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

19世纪，居住在巴西港口城市和周围种植园的非洲和克里奥尔奴隶发展了一种名为Capoeira的战斗游戏。尽管最初受到当局的镇压，但它在19世纪蔓延到自由的下层阶级，并在20世纪蔓延到巴西其他地区。卡波埃拉已经成为巴西文化中最著名的方面之一，现在每个大洲的数十万人都在广泛练习卡波埃拉。它还被用作舞蹈和戏剧表演、电影(例如在哈利波特电影中的一部)和广告(例如英国广播公司)中的一种工具。卡波埃拉融合了杂技、节奏、格斗、舞蹈和戏剧表演，所有这些都保持了独特的非裔巴西人性格。卡波埃拉的从业者、研究卡波埃拉历史的学者，以及对黑大西洋文化感兴趣或参与散居海外问题的更广泛的公众，都在争论它到底有多少特征是非洲的。该项目将探索卡波埃拉和安哥拉传统之间的联系，这些传统至今仍在沿用，以评估延续和借用的程度，以及破裂、变化和重新发明的程度。它试图理解不同的非洲传统融合并发展成为新的、原创的和全球性的东西的“克里奥化”过程。由于长期的内战，直到最近才有可能在安哥拉进行田野调查，因此这项研究将探索令人兴奋的新领域，并填补学术上的一个重大空白。我们的研究将探索安哥拉西南部的几个传统，该地区经常被认为是卡波埃拉的根源，因为存在着类似卡波埃拉的乐器和乐章。它将记录几个战斗游戏，这些游戏交替使用踢、手、棍子和其他武器，这些技术也出现在历史上的卡波埃拉风格中。它还将探索伴随这些表演的音乐和歌词，以及在该地区属于不同民族的尼亚内卡家族的一些村庄举行的相关舞蹈和仪式。该项目旨在开展合作研究，积极让卡波埃拉和安哥拉传统表演者参与，并促进一个多世纪以来没有直接接触的传统之间的对话。预计这次交流将对安哥拉人和非裔巴西人的做法产生新的见解。将通过研究安哥拉和葡萄牙档案馆的历史文献、出版的主要材料和现有的人种学记述来支持人种学实地工作。其中一个核心成果是一部电影纪录片，将以DVD形式发行并通过电视频道播出，并将带回巴西和安哥拉。DVD将与学术和非学术期刊上的文章相辅相成，这些文章将更深入地探讨电影中表演者提出的一些问题，并通过分析从档案馆和图书馆收集的新材料得出新的见解。一个较长期的目标是提高安哥拉对世界文化，特别是对非裔巴西人音乐和卡波埃拉的贡献的知名度，并支持该国在40年内战后的重建努力。该项目将提高人们对安哥拉传统表演者需要得到政府和非政府组织支持的认识，并将有助于通过文化旅游开辟替代发展途径。这项研究的成果还将为未来几代学者和卡波埃拉从业人员提供丰富的档案资源。

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.