Book description
Based on eighteen months of intensive participant-observation, Ring of Liberation offers both an in-depth description of capoeira-a complex Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines feats of great strength and athleticism with music and poetry-and a pioneering synthetic approach to the analysis of complex cultural performance.
Capoeira originated in early slave culture…
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Why read it?
1 author picked Ring of Liberation as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Lewis was the first English speaking anthropologist to go to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil – the heartland of capoeira – and learn to play it while doing an anthropological study of its history and culture.
He is the founder of modern scholarship on the dance-fight-game, studied before it globalised and became ‘cool’ all around the world. Lewis explains the role of deception and trickery in capoeira, relating to its roots in slavery and racial oppression. He captures its beauty, and is particularly good on the lyrics of songs. Issues of race, gender, and the teacher-student relationship are explained.
It led…
From Sara's list on The best books on the African-Brazilian martial art capoeira.
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