Built to Crash?

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Built to Crash? Built to Crash? In a brilliant book “A demon of our own design”, the author, Richard Bookstaber, concludes on what is wrong with the current financial system and how it has become more crisis – prone. “The question posed by this book, simply put, is: Why can’t the financial markets seem to get their act together? Why, in spite of reduced risk in the underlying economy, in spite of the march of innovation and the contributions of financial engineering, do we not enjoy reductions in financial risk that we find in other areas of our lives? Why are markets actually becoming more crisis-prone? One answer can be found in the effects of innovation. It is undeniable that innovation has had some positive effects on the markets. It has improved the markets by making them mechanically more efficient. The markets are more liquid and quicker to react to information. Information flows more freely and is distributed more widely, and prices are readily available to virtually all participants. Trades are executed nearly instantaneously worldwide at transaction costs that are a small fraction of what they were a few decades ago. And, whether developed with the intent of better meeting the demands of investors or, more cynically, to stave off commoditization and maintain profitability, we are awash in new and innovative instruments. But the positive effects of innovation come at a price. Innovation increases complexity. Many innovative instruments are in the form of derivatives with conditional and nonlinear payoffs. When a market dislocation arises, it is difficult to know how the prices of these instruments will react. Innovation and mechanical efficiency have also increased complexity by pushing markets to become more interconnected. Thanks to globalization, a problem in one market can affect another even when there is no economic relationship between the two simply because investor portfolios or bank credit lines have exposures to each. Innovation has also led the markets to become more tightly coupled. This tight coupling, and the resulting higher liquidity, makes it is easier to take on levered positions, because more liquid and readily priced securities make for better collateral. The combination of tight coupling and complexity is a formula for normal accidents-accidents that are all but inevitable as a result of the structure of the system. We have analyzed these sorts of accidents in airlines with the ValuJet crash and in nuclear power plants with Three Mile Island and < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Chernobyl. In all of these cases disaster was triggered by simple and apparently innocent actions that initiated a chain of compounding problems because of the complex nature of the system. The tight coupling from one link to the next precluded any kind of stop lever; no one could sit back and say, “Wait a minute, let’s shut things down and think about what is happening here.” What is all the more troubling is that attempts to add layers of safeguards or regulation to prevent these disasters may actu- www.capitalideasonline.com Page - 1 Built to Crash? ally do the opposite by increasing the complexity. The catalyst for the ValuJet crash was a regulated safeguard. The problems at Chernobyl started with a safety test. Financial risk is also higher because the markets increasingly assume a mathematically precise rationality, as opposed to the way we actually do, or indeed really should, behave. People do crazy things all the time, yet the efficient market paradigm assumes that investors take all information into account and react quickly and rationally. The world is not well described by this paradigm; we tend to be coarse in our responses and we leave information by the wayside. We do this because we conduct our lives with a sense of unanticipatable, primal risk that remains unconsidered in the market’s design. Recall the cockroach-scurrying along over millions of years, as jungles turn to deserts and cities rise and fall, ignoring most of the information the environment has to offer- versus the furu, optimized and specialized to take advantage of every nook and cranny of its niche in Lake Victoria. We are wired to deal with a type of uncertainty we cannot recognize, and this leads us to exhibit behavior that is inconsistent with the mathematical rationality that underlies the paradigm on which financial engineering is based. We fail to take the degree of fine-tuned actions that conventional optimization would dictate, and fortunately so, be cause, like the furu, conventional optimization pairs off only against the current world with the risks and uncertainties that can be identified within it. The implications of this uncertainty are profound, extending beyond the financial markets. But because the markets feed on risk and are largely free of friction and institutional constraints, apparently suboptimal behavior may have its most significant and obvious effects there. For example, coarse behavior leads to a paradoxical corollary: Greater uncertainty leads to more predictable behavior. Within the limited world of finance, this predictability is a decided negative. It might be the reason traders and hedge funds can pick us off to make profits. But within the broader world in which we live, and the many possible worlds that might unexpectedly arise, this predictability and the coarse behavior from which it stems leaves us-and our biological compatriots- more capable of survival. Market crises are not born from nature. They are not transmitted by economic or natural catastrophe. The machinery of the market