Mexican capoeira is not diasporic! – On glocalization, migration and the North-South divide

Abstract

capoeira, glocalization, diaspora, North-South divide, bodily capital bildende Erfahrungen This paper contributes to the understanding of martial arts globalization processes. It focuses on the development of capoeira in Mexico, which is presented as an example of glocalization. In contrast to the diasporic capoeira observed by Delamont and Stephens in the UK, capoeira in Mexico is characterized by the proliferation of local groups with classes taught by Mexican instructors, as well as by advanced cultural reinterpretation. To explain these differences, capoeira is considered as the bodily capital of Brazilian migrants whose mobility patterns are influenced by the North-South divide. This paper hypothesizes that glocalization processes similar to Mexico's might exist throughout Hispanic Latin America and other regions of the Global South. Furthermore, the diasporaglocalization divide could be a pattern in the globalization process of practices that originated in the South which spread as part of migrants' bodily capital. Finally, I ask how capoeira's glocalization in Mexico might anticipate similar processes in the global North.

Problems with hierarchy and problems with tradition: The critique of male power in Afro‐Brazilian capoeira

“…Variations depend on the country and its particular history. David Sebastián Contreras Islas (2021) points out the differences between capoeira groups in the United Kingdom and Mexico, arguing against the diasporic character of capoeira. Comparing the work by Sara Delamont, Neil Stephens, and Claudio Campos (2017) in the UK with his research in Mexico, Contreras Islas mentions that in Mexico, the economic context does not provide a platform for a constant influx of mestres .…”