A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Capoeira & Pencak Silat

Doctoral Research
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Capoeira & Pencak Silat
By Paul Mason
Abstract
Capoeira and Pencak Silat Seni are two holistic art forms that integrate music, movement and martial arts. Capoeira is recognised as an Afro-Brazilian art. Pencak Silat Seni is found predominantly in the Indonesian archipelago. Capoeira and Pencak Silat Seni originate from geographically distinct societies; incorporate different ways of moving and use almost entirely different musical structures. They are living social practices that exhibit idiosyncratic patterns of sociocultural entrainment and different underlying modes of embodiment.
Practitioners of Capoeira and Pencak Silat Seni demonstrate a contrasting set of abilities. Capoeira practitioners practice a swaying and circular movement improvisation art that is subordinate to the steady magnetic rhythms of a specialised orchestra. Pencak Silat Seni, in contrast, is mostly a choreographed art. The movements of Pencak Silat Seni are accompanied by highly trained musicians who attempt to mimic the choreographies with corresponding dynamics, timbre and tessitura. The movements of Capoeira are fluid and dance-like while the movements of Pencak Silat Seni are sharp and abrupt. Neither Pencak Silat Seni or Capoeira are composed of fixed structures. They are negotiated processual practices. The dissimilar cognitive and cultural ecologies of Capoeira and Pencak Silat Seni allow an investigation of the effect of cultural entrainment on action, perception and embodiment.
The music and movement of these arts provides insight into the ways in which different cultures structure their perceptual world. Both music and movement are created by the embodied mind, shaped by culture and determined by the socially-embedded body. Through studying the music and movement of Capoeira and Pencak Silat Seni, we can observe and investigate (1) how organised interaction shapes human expressive systems and (2) the effects of cultural experience on the selection and development of sensory and perceptual capacities.
Holistic systems of music and movement provide powerful and practical investigative tools for ethnographic research. It is through culturally elaborated patterns of moving and making music that we can explore the variety of ways in which people from different communities perceive and experience the world. This project is deeply informed by contemporary brain science and integrates theory and methods from phenomenology, dance anthropology and ethnomusicology.
By comparing two different but contemporaneous art forms, I am investigating how culturally empowered repertoires of skill lead to deep changes in the perceptual sensitivities and physical capabilities of the practitioners. Simultaneously, I am observing how the musical repertoires and movement vocabularies are contextually related to a multitude of continually evolving physical and cultural variables.
http://www.anth.mq.edu.au/research/research_phd_pMason.html