<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div style="text-align:center"><i><font face="arial, sans-serif" color="#000000">2025–2026 Florence <span class="gmail-il"><span class="gmail-il">Bayz</span></span> Music Series</font></i></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="4"><b>A Beautiful Fight: Researching Capoeira, Playing with Money</b></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="4" face="arial, sans-serif">Esther Viola Kurtz</font></div><div style="text-align:center"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,sans-serif">May 6, 12–12:50pm, ARTS 157</span></div></div><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"></div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="cid:ii_mosxa4ti0" alt="image.png" width="542" height="352"></div><p style="text-align:center;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.75;letter-spacing:0.44px"><font style="" color="#000000" face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">Dr. Kurtz writes: "In this talk I provide an overview of my book, </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><i style="box-sizing:inherit;line-height:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">A Beautiful Fight: The Racial Politics of </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><i style="box-sizing:inherit;line-height:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">Capoeira in Backland Bahia</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">. I trace its arguments that capoeira group members cohere </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">community by using sound and movement to produce axé (life force energy) but that </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">despite this resonant alignment, group members still diverge in their understandings of </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">capoeira’s antiracist politics and spirituality. I then focus on capoeira’s “money game” as </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">it is played by Mestre Cláudio and his group, the Angoleiros do Sertão. I argue that their </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">way of playing with money provides insight into capoeira group economics, revealing </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">how capoeira mestres work both against and within enduring racialized political-</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">economic systems in ways that are deeply relational in nature. This case study also </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">models how I merge methods of critical ethnography, Africana studies, and the holistic </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">study of music and movement."</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></font></p><p style="text-align:left;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.75;letter-spacing:0.44px"><font color="#000000" face="arial, sans-serif"> </font></p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.75;letter-spacing:0.44px"><b style="box-sizing:inherit;font-weight:bold;line-height:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><font color="#000000" face="arial, sans-serif">BIO</font></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><div style="text-align:left"><font color="#000000" face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="letter-spacing:0.44px;box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">Esther Viola Kurtz is an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology in the Department of </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing:0.44px;box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">Music and a Faculty Affiliate with the Department of African and African-American </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing:0.44px;box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">Studies and the Performing Arts Department at Washington University in St. Louis. Her </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing:0.44px;box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">research explores African diasporic music-dance practices as sites where practitioners </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing:0.44px;box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">contest injustice and transform their worlds. Her book, A Beautiful Fight: The Racial </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing:0.44px;box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">Politics of Capoeira in Backland Bahia (University of Michigan Press, 2025) is an </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing:0.44px;box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">ethnographic study of Black and white practitioners’ interpretations of capoeira’s </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing:0.44px;box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">spirituality and political antiracist potentials. Her new project explores how St. Louis jazz </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing:0.44px;box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit"><span style="box-sizing:inherit">musicians resist racial capitalism and define alternative value systems.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></font></div><div style="text-align:left"><br></div><div style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color:inherit">Spread the word to your students and friends; </span><span style="color:inherit"><span class="gmail-il"><span class="gmail-il"><span class="gmai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