Fighting for Honor

Fighting for Honor

The History of African Martial Arts in the Atlantic World

A groundbreaking investigation into the migration of martial arts techniques across continents and centuries

The presence of African influence and tradition in the Americas has long been recognized in art, music, language, agriculture, and religion. T. J. Desch-Obi explores another cultural continuity that is as old as eighteenth-century slave settlements in South America and as contemporary as hip-hop culture. In this thorough survey of the history of African martial arts techniques, Desch-Obi 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 spiritual discipline.

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 connects images of the kalenda African stick-fighting techniques to the Haitian Revolution. Throughout the study Desch-Obi examines the ties between physical mastery of these arts and changing perceptions of honor.

Including forty-five illustrations, this rich history of the arrival and dissemination of African martial arts in the Atlantic world offers a new vantage for furthering our understanding of the powerful influence of enslaved populations on our collective social history.

  • Cover
  • Fighting for Honor
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • List of Illustrations
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction: Divining an Approach
  • Part One: Birth of Traditions
    • One From across the Kalunga: Pastoral Pugilism in Southern Angola to 1860
    • Two Bloodless Duels: Combative Custom in Biafra to 1860
  • Part Two: Across the Kalunga
    • Three Enslaved Honor: The Utility of Martial Art in North America
    • Four Return Passages: Ritual and Revolutionary Liberation from Bondage in the Francophone Caribbean
    • Five Urban Inversions: Combat Societies in Rio de Janeiro
    • Conclusion: Embodied Traditions
  • Appendix: Engolo Techniques
  • Notes
  • Select Bibliography
  • Index
  • About the Author

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