itself can take a small event and distort it. The more closely we try to follow the ideal, thereby adding complexity and more tightly coupling the actions of the market, the more frequently crises will occur. Attempts at that point to add safety features, to layer on regulations and safeguards, will only add to the complexity of the ‘system and make the accidents more frequent. And when blowups happen in the future I can guarantee that the focus will be directed improperly: not at the issues of market design but at hedge funds where the events are observed. They will be implicated for the simple reason that they are engulfing more and www.capitalideasonline.com Page - 2 Built to Crash? more of the risk-taking landscape. The perception of hedge funds being what it is, they will take the blame and become subject to increased regulation. But blaming hedge funds is a little bit likeThe Simpsons episode in which a meteorite hits Springfield and the townspeople gather, shouting, “Let’s burn down the observatory so this never happens again!” True, the hedge funds are the institutions that have the appetite for the risk; but there is nothing inherent in hedge funds, nothing that they represent as a unified set, that makes them the singular cause of anything. So if we are subject to risks that we cannot even anticipate, if we have built a world of complexity and tight coupling where adding regulation only makes matters worse, is there any more we can say other than “get used to it”? In the basement of a rundown office building on West 30th Street in New York‘s Garment District resides Renzo Gracie’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy. It is not only a place where I train several times a week, but one that also offers a great lesson in demonstrating a method for dealing with the endogenous risk of the market. How ‘Jiu Jitsu” and “Brazilian” came to be joined in one breath is an interesting story.In 1912 a large group of Japanese immigrated to northern Brazil. They were assisted by Mitsuyo Maeda, a noted Japanese jujitsu expert who had traveled throughout the Americas and Europe teaching the art before emigrating to Brazil. Gastao Gracie, a diplomat and businessman, had befriended Maeda and arranged for the group’s immigration. To show his appreciation, Maeda taught jujitsu to Gastao’s oldest son, Carlos Gracie. He was just14 when he began. A dedicated student, he adapted Maeda’s techniques to be more effective for fighting in the Brazilian streets. He not only entered competitions, but also advertised in newspapers to find opponents against whom he could test and improve his style. Later he taught his younger brothers, the youngest of whom, Helio, became especially adept. Helio had a slight build, and to accommodate his small size and lack of strength he further modified the jujitsu style, focusing more on technique and less on power or athleticism. Helio fought more than 600 matches with only two defeats, both occurring when he was past the age of 45. The techniques refined by Carlos and Helio were passed on to their children and through them to the next generation as well. Carlos had 21 children and Helio had 9, so a dynasty of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters was born. Today there are more than 40 Gracie family members who either teach or compete, Renzo being one of their number. The confidence of the Grades was manifest in an open challenge: Anyone could walk into their academy and demand a fight on the spot, with no time limit and no rules. Any challenger’s notion of engaging in a bare- knuckle slugfest would be quickly disarmed by the nature of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Little if any damage would occur www.capitalideasonline.com Page - 3 Built to Crash? before the Gracies would take the fight to the ground. Once there, it would end with submission from either a choke hold or a joint lock. The opponent, sensing he would shortly lose consciousness in the first instance or would have his arm broken in the second, would “tap out” on the floor to signal his desire to end the contest.
Recommended publications
  • Sogo MMA - Introduction and Overview
    Sogo MMA - Introduction and Overview What is MMA? Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, from a variety of other combat sports. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be traced back to the ancient Olympics in the sport of Pankration. Various mixed style contests took place throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim during the early 1900s. The combat sport of "vale tudo" (anything goes) that had developed in Brazil from the 1920s was brought to the United States by the Gracie family in 1993 with the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The more dangerous vale-tudo-style bouts of the early UFCs were made safer with the implementation of additional rules, leading to the popular regulated form of MMA seen today. Originally promoted as a competition with the intention of finding the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat situations, competitors were pitted against one another with minimal rules. Later, fighters employed multiple martial arts into their style while promoters adopted additional rules aimed at increasing safety for competitors and to promote mainstream acceptance of the sport. Lead by the modern version of MMA the UFC (owned by Zuffa) is now the fastest growing spectator sport and the fastest growing combat sport in the world. With names like Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre becoming household names the sport of MMA continues to grow and receive acceptance by the general public.
