] doesn't have limits. Capoeira for him is not only a profession. His capoeira is his life… capoeira is in front of everything for him, and it can’t be like that. Understand? Capoeira has to be beneficial for you, and not leave your children, leave your wife, I am not telling you to be imprisoned by your wife, but you need to dedicate time to your wife, to your children, and know how to weigh because everything needs balance. Everything in this world needs balance. If you put too much on one side, it is finished, and it is no longer freedom.

Maré says many mestres of capoeira die alone because of this. They end up not having family or friends by their side because they sacrificed everything for capoeira. “The majority are slaves of capoeira. That's it. That's what I think.” In conclusion, she makes an honest statement about he environment at the academy:

We say often that capoeira is union, joy, happiness, but this is very exaggerated. Inside the academy there is a lot of disorder. There have been a lot of problems in our academy here. But, João managed to maintain balance here.

This narrative highlights the lack of citizenship for women, which causes the women to no longer have self-esteem or believe in themselves. Oppression is prevalent in the struggle for power and status in society, which permeates down to the microcosm of the capoeira academy. Men disrespect her in training, simply because she is a woman and viewed as inferior. As a result, women feel insecurity and thus use their sexuality to gain status and power without realizing they are actually being disrespected even more because this power is fleeting. In order to be treated like a citizen, a woman has to consistently fight for her rights.

Maré also discusses the system of oppression in capoeira as mentioned in other narratives. The first interview with Mestre Coruja implied that we become slaves to the

hegemonic slavery of the capitalist system of consumption and elite power. Maré witnesses this same system inside of capoeira, as practitioners become slaves to the art of capoeira, because they close their minds and do not have amplified experiences in different social settings or environments. They often forget about the philosophy of life and liberation of capoeira, and become imprisoned in its ideologies, without encompassing a worldview.

Analysis

Although capoeira can create infinite positive effects for its practitioners and is absolutely “perfect”, according to Mestre Coruja, it is not without the element of human nature. It is interesting to hear the different opinions and accounts of their lives and how capoeira influences each individual. Although each had a beautiful account in the last chapter about capoeira, this chapter examined the outlying themes the participants identified that are ever-present in Brazilian culture on the periphery of São Paulo. Each participant had different life experiences that shaped the way capoeira was incorporated into their lives. These common themes of violence, insecurity, ego, and machismo are relevant not only in capoeira, nor Brazil, but in the world at large and affect everyone at dissimilar levels.

There are several overarching themes presented in the narratives that are present in Brazilian society and permeate the culture of capoeira. The societal system of oppression seeks to keep power and resources in the hands of the elite. The obvious way to keep power out of the hands of the lower classes is to make them inferior by removing their citizenship. By not providing individuals with an adequate education, the system is able to hinder citizenship because knowledge is power. Without a proper education, economic opportunities are sparing to non-existent. It is impossible for them

to obtain a decent job with an honest wage to afford basic needs. Due to the lack of public resources, such as education, recreation, and healthcare, individuals in this society must find other ways to survive. Without other options, individuals from these areas are forced into drug trafficking or robbery as a form of insurgent citizenship. When a society strips individuals of their rights and citizenship, insecurity sets in, and they must find a way to be respected as a citizen. Ulterior forms of citizenship are created through demonstrating the ability to obtain resources through consumption, and members of society are able to achieve social status by showing they have the power to purchase name-brand clothing and shoes, motorcycles, and are able to travel. As illegal activity proliferates, violence, crime, and insecurity follow closely behind. Those in power continue to marginalize these communities even further, as they are viewed as illicit areas that are unable to be controlled. This reinforces the excuse to not provide resources to these areas, as the entire community is criminalized and viewed as disorderly, further marginalizing the population.

When citizenship is threatened and insecurity ensues, it is necessary to maintain some form of power. If power is not attainable in society, it can be dominated in the household through machismo. Women are indoctrinated at an early age that they are inferior to men, making it difficult for them to have proper posture to assert their position.

