Body knowledge

Human production has developed a plurality of knowledge that, when studied, allows us to understand society and value difference, qualifying our symbolic codes. The author, within this perspective of analysis, has always been a very determined teacher, seeking to understand the knowledge produced by the body, through the body. Capoeira, as a bodily culture, was characterised for a time as a resistance movement. After that, it was seen as a transgression of the law and, in a third stage, as a sport. However, always marginalised, it had to transform itself to be accepted as a national identity. The changes that resulted ended up redefining capoeira and the body of the capoeirista. The author strives to decipher these changes, as the historical significance, the appreciation of the aesthetics of the capoeirista's body, and the determination to achieve perfect technique have, over time, put the process of transmitting this knowledge called capoeira in jeopardy. This becomes a reference work for understanding and organising a pedagogy that guarantees capoeira's status as indispensable knowledge." - Mauricio Fidelis