The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Project Bantu: refugee youth finding their way through Capoeira Angola > Comments

Project Bantu: refugee youth finding their way through Capoeira Angola : Comments

By Kali Goldstone and Raphael Brasil, published 21/6/2011

A holistic approach to refugee resettlement in Australia through Afro-Brazilian culture.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. Page 7
  9. All
The paper points out that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to criminal behaviour. That in itself is significant. Your first quote pointed out that no single gene, or group of genes can PREDICT the onset of criminal behaviour, and where this has been attempted the effects have been found to be modest. That view is reinforced on page 5 where the researchers concluded that ……

“……it is highly unlikely that single genes will be found that very substantially increase the risk of engaging in criminal behaviour. Instead, it is far more likely that a large number of genetic variants will be identified....

In other words, no single gene, or any small group of genes are significant, it is much more likely that a large number of genetic variants are responsible.

I laughed myself silly when you posted up that quote about the research only being applicable to the Caucasian" race. People like yourself go into all sorts of verbal gymnastics to claim that all races are equal, yet you were silly enough to submit as evidence, that the scientists themselves are warning that genetic "alleles" applicable to one race providing a causal link between genetics and criminality, may caused by different "alleles" in another race.

But you could not see that, could you? You are so fixated upon your “all men are equal" ideology that you are (as Orwell pointed out in his book “1984”) unable to grasp the contradictions in your own slogans.

I agree that environmental factors are far more important than genetics in determining susceptibility to criminal behaviour. That means that if a person has had good parents who reinforce societal expectations, live in a culture where adherence to social norms is reinforced, even a person with a genetic predisposition to criminal behaviour may not do so. But where the same person has bad parents, who’s cultural values are diametrically opposed to the community, and where popular culture reinforces the message that criminal behaviour is cool, then that person is far more prone to engage in criminal acts than a person with better genetics.
Posted by LEGO, Saturday, 25 June 2011 6:35:32 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Babies happily play together, without a concern or even noticing skin colour. Until older people, people who decide who to like and who to hate based on appearance, influence our children.

I have blond hair and blue eyes, my mother had olive skin, blue-black hair and dark brown eyes - courtesy of my Jewish greatgrandmother - Middle Eastern blood - quelle horreur!

I suppose I should go back where I came from (country Victoria).
Posted by Ammonite, Saturday, 25 June 2011 7:51:44 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
WHAT DOES PROJECT BANTU DO? PART ONE.

I am writing in response to readers' requests for a more thorough description of what Project Bantu does. I am by no means an expert on Capoeira Angola. However I have seen Project Bantu's classes in the course of my own work as a research assistant and can describe what I witnessed over the couple of months I spent observing weekly classes.

Project Bantu teaches an Afro-Brasilian tradition called Capoeira Angola. The Capoeira Angola I saw (and I only saw classes for very new beginners) is conceptualised as a game and consists of: 1) music, and 2) physical play, involving elements of dance and martial arts.

1) The music
Project Bantu teaches students the traditional Afro-Brasilian music mentioned at the beginning of the article. Students are directed in playing percussion instruments such as those we would recognise as the tambourine, agogo and guiro (although they of course have names for them in Brazilian). Over the top of the rhythms they play on these instruments, the students are directed in singing call-and-response type songs. This music serves as the accompaniment for the physical part of the game, which I will now do my best to describe.

2) Physical play, involving elements of dance and martial arts
Students learn a series of choreographed movements that imitate martial art movements. It could be compared to the stylised 'dances' that form the Japanese kata. These are learnt, at first, by individuals using chairs as props/mock opponents. When the choreography has been mastered, students practice these movements in pairs. Like the paired kata, at different times throughout the choreography each person gets a turn at role-playing both a defender and an aggressor. At no time during the choreography is any impact to be made; it is not sparring in any way. Rather the movements are intended to be impressively within reach of impact, in this way demonstrating the restraint mentioned in the article.
Posted by samgieck, Monday, 27 June 2011 9:47:06 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
WHAT DOES PROJECT BANTU DO? PART TWO.

3) The game

Both of the elements described, together, make up the game. The instrumentalists and singers sit in a circle (a hoda) and play their music. As mentioned in the article, the music communicates with the ‘players’ (those performing the choreography), driving the choreography in both speed and energy. The players themselves perform in the middle of the circle. At the end of their turn, they return to the circle and become part of the singing and music-playing hoda, from which the next pair of players come. This continues until everybody in the hoda has had a turn at playing the game.

Again, I would like to stress that what I saw - and what the description above is based on - was beginner classes adapted for Western learners. I am not sure whether this would be recognised as the ‘authentic’ Capoeira Angola by experts, whatever ‘authentic’ means.
Posted by samgieck, Monday, 27 June 2011 9:48:34 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
WHAT DOES PROJECT BANTU DO? PART THREE.

I hope this has been helpful for those of you who expressed an interest in the details about what Project Bantu does. I can assure you it’s not a sham (although I am not sure I understood what the accusation was in that comment). To put in my two cents worth, Project Bantu has been effective in further developing in some if its participants - a significant number of whom are refugees - characteristics such as discipline and respect. In practice this translates to things like learning to be punctual and how to communicate with ‘Others’. In my experience (which I am not in any way claiming is complete or authoritative), the refugees I have come across who have problems with things like punctuality and cross-cultural communication come from years (and lifetimes) of living in situations where these customs were not necessary. For example most of the students have grown up in refugee camps where they have not had the fortunate opportunity to go to school. Their parents, in refugee camps, were not able to work. In this way, there was no structure or timetable they had to stick to; it is not that they don’t care about attending classes and are mandated to participate by the law (as suggested by the first poster); they are simply not used to it. Even before fleeing as a refugee, a number of these people come from task-oriented rather than time-oriented work situations (such as self-sufficient agriculture). I am by no means suggesting that this excuses anybody from, for example, being failing to be punctual. I am just saying that these things need to be learnt and a lot of people have not had the opportunities that are a natural part of everyday life in Australia. We need to give them time to learn it, and frameworks for them to do so. From what I saw, Project Bantu is one of those frameworks.
Posted by samgieck, Monday, 27 June 2011 9:49:11 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. Page 7
  9. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy