The jackknife game
By Roberto Pereira. Little is known about the use of the jackknife in capoeira of former times. Some scholars attribute its origin to a Portuguese…
From the Ring to the Stage – A movie about Master Artur Emídio
Master Artur Emídio took capoeira to the ring. He also ventured onto stage and screen, in addition to promoting capoeira in national newspapers and magazines.…
What do we know about the south of Angola between 8000 BCE and 1400 CE? And how can we know more?
By Marcos Leitão de Almeida. In her post for this blog, historian Mariana Candido rightly stated that there is a lack of archaeological evidence for…
Frede Abreu
By Maria Luísa Pimenta Neves. Frederico José de Abreu (1946-2013), known in capoeira circles as Frede Abreu, was a native of Bahia who discovered and…
Capoeira politics in Teresina, Piauí: lineages, federations and political parties
By Celso de Brito. Encounters and mismatches Capoeira from Teresina emerged in the 1970s and consolidated itself in the following decade with a series of…
Sailors, Moleques and “Heroes”: Capoeira in Maranhão in the First Republic
By Roberto Pereira. When the gunboat Lamego, of the Brazilian Navy, left São Luís, on 18th June 1887, the city breathed a sigh of relief.…
In the “hippie era”: the rediscovery of capoeira in Pará in the 1970s
By Luiz Augusto Pinheiro Leal and Fabio Araújo Fernandes. The history of capoeira has for a long time been marred with myths. The most dangerous,…
The imprisonment of capoeiras on Ilha Grande
By Myrian Sepúlveda dos Santos and Gabriel da Silva Vidal Cid. Background The history of the Dois Rios Correctional Colony, established in 1894 on the…
Helinä Rautavaara’s Living Collections from Brazil
By Kristina Tohmo. The Helinä Rautavaara Museum was named after the founder, researcher and journalist Helinä Rautavaara (1928-1998). Rautavaara, MA in psychology and a student…
The Adventures of a Capoeira in the Magical Realm of Cordel Literature
By Lobisomem (Victor Alvim Itahim Garcia). Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, I only had contact with cordel literature, whose birthplace is the Northeast…