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Power in Practice
The Pragmatic Anthropology of Afro-Brazilian Capoeira
Sergio González Varela
182 pages, 7 illus., bibliog., index
ISBN 978-1-78533-635-5 $135.00/£99.00 / Hb / Published (September 2017)
eISBN 978-1-78533-636-2 eBook
Description
Considering the concept of power in capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian ritual art form, Varela describes ethnographically the importance that capoeira leaders (mestres) have in the social configuration of a style called Angola in Bahia, Brazil. He analyzes how individual power is essential for an understanding of the modern history of capoeira, and for the themes of embodiment, play, cosmology, and ritual action. The book also emphasizes the great significance that creativity and aesthetic expression have for capoeira’s practice and performance.
Sergio González Varela is Professor of Anthropology at Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Mexico. He is currently working on a book about the anthropologist Paul Stoller.