Mandingueira

Welcome to everyone from FICA or from the FICA Women’s Conference! 

I think it’s so cool that you got to be involved in something like that (I’m sorry I couldn’t make it), and thank you for coming by!  If you just found the link to my blog through the conference website, or found me through a recommendation (thank you, Shayna!), please check out my “Best Of” page, browse through the archives, or if you wish to zero in on the “women in capoeira” parts, then this post (a round-up all of such articles on my blog) will be the perfect starting point for you.  I hope you enjoy your stay, and come back soon! 

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For everyone else, last weekend, FICA held a women’s conference in Washington, DC, and by all accounts I’ve heard so far it was amazing.  What I liked about this event (even though I unfortunately couldn’t make it) was that it wasn’t just a “women’s-only for the sake of it” event, but it was for men and women, but about women, and women in capoeira. 

One of the most interesting and possibly valuable parts of this conference, I thought, was the discussion panels that it involved, since how often does that kind of thing happen in the midst of all our regular training and playing?  The breadth of topics covered was engaging and enlightening (as far as I could tell, from afar!), and led to ideas for some real-world, material results.  Check out a full write-up on the conference at their official website/blog, with pictures (including the one above), a slideshow, and what came out of all the discussions!  (It goes over several posts, so make sure you keep scrolling down to read.)

Click here to read the FICA Women’s Conference
Wrap-Up and Discussion Ideas

p.s. As you may have noticed, I’ve started to make some headway on the comments!  I have yet to respond to the ones under “What is the Role of a Capoeira Mestre?“ because altogether they’d take a little more time than the others and I wanted to do them justice.  In the meantime, you guys have been awesome, and add so much to this blog, so thank you and keep ‘em coming!

Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day.  Or as some of us might prefer to say, Dia Internacional da Mulher!  In honour of the occasion, and for those of you who came to Mandingueira later in the game, I’m going to take you on a guided tour through the best, most relevant, most important, most thought-provoking, and most interesting feminism-related posts on this blog.  We (meaning dear commenters and I) have managed to cover a surprising number of issues within the short lifespan of this blog, and I think now is a perfect time to give them all their proper due.

Please keep all hands, legs, and stereotypes inside the vehicle, and enjoy the ride!

Let’s begin with the one that started it all, and find out why chivalry in the roda doesn’t pay in Playing Women in the Roda.

Before we go on, you may be wondering about the validity or necessity of “pointing out women in capoeira”, as someone put it to me.  Realize that for now at least, it is both valid and necessary, by heading on over to Why Write about Female Mestres? The Feminist Catch-22.

Next, we’ll rendez-vous with Nestor Capoeira in The Feminine in Capoeira, Part 1 (Malicia), where I put him in the hot seat for calling women “the reverse” of power and the rational.  But fear not; witness his acquittal (and a discussion on gender stereotypes vs. capoeira tradition) in The Feminine in Capoeira, Part 2 (Context).

Feeling inactive from all this sitting and reading?  Then give your biceps and deltoids a little love, and learn why women shouldn’t sell theirs short in Myth Busters: Women and Upper-Body Strength.

Now that you’re all pumped and in shape, it’s clearly time for an intense capoeira trip to Brazil!  There may be a lot of scantily clad beach beauties there, but are they really “looking for it”?  Don’t make the same mistake we talk about in Women, Men, and Brazilian Bikinis.

Taking a break from theory, hit the ground running in North Africa, where I experienced first-hand, for the first time in my life,  Lessons from Morocco: How NOT to Treat Women.  Then join me in hashing it all out in Lessons from Morocco, Part 2: Cultural Relativity and Other Issues.

Although I made it through Morocco unscathed, what would you have done if I were attacked—and you were there to witness the whole thing?  See what it may be like to suddenly find yourself in this position, as I did while Walking Home.

Now, why did I decide to take you on this ride?  Because I’m a feminist.  Do you know what feminism is?  Are you sure?  It may not be what you—or most people—think.  Find out how close you are to the truth in Has “Feminism” Outlasted Its Purpose?.

Of course, there are always those who have to ruin the party.  Do you remember how it felt the first time you saw a capoeira-butchered-into-insipid-aerobics class?  Then you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about in Capoeirobics and the Female Chauvinist Pig: When Good Things Go Bad!

Finally, if you still have the energy left and are up to the challenge, brave what has been called “the roar of second-wave feminism roasting everything in its wake”, and incidentally a thorough compendium of exactly why I care so much: Robin Morgan’s now (in)famous essay, Goodbye to All That #2.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for taking today’s tour with Mandingueira Safaris.  Please take all personal belongings, new thoughts, and inspiring ideas with you when you leave, and enjoy the rest of your day!

From the Utah Daily Herald: 

“Modern directors today that put on Shakespeare have the freedom to envision new and different ways of setting it, casting it and presenting it to a modern audience,” Jones said. “We’re setting our ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in a mystical South America in the 19th century. And so we have a lot of influences from Brazilian carnival and capoeira dancing [sic on the "dancing"].“

It’s Shakespeare in Brazil; iambic pentameter and capoeira, in one.  Didn’t think anything could come closer to combining my two loves (English/literature and capoeira) more than writing this blog, but BYU has done it!  And A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of my favourites.

Any capoeiristas from Utah out there?  I am jealous.

Click here to read the full article

Okay, I know that it has nothing to do with capoeira (although indirectly to do with women), but this is huge.  Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed today, after having returned from eight years of exile.  She had returned to help her country, whether that involved working with or ousting the current corrupt government of President Musharraf.  She survived one attack that killed 150 people, in October.  There’d been huge rallies of support for her since her return, and all the commotion you’d imagine for such an occasion.  Hope was everywhere.  And now she’s gone. 

Unfortunately, I’ve taken exactly one political science course in my life, but if you want to know more beyond that this means a new, major wave of intense instability in Pakistan, it’s all over technorati, and of course the mainstream media as well.  You will find many analyses there, and I wanted to add this post as a tribute to Bhutto and her memory.

Update: For a quick background and overview, check out this brief post at Antigone Magazine, which offers a short biography of Benazir Bhutto’s life, career, and death (click here).  For a more political science-type post from Article Discover Politics, click here.

(And for those who insist on getting their daily capoeira reading-fix, I will post another entry today soon.)

Just what the title says…found it while researching Mestra Suelly, and I think I actually did a double-take at my computer screen.  I couldn’t wait until finishing another post to share this with everyone!  There are only three posts and the most recent is dated Feburary 2006, but for those who wanted more after Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form, it’s just a little something…and you never know, he might come back!

http://capoeirabymestreacordeon.blogspot.com/