Abstract

CORTEZ, MirianBéccheri; BONOMO, Mariana; MENANDRO, Maria Cristina Smith  and  TRINDADE, Zeidi de Araujo. Fight, dance, life’s philosophy: capoeira sang by capoeira’s players. Psicol. Am. Lat. [online]. 2008, n.14, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1870-350X.

Capoeira, an afro-Brazilian compound of fight and dance, is a typical cultural manifestation of Brazil. Based on Moscovici’s Theory of Social Representations, we investigated the social representations of capoeira presented on its lyrics. By submitting 197 lyrics, found on internet sites of capoeira groups, to the software Alceste, we identify three elements which seem to be the main subjects in this lyrics. Alceste produced three classes distributed in 2 axles: Capoeira History, composed by two classes: Suffering and Resistance, that tells the past of black slaves and their fight for freedom; and The Master, that tells histories of old capoeira teachers/masters, their lives and teachings. Class The Game, located on the second axle, Capoeira and Life, shows the analogy between these two components by describing physical and dynamical structure of the game. We conclude that the meanings identified are essential to preserve history of black people in Brazil and they describe a "philosophy of life" related to facing adversities.

Keywords : Social Representation; Capoeira; Lyrics.