Should the acknowledgement of the large involvement of non-Brazilians capoeiristas today imply a detachment from the Brazilian culture and origins? The ‘internationalisation’ of Capoeira is a complex issue. In many of my talks and workshops, non-Brazilian capoeiristas share their concern about the underlying ethnic hierarchy in the Art. Many say things like: ‘The foreigners will always be treated as second-class capoeristas!” or “No matter how hard I try it’ll never be as if I was a Brazilian”.
I don’t see it that way. That’s why these issues should be figured out in our community before we can claim the effectiveness of Capoeira towards social inclusion within our broader social world. Some of my colleagues and friends believe that the solution would be to regard Capoeira as a global heritage or an international cultural practice. But before you rush into your own conclusions on what the solution might be, I would like you to watch this 10 minutes-long documentary on the internationalisation of the Amazon. This short film was based on Cristovam Buarque‘s answer to an American student’s question about the internationalisation of the Amazon Region. “The youngster asserted that he expected a response of a humanist and not of a Brazilian.” (*)
In case you don’t speak Portuguese (unfortunately there is no English subtitles available) you can find a translation of the speech that inspired the movie here.
My point here is that while I do agree that the contribution of non-Brazilian capoeiras (with all its onuses and bonuses) is not been acknowledged, I don’t think that such recognition implicates that Capoeira is now ‘international’. In fact, I think that the lesson of the Art-form comes exactly from its capability for bridging and bonding diverse cultures into one sycretic manifestation: A lesson sprung from a specific socio-cultural and historical context in Brazil. Hence, my take on Capoeira cannot disregard this context, neither its lessons. And that’s why I don’t agree with the ‘internationalisation’ of Capoeira, in the sense of stripping it from its Brazilian-ness. But I would like to know your opinion on this matter. If the docco or the translated transcript of Buarque’s answer made you think about the global context in which we practice Capoeira today, please drop me a few lines about your thoughts.
* – Sourced from – http://www.diaplous.org/amazo.htm – on 11/07/10
First of all we need to do NOT TRUST USA foreign political approach : they always have their aims in their own interests.
So Brazil HAS to protect the Amazon at whatever the costs are, without compromise with such monsters as the rich-power americans are.
Then, as the Louvre and the other Museums could be visited by all the humanity without affecting the contents, so the Amazon could be only visited ,not touched or exploited by anybody in the world.
The same for Capoeira: the Mestres, descendants from Pastinha and Bimba, have the responsability to let us know the Art, without affecting it. When they will pass their knowledge and culture to the next generation of Capoeiras they will have to choose carefully, very carefully.
It must be a selection and as not brazilian we have to undergone a certain process, we have to accept it. But everybody has his own brain and he/she could say “yes ,this is right or not”.
When the slaves founded themselves chained to the bottom of the ship, they had to make no difference among themselves , even in the case that ,before ,in Motherland Africa they belonged to other tribes and may the were enemies.
AXE” e Vigilancia
Vovo’