That is a very good question: how do we translate the capoeira "roda" into English? Let us go back in time... to the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1738... filled with vendors, sailors, free men from Europe, and slaves from Africa who spoke Bantu or Malê languages. These African peoples used to practice rites of passage for their adolescents, which mainly consisted of combat techniques used in battles. In Rio de Janeiro, "Capoeira" became a word from the Tupi-Guarani language (which was the official language of Brazil until 1757) used to describe the people who used these mixed combat movements during conflicts.
Capoeira can also be seen as a melting pot of physical cultures and worldviews that clashed and collaborated with each other in order to survive and control parts of this urban landscape. In that way, a possible translation for this old Portuguese word "roda"—which originates from Old Catalan—reflects what a careful observer would see in those colonial ports like Rio de Janeiro: not just a physical circle, but an environment—the capoeira environment. Indeed, some scholars from Brazil have conceptualized the rodas of capoeira as "new quilombos." Quilombos were territories where slaves who escaped captivity could find a community to hide in and build resistance. The biggest of these communities was the Quilombo dos Palmares, which had reached 20 thousand inhabitants by 1670.
The word "environment" started being used in Old English around 1603, according to the Oxford Dictionary, deriving from the Old French word "environ", which means 'circuit', 'surround', 'enclose', or 'circumstances'. However, the historical coinage of the term "environment" can be seen as an intersection of social, political, economic, and agrarian changes, serving as a pivotal moment of transnational cultural exchange.
Ultimately, there is an even better word for "roda": the commons. The definition of the "commons" represents a synthesis of capoeira's role in Brazil: a resourceful environment where many types of "resources" can be shared, such as music, spirituality, physical education, dance, martial techniques, games, historical sources, and a sociological or anthropological way of viewing Brazilian society.
Therefore, the capoeira commons signifies a territory of relationships where the Brazilian people can practice cultural resistance, preserve historical memory, and embody freedom.
