This is the last post in which I will be discussing my thoughts on Fundamentalism and Capoeira based on an experience I had trying to cooperate with another group/style to collect data for my research.
As I called attention in the previous posts, the lack of mutual comprehension and respect; inter-group and inter-style cooperation; and the condemnation of mingling, can prevent the application of Capoeira as an inclusive and educative tool worldwide.
Note: All names used in this article are pseudonymous. My intention in sharing my experience is to illustrate the difficulties in establishing inter-style and inter-group cooperation only.
Fundamentalism and Capoeira
Part Three: The (lack of) Diversity Tolerance Issue.
Most people believe fundamentalism is related to religious phenomenon and extremist factions only. It is not. It is in fact an all pervading phenomenon in our societies and cultures today. But why it is becoming so frequent in Capoeira? I presume that the tension between the art’s historical stubbornness in resisting dehumanising and acculturative forces throughout history, and today’s pressure of westernisation, collaborates to increase fundamentalist actions in the art.
Fundamentalism does not occur independently from the ruling system; it is a response to it; hence, intrinsic to it as well. It opposes the ruling system, but not without absorbing some of its principles. In this way, ‘closed versions of culture’ (Hall; 1993) whilst refusing to engage with diversity and attempting to secure their identities against the ruling system’s homogenising forces, are frequently absorbing some of its values as well. Individualism, high-competitive behaviour, and the worshiping of celebrities are not strangers to these groups.
Interestingly, due to its extremist character and its cult behaviour, these ‘closed versions of culture’ are understood by the mainstream society as ‘the others’, but not as a response springing from the same society. This is not different in today’s Capoeira. With everyone struggling to live with (group) differences, it becomes useful to rule out counterparts as the ‘others’, so that groups can live without engaging with diversity.
With the spreading of Capoeira to the developed countries after the 70s, the art begun to be conformed to the western and capitalist framework, losing much of its spontaneity and purpose as an empowering cultural expression. The art was transformed in a very lucrative business, but only to a selected group of Mestres. What once was spontaneously forged by a diverse range of people in Brazil, begin to have ‘guardians’, ‘owners of the truth’.
These ‘guardians’, regardless of which style they belong, instead of working to uphold the values (of empowerment, inclusiveness and otherness) and the lessons learnt from the early multi-ethnic socio-cultural context of the art; are more focused on upholding (mostly invented) traditions recently introduced to Capoeira, but much more useful to be marketed by their ‘keepers’. A consequence of the adaptation of the art to the market’s logic.
In one hand there are groups practising an alienated Capoeira, akin to mass culture; too adaptive to the market’s forces, highly competitive, and money-driven. On the other hand, there are groups attempting to resist this homogenisation with extreme practices of traditionalism, akin to a fundamentalist culture.
In addition, in order to uphold their cohesiveness, these ideological communities preaches ‘an absolute conviction’ of their believes, leading their practitioners to a fundamentalist approach of Capoeira.
The problem with this attitude is that “the possession by an idea, by a faith, that gives absolute conviction of one’s truth, annihilate any possibility of comprehension of other idea, of other faith, of other person” (Morin; 2001: 99. Italics mine).
Exactly what had just happened to me in that event. I was not a counterpart, I was ‘the other’ trying to bring ‘deviant’ concepts (as a research brings questions) to a group who had ‘absolute conviction’ of their believes. Therefore, my views, my knowledge, my work with social inclusion, in fact myself, could not be comprehended.
The mainstream and the fundamentalist are part of the same societies, likewise, these two supposedly opposed community of ideas in Capoeira, are actually two sides of the same coin. Whether practitioners like it or not from now on Capoeira will be in constant conflict with westernisation forces and cultural diversity.
Some are weakening the art’s principles conforming it to market forces. Some others are attempting to strengthen its roots through a traditionalist reinterpretation. Both, acknowledging it or not, are deeply influenced by the western market forces.