As a result, they often seek other forms of citizenship and use their sexuality for to obtain power, without realizing that this power is ephemeral and they are reinforcing their marginalization in society.

Based on these cyclical battles for power and citizenship, it seems the insurgency created further marginalizes the population, distancing themselves even

further from the attainment of citizenship. This is true for both Brazilian society, as well as within capoeira. These conundrums of Brazilian culture infiltrate capoeira, generating social conflict within the practice.

It is important to take this deeper look to better understand diverse interpretations of a phenomenon. These individual accounts give us a better understanding of the complexity of human beings and enable us to empathize in given situations. By peering into this window briefly, we are able to produce awareness as to why humans perceive and act variously in given situations. In the following chapter, I will synthesize how these interviews have unraveled particular complexities, and in some cases have increased them.

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION: THE ESSENCE OF CAPOEIRA

This research demonstrates that capoeira can be viewed as a form of social inclusion. In Chapter 2, I discussed the origins of capoeira, and how it folds into the context of resistance and citizenship. I followed in Chapter 3 by discussing how I applied particular methodologies to carry out the research by including participants as active decision makers. The case studies in Chapter 4 highlighted themes of inclusion, opportunity, respect, and life lessons. In Chapter 5, I distinguish factors in Brazilian culture that affect the experience of capoeira, such as violence, insecurity, machismo, ego, and citizenship. In the present chapter, I take these conversations a step further to a more meta-level. As the research participants have mentioned, capoeira gave them a space in society that was not previously available to them. Capoeira gives them the opportunity of being included and having value as a citizen of a community and larger world in which we live in. Due to the complex world system, hegemonic domination often leads to the oppression of particular groups based on income, race, gender, and place. Capoeira allows individuals from the periphery of São Paulo to resist that domination and create a form of insurgent citizenship for themselves.

Capoeira and Social Inclusion

Capoeira provides belonging and social inclusion on the micro level as well.

Participants attend classes regularly and become part of the social group, as they often get together during the day, before and/or after classes to create friendship and camaraderie. Members of this group of the study and others often travel to other capoeira events together and create a social bond with other members of the group.

However, social inclusion in capoeira is not without its complications. Some groups or individuals can display a gang-like mentality, echoing society’s hegemonic domination on the micro level. The interesting aspect here is that if resistance is utilized against the system within capoeira, those participants are often shunned from a group and thus their micro society. This is not capoeira, but the individuals within capoeira that allow it. This creates further questions to this research. How might we relieve some of these problems in capoeira? Is there a way out of this cycle?

Capoeira was created in deceit, deception, disguise, and trickery as a means of resistance among enslaved African immigrants; it was developed as a tool to fight for their freedom. Therefore, we must look deeper than the surface to unravel particular truths about this philosophy of life. Although interviews created a discourse around such topics as education and friendship, I would still propose that there exists much disguise in the reality, due to the human aspect within the martial art. It is questionable to trust other capoeiristas, perhaps reflective of humans in our daily lives. Capoeiristas often use malandragem, this cunning or trickery previously mentioned, to appease others and tell them what they want to hear, rather than disclosing the actual truth. Then they secretly praise their own actions in doing so and explain the matter by stating: “It’s capoeira”. You must have malícia, or cunning, to make it in capoeira as in life.

When injustices are accepted, especially if the individual is a man or holds a cord of a higher rank, this bypasses cultural relativism. Another key proponent to this measure is that other members of the same community confirm that the behavior is unacceptable and should not be allowed. Due to the high content of maliciousness and trickery that is rooted in the foundation of capoeira, often dishonesty and violence

become the norm. Should anything else even be expected? Should capoeira seek to evolve out of its predisposed reputation of the past to become something stronger due to its amount of suffering in the past? Or is capoeira this tool for social development for youth in low-income communities to have a path for a different lifestyle, or even perhaps both.

Interesting power dynamics exist among those in the capoeira group. Although capoeira has sought to create equality historically, it creates drastic division within.

