The Angolan Roots of Capoeira. Transatlantic Links of a Globalised Performing Art

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During the nineteenth century African and Creole slaves living in port cities and surrounding plantations in Brazil developed a combat game called capoeira. Even though initially repressed by the authorities, it spread to the free lower classes during the nineteenth century, and to the rest of Brazil during the twentieth century. Capoeira has become one of the most-well known aspects of Brazilian culture and is now widely practiced by hundreds of thousands of people in every continent. It is also used as a tool in dance and theatre performances, in cinema (for instance in one of the Harry Potter films) and in advertisements (for example by the BBC). Capoeira consists of a combination of acrobatics, rhythms, combat, dance and theatrical performance, all of which maintain a distinctive Afro-Brazilian character. Just how many of its characteristics are 'African' is the object of much debate among capoeira practitioners, academics researching its history, and the wider public interested in the culture of the 'Black Atlantic' or engaged with diasporic issues. This project will explore the links between capoeira and Angolan traditions which are still practised today in order to assess the extent of continuities, and borrowing, but also of ruptures, changes and re-inventions. It seeks to understand the 'creolization' process through which different African traditions merged and developed into something new, original and global. An extended period of civil war made it impossible to do fieldwork in Angola until recently, so this research will explore exciting new territory and fill a significant gap in scholarship. Our research will explore several traditions in south-western Angola, a region often identified as providing the 'roots' of capoeira because of the existence of instruments and movements similar to capoeira. It will document several combat games which use alternatively kicks, hands, sticks and other weapons, techniques that are also present in historical capoeira styles. It will also explore the music and lyrics that accompany these performances, and related dances and rituals practiced in some villages belonging to different ethnic groups of the Nyaneka family in that region.The project seeks to make research collaborative, actively involving capoeira and Angolan traditional performers, and promoting a dialogue between traditions that have not been in direct contact for more than a century. This exchange is expected to generate new insights into Angolan and Afro-Brazilian practices. Ethnographic fieldwork will be backed up by research of historical documents in archives in Angola and Portugal, published primary material and existing ethnographic accounts. One core outcome is a film documentary, to be distributed as a DVD and broadcast by TV channels, which will be taken back to Brazil and Angola. The DVD will be complemented by articles in academic and non-academic journals, which will explore some of the issues raised by the performers in the film in more depth, and reach new insights through the analysis of new material gathered from archives and libraries. A longer term aim is to enhance the visibility of the Angolan contribution to world culture, in particular to Afro-Brazilian music and capoeira and to support the country's efforts in reconstruction after 40 years of civil wars. The project will raise awareness of the need for Angolan traditional performers to be supported by governments and NGOs, and will help to create alternative paths for development through cultural tourism. The outputs from this research will also provide a rich archival resource for future generations of academics and capoeira practitioners.