Engolo and Capoeira: from ethnic to diasporic combat games in the Southern Atlantic

Assunção, Matthias Röhrig 2023. Engolo and Capoeira: from ethnic to diasporic combat games in the Southern Atlantic. Martial Arts Studies (13) , pp. 6-26. 10.18573/mas.148

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Abstract

This article provides a re-examination of the main Afrocentric narrative of capoeira origins, the engolo or ‘Zebra Dance’, in light of historical primary sources and new ethnographic evidence gathered during fieldwork in south-west Angola. By examining engolo’s bodily techniques, its socio-historical context and cultural meanings, the piece emphasises its insertion into a pastoral lifestyle and highlights the relatively narrow ethnic character of the practice in Angola. This analysis and the comparison with capoeira helps us to develop certain hypotheses about the formation, migration, and re-invention of diasporic combat games between southern Angola and coastal Brazil, and more broadly, to increase our understanding of how African cultures spread across the southern Atlantic.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Cardiff University Press
ISSN:	2057-5696
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	20 February 2023
Date of Acceptance:	16 January 2023
Last Modified:	27 Nov 2023 11:23
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/157153

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