    [Show full text]
  • BRAZILIAN CATCH WRESTLING in 20Th-CENTURY RIO DE JANEIRO
    ORIGINAL ARTICLES BRAZILIAN CATCH WRESTLING IN 20th-CENTURY RIO DE JANEIRO A LUTA LIVRE NO SÉCULO XX NO RIO DE JANEIRO LA LUCHA LIBRE EN EL SIGLO XX EN RIO DE JANEIRO Roberto Alves Garcia*, Nádia Lima da Silva*, Sebastião Josué Votre* Keywords: Abstract: This study aims at analyzing the history of wrestling in Rio de Janeiro during Fighting. the last century. The data come from four interviews with practitioners aged 46-78. Martial arts. Working with memory and oral history, we found that wrestling in the city developed and History of the 20th improved by hybridizing with other forms of combat, pointing towards sportivization. The Century. analysis allowed us to conclude that wrestling asserted its identity in opposition to jiu jitsu. Personal narratives. Palavras chave: Resumo: Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar a trajetória da luta livre no Rio Luta. de Janeiro no século passado. Os dados provêm de quatro entrevistas com protagonistas Artes marciais. dessa luta, com idades entre 46 e 78 anos e de revistas de lutas. Trabalhando com História memória e história oral, verificamos que a luta livre carioca se aprimorou por movimento do século XX. interno e através da hibridização com outras modalidades de combate, rumo Narrativas pessoais. à esportivização. A análise permitiu concluir que a luta livre afirmou e reconstruiu sua identidade em confronto com o jiu-jítsu. Palabras clave: Resumen: Este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar la trayectoria de la lucha libre *State University of Rio de Janeiro. Rio Lucha. en Rio de Janeiro, en el siglo pasado. Los datos provienen de cuatro entrevistas de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
    [Show full text]
  • Analysis and Evaluation of Sports Fight in Mixed Martial Arts with Using of Augmented Reality As an Element of Coach Control in This Discipline
    ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF SPORTS FIGHT IN MIXED MARTIAL ARTS WITH USING OF AUGMENTED REALITY AS AN ELEMENT OF COACH CONTROL IN THIS DISCIPLINE dr hab. Kazimierz Witkowski*, prof. nadzw., dr Paweł Adam Piepiora*, mgr Igor Stariczenkow* Introduction Nowadays tournaments ‘without rules’ are more and more organized. Fights that are known as the Portuguese ‘vale tudo’, also called ‘mixed martial arts’ or ‘no holds barred’ have become nowadays extremely popular. It should be noted that the ‘fight without rules’ have strict rules. Not only, it is defined the place and time of fight, but they also banned brutal techniques which do not affect the course of battle, i.e. biting and techniques which obviously can lead to disability. These rules apply in primary battles ‘vale tudo’ while numerous tournaments bring a variety of constraints, thus they are often called ‘mixed martial arts’. The original idea of MMA tournaments was to confront techniques of different styles, to check the efficiency of individual techniques in sports fight with a minimum of restrictions. Nowadays it still happens, because the fighters prepare using a whole experience of different styles of fighting. Every fight is a clash of motion skills and intellect behind the technique and tactics1,2. The greater complexity characterized by the fight, the more tactical and intellectual challenge is. The aim of the study is to verify competitive sports in the MMA heavyweight fights. The research questions are: which technical elements will dominate in the MMA fight in the stand-up?