Depending on the color and level of your cord you are treated differently inside as well as outside the roda. I was able to live this difference as I have trained capoeira eight years and passed through various cord levels between different groups. Another drastic division is that between the sexes. Patriarchy at the very root of most cultures is exacerbated in Brazil, and especially so the lower income areas. All participants of my research and those in the surrounding capoeira communities treat women like they do not belong, which is why women are oppressed in capoeira. I have even been told exactly that I do not belong with them. They create sort of a boy’s club, with a gang-like mafia mentality, in which women are excluded and treated like lesser citizens. In

Chapter 2, I discussed the origin and complications of capoeira, one of the facts being that it is male-dominated, citing the example of machismo lyrics in traditional songs. I also discussed the definitions of citizenship and resistance in Chapter 2, questioning this concept of whether or not women are treated as such. Chapter 3 gives a personal account of machismo and the concept of masculinity in the context of fieldwork. Later in

Chapter 5, many of my research participants gave personal accounts of their experiences of machismo and respect. Even some of the men stated that it occurs,

although some men as well as women interviewed place the blame on the female participants in capoeira for lacking proper posture or attitude to deal with certain situations. So following the question of citizenship, it appears that women cannot ever reach the same level of citizenship of the man.

This unequal power is unjust, and ironically is one of the ways in which capoeiristas recreate elements of the larger societal system that they are all so much against. The same systems of power they seek to defeat are the very ones they serve in different forms. The sincerity portrayed in the interviews is juxtaposed with the actions in their habitus. Disguise and deceit are common themes as they attempt to appease everyone, even if that means being dishonest and covering up for it later with more dishonesty. They betray their closest friends in this brotherhood to gain wealth, and cheat on their significant others for prestige. All in an effort to gain increased levels power. This is reflective of sociologist Erving Goffman’s work (1959) on saving face, in which Goffman concludes that we all act based on preserving our image of self that is defined by a particular society in the context of social interactions. Human beings act socially, constantly with the preoccupied notions of what others may perceive, thus altering social prestige within a group. Human actions are often like theatrical presentations, portraying to others what we think they want to see. At times, saving face is intentional, yet it can also be a subconscious response to our enculturation.

This also presents a conundrum in research settings, making myself as the research wonder if during the interviews they only said what they think I wanted to hear, knowing they were being recorded. When we know other people are listening or watching, we do not act as our true selves in order to save-face. I found it difficult over

the years working with this community in hearing their words, but having two years pass since the initial interviews, I have watched that their actions display contradicting results. Not to mention the complications associated with my lack of distance in the community as I have chosen to be a large part of the capoeira community and was a member of the community before I began the research, although still considered an outsider by all means. Because I teach capoeira for a living, what I do and say directly affects my livelihood as well, and of course affects those in the community. Therefore, as you can imagine, I was forced to leave out complicated intimate details of episodes occurring with my research participants.

But, basically they are acting the way they are supposed to act based on cultural expectations. They are competing with one another for power dynamics, without really understanding what is occurring on the macro level and the consequences that ensue.

When unfavorable conditions arise as a result of their behavior, they again save-face to preserve their identity and social prestige by demonstrating that they do not care or have human feelings attached to incidences, because feelings are socially inacceptable in a society ridden with violence and insecurity.

Insecurity is at the root of the need for power of the human condition. Due to the lack of citizenship they have experienced since childhood, they have been in constant need of feeling important. Faced with the lack of security in their neighborhoods due to drug trafficking and violence, they live in constant fear. Capoeira temporarily provides a sense of security, with fame and recognition based on title and cord level, but this security is a false one as it is fleeting as other players compete in the game for attention and fame.

Therefore, personal relations within capoeira become complex, but it is not the art in and of itself that creates these conundrums, but rather the human aspect of the art. Human nature creates unique forms of rationalization based on our emotions and physical urges. We are creature of habit, and for the most part love to feel comfortable and secure. Because power can provide these things in a most simple fashion, that seems to be the easiest way to obtain security. Although we have the ability to think and rationalize, that is not to say that we utilize this tool, and often make decisions based on emotions or physical urges. Rationalization can even be construed differently between individuals with different cultural experiences.

