Å finne sin stamme - Samfunnsmusikkterapi og capoeira

Abstract

Statistics show an increase in challenges related to solitude and social isolation. There is an indisputable need for arenas of participation within various facets of social experience. The field of music therapy offers such an arena and enables consciousness of key concepts related to participation and community. This master thesis is ethnographically oriented and explores how capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian art form that includes music, body games and community, can be relevant for the field of community music therapy. Through focus group interviews with members of different capoeira communities from three European cities, the thesis explores how experiences with capoeira can be understood through community music therapy theory, and what capoeira can offer in the context of health. In the world of capoeira, the author is himself a teacher and practitioner of capoeira and does not hide his position. Instead, the author aims to be a marker in existing literature and a voice from an inside perspective of practice, to front a music therapy with a wide repertoire, to promote health and wellbeing through integration and inclusion.