Ring of Liberation: Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian CapoeiraBased on eighteen months of intensive participant-observation, Ring of Liberation offers both an in-depth description of capoeira—a complex Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines feats of great strength and athleticism with music and poetry—and a pioneering synthetic approach to the analysis of complex cultural performance. Capoeira originated in early slave culture and is practiced widely today by urban Brazilians and others. At once game, sport, mock combat, and ritualized performance, it involves two players who dance and "battle" within a ring of musicians and singers. Stunning physical performances combine with music and poetry in a form as expressive in movement as it is in word. J. Lowell Lewis explores the convergence of form and content in capoeira. The many components and characteristics of this elaborate black art form—for example, competing genre frameworks and the necessary fusion of multiple modes of expression—demand, Lewis feels, to be given "body" as well as "voice." In response, he uses Peircean semiotics and recent work in discourse and performance theory to map the connections between physical, musical, and linguistic play in capoeira and to reflect on the general relations between semiotic systems and the creation and recording of cultural meaning. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Origins of Capoeira | 18 |
Capoeira in Salvador | 51 |
JogarBody Play | 86 |
TocarMusical Play | 133 |
BrincarVerbal Play | 162 |
Conclusion | 188 |
Laban Notation of Capoeira Ginga | 221 |
Glossary | 235 |
Discography | 252 |
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Common terms and phrases
academy action African Afro-Brazilian agonistic styles Almeida Angola style argue aspects atabaque attack atual audience Bahia barravento basic batuque bênção Bento berimbau Besouro bout Brazil Brazilian candomblé Capoeira Angola capoeira master capoeira play capoeira players capoeira songs capoeiristas cartwheel chamada chapter chorus chula common context cultural dance discourse domination enter the ring especially example expression festival frame framework frequently ginga hands iconic inner games João jogo kick kind ladainha ludic malícia martial arts means Mestre Bimba Mestre Moraes Mestre Nô Mestre Pastinha metaphor movement moves musical bow normal one's opponent paraná patterns Paulo physical play poeira practice quilombos refer Regional style relations Rio de Janeiro ritual roda rules saída Salvador samba Santo Amaro São Paulo seems seen semiotic similar singing slave slavery social society solo soloist sometimes sport structure style of capoeira subroutines sung tempo tion toques traditional usually Vavá verbal