Antônio Carlos, was an interesting example of how an attitude of resistance, taken to ‘an absolute conviction’ may lead one’s actions to reflect the forces s/he is opposing. He is an extremely competitive person often attesting his competence; boasting his uniqueness at all chances; aiming at all times to be the only authority in his field; a teacher who struggles to deal with diversity in his classes (usually taking what is ‘different’ as wrong), attempting to solely embody Capoeira as an instrument of resistance. However, his strategies turns out to compromise his cause.
Conversely, Morin, approaching how the formal education should contribute to the ethics of comprehension and democracy, explains that “the class room must be a place of the apprenticeship of the argued debate, of the taken of consciousness of the necessities and procedures of the comprehension of the other’s thought…” (Morin; 2001: 112-3).
Although the practice of Capoeira is not considered formal education, given the transcendence of the art’s lessons into one’s ordinary life, and bearing in mind the kind of culture people like Antônio Carlos can foster in a group, we ought to be questioning what other values might be transcending from the art into one’s daily life.
Thus, another question remains: How can groups/styles teaching with absolute conviction of their approach claim to promote social inclusion, if this same absolute conviction prevents the comprehension of other ideas, faiths, in fact of other peoples?
References
Hall, Stuart. (1993). Culture, community, nation. Cultural Studies 3, pp.349-63
Morin, Edgar. (2001). Os Sete Saberes Necessários à Educação do Futuro [Les sept savoirs nécessaires à l'éducacion du futur]. Brasília, DF, Brazil: Unesco
Oi Eurico
I am very intrested in how other teachers in the artform capoeira works with the concept, gives classes, their view of were capoeira comes from, their view on what capoeira is developing into and what they want it to be..
I have been on a journey to find out answeres to this questions for a couple of months now. Going around to different groups and trying to bee as neutral as I can becaus I want to show respect for their teachings to be able to understand them more. And as a extra promotion of what my group works with I give open rodas and invite all the groups that I visit.
I think about this allot. Why groups hold on to their truths. Right now I think it is in a pearsons nature to be lazy. For example : We want to be be able to play capoeira and when we learn one way we are probably to lazy to re-learn it in some other way. We stick to the original concept and only pick up new things/movments/concepts that fits with our “original capoeira” that we so much enjoy already.
I think this is true for Mestre aswell. They are also only humans, and for them a change would even be harder because they have already went so far with their own belifs and it’s a very big part of who they are.
I think all styles of capoeira enrich what it is and becaus there is so much strong feelings around it, makes it more interesting.. It’s very exiting to go to different groups and play.. I love it. I’m not there to show them that my capoeira is good or something like that.. I’m always trying to be humble to their attitudes and play their game. By beeing more open to their capoeira-concept, they will surely be more open to what I’m trying to express and achieve…
:). / pedra
As and added question , inspired by pedra’s ‘change’ argument :
How much do we think of influences to be ‘changing’ styles of the people that are being influenced by them ?
I am honestly wondering if people are being changed or more or less choosing what to accept as their own , kind of identifying their own capoeira characters ? In this last example people have an innate feeling of ‘play’ in general . Does anyone here think this could be said about capoeira ? As teachers how much are we teaching from scratch ?
Are we teaching or suggesting ?
a spaced-out compasso :-)
very good last part and very good conclusion. even made me think ;)
To Pedra:
I dont think “lazyness” is the reason. speaking as a lazy person :) i dont realy care that others are super active. i would never be angry at people wanting to train. as long as they dont wake me up i’m fine with that :D
to the spaced out compasso:
I dont think anything we teach is from scratch. i think every idea we have is based upon somthing else. realated or unrelated. No idea is entirely new and ultimately it has its roots in the primordial soup :)
maybe some stuff you learn from somethng completely unrelated like a monkey doing a flip to get away from a jaguar :) and then putting it in capoeira an calling it macaco.
or something related that mestre youtube thought you and implement in your classes.
