The capoeira game: a decolonial pedagogy?

Abstract

 In this article, we look into the educational practices present in the game of Capoeira, and discuss the manner in which those practices configure a decolonial pedagogy, materialized in formative processes against the logic of oppression inherent to coloniality/modernity. To that effect, we take as object of analysis the works of a Capoeira teacher. Over five months, we have accompanied this teacher, methodologically employing participant observation, where we also employed semi structured interviews towards his students. Results infer that the game of Capoeira, strongly seated upon an African cosmogony, which constructs a sentiment of community belonging, produces decolonial educational processes as it problematizes racism, cultural differences and social inequalities, which results in operationalization of a intercultural pedagogy which counterpoints the colonial matrix of power and coloniality itself.