Of course in anthropology, cultural relativism is key to understanding the perspectives of others. However, when other individuals are harmed or human rights are violated I argue against moral or cultural relativism. In order to better understand other human beings cross-culturally, we must understand what harms them and respect their emotions, so long as they too are not harming others.

Capoeira serves as a guidepost to direct us, especially if and when we get off of our path. But in that aspect, we have to understand that we are all humans. Capoeira seeks to unite different types of people from all over the world, giving us a common ground or similarity that which is the art of capoeira. I have practiced this art in four countries thus far, and I have seen the ability for union repeatedly. But in order to have this union, individuals must be open to being connected. Otherwise, it creates opposing energy and can often lead to further violence or complications within capoeira, thus discrediting the art form itself, although it is the human aspect that is to blame. We must be able to distinguish between the two.

Common Themes from the Interviews

In Chapter 4, I gleaned some common themes from the interviews with the eleven participants about what it means to live as a capoeirista, encompassing capoeira as a philosophy of life. Living as a capoeirista means that you bring the lessons learned in capoeira to your daily life. You are more aware of your surroundings and are able to adapt to different types of people and situations. Capoeira represents the struggle for freedom and equality, demonstrating agency and the ability to have citizenship as a member in society. Capoeira also provides social inclusion. You learn to believe in yourself as you fight hard to overcome personal challenges with the body, mind, and spirit. As you gain self-confidence and self-respect, you are able to make better decisions to improve your quality of life. Living as a capoeirista opens your mind as you share your experiences and understand the struggle of others as you encounter many types of people from diverse backgrounds. You bring capoeira into your daily life to overcome insecurities and create expectations for a better future.

Chapter 5 examined themes about how living as a capoeirista articulates with broader themes in Brazilian society. The system of oppression and inequality is highlighted, as all members of society do not have access to resources or an adequate education, and this helps keep the elite in power. Due to the knowledge-power dynamic, economic opportunities are scarce for members of the periphery. Because their citizenship as an agent of transformation is denied by society, they seek to obtain insurgent forms of citizenship to gain respect and social status by gaining money through illicit activity or sexual activity, which reinforces their marginalization from society. Insecurity alerts the human ego for the need to substantiate oneself in the midst of extreme social inequalities so one conundrum exacerbates another. The fight for

equality becomes competition, and this human essence infiltrates the realm of capoeira, corrupting its philosophy of life.

As previously discussed in Chapter 5, the humans within capoeira recreate the system that capoeira was created to fight against. This system of oppression, inequality, violence, and insecurity permeates social fabrics within capoeira, paradoxically, as the art represents freedom, equality, justice, and balance. It is not the art of capoeira that creates such complications, but the human condition that is an essential element of the art. As humans, we all have different experiences in life, leading our emotions to be diversely affected by complex situations. To counter these conundrums, we must learn to better understand and respect each other, as well as ourselves.

Complications of Research

I came into this research with a concrete idea on what to write about, which then has turn drastically into a topic that I had actually wanted to avoid at all costs. However, due to the fact that it has been a constant struggle, it would not be science if I decided to disregard my voice in this research as well as a capoeirista. My position in the research community is one of much complexity. As an anthropologist, I have familiarized myself and developed a critical angle on different types of research, and therefore, chose a stranger path when compared to most of my colleagues, and have received quite the criticism for my unstructured methodologies. My position with my research participants has other conundrums, as previously described in Chapter 3, as I am seeing this through the lens of an outsider, practitioner, and female. This lens influences what I see and how comfortable people are talking with me.

Having previously studied in the area of international development, I saw a huge disconnect between what the development agencies provide and what the local

communities they serve actually need. I had the pleasure of looking more in depth into a project in Rio de Janeiro called AfroReggae, in which the founders were born and raised in the community where they began the project. The project focuses on using culture as a tool for social development, and thus creating more pride in the Afro-Brazilian low- income communities. Due to my long-time infatuation with capoeira because of its history in resistance, I became extremely passionate about what this art could offer in so many different ways.

