CAPOEIRA GOING GLOBAL: THE APPROPRIATION OF THE AFRO-BRAZILIAN PRACTICE THROUGH TV ADVERTISEMENTS IN FRANCE AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

Resumo

This article analyze two advertisements using capoeira narratives and seek to understand how they are constructed to sell products or ‘images’ in different national contexts. The objective is to understand the processes of adaptation of the practice of capoeira to the local market. The methodology employed was the exploratory research, with the analyses of visual narratives, research in local newspapers, multisited ethnography and free flowing interviews with capoeira practitioners in France and in the UK. The first part introduces the debate about the globalization and glocalization in the case of the capoeira. Then, are presented the studies about the transnationalization of capoeira practice and the emigration of Brazilians. Further is analyzed the advertisement of the deodorant ‘Ushuaia’ in France and the way it shows the representations of capoeira, ‘Brazil’,  ‘Brazilianess’, followed by the analyze of the BBC ‘idents’ and the debate generated by this campaign in the national medias. Through articles published in the British press, we will discuss the insertion of capoeira in British society in a context of debate regarding local multiculturalism. The conclusions point to the understanding that to be used by advertisers in different national contexts, capoeira needs to be transformed in local versions, far from its original meanings.