Strands of Strife and Life Vol. I - South Caribbean Fighting Arts (Downloadable)

STR ANDS OF

STRIFE & LIFE vo l . I

South Caribbean Fighting Arts

The First Expedition in More than a Generation...

Copyright © 2021 by The Immersion Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

First Edition published in 2021 by The Immersion Foundation. http://theimmersion.foundation

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

Reviews for South Caribbean Fighting Arts

“This monograph is an important contribution to the very rich BARBADIAN ‘STICK-

LICKING’ LEGACY. . . . [It] stands out as a first of its kind and as such, we view this HISTORIC CONTRIBUTION by Dr. Forde and the Immersion Foundation to an intangible cultural asset of the Southern Caribbean as being worthy of our highest accolades.”

—Hon. John A. King, M.P., Minister with responsibility for Culture and the National Development Commission, Prime Minister’s Office, Barbados

“. . . This contribution to the global archive of transgenerational performance and martial arts practices will be invaluable to the field . . . Caribbean martial arts knowledge, history, and testimony reflect the INTERDEPENDENCY OF ART AND

LIFE PRACTICES that are not separate . . . The holistic perspectives shared in the book bind movement, virtuosity, narrative and technology to performative healing and transformation . . . The monograph makes EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE accessible for further educational and research practices that include and break out beyond institutions.”

—Dr. Karmenlara Ely, Artistic Director / Professor, Norwegian Theatre Academy, Østfold University College, Norway

REVIEWS | iii

“. . . The ILF in its journey into Hoplology, first journeyed into the Caribbean to document, study and analyze enigmatic and threatened fighting systems found there. It is with this PRESERVATION OBJECTIVE that I was enthused to participate and act as guide for an ILF-Philippine Hoplological expedition into Manila and Negros Island to help preserve my country’s vanishing martial systems in June of 2019. This archiving work has only begun and I am very pleased that I have been able to contribute a small part to this, the ILF’S MOST WORTHY ENDEAVOR.” —Romeo Macapagal, Student of Antonio “Tatang” Ilustrisimo / Archivist of Kalis Ilustrisimo

“This monograph is a SEMINAL WORK on traditional martial arts practices of the Southern Caribbean . . . The discovery is truly impressive, that these martial arts, existing for hundreds of years covertly underground . . . are actually valuable repositories of memory retention of long-lost homelands. The daring of innovative contemporary researchers to invest in capturing the MYSTICAL AND MYTHICAL, HISTORICAL

AND CULTURAL implications of these art forms, matches the ingenuity, creativity and adaptation skills of the generations of practitioners themselves.

The pioneering use of PRACTICE-BASED COLLABORATIVE LABORATORIES combined with digital technology . . . bolstered by an environment of rigor, can hopefully reverse the positioning of these art forms from a place of marginalization and attrition . . . to occupy the centered, eminent Caribbean space they deserve.”

—Iezora Edwards, Ph.D, Lecturer, The University of the West Indies

iv | The Immersion Review

“Immersion Foundation is quite a remarkable ongoing mission. In all my years in martial arts, I have never seen anything quite like the DEPTH AND BREADTH of the people Mahipal Lunia brings together. A serious high-level teacher and practitioner in his own right, Mahipal brings unique energy and vision to his search for little known arts.

Immersion Foundation puts together the team necessary for documenting them and connecting them with the LARGER MARTIAL ARTS COMMUNITY. . . . Gratitude for the work the Immersion Foundation and Mahipal does!”

—Crafty Dog Marc Denny, Guiding Force of the Dog Brothers / Head Instructor of Dog Brothers Martial Arts

“. . . I have been a fan of Donn Draeger and his work for decades. . . . Now, after a 40year hiatus, Mahipal and team have resurrected [the] science of Hoplology with their major expedition to the South Caribbean to document the MARTIAL CULTURE of the islands. The Immersion team did all the hard work, and now we get to enjoy their findings with the release of the exquisitely illustrated [monograph]. Such honorable work performed at the highest standard. Thank you for BRINGING HOPLOLOGY

BACK into the forefront.“ —Burton Richardson

REVIEWS | v

PROJECT TEAM CEO & Explorer-in-Residence Mahipal R. Lunia Contributing Editors Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D Benjamin N. Judkins, Ph.D Juha A. Vuori, Ph.D Creative Directors Hana Shin Morrigan (Síofra) Cody Research Assistants Daniel Norris Vikram Sarath

CONTRIBUTORS Rondel Benjamin Benjamin N. Judkins, Ph.D Mahipal Lunia Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D Vincent Tamer John White The Immersion Review, founded by The Immersion Foundation, is a conduit for penetrating insights in combat and combative behaviour. It is a space for the dedicated martial artist, who dares to seek ideas from diverse fighting systems.

