Reconfiguring Capoeira

Zusatztext

In the past two and a half decades, capoeira has experienced a remarkable global expansion. However, its challenging to quantify its full extent. This book aims to explore the diverse reconfigurations and resignifications that capoeira has undergone in the new millennium. It brings together a diverse group of experts from various disciplines, including anthropology, history, ethnomusicology, political science, and social activism. One of the books primary objectives is to examine capoeiras recent resurgence in Africa, where various countries across the continent have witnessed significant practical and ritual innovations. Additionally, the book delves into capoeiras role as a tool of political discourse and activism in Brazil, the United States, and beyond, and how it has been instrumental in supporting causes advocating for ethnic minorities in Europe and the Middle East. As an art deeply rooted in its African ancestral past, capoeiras adoption by groups in diverse locations like Ghana, Togo, Benin, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, and Angola, demonstrates a revitalization that has yet to be fully explored in capoeira studies. This book seeks to revisit this expansive movement while always keeping its impact in Brazil in mind.The collected texts provide a comprehensive overview of capoeiras global status, the new territories it has conquered, and its power as an art of resistance. In this context, the concept of resistance becomes crucial in understanding its significance and current influence on the world.

Autorenportrait

Sergio González Varela is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Warsaw, Poland. He is a Habilitated doctor by the University of Warsaw. He holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of London (University College London). He was a visiting Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany in 2025, and a Visiting Fulbright Scholar in the academic year 2016-2017. He is the author of several publications, among them the books Capoeira, Mobility, and Tourism: Preserving an Afro-Brazilian Tradition in a Globalized World (2019), Power in Practice: The Pragmatic Anthropology of Afro-Brazilian Capoeira (2017), and, more recently, El Arte de Engañar: Ensayos de Antropología Social (2022) and Resistir: Hacia una Antropología de la Resiliencia (2025).

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