A luta pela salvaguarda da Capoeira no estado do Rio de Janeiro: a visão de um mestre

Abstract

Developed at Programa de Pós-Graduação em Patrimônio, Cultura e Sociedade - PPGPACS/IM/UFRRJ, for master degree level, having the Safeguard of capoeira as the object of our research, this investigation aims to analyse the actions, which have begun in Rio de Janeiro state since the Mestres de Capoeira meeting promoted by IPHAN in 2013; the operation of the Mestres Council and the Workgroup for the Safeguarding of Capoeira, trying to answer questions we understand as important ones for the construction of a Safeguard Plan. The methodology we use in this investigation and the questions formulated by us comes from a descriptive study on the process of the Safeguard of Capoeira process in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which the main idea is analyzing this process through the light of the specialized literature and the eyes of mestres and mestras of capoeira. For that, we use documental and bibliographical researches, adding to it the data gathering and data collecting through Google forms, which were filled by some capoeira mestres who took part of the Safeguard actions through the masters council or workgroups. Regarding it as a dynamic and complex phenomenon related to human behavior, we have chosen a specific qualitative approach on studies in the field of social sciences, within the characteristics of dealing with “human beings that, for cultural reasons such as class, age, or any other motive”, are able to bring conection and common substract between the researcher and the researched, in the sense explained by Minayo (1994, p 13) corroborating with Lévi-Strauss: “any science, which the observer is from the same nature as the object , the observer, himself, is part of his investigation” (LEVI-STRAUSS apud MINAYO, 1994, p. 14). Within the documental research, we searched for investigating the Safeguard of Capoeira from primary sources such as official documents produced mainly through IPHAN, in which we outstand the dossiers that are base for the Register of Mestres and Roda of Capoeira, related laws, orders,minutes and relatories of the meetings, etc. Within the bibliographic researches we tried to identify and analyse secondary sources, such as books, articles from periodicals and material delivered on internet about the subject, beginning from the group of publications and academic researches on capoeira and cultural heritage and other converging sources containing the preservation of African-Brazilian or of African grid. Most of the researched papers are on the subject from theoretical perspectives from diffrent fields of science, such as anthropology, sociology, political science, education, history, geography, philosophy, and law. In the final considerations, we conclude this research calling the attention on the fact that the state of Rio de Janeiro has left the protagonism as a reference in actions for the safeguard of capoeira in the country, losing power in the face of other states experiences, which began discussions after it had begun in Rio de Janeiro, in a process of collective construction envolving different people as guardians of capoeira, govenment bodies attached to public policies on cultural heritage, such as IPHAN and INEPAC and other institutions of organized civil society.