Hey Camaradas,
@ Pedra
I think you have some good points there. In a time when pretty much everything is about consumerism, most people wants to buy their truths and philosophies ready instead of setting themselves in a quest; like you’re doing right now. In this sense, I believe there is a certain kind of ‘laziness’ as well.
For instance one of these days I was talking to a good friend about this actual trend in Capoeira (that comes from life in general) of ‘consuming’ (not even learning from them) Capoeira celebrities. Suddenly, it’s not about expressing yourself any more, rather it’s about been able to perform (exactly in the same way – mannerism) the movements and style of the top celebrities of the moment. My friend said to me: “- Today our folks in Capoeira are lazy to be themselves; it’s so much easier to copy whatever is been done…”
So, I think there is a certain trend to conform, and I agree that such trend affects one more with the passing years.
And finally, I would like to congratulate you for your attitude upon diversity within the art! It’s definitely enthralling once we learn how to learn from it and engage with it.
@ Compasso
Thanks for your comments once more! From your questions, I think you’ll enjoy reading my next posts on Paulo Freire’s philosophy of education.
Influences do change styles. For instance, before Mestre Waldemar no one was singing long ladainhas; before Mestre Bimba there wasn’t any method; before Mestre Pastinha there wasn’t a Mestre de Bateria …
As for your questions, in my view, it’s relative. Some are only training their students, in the sense that such training doesn’t bring any reflection of the world around and the role of their practice. Some are teaching, as they actions and lessons inspire students bringing alteration in the way they see the world; this is education. Yet, we cannot teach in a one-way sense, this doesn’t exist. We can inspire, help to bring awareness about one’s situation, then it’s the person that decides whether or not to follow that path.
@ Espada
I agree with you that whatever we learn is in relation to everything we have experienced. And I believe as teachers this must be taken into account when teaching.
Axé Folks! Muito obrigado!
Eurico
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To espada:
oi espada! Tudo bem?
i think I’m missunderstod. When I say lazy I meen that people are sometimes satisfied with the carecter they been moulded in to throu time and to change and alter that requiers much from the individual. Lazy in their unwillingness to change. But not lazy in the sence that they keep on building on their on way of doing things
ate logo / pedra
Hi Pedra,
yes i misunderstood you :) and now see what you mean.
it could be that people dont whant to change because the are already something. but they dont have to change, just accept that there are others to :)
and let everyone run around with flowers in there hair :)
I think its important to remember that Capoeira is very important to different people for different reasons. I recommend the book “Capoeira: a history of an Afro-Brazilian martial art” by Matthias Rohrig Assuncao. He talks about different ‘narratives’ in Capoeira. One is focusing on Capoeira as African art form, one is Capoeira as Brazilian art form, and one is Capoeira as lower class art form. The different emphases make some aspects of Capoeira and its history and traditions stand out while others fade into the distance. People find it hard to give up their way of seeing because it is important to them. For example, I was attracted to Capoeira because I saw it as an art form of the marginalized, something I could relate to. It gave me something positive to aim for and not get stuck in the track of crime, alcohol and drugs. It said to me “you can be you, be from where you’re from, and not have to try to change to be more upper class”. For that reason, I have a certain view on Capoeira. It also helped me as a mixed ethnicity person to be given a context (Brazilian) where parents of totally different skin colours is not seen as strange.
Nowadays I’ve realized these things and can see that there are other ways people relate to Capoeira, but I still hold on to my version of the truth because it has given me comfort, joy and refuge. For many others, it is the same. They stick to their way because of what it means to them. Its a connection they don’t want to lose, and sometimes the criticism of their ideas and their way is seen as a threat to their connection. This is expanded to whole groups because likeminded people gravitate together. I feel comfortable in my group, for example, because there are many people who come from a similar context to me.
Axe
Futa
@ Eurico
Good stuff , thanks !
Philosophy of education ! can’t wait ! :-)