Red Belt, Black Tag: The trajectory of a youth’s martial arts dream in urban Argentina

HENRIKE NEUHAUS; CINTIA SCHWAMBERGER

Durham

Congreso; (Re)Placing Sport. Antropological Perspective on a Global Problem; 2024

International Network of Sport Anthropology

The authors co-produced several short films in the framework of participating in audiovisualworkshops in public secondary schools located in contexts of urban poverty of the first urbanbelt of the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires. From a range of short filmsthat reflect physical education, they selected one that describes the dream of setting up ataekwondo gym specialising in attending to practitioners with disabilities. Shedding light onthe processes around the camera work, the film serves as a platform to discuss the politicaland institutional struggles of thetaekwondo’s history of taekwondohistory in Argentinawhileand it describinges social visions of possible futures linked to theto learning andteaching ofteaching martial arts in Argentina. Following the hypothesis that martial arts practice allows the interlocutor with disabilities tointerpellate and claim the power to challenge their bodily limits, the discussion examines theintersections of potencies of martial arts, disability, and urban poverty as it produces effectsand affections in the processes of inclusion/exclusion of young people with disabilities livingin such contexts.