Matías Knust Dragunski Children Play Capoeira A (somewhat) multi-sited exploration about children’s experiences with Capoeira in Norway and Spain Master’s thesis NTNU Science and Technology Norwegian University of Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management Master’s Thesis of Philosophy in Childhood Studies Norwegian Centre for Child Research [NOSEB] Trondheim, November 2013 Do Children Play Capoeira? A (somewhat) multi-sited exploration about children’s experiences with Capoeira in Norway and Spain Master’s Thesis in Childhood Studies Matias Knust Dragunski Trondheim, November 2013 i This was the place I observed Capoeira for the first time and the next day a capoeirista taught me the first ginga and esquiva movements. The picture was taken by my Italian friend Lorenzo Toppi in Parque da Harmonia, while staying in the Acampamento Internacional da Juventude in the context of the V Forum Social Mundial, event that took place in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil during the summer of year 2005. I call this picture “bare foot roda dance in the Capo- eira”, referring to the believed, Tupí-Guarnaí word that gives birth to Capoeira, and which means an empty grassy space in the woods. As I experience during this exploration in the Global North, most of the Capoeira rodas took place inside established training centres, though sometimes the groups also performed outside in the streets, in parks and squares. Picture: (LT). ii To Sussa lenda who taught me Capoeira for the first time and to all capoeiristas who know they have a mestre embodied, although very deep inside. iii “It is true, as Marx says, that history does not walk on its head, but it is also true that it does not think with its feet. Or one should say rather that it is neither its ‘head’ not its ‘feet’ that we have to worry about, but its body”(sic) Merleau-Ponty, 1962: xix “[T]he “book” from which the children learn their vision of the world is read with the body, in and through the movements and displacements which make the space within which they are enacted as much as they are made by it” Bourdieu, 1997: 90 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing this thesis has been a journey in every possible way a step by step and a flight after flight. I met many nice people during this journey, a crazy Norwegian even sung me Luchín from Víctor Jara in the Psychiatric Hospital. I got emotional that moment, living three years away from my family and friends in Chile. However, this thesis started embodied in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in the context of the V World Social Fôrum in the year 2005. It was there that Sussa taught me Capoeira for the first time, only few movements, the ginga and the esquiva latera, maybe also the puente? It has been learning experience every step of the path and I am eternally grateful to all my experiences, that constitute who I am. Luckily I never had to do this journey all alone and many people accompanied me during the thirsty and funny days. I wish to thank especially my supervisor, Professor Randi Dyblie Nilsen at the Norwegian Centre for Child Research (NOSEB), who thanks to our, yes, many discussions about theories, ethics and methodology, had always time to receive me and to give a pertinent feedback. I also want to thank Line Hellem, Student Advisor at NOSEB who welcomed me very kindly, after being absent for some months, in my office. Still feel that warm greeting in me. I also want to thank Post Doctor Firouz Gaini with whom we had nice conversation about children and childhood. And also toPhD fellow Douglas Tendai Phiri, who has always a smile in his face. I also want to extend my thanks to my future colleague Ida Engan Farstad and my other colleague Robert Max Keppler for your feedback and support. I also wish to thank Anette Nistad, Sebastian Schafhirt and Kam Sripada for their invaluable help and their good mood, so important in life to continue looking forward. Nicolás Sánchez, Carlos Cruz, Miguel Ramírez, Daniela Ivars, Samita Wilson, Mayte Troncoso Abelleira, Lars Lande, Janna Nyhaga thank you very much for your company and the nice times spent together. v Impossible not to thank Igansi Torrent and Alba Cuevas, Rommy Morales, Ximena Schnaidt, for their excellent disposition while doing my fieldwork in Catalonia. I am also grateful to Janan Knust and Jordan Koskas. Pablo Estibill, Ignasio García, Francisca Madariaga and my goddaughter Jacinta somehow although living in Chile and Australia, you were always with me. I also want to thank Critóbal Madero Cabib and Nicolás Sternsdorff Cisternas for their longstanding friendship. Especially, I want to thank all the capoeiristas who actively participated in this research. As I cannot write reveal their real identities due to ethical issues I will use the fictional names I used. First I want to thank Michael, Daniela, Fátima, Nuria, Perico, Ignasi, Adriana, Adrià, Jordi and Lloyda in Spain, and Olav, Susan, Line, Ferdinand, Therese, Lidia, Haris, Bahij, Ingrid, Helga, Thor, Lisbeth, Andreas and Magnus in Norway. You were my inspiration and I tried to communicate your voice and your perspectives as best as I could. Moltes gràcies! Tusen takk! Obviously I am very grateful to mestre Dedé, mestre Puma and mestre Today, though special greetings go till instructor Jens who was always available to answer my doubts during the analytical process. And last but not least, I wish to thank the Lucas, Sophie and Emanuel, my dear and loved siblings, I love you so much! Finally, thank you for letting me experience this world, for always believe in me, thank you very much dear Gisela and Óscar, without you this thesis and all this story would not have been possible. I love you now and forever. Trondheim, November 2013 Matías Knust Dragunski vi ABSTRACT The thesis presented here is a (somewhat) multi-sited ethnographic exploration, this means I centered the analysis on children who practice Capoeira in Norway and Spain. The research gained in depth in the art thanks to visits made to Lisbon and Copenhagen. Through a qualitative analysis, based on a theoretical concepts from sociology of childhood and also from the philosophical-biological-sociological concept embodiment, this thesis contributes to the creation of knowledge in the field of childhood studies. Throughout this study, childhood is understood as a social construction which is shaped and re- shaped by children who should be researched in their own rights. This study, considers thus children as competent social actors who have agency. Hence, children are observed as not determinate by historical or cultural processes, rather, they are considered as constructors and doers of their own lives. Capoeira, as a syncretic diasporic-transnational, originally Afro- Brazilian cultural manifestation, is observed as a leisure activity, a possibility to become a modern ritual to the children, a place for them to express themselves though body language. The practice is observed as embodied, this means, children take their practice within their bodies, and in time this can impact their habitus. Children who train Capoeira start their practice invited by their parents, though they think the acrobatics and the martial arts kicks are “cool” and have generally a good times practicing diversity aspects the art offers them, however, they also dislike other and used their agency to achieve what they want to do. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................ v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... viii 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 The Choice of the Topic ................................................................................................. 5 1.2 Related Studies ............................................................................................................... 7 1.3 The Aim of the Research & Research Questions ........................................................ 8 1.4 Relevance of the Research ............................................................................................. 9 1.5 Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................................. 10 2 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................. 12 2.1 The Myths of Capoeira ................................................................................................ 12 2.2 Capoeira History .......................................................................................................... 13 2.3 National Sport, Bimba, Pastinha & the Generation of the Academies ................... 15 2.4 A Globalized Practice: Travelling from Brazil to Europe........................................ 18 3 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ................................................................................. 20 3.1 The Social Studies of Children & Childhood ............................................................ 20 3.2 The Social Construction of Childhood ....................................................................... 22 3.2.1 Childhood as Structural Form ................................................................................