Paper short abstract:

It aims to analyze the narratives about Africa associated to the idea of the roots of capoeira, having as context the Brazilian capoeira masters and teachers diaspora. We seek to put in dialogue the relationships established in those territories where native and independents groups begin to appear.

Paper long abstract:

It explores the narratives constructed about the African continent with the idea of the roots of capoeira, having as context the Brazilian teachers diaspora. We seek to analyze the new relationships established in those African territories where native groups begin to appear and structure themselves. Despite common sense, in which capoeira appears often, even today, as an African practice, which was brought to Brazil in the context of slavery, capoeira begins to be taught in Africa, in a systematic way, only in the 1990s. The Brazilian capoeira players migration to the African countries have peculiarities regarding the expansion occurred in other areas, such as Europe. Usually, the choice of African countries by capoeira teachers to establish a teaching center does not keep relations with a social ascension project. In many cases, this choice is through a strategy of the group to which the teacher belongs, or it is also aiming to satisfy a personal project of life usually associated to the idea of returning to origins of capoeira and the discovery of its roots. Beyond these issues, some autonomous native groups, without relations to a Brazilian group, start forming in Africa, reconstructing narratives about its ancestry. While Brazilian "capoeiristas" legitimize your practice highlighting its connection with African elements, several African groups recognize and identify an authentic capoeira from its relationship with Brazilian cultural elements. On the other hand, some groups seek to build their own roots, erasing or reducing the role of Brazilian masters for the conformation of the capoeira.