The Immersion Review is a peer-reviewed journal for the martial arts comprehensivist.

FOR EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT: thereview@theimmersion.foundation

Mahipal R. Lunia The Immersion Foundation Explorer-in-Residence

@theimmersionfoundation @immersion.foundation http://therenaissancepath.com http://theimmersion.foundation Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D Binghamton University Anthropology Department

@michael.j.ryan.54 @garrotero1 https://binghamton.academia. edu/MichaelJRyan

Benjamin N. Judkins, Ph.D https://chinesemartialstudies.com

Juha A. Vuori, Ph. D Tampere University Faculty of Management and Business Professor of International Politics

https://orcid.org/0000-00031487-2961

CONTENTS FOREWORD

The Barbados Expedition and the Reemergence of Hoplology

10

By Michael J. Ryan, Juha Vuori, & Mahipal Lunia

ILF CARIBBEAN

The Hoplology Expedition to Barbados

32

By Michael J. Ryan

HOPLOLOGY

The Quest to Discover, Examine, and Understand Martial Arts

58

By Michael J. Ryan

CHERRY-BOY

The Last of the Grandfathers Speaks

74

By Philip Forde

WARRIORHOOD

Keegan & Lunia in Deep Discussion

84

By Michael J. Ryan

PHILIP FORDE

Gatekeeper of Sticklicking

By Mahipal Lunia

[Post-Script] Philip: Martial Artist, Musician, and Professor

RONDEL BENJAMIN

Combat Martial Artist, Hoplologist, and Pioneer

By Jon White

[Post-Script] Benji: Crossing the Kalunga

KEEGAN TAYLOR

Carrying the Traditions into the Future

By Rondel Benjamin

[Post-Script] Keegan: Trailblazing for the Next Generation viii | The Immersion Review

108 122 136 146 176 184

194

DAVID “BIGGARD” HINDS

Memories of Old-Time Barbados

By Michael J. Ryan

RONALD ALFRED

Guardian of Martial Tradition, Master Mas Maker, and Herb Healer

By Rondel Benjamin

204 214

[Post-Script] Ronald: The Man with a Whip in Each Hand

FINDING AN ANCHOR IN HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING

By Vincent Tamer

236 246

[Post-Script] Vincent: Through a Lens Deeply

254

MICHAEL J. RYAN

The Fighting Stick and Machete in Venezuelan Garrote

By Mahipal Lunia

272

STICKMAN DOH ‘FRAID NO DAMOM:

Stick and Machete Fighting in the New World

By Michael J. Ryan

304

T.J. DESCH-OBI

Wandering Warrior-Scholar of African and Afro-American Combative Arts

By Mahipal Lunia

326

[Post-Script] T.J.: Chasing a Rapidly Disappearing Past

344

MAHIPAL LUNIA

From Backyard Martial Artist to Guiding Force

By Michael J. Ryan

[Post-Script] Mahipal: Meeting with Remarkable Martial Artists

APPENDIX

[Previous Editorial] A Special Issue: Caribbean Combat Arts and the New Hoplology

362 378

By Benjamin N. Judkins CONTENTS | ix

FOREWORD

By Michael J. Ryan, Juha Vuori, & Mahipal Lunia

The Barbados Expedition and the Reemergence of Hoplology We are living in uncertain times, causing significant upheavals in many of our lives. As the world continues to change in dramatic and unexpected ways, one thing continues unchanged: our practice. We regularly disengage from all our everyday obligations and find a spot and drill the same moves 10,000 times. Then we start over and do it again. Such a regime must have begun hundreds of thousands of years ago when early Homo Sapiens began to actively hunt animals and attack and defend themselves against other bands of 10 | The Immersion Review

Homo Sapiens. At some time, someone realized the value of repetition in achieving a quick kill shot.

