(Re)imagining capoeira: a study of Carybé’s illustrated book Jogo da Capoeira (1951) (original) (raw)

Sport in Society, 2023

Abstract

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian fight-game with live music, historically practiced in Brazil since colonial times. Over the years, capoeira activities have been archived in a variety of art forms, from ethnographic draw-ings to documentary photography and motion pictures, many of which carry racist connotations. Contrary to this trend, in this article, we take a closer look at a series of modern capoeira drawings by Carybé, pub-lished in the 1951’s book Jogo da Capoeira. Widely reproduced and appropriated, these drawings continue to inform how we imagine capoeira today and, in 2014, was included in the recognition of capoeira as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Our exam-ination pays close attention to few overlapping game tactics or attitudes related to fight, play, dance, sports and drama. In short, we argue that Carybé’s artistic depictions of capoeira post have been instrumental to the recognition of this Afro-centric practice.

Lívia Pasqua hasn't uploaded this paper.

Let Lívia know you want this paper to be uploaded.

Ask for this paper to be uploaded.