“Como se fora brincadeira de roda”: a capoeira como experiência do lazer de crianças da capital soteropolitana

Abstract

The circle where knowledge circulates that intertwine childhood, capoeira, Bahianness and playfulness as a leisure practice, through the placement of the body on stage, is formed in this study. With a qualitative approach, anchored in the Sociology of Childhood, based on Sarmento, we sought to analyze the place of capoeira in the life of certain children in Salvador, practiced outside the compulsory time of school, as a playful activity. In order to listen to the children, the data collection, carried out through the capoeira masters, due to the isolation imposed by the invasion of Covid-19, we chose the resource of drawings, as they reach children of different ages, in addition to being a presence in the experience. of them, from an early age, presenting themselves as a resource of the intimacy of children's daily life, but they could also write or send audios or videos. When dealing with childhood, a journey through the history of this socially constructed generational category is necessary, seeking the reference of Philippe Ariès (1981) and Esteban Levin (2007). 9 (nine) teachers and 47 (forty-seven) children were heard, whose records resulted in twenty-eight drawings, six videos, two writings and eleven writings with drawings. Analyzing the content of forty-seven registers, we chose categories that express what capoeira is for them. Of these, twenty-eight correspond to musicality with drum instruments; hits/movements totaled twenty; eight records had masters/teachers; feelings accounted for nine; the wheel totaled five and five corresponded to play. In the records made by the children, the results clearly show how the playful aspect of capoeira attracts the little ones and the little ones, revealing the intimacy they have with this universe because this is also the universe where they like to be. Capoeira for them, then, is a place to sway with their body, to be with their peers, it is a time for fun, for fun, therefore, it is a time of leisure, as the capoeira of the analyzed groups is practiced in a time out of the obligation of the school. Capoeira seemed to be distant from children when they did not appear in records about this popular art, but after some searches, we found reasons that justify this distancing: having been persecuted, criminalized, it approached boys from the gangs or the Capitães da Areia. After resisting and being resignified, we see in this study how childhood and capoeira are not only in the same circle, but also attract each other, establishing a relationship of camaraderie, of loitering.