    [Show full text]
  • Sag E Arts Unlimited Martial Arts & Fitness Training
    Sag e Arts Unlimited Martial Arts & Fitness Training Grappling Intensive Program - Basic Course - Sage Arts Unlimited Grappling Intensive Program - Basic Course Goals for this class: - To introduce and acclimate students to the rigors of Grappling. - To prepare students’ technical arsenal and conceptual understanding of various formats of Grappling. - To develop efficient movement skills and defensive awareness in students. - To introduce students to the techniques of submission wrestling both with and without gi’s. - To introduce students to the striking aspects of Vale Tudo and Shoot Wrestling (Shooto) and their relationship to self-defense, and methods for training these aspects. - To help students begin to think tactically and strategically regarding the opponent’s base, relative position and the opportunities that these create. - To give students a base of effective throws and breakfalls, transitioning from a standing format to a grounded one. Class Rules 1. No Injuries 2. Respect your training partner, when they tap, let up. 3. You are 50% responsible for your safety, tap when it hurts. 4. An open mind is not only encouraged, it is mandatory. 5. Take Notes. 6. No Whining 7. No Ego 8. No Issues. Bring Every Class Optional Equipment Notebook or 3-ring binder for handouts and class notes. Long or Short-sleeved Rashguard Judo or JiuJitsu Gi and Belt Ear Guards T-shirt to train in (nothing too valuable - may get stretched out) Knee Pads Wrestling shoes (optional) Bag Gloves or Vale Tudo Striking Gloves Mouthguard Focus Mitts or Thai Pads Smiling Enthusiasm and Open-mindedness 1 Introduction Grappling Arts from around the World Nearly every culture has its own method of grappling with a unique emphasis of tactic, technique and training mindset.
    [Show full text]
  • Leia Um Trecho Em
    ffilhoilho tteu_final.inddeu_final.indd 1 33/7/12/7/12 66:58:58 PPMM ffilhoilho tteu_final.inddeu_final.indd 2 33/7/12/7/12 66:58:58 PPMM ffilhoilho tteu_final.inddeu_final.indd 3 33/7/12/7/12 66:58:58 PPMM Copyright © 2012 Fellipe Awi COORDENAÇÃO EDITORIAL Bruno Porto EDITORA Livia de Almeida EDITOR ASSISTENTE Bruno Correia ASSISTENTE EDITORIAL Carolina Leocadio PREPARAÇÃO Clarissa Peixoto REVISÃO Clara Diament Flávia Midori PESQUISA Larissa Ribas Lauro Neto PROJETO GRÁFICO Laboratório Secreto DIAGRAMAÇÃO ô de casa CRÉDITOS DAS FOTOS Arquivo/Agência O Globo: pp. 24, 38, 52; José Ronaldo/ Agência O Globo: p. 66; Marcelo Alonso: pp. 82, 102, 120, 140, 158, 200, 252, 272, 292 e quarta capa; Susumu Nagao: p. 178; Alexandre Cassiano/Agência O Globo: p. 226. CIP-BRASIL. CATALOGAÇÃO-NA-FONTE SINDICATO NACIONAL DOS EDITORES DE LIVROS, RJ A999f Awi, Fellipe Filho teu não foge à luta : como os lutadores brasileiros transformaram o MMA em um fenômeno mundial / Fellipe Awi. - Rio de Janeiro : Intrínseca, 2012. 320p. : 23 cm ISBN 978-85-8057-172-1 1. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). 2. Lutadores marciais - História. 2. Artes marciais. 3. Luta (Esporte). I. Título. 12-1096. CDD: 796.8 CDU: 796.8 [2012] Todos os direitos desta edição reservados à EDITORA INTRÍNSECA LTDA. Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 99, 3o andar 22451-041 – Gávea Rio de Janeiro – RJ Tel./Fax: (21) 3206-7400 www.intrinseca.com.br ffilhoilho tteu_final.inddeu_final.indd 4 33/7/12/7/12 66:58:58 PPMM A Denise, Henrique e Arthur ffilhoilho tteu_final.inddeu_final.indd 5 33/7/12/7/12 66:58:58 PPMM
    [Show full text]
  • Vale Tudo Fighting Rules Updated 1St January 2005 1. Fighting Area the Fight Takes Place in a Boxing Ring. the Boxing Ring Must
    Vale Tudo Fighting Rules Updated 1st January 2005 1. Fighting area The fight takes place in a boxing ring. The boxing ring must be raised from the floor and it must have four ropes. 2. Beginning the fight The fighters start opposite each other in standing position. 3. Allowed techniques 1. While in upright position and barefoot, the fighter is allowed to kick to head, body and legs. If the fighter is wearing wrestling shoes, he is allowed to kick to body and legs only. 2. While in upright position it is allowed to punch to head, body and legs. 3. Knee techniques to head, body and legs are allowed during the standing fight. 4. Fighter is no longer in upright position if any other body part than the feet is touching the ground. 5. Elbow strikes are allowed to body and legs. 6. Elbow strikes to head are allowed only in A-class contests. 7. While fighting on the floor one is allowed to use techniques of wrestling, judo and jiu-jitsu. 8. The wrestling, judo and jiu-jitsu techniques may also be used in standing position. 9. Punches to head are allowed in all situations. Standing, sitting or lying down. 10. If both fighters are on the floor both are allowed to use kicking techniques to the head. 11. During the ground fight knee techniques are allowed only to body and legs. 12. If one is standing and the other is not in upright position, the fighter who stands is not allowed to kick or knee to the head.
