Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.
Luso-Brazilian Review 45:1 Merrell, Floyd. Capoeira and Candomblé:Conformity and Resistance Through Afro-Brazilian Experience. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2005. 317 pp Floyd Merrell's Capoeira and Candomblé: Conformity and Resistance through Afro-Brazilian Experience, claims to be "neither anthropology nor sociology." The author also states in the preface that he does not "enter into current debates over fine details regarding poststructuralism, postmodernism, subaltern studies, or cultural studies," (vii) and yet he cites Butler (whom he grossly misunderstands), Bhabha, Gramsci, Deleuze and Guattari and even offhandedly answers Spivak's famous question. For Merrell, the matter is simple: "the celebrated subaltern can speak after all" (218). Although he claims only to "offer reflections" (vii) on capoeira and candomblé, Merrell proposes a repetitive theory of "becoming," reaching the not exactly groundbreaking conclusion that both capoeira and candomblé are "in the process of continually becoming something other than they were becoming" (189). in other words, are constantly changing. Merrell alternates between a chatty tone peppered with empty idiomatic expressions ("various and sundry," "part and parcel," "wheeling and dealing") and a highly academic tone where he presents his theories through convoluted charts while bombarding the reader with neologisms such as bodymindspirit and kinesomatic. Although he claims that
Luso-Brazilian Review – University of Wisconsin Press
Published: Aug 10, 2008
Read and print from thousands of top scholarly journals.
Already have an account? Log in
Bookmark this article. You can see your Bookmarks on your DeepDyve Library.
To save an article, log in first, or sign up for a DeepDyve account if you don’t already have one.
Copy and paste the desired citation format or use the link below to download a file formatted for EndNote
Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
All DeepDyve websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.