Instead of attempting to study the art from the outside, I decided to get in. I had already trained capoeira on and off in the past and was already a dedicated student of capoeira when I decided to take this on as my dissertation project. I was already embedded in the community. Not to say that I was inside, that I was one of them, because no matter how hard I tried and no matter how much I thought I was part of the community I was still a female, still an American, and still had a lower cord on the hierarchy. However, I am still so connected to this community that it has been difficult to detach and decide how to tackle these complexities scientifically, without breaking trust or crossing ethical borders. But, if I focus solely on the rainbows and the butterflies, I am not being scientific and am not giving the true, story of what occurs structurally in this community, and therefore decided that it all must be discussed.

It is important to note the difficulties of the anthropologist in addressing ethics and cultural relativism, as there are also contradictions within the community itself.

Capoeira is a philosophy of life, as is argued in Chapter 4, but obviously not everyone gets to that end goal. Yes, it is correct that we must base a group’s beliefs, values, and practices from the perspective of their own culture instead of judging it from our own.

But where does the boundary lie? Where should the line be drawn? A number of applied anthropologists enter the discipline to study a particular concept in order to define a problem and attempt to find a solution to make the world a better place. So how do we go about doing so, if certain practices are accepted by particular societies? Or are some practices not accepted by individuals, yet they are so oppressed they have no voice in stating so and as a result it appears that it is accepted? Where is it appropriate for the anthropologist to intervene, or is it even appropriate at all? For example, some women in the Middle East are not allowed to receive an education, drive a car, or even show more of their body than their face. Most of them accept this as a religious concept and would even be uncomfortable any other way. Female children in Senegal suffer female genital mutilation, and some offer the same argument that it is necessary; perhaps the same argument as Americans partaking in the same genital mutilation for baby boys. What is correct or incorrect is often for the culture to have the right decide.

Scheper-Hughes (1992) touches on the conundrums of moral and ethical relativism in anthropology. She argues that anthropologists should take a look at the way humans treat each other and evaluate human relationships and ethics, rather than being concerned only with the way humans think and reason. She states, “If we cannot begin to think about cultural institutions and practices in moral or ethical terms, then anthropology strikes me as quite weak and useless” (1992:21). There is the philosophical position that claims that it is the ethical that defines cultural norms, as it is a prior condition to the creation of cultural meaning. Scheper-Hughes posits that accountability is “precultural” (1992:23), because “human existence always presupposes the existence of another”, so there is a moral relationship to an original

member of society. Phenomenologist Emmanuel Levinas argues, “Morality does not belong to culture: it enables one to judge it” (1987:100).

My argument follows that the culture may determine right from wrong, except in the violation of human rights. When individuals are being treated differently because of gender, skin color, income level, neighborhood, religion, etc. this violates human rights and therefore complicates cultural and moral relativism. There were, and I am sure, still will be many altercations due to the fact that I am a female researching and participating in a male-dominated activity that originated in a machismo culture. Toxic masculinity seeps through the veins of even the girls who are taught at an early age where their place is in society and often it is only their sexuality that allows them to have power. For the most part, I have observed from afar and have not engaged into debate until I was personally attacked for being a female, and that is where I drew the line. That is when I experienced this form of discrimination personally. It is not my place to speak out on the behalf of others (nor in my research methodology of creating conscious critical thinkers so that they may become active agents to make changes in their societies), however, once I was personally attacked I decided I did not have to accept it because I too am an agent in my society. So, that is the angle that I have taken in terms of where the line should be drawn.

The concept of citizenship defined by this community as a universal human citizenship, transcending local and national boundaries, helps to clarify these thoughts on cultural and moral relativism. To be a citizen, we have the moral responsibility to treat others with respect as other functioning members of society. Because this

definition encompasses social inclusion, this allows individuals the freedom to make choices and act upon them since we are all included as agents in society.

Another interesting topic to be unraveled is the system of structure and power. In the periphery of São Paulo, many of my research participants talk often of oppression and “the system” and how the system is constantly brainwashing and manipulating humans to have less power and therefore take away their agency as individuals.