    [Show full text]
  • Match Analysis on No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
    Match analysis on no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu Tuomas Simola Bachelor Thesis Degree Programme in Sports and Leisure Management 2017 Abstract Author Tuomas Simola Degree Programme Group and year of Degree Programme in Sports and entry Leisure Management LOT 13 Title of thesis Number of pages Match analysis on no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu and appendices Supervisor Kimmo Kantosalo 43 + 2 Gi and no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu are fast growing sports. The aim of this thesis is to conclude a match analysis on no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Match analysis is used to identify the most used techniques in no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu. There is no sport analysis done for either gi or no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu, therefore the match analysis and its results can be utilized later as a base for sport analysis. The goal of this study is to find out the match duration, the type of match ending, the most common submissions and the point scoring positions of no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Previously they have carried out a match analysis on gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships. One purpose of the study is also to compare findings between gi and no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Matches (subjects) analyzed are from No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships 2015. All of the black belt matches from each weight category both men and women are analyzed. Observations were gathered on Excel spreadsheet and results were analyzed by statistical analysis program SPSS. The literature review is done on the history of the sport, the rules of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, match analysis and statistical analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • May 2019 | Issue 15
    CALVERT MMA ACADEMY CALL +1 (410) 257-5425 BJJ & MMA RELSON GRACIE JUI-JITSU & MIXED MARTIAL ARTS TRACING LINEAGE When you train with a BJJ or MMA gym, you are subscribing to the teachings of those who came before your instructor. WANT TO FIGHT? ARE WE A GOOD FIT? The ring is not for everyone. There are at least four questions Want to jump in? Find out if you you should ask yourself before have what it takes. becoming a member of any BJJ or MMA gym. Learn more.... C A L V E R T M M A . C O M CALVERT MMA ACADEMY CALL +1 (410) 257-5425 The Gracie BJJ Timeline 01. The Japanese art of Jujitsu was outlawed in the late 1800s by Japan's own Emperor in an attempt to become more modern. 02. Jigoro Kano revives Jujitsu and begins new belting system 03. Kano's star pupils was a man named Mitsuyo Maeda. Maeda, Maeda fought in Europe's catch wrestling competitions and instructed Carlos Gracie. 04. In 1925, Carlos Gracie opens a gym in Rio De Janerio,Brazil. Carlos' first students were his brothers Oswaldo, Gastao, George and Helio Gracie. 05. Gracie Jiu Jitsu,an art that relyed on leverage and timing would become known to the world as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). 06. The Gracie's used "Vale Tudo" or "No Rules", these were combat contests that pitted two men against each other in a ring or open space for the entertainment of on-lookers to gain popularity. Vale Tudo did not use weight classes, promotions or championships.
