Fighting for honor : the history of African martial art traditions in the Atlantic world
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Fighting for honor : the history of African martial art traditions in the Atlantic world
(The Carolina lowcountry and the Atlantic world)
University of South Carolina Press, c2008
- : cloth
Available at 3 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [319]-338) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Desch Obi explores a cultural continuity originating in Africa and that is as old as early slave settlements in South America and as contemporary as hip-hop culture in this thorough survey of the history of African martial arts techniques. He maps the translation of numerous physical combat techniques across three continents and several centuries to illustrate how these practices evolved over time and are still recognizable in American culture today. Some of these art traditions were part of African military training while others were for self-defense and personal discipline. Desch Obi, himself a practitioner of mgba wrestling and engolo kick-fighting, also explores the spiritual dimensions of these combat arts.Grounded in historical and cultural anthropological methodologies, Desch Obi's investigation traces the influence of well-delineated African traditions on long-observed but misunderstood African and African American cultural activities in North America, Brazil, and the Caribbean. He links the Brazilian martial art capoeira to reports of slave activities recorded in colonial and antebellum North America. Likewise, Desch Obi locates images of the African stick-fighting techniques of kalenda in slave depictions. His study takes on more modern subjects when he links movements from this same wellspring of traditions to break dancing and clown dancing techniques that have peppered urban culture in recent decades. Throughout the study Desch Obi examines the ties between physical mastery of these arts and changing perceptions of honor.
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