[...] the diaspora experience as I intend it here is defined, not by essence or purity, but by the
recognition of a necessary heterogeneity and diversity; by a conception of “identity” which lives with
and through, not despite, difference; by hybridity.He highlights that black Caribbean identities are framed by two vectors, which are ‘simultaneously
operative: the vector of similarity and continuity; and the vector of difference and rupture’.^93 These
reflections can be extended to many other cultural formations of the diaspora. It is precisely this dialectic of
continuity and rupture that is ignored by the fundamentalist Afrocentrics; their emphasis is always on the
continuities. Whilst I agree with Afrocentric scholars that capoeira undoubtedly has African origins that
extend into contemporary practice, and which have been largely ignored due to Eurocentric or ‘Tupicentric’
prejudices, I do not share their belief that contemporary capoeira is, above all an ‘extension’ of a single
African manifestation (n’golo). This view reposes on outdated diffusionism and a reified view of culture.^94
Regional, corporate and class discourses
Conflicts over the meaning of contemporary capoeira are by no means restricted to the binary opposition
between the Afrocentric and Brazilian nationalist views I have emphasized so far. A number of other
discourses intersect with them thus contributing to complicate further the analysis of competing narratives.
Conflicts regarding the history of capoeira also reflect struggles over regional pro-eminence with in Brazil.
During the nineteenth century the Northeastern economy based on sugar cane performed less well than the
coffee in the Southeast. The gap widened during the twentieth century and resulted in the region being
perceived as backward and underdeveloped compared to the South and the Southeast. The economic
underperformance was followed by the loss of political influence at federal level. The 1930 revolution imposed
non-elected governors (interventores)—often from the South—in states that had formerly claimed national
pro-eminence, such as Bahia and Pernambuco. The loss of regional autonomy encouraged the renaissance
of regionalism in the Northeast during the 1920–1930s. Intellectuals and artists, among which Gilberto
Freyre, claimed that the Northeast was the ‘true’ Brazil, as opposed to the South, submerged by ‘foreign’
influences. The claim to greater authenticity was to a certain extent endorsed by the regime and other
opinion makers, and found its way into the set of common assumptions shared by Brazilians. Since the
1940s Carnival songs in Rio thus exalted Bahia as the birthplace of Brazilian culture. The afore mentioned
discourse of Nagô superiority also overlapped with a regionalist discourse of Bahian purity, as opposed to
Cariocan and Bantu hybridity, since more slaves from Kongo/Angola were deported to Rio de Janeiro,
where they always constituted a clear majority.^95
At the same time, however, a strong competition developed between Rio de Janeiro and Bahia over
cultural pro-eminence. Capoeira constitutes, along side other manifestations such as carnival, just another
field where this inter-regional conflict is played out. The way the history of capoeira is told changes
considerably according to a Bahian, Cariocan or Pernambucan perspective. Cariocans for instance tend to
emphasize the continuity of capoeira in their city despite the harsh repression of the 1890s, highlight the
contribution of capoeira reformers from Rio in the first decades of the twentieth century, and underscore the
importance of Rio for the spreading of the art from the 1960s onwards. Bahians on the contrary tend to
paint capoeira from Salvador as the only relevant form for the emergence of modern styles and insist the
distinction between Regional and Angola is fundamental to understand contemporary capoeira. Capoeristas
from Rio or São Paulo, in contrast, often dismiss that distinction as no longer relevant given the contemporary
fusion between both styles. Thus to identify specific groups as Angola or Regional means, to a certain extent,
COMPETING MASTER NARRATIVES 27