However, within capoeira they recreate these same systems of power in which they wish to defeat. They have created a boys’ club with a gang-like, mafia mentality, which starts at the top and disperses through different levels throughout, depending on cord level and gender.

This complicates my research question in asking if capoeira can in fact be used as a tool for social inclusion and to reeducate youth, and hence create citizenship in conscious thinkers. Of course, it can be argued that it gets youth out of the streets and provides a community where there did not previously exist a healthy environment or support network. As my interviews demonstrate, some of my participants went through very tumultuous and violent situations, and capoeira provided an escape from these harsh conditions. But a pertinent question to ask is, what is social development and who defines it? While some of my participants created profound friendships in capoeira and a support system, others have stated and I have witnessed a harsh treatment to those who go against this very system that has been created in capoeira. These so-called friends within the capoeira family are so quick to stab each other in the back, betray another’s trust, and create immoral alliances often to gain more power either through prestige in the group or wealth. Prestige can be exemplified in the form of betraying one

to get approval of another, and wealth by simply exchanging friendship for money, as the higher cords are often paid to attend events. One of my participants recently stated that he has more loyal friends in drug trafficking, that these types of things would never occur on the streets because they do not betray one another because it is immoral and repercussions are more serious and can lead to death. However, this is not to say that the trafficking community has higher morals and cares more about the way they treat others, its just there has to exist more trust and loyalty while engaging in illegal activity as the consequences for betrayal are more dire and could lead to imprisonment or again death. So what can lead to loyalty and morality? And is social development just that, achieving a higher connection with other human beings so that we must all live on this earth and survive?

Social development is not always defined in this way. It is too often viewed as economic development- having money. Society often values money over personal relationships and individuals seek to have increasing wealth to therefore have increasing power. However in this research project, I look to the definition offered by

Paulo Freire who defines social development as “whether or not the society is a ‘being for itself’”. He argues that development can be attained through cultural action in order to achieve unity within the social structure. So, what does unity within the social structure look like? Unity is derived from these very feelings of connectedness, which is often a result of cultural similarities. If the goal is to achieve unity within the social structure, there would be little conflict, high degree of concern for the welfare of others in that society and for the society as a whole (Miller 2010). In terms of this definition, I am not sure if capoeira does provide for that cultural action to achieve social unity.

If we shift the focus to Freire’s role of conscientização, this discourse becomes even more complex. Conscientização is how to learn to recognize social, political, and economic contradictions and take a stand against oppression in society by becoming consciously aware of the myths that are instilled by the oppressors. Based on the data collected for this project, capoeira does stimulate some critical thinking about societal forces, but the majority of examples provided in my interviews were repeated by different participants. It as if the mestre thought critically about society and passed on his experiences to his students. They then repeat what he has taught them, but I am not sure if they think critically on their own because they are not allowed to be independent thinkers, as they are not allowed to go against the system that oppresses individual agents in capoeira. This is highly reflective of the society in which they live in. Here, the mestre has replaced the controlling elite, perhaps in the form of a dictator and whomever choses to go against his ideologies risks being ridiculed in the group and losing prestige or even being expelled from the group. So, a hierarchical power structure exists in both realms. Even worse he could risk economic loss if he is a student who teaches or has chosen capoeira for his livelihood, and is thus exiled from capoeira by reputation.

Capoeira is a philosophy of life, although it is not applicable to all those who practice capoeira, just as all those who practice capoeira are not capoeiristas or embody capoeira. There are different degrees of absorption of the art into the consciousness of the human being, therefore leading to different results of the question at hand. Ideally, capoeira in and of itself is a beautiful, holistic art, which aids in social inclusion, re-education, citizenship, resistance, and even spirituality to those who open

themselves up to the possibilities and experiences. However, the human element added to the concept of capoeira is what creates further conundrum and discontent as we add our unique experiences to everything we encounter.

