Capoeira

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art now spreading over the rest of the world, and is the only sport from Brazil that seeks Olympic recognition. Originally the preserve of the underclasses in Brazilian society, capoeira is now practised amongst the middle-classes, and even taught as a sport in schools. The author explores the history of capoeira and explores the conflict between traditionalists, who view capoeira as their heritage descended from the maroons, a weapon to be used against injustice and repression; reformers, who wish to see the spread of the sport internationally; and academics, who are attempting to discover the true history of capoeira as opposed to the myth.

Author Biography

Matthias Röhrig Assunção studied history and Latin American Studies in Paris (Vincennes, Jussieu and Sorbonne Nouvelle). After some years spent carrying out field research in Brazil he completed his PhD at the Free University in Berlin. From 1985 to 1992 he taught History at the Latin American Institute in Berlin, before going to the University of Essex, UK in 1993. He is currently Lecturer for the Department of History and the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Essex, UK. His publications include a history of plantation society in Maranhão, Northern Brazil, an oral history of a peasant and slave revolt in the same province, and the edition of an anthology of the Brazilian baroque poet Gregório de Mattos.