Biography
Isaac Carroo is a third-year Master of Arts in Religion (MAR) candidate at Yale Divinity School, and a Master of Environmental Management candidate at Yale School of the Environment. He focuses on religion and ecology, and the intersections of religion and spirituality with environmental and resource management ethics.
Paper Abstract
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that incorporates elements of martial arts, dance, and music. Its roots remain deep in Afro-Brazilian cultures characterized by a holistic view of the world that involves a deeply spiritual yet material ethos, and also exist in a historical context of slavery and racial discrimination. The human world is tightly interwoven with spiritual and natural worlds in this cultural context. In other words, the more-than-human is intimately present in Afro-Brazilian worldviews. Afro-Brazilian cultural practices are also highly interlinked with one another; thus, capoeira does not operate in a practical silo and has significant overlaps with spiritual practices such as Candomblé. Capoeira involves more-than-human entities such as animals, natural landscapes, spirits, gods, and the dead. Rather than being vestiges of the Afro-Brazilian cultural milieu from which capoeira comes, I argue that capoeira deliberately preserves practices that recognize more-than-human agents and makes space for these agents in capoeira’s embodied practices. I also argue that capoeira’s involvement of more-than-human agency is towards the practical ends of gaining spiritual favor and strength to resist oppression. This involvement provides capoeiristas (capoeira practitioners) with physical and philosophical tools for surviving in a society intent on destroying their spirit.