Ethnographic notes on the practice of karate in the Western Cariri region of the state of Ceará: affirmation and estrangement of the warrior ethos
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18002/rama.v21i1.2606Keywords:
Martial arts, combat sports, karate, culture, ethnography, ethosAgencies:
This research received no funding sources, nor the author received funding for this work.Abstract
This article aims to understand the construction of signs and sociocultural dispositions arising from the relationships established within a karate group in the Western Cariri region of the state of Ceará, Brazil. More specifically, it seeks to present the dissonances and affirmations surrounding the idea of a warrior ethos. Guided by the ethnographic method, the research involved participant observation and field diary entries from June 2023 to May 2024. Ten men and four women took part in the study. The researcher responsible for field immersion participated in karate training sessions and competitions, in addition to establishing a closer relationship with the investigated group, in order to position himself as an “insider.” Distinct forms of appropriation, interpretation, and decoding of karate signs were observed, in which the ethos of this practice operates in peculiar ways, ranging from an individual to a collective conception. Thus, the negotiation of this ethos occurs within a configurational field of tension, where hierarchical positions, personal trajectories, and the regional cultural context filter and reshape martial codes.
Downloads
Métricas alternativas
References
Angrosino, M. V. (2009). Etnografia e observação participante. Artmed.
Barreira, C. R. A. (2013). O sentido do karate-do: Faces históricas, psicológicas e fenomenológicas. Fontoura.
Albuquerque Júnior, D. M. (2011). A invenção do Nordeste e outras artes. Cortez.
Barrett, S. (2015). Antropologia: guia do estudante à teoria e ao método antropológico. Vozes.
Barth, F. (1998). Grupos étnicos e suas fronteiras. In P. Poutignat & J. Streiff-Fenart (Eds.), Teorias da etnicidade (pp. 185–227). Fundação Editora da UNESP.
Cynarski, W. J. (2019). General canon of the philosophy of karate and taekwondo. Ido Movement for Culture. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology, 19(3), 24–32. https://doi.org/10.14589/ido.19.3.3
Cynarski, W. J., & Johnson, J. A. (2023). The amalgamation of eastern and western philosophies within Idokan Karate. Revista de artes marciales asiáticas, 18(2), 66-79. https://doi.org/10.18002/rama.v18i2.6201
Dwyer, S. C., & Buckle, J. L. (2022). Cultural insider-outsider: Reflecting on positionality in shared and differing identities. In Dwyer, S. C., & Bucle, J. L (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative cross-cultural research methods (pp. 85–99). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800376625.00014
Dziubiński, Z. (2020). Martial arts ethos from an axio-normative perspective. Ido Movement for Culture. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology, 20(4), 47–54. https://doi.org/10.14589/ido.20.4.7
Elias, N. (1994). O processo civilizador: uma história dos costumes. Jorge Zahar.
Elias, N. (1997). Os alemães: a luta pelo poder e a evolução do habitus nos séculos XIX e XX. Jorge Zahar.
Elias, N., & Scotson, J. L. (2000). Os estabelecidos e os outsiders: Sociologia das relações de poder a partir de uma pequena comunidade. Jorge Zahar.
Elias, N. (2022). Processos de excitação: Trabalhos não publicados de Norbert Elias sobre esporte, lazer, corpo e cultura. Editora UEPG.
Frosi, T. O., & Mazo, J. Z. (2011). Repensando a história do karatê contada no Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Educação Física e Esporte, 25, 297–312. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1807-55092011000200011
Gadamer, H. G. (1995). Hermeneutik im Rückblick. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Geertz, C. (1978). A interpretação das culturas. Zahar Editores.
Hobsbawm, E., & Ranger, T. (2018). A invenção das tradições (12a ed.). Paz e Terra.
Islas, D. S. C., & Jennings, G. (2023). A Typology of Martial arts scholar–practitioners: Types, transitions, and tensions in capoeira. Societies, 13(10), 214. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13100214
Jakhel, R. (2019). Karate’s ambiguity: Traditional martial art or modern combat sport. Revista de Artes Marciales Asiáticas, 14(2s), 68–70. https://doi.org/10.18002/rama.v14i2s.6000
Keesing, R. M., & Strathern, A. J. (2014). Antropologia cultural: uma perspectiva contemporânea. Vozes.
