“ A história nos engana ” (“History deceives us”): music as counter storytelling and decolonial pedagogy for European practitioners of capoeira

Capoeira has gained popularity in Europe since the 1980s, attracting international practitioners with no prior ties to Brazil, its country of origin. In Brazil, capoeira serves not only as a martial art but also as a tool for decolonial pedagogy. It challenges colonial legacies through movement and narrative, keeping alive stories and histories that could have otherwise been forgotten. This article explores whether it can play a similar role for European practitioners, even though they are not inserted in the Brazilian context and might not be able to understand the lyrics of the songs due to language barriers. Drawing on decolonial theory and critical pedagogy, we argue that capoeira’s songs function as “counter-storytelling,” allowing practitioners to question and redefine normalized colonial views. Based on semi-structured interviews with European capoeiristas in France, Britain, and Germany, our findings suggest that while the interviewees recognize these decolonial narratives, their engagement depends on their Portuguese proficiency as well as on the identities and positionalities of both teachers and students within broader decolonial discourse.