Capoeira Connections

This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME

(Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)--a collaboration of the Association of

American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association

of Research Libraries--and the generous support of Duke University.



A portrait

of the game of capoeira and its practice across borders



Originating in the Black Atlantic world as a fusion of dance and martial

art, capoeira was a marginalized practice for much of its history. Today it is globally popular. This ethnographic memoir weaves together the history of capoeira,

recent transformations in the practice, and personal insights from author Katya

Wesolowski's thirty years of experience as a capoeirista.



Capoeira Connections

follows Wesolowski's journey from novice to instructor while drawing on her decades of research as an anthropologist in

Brazil, Angola, Europe, and the United States. In a story of local practice and

global flow, Wesolowski offers an intimate portrait of the game and what it

means in people's lives. She reveals camaraderie and conviviality in the

capoeira ring as well as tensions and ruptures involving race, gender, and

competing claims over how this artful play should be practiced. Capoeira brings

people together and yet is never free of histories of struggle, and these too

play out in the game's encounters.



In her at once clear-sighted and

hopeful analysis, Wesolowski ultimately argues that capoeira offers

opportunities for connection, dialogue, and collaboration in a world that is

increasingly fractured. In doing so, capoeira can transform lives, create

social spheres, and shape mobile futures.



Publication of this work made possible

by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the

National Endowment for the Humanities.