Lago Filho, P. A. P., Lima, G. A., Ferreira, H. S., & Neto, Á. R. M. (2024). História do karatê no sertão da região Nordeste do Brasil: memória dos mestres do Vale do São Francisco. Revista Mosaico, 15(Especial), 51–64. https://doi.org/10.21727/rm.v15iEspecial.4581
Lima, G. A., Vasques, D. G., & Mariante Neto, F. P. (2023). Dambe como prática corporal de luta africana: um estado da arte de artigos científicos. Identidade!, 28(2), 52–75. https://doi.org/10.22351/id.v28i2.2882
Lima, G. A., Rufino, L. G. B., Turelli, F., & Millen Neto, A. R. (2025a). “Estamos no treino, mas não podemos nos descuidar”: um estudo etnográfico sobre as relações de gênero no karatê. Revista Brasileira de Ciências do Esporte, 47, e20240126. https://doi.org/10.1590/rbce.47.e20240126
Lima, G.A., Mariante Neto, F. P., Vasques, D. G., & Millen Neto, A. R. (2025b). Estabelecido ou outsider? Notas autoetnográficas sobre a inclusão de um praticante iniciante em uma academia de karatê na região do Cariri Oeste do estado do Ceará, Brasil. Ágora para la Educación Física y el Deporte, 27, 108–132. https://doi.org/10.24197/71kzs128
Lima, G. A., Vasques, D. G., Mariante Neto, F. P., & Millen, A. R. (2024). O karatê entre espontaneidade e autoconsciência: reflexões configuracionais a partir de uma etnografia na região do Cariri cearense. Revista Brasileira de Ciências do Esporte, 46, e20240096. https://doi.org/10.1590/rbce.46.20240096
Lima, G. A., Caldas, F. D. L., & Millen Neto, A. R. (2024). Lutas, artes marciais e esportes de combate sob o olhar etnográfico. Cuerpo, Cultura y Movimiento, 14(2), 59-75. https://doi.org/10.15332/2422474X.10202
Lima, G. A., Vasques, D. G., & Mariante Neto, F. P. (2023). Análise da produção acadêmica brasileira sobre o cangaço: reflexões à luz da sociologia figuracional de Norbert Elias. Revista Mosaico, 14(3), 76-87. https://doi.org/10.21727/rm.v14i3.3935
Merton, R. K. (2002). Teoria socjologiczna i struktura społeczna (E. Morawska & J. Wertenstein-Żuławski, Trans.). Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Oliveira, M. A., Saura, S. C., & Zimmermann, A. C. (2025). Karate’s tradition: The perception of masters and students. Ido Movement for Culture Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology, 25(2), 91–104. https://doi.org/10.14589/ido.25.2.9
Rufino, L. G. B. (2012). A pedagogia das lutas: caminhos e possibilidades. Paco Editorial.
Sánchez-García, R. (2018). An introduction to the historical sociology of Japanese martial arts. Martial Arts Studies, 6, 75–88. https://doi.org/10.18573/mas.64
Wacquant, L. (2002). Corpo e alma: Notas etnográficas de um aprendiz de boxe. Relume Dumará.
Yip, S. Y. (2024). Positionality and reflexivity: negotiating insider-outsider positions within and across cultures. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 47(3), 222-232. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2023.2266375
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 George Almeida Lima, Antônio Jorge Gonçalves Soares, Alvaro Rego Millen Neto

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The authors who publish in this journal must agree to the following terms:
- The authors grant on a nonexclusive basis the exploitation rights (reproduction, distribution, public communication and transformation) of the work accepted for publication to the University of León. The authors can establish, on their own, additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (for example, placing it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), always acknowledging the initial publication in this journal.
- This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Click to see basic information and the legal text of the license.
- The authors are allowed and encouraged to disseminate electronically pre-print or post-print versions of their work before publication, as this can give rise to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and increased citing of the works published.



