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THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE DEPARTMENTS OF HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROGRAM AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU IN SALVADOR DE BAHIA, BRAZIL NATHANAEL P. MURPHY Spring 2012 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a baccalaureate degree in HISTORY with interdisciplinary honors in HISTORY and LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES Reviewed and approved* by the following: Solsiree Del Moral Assistant Professor of History Thesis Supervisor Catherine Wanner Professor of History, Anthropology, and Religious Studies Honors Adviser Matthew Restall Professor of Colonial Latin American History, Anthropology, and Women’s Studies Honors Adviser * Signatures are on file in the Schreyer Honors College. i ABSTRACT Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is both simultaneously a martial art and a competitive sport activity. In historical terms the activity is young, having existed for less than one hundred years. There exists very little in regards to published academic research concerning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This study analyzes the evolution of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu into a popular mainstream competitive combat sport and the implications of this on the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community in Salvador de Bahia Brazil. A formal interview with Eduardo dos Santos, a native Bahian black belt, combined with informal interviews with the greater Salvadorian Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community and the author’s own experiences in the spring and summer of 2011 make up much of primary research. In addition the study examines oral and written history of the beginnings of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the early twentieth century and the formation of Team Gracie Barra. It also demonstrates the relationship between Bahian culture, and the popular martial art/dance, capoeira, in relation to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The study concludes with the relationship between Mixed Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the potential future of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................................................................................iii Chapter 1: Introduction ...........................................................................................................1 Section I: Overview.........................................................................................................1 Section II: What is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? ...........................................................................3 Chapter 2: The Formation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu .....................................................................9 Section I: Helio and Carlos Gracie: The Founders .........................................................9 Section II: Branching Out: Emergence of Team Gracie Barra ......................................23 Section III: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Hits America...................................................................34 Chapter 3: Culture and Capoeira In Bahia, Brazil ..................................................................43 Section I: Brief History of Bahia, Brazil.........................................................................43 Section II: Martial Arts Culture in Bahia: Capoeira ......................................................54 Chapter 4: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil ....................................................64 Section I: Gracie Barra’s Influence.................................................................................64 Section II: The Culture of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu..................................................................72 Section III: The Influence of Mixed Martial Arts on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ........................87 Section IV: The Future of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Salvador...............................................92 Chapter 5: Conclusion.............................................................................................................101 Appendix A Transcribed Interview.........................................................................................103 Appendix B Bibliography .......................................................................................................113 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to thank my Thesis supervisor, Professor Solsiree Del Moral for her concrete critique of my work and her guidance on shaping this thesis. I would also like to thank Professor Catherine Wanner for all her help as both my honors advisor in the Schreyer Honors College and my History thesis advisor. In addition, I thank the Department of Latin American Studies. I could not have created this thesis without the help of my numerous instructors and training partners from Team Gracie Barra in Salvador de Bahia Brazil. Each of them has earned my eternal gratitude and friendship. Eduardo “Duda” dos Santos deserves special recognition for taking the time to sit down and answer my interview questions as well as helping me feel at home at his academy in Salvador. I also thank Team Renzo Gracie Pennsylvania for introducing me to the world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and encouraging me to train in Brazil. I am grateful for the Schreyer Honors College and Paterno Fellows program for making this thesis possible and for helping out financially on my trip to Brazil. I would like to ask my brother, and main training partner, Alexandre Murphy for his thoughts and critique on this project. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their continued support in everything I do, both academically and athletically. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction Section I: Overview There is little published information concerning the institution of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) in the city of Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. I chose to write this thesis in an attempt to provide an academic overview of an unpublished topic. This thesis is an ethnographic study on the BJJ community in Salvador de Bahia. The primary sources of the thesis are the histories of BJJ as an individual martial art, the history of the state of Bahia, Brazil and its martial culture, as well as my own individual research and observations from my time living within the BJJ community in Salvador de Bahia. This thesis is an attempt to demonstrate BJJ’s continued growth from a martial system of self‐defense to a popular combat sport in Salvador de Bahia, while also analyzing specific aspects of the culture of BJJ. In addition to drawing on various published primary and secondary sources, the bulk of my research on the specific Bahian BJJ community was conducted during a sixth month stay in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil from January to July of 2011. While there, I trained with the BJJ Gracie Barra‐Bahia Team six days a week. I participated in formal and informal interviews with my instructors and fellow teammates. My time in Brazil was supplemented with a study abroad experience at the Universidade Católica do Salvador (UCSAL) where I took classes including capoeira, a traditional martial art from Brazil. I also supplemented my time volunteering a local community development center where I taught local children BJJ and body movement exercises/games. Future scholars can use this study to analyze the culture of BJJ in Salvador de 2 Bahia, specifically in 2011. Furthermore, this is the first academically published paper that deals with the history of Bahian BJJ as well as many other facets of the BJJ culture in Salvador and Bahia. This thesis could be used in a future compare and contrast of the BJJ community of Salvador with the BJJ communities of other Brazilian cities or states, as well as the BJJ communities in other countries. This thesis is divided into an introduction, followed by three chapters, a conclusion, and a bibliography. The introduction is divided into two sections. The first section describes the intent and overview of the entire thesis, and the second section describes what Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is. The first chapter discusses the history of BJJ and the Gracie family. It is broken into three sections, the first describes the foundation of BJJ in Brazil, the second describes the spreading of BJJ into various Brazilian communities and the formation of Team Gracie Barra, while the third section describes BJJ coming to the United States and the beginning of the UFC. The second chapter is divided into two sections, the first of which provides a brief history of the state of Bahia, Brazil. The second section describes the martial culture of Bahia, specifically the institution of capoeira and its relationship to BJJ. The third chapter is divided into four sections. The first section describes how BJJ arrived in Salvador and Bahia, the second section discusses aspects of the culture of BJJ in Salvador, the third section discusses the influence of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in Salvador, and the final section attempts to analyze the future of BJJ in Salvador. The conclusion provides a summation of the arguments of the preceding chapters. Throughout the writing Portuguese and BJJ technical terms are translated or described in the footnotes, negating the need for a formalized glossary. 3 Section II: What is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial arts system with a primary emphasis on ground fighting and grappling. Grappling refers to a broad range of specific techniques and movements used by one person to physically dominate an opponent. That domination can take the form of positional dominance, such as holding your opponent down to stop him from moving or escaping. This positional