Due to it’s past deeply embedded in many forms of liberation, capoeira is often viewed in modern times as that which liberates the oppressed. Because oppression takes various forms, this can be liberation from society, the system, the routine, the body, and even the mind. There are numerous dimensions to liberation, that which the final is most difficult in obtaining freedom. But capoeira has been providing a path for all forms of liberation for centuries, leaving space for humans to utilize its philosophy and story to overcome many of life’s conundrums both inside and outside the realm of direct capoeira space within the academy. It is a knowledge base that practitioners can take with them to all aspects of their lives, reminding them of the fundamentals to the art.

However, the practitioner must open themselves up to these possibilities for this to prove true. There are many practitioners of capoeira that are not capable of understanding and embodying the concepts of the art, which therefore complicate these notions. So, it is not to say that capoeira allows for freedom and liberation 100 percent of the time to 100 percent of those who choose to partake in the activity. Rather, capoeira provides the path and opens the possibility to another dimension of learning or being as an active agent in society.

Capoeira to Me

As a practicing capoeirista for eight years and an anthropologist of capoeira for the last four years, to me capoeira does embody social inclusion. To live capoeira is to recognize this connection through energy that the art of capoeira provides to us all. The music alone provides a creative outlet and energy source that motivates us to strive

harder in capoeira training as well as in life. The lyrics within the songs often tell of hardships and lessons that capoeira can teach us to supersede and overcome our own difficulties and challenges in our personal lives as we draw parallels. In physical training, we establish endurance and are constantly pushing ourselves to go harder, faster, stronger, challenging the mind and the body daily to become stronger both inside and out, physically and mentally. We are constantly learning not to compare ourselves to others, but to utilize the capabilities of our own bodies in their distinct shapes, forms, and limitations. This can teach us in life to take our own paths, not necessarily the one that someone else has laid out for us.

On the philosophical side of things, I see capoeira as something very unique.

Historically, capoeira is said by its practitioners to have been created as resistance against the injustices of slavery in ; I believe that capoeira is symbolic for the fight against injustices of any form. When injustices occur repeatedly within capoeira, it is because the practitioner is disconnected from the true meaning of capoeira. This of course encompasses the view that we are all human and capable of human error, but it is one thing when we seek to learn and grow together and another when we dehumanize others and seek to grow apart. Capoeira embodies that connection within the ritual space of the circle of the roda, that we are all together in union. The circle must always stay together because it is said if there are gaps that the energy leaves the circle and that is bad for the music as well as those playing the game.

The music directly affects the energy of the game, as well as the environment and atmosphere that is created. The human presence also affects the experience, as one can gauge the energy and attitudes of others, which has a ripple effect on human

behavior. Capoeira is an energy field that is created by humans, so therefore reflects the energy that the individuals put into it. The historical battle between good and evil that is present throughout time is also present within capoeira. The difference between magic and black magic depends on the witch, and her experiences.

So, for me, these things explain the essence of capoeira. Capoeira is the spirit of the fight against injustice. Capoeira is the energy that motivates us everyday to conquer life’s battles. But the essence of capoeira is the connection, the union, between diverse and distinct humans and their lived experiences to bring their energy together and create a phenomenon that is unlike any other in time. This alone has so much to teach us about life and the lived human experience. The essence of capoeira can connect us directly to life, to the planet, to the universe.

Further questions for this study would be what causes humans to lose contact with the essence of capoeira? The actions of other human beings. The need to feel belonging. The ego. The lack of security. So, how do we resolve such matters to make not only capoeira, but the world we live in a more connected and healthy place to live while we are here? When we think small, we become small. When we change our perspective to include not only our lives, our neighborhood, or our social circle to the bigger picture- the world, the planet- and imagine Carl Sagan’s image of the Pale Blue

Dot, a photo taken from the periphery of our solar system of Earth depicting it as a tiny pinpoint dot, we wonder what really matters and what does not (Sagan 1994). Perhaps our differences should not matter so much. We are, after all, all living here together on this tiny blue dot.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Jaclyn majored in anthropology in the subfield in cultural anthropology. While simultaneously obtaining a Certificate in Latin American studies, she received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in the summer of 2018.