    [Show full text]
  • Mixed Martial Arts 1 Mixed Martial Arts
    Mixed martial arts 1 Mixed martial arts Mixed Martial Arts Patrick Barry (Blue shorts) and Mirko Filipović (Checkered shorts) in the co-main event of UFC 115 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Also known as Vale Tudo, No Holds Barred (NHB), Cage Fighting, Ultimate Fighting, Pride Fighting, Sougo Kakutogi Focus Various Hardness Full contact Olympic sport No Mixed martial arts (MMA), popularly known as cage fighting or ultimate fighting is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques and skills, from a mixture of other combat sports, to be used in competitions. The rules allow the use of both striking as well as grappling techniques, both while standing and while on the ground. Such competitions allow fighters of different backgrounds to compete. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be traced back to various mixed style contests that took place throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim during the early 1900s. The combat sport of Vale Tudo that had developed in Brazil from the 1920s was brought to the United States by the Gracie family in 1993 with the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Professional MMA events had also been held in Japan by Shooto starting back in 1989. In due course the more dangerous Vale Tudo style bouts of the early UFCs were made safer with the implementation of additional rules, leading to the popular regulated form of MMA seen today. Originally promoted as a competition with the intention of finding the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat situations,
    [Show full text]
  • Open Murphy Nathanael BJJ Thesisfinal.Pdf
    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.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gracies & the Birth of Vale Tudo DVD (Documentary) MMA Jiu Jitsu Judo Karate
    The Gracies & the Birth of Vale Tudo DVD (Documentary) MMA Jiu Jitsu judo karate We're so satisfied I found this kind of. It informs the story with this famous fighting techinques household... through Helio, to Rickson plus Progresses (who was essentially the most powerful although past away at the start of your hang- gliding car accident. In order for you the actual ideal backstory of your that famous Jiu Jitsu dynasty through the a person as there is plenty of arrival video stretching out up back in this 60s, Seventies... your narrator could bore but this is a lot more factual by nature so their tolerable I've been included in Jiujutsu for 20 decades and i'm certainly not within activity or maybe competition Jiujutsu. A great history lesson and also the block examine the genuine anything should go vale tudo actual putting on Jiujutsu meant for self- defense and also do-it-yourself ongoing availability. Wonderful movie! Owner will get 100% for convenient shipping! This has been a very good plus informational Dvd movie.Most of what you read about this kind of subject theme is exceedingly nice plus polished (by simply pattern).This particular Digital video disc considered a few of the much more distressing, depressing, and genuine part involving household, popularity, in addition to dynasty.In some cases the text is actually difficult to follow along with mainly because it continually flows between the two involving English along with Colonial.Well worth it should you decide upon comprehending the mother nature of Wrestling. Find all Five user reviews..
    [Show full text]
  • Hard Play: Capoeira and the Politics of Inequality in Rio De Janeiro
    HARD PLAY: CAPOEIRA AND THE POLITICS OF INEQUALITY IN RIO DE JANEIRO KATYA WESOLOWSKI Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2007 © 2007 Katya Wesolowski All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Hard Play: Capoeira and the Politics of Inequality in Rio de Janeiro Katya Wesolowski Capoeira is a game of physical dexterity and cunning that incorporates fight, dance, acrobatics and music. Developed by African slaves in Brazil and once an exclusively male domain, capoeira was viewed as a social threat and severely persecuted through the 19th century. By the mid 20th century capoeira had come to be celebrated as an element of national identity, and today the practice crosses class, ethnic, gender and national boundaries. Among its myriad definitions, capoeira is conceived of as “play”: two participants “play” in a ring, or roda, surrounded by other participants and accompanied by percussive music and singing. Interaction oscillates between playful cooperation and aggressive confrontation as partner-adversaries attempt to outmaneuver each other, claim space, and demonstrate greater corporal expression, intelligence and creativity. A bounded ritual space, the roda is also contiguous with the external world, as is evident in claims that skills learned in the roda carry into everyday life. This ethnographic study, based on two years of fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro and my ongoing involvement as a practitioner, approaches capoeira as embodied play and a social practice that constitutes a particular type of engagement with the world: cultivating intelligent, expressive bodies through training and play, and forging collective identities and fictive kinship ties through group affiliation, practitioners become “capoeiristas,” and in so doing reshape themselves and their relationships to their environment and people within it.
    [Show full text]