Among those who take up a weapon and rehearse a repertoire of thrusts, slashes, parries, and blocks either as a dance or through pre-arranged drills, the result is often the same; one’s practical skill set transforms into art. For these reasons, asking what the first martial art was, or what is the best martial art, are the wrong questions to ask. Much more is to be gained through an exam-

ination asking when and why different communities, over time, chose a weapon and sought to maximize its effectiveness to obtain needed resources or defend oneself or one’s community. How and when did a simple clubbing stick transform into a thrusting spear, boomerang, atlatl, or a bow and arrow? What were the political, economic, and social condi-

tions leading to some communities continuing to fight in open, informal one-on-one combat and others in coordinated mass formations? Among those living under simpler forms of social organization such as the extended family, the clan, or the tribe, the murder of a group member could weaken the group militarily and economically. In such cases, how

A political map of the Caribbean.

FOREWORD | 11

did communities reduce the lethality of intra-communal violence such as blood feuds and vendettas? What cultural mechanisms or technological changes were introduced into a community to control the number of violent deaths? How have these arts or ways of thinking about violence changed with an increasing connection with the modern world? Or why do these types of arts persist in this modern world when firearms and drone technology should make any idea of hand-to-hand combat obsolete? At times, questions like these must have skittered through many readers’ brains as they picked up a weapon for the umpteenth time and began to train. Then they definitely ran through our minds as a group of us living all around the U.S. and the Caribbean packed up our weapons to meet in Barbados to explore these questions.

Two years after the expedition to Barbados, the Immersion Foundation conducted a series of interviews with the expedition team and informants to reflect on their experiences and lessons learned from the experience. What these interviews show is how the expedition was a life-al12 | The Immersion Review

tering experience for all concerned.

Experiencing the interweaving of martial arts practice into everyday life as part of a complete cosmology or philosophy was eye-opening for some. For others, the expedition represented a possibility of showcasing their art and practice to the outside world and providing a sense of community, support, and esteem among international martial artists. Indeed, many were not aware of academic research into martial arts practice, yet they were very keen to participate and become part of it. The expedition even inspired some to go back to college and begin their own path of research.

The interviews that looked back point to the multidisciplinary nature of New Hoplology. In addition to combatively oriented Anthropology, fields such as Educational Science, History, Sport Studies, Area Studies, Religious Studies, Sociology, Politics, International Relations, Security Studies, and Peace Research come immediately to mind. The reflections also display some of the multiple methods that New Hoplology can deploy. These include the video and audio recording of techniques

and physical forms of flow and the conduct of semi-structured interviews. As the researchers are also practitioners, this external approach available for many ethnographers is deepened through the embodied practice of doing the art studied with its practitioners. As some of the interviews show, such encounters can be memorable events that are clearly recollected even years later and provide a profound human connection.

The interviews also point to the crucial role of pedagogy in martial arts.

For instance, both Benji and Keegan each reflect on ways of teaching martial arts that range from gamification to trance state as learning shortcuts. Ways of teaching for them are also intimately connected to transformations of society and even culture. Indeed, the role of the internet and other digital means, as well as a generational gap between pre-Internet people and those brought up in a world of ubiquitous social media presence, is also apparent. Many of the arts discussed have also been secretive or kept within a tight circle of trustees. Opening up to a larger community invariably im-

pacts the way a martial art can be and is taught.

Furthermore, this connects to whether and how traditions and traditional ways of teaching are maintained.

Should the hard-hitting old ways be retained, or should the teaching draw from contemporary thought on pedagogy, for example? In their interview, both Philip Forde and Benji wonder how and to whom the knowledge is transmitted and how deeply students want to engrain it in themselves. Should the teachings be combined, systematized, taught as handed down unchanged for generations, or be the basis for a personal interpretation and new paths? Such questions are present for any martial arts teacher who sets out on their own path of discovery and teaching, yet vitally crucial regarding endangered art form.

While martial arts can be practiced and trained for a multitude of reasons, the modern manifestations of its practice tend to divide into its component parts. The expedition showed how this is not necessarily the case. For example, in Trinidad, Kalinda is much more than cracking

FOREWORD | 13

someone on the head, and RopeJab is much more than just a form of whip-fighting. Carefully read the words of Ronald Alfred, and you will understand how these arts encompass what might be called a philosophy of life or a cosmological view of the world. Fully-fledged martial art forms tend to contain ethics and codes of behavior beyond the combative situation itself. The practice of a martial art may inform life beyond the dojo or yard. Read T.J.’s story showing how the academic study of a martial art can be an entry point or a window into cultural, spiritual, and societal systems. It can be a pathway to study global histories of human movement and cultural transmissions. Trinidad, in particular, has been a site of hybridization, and the martial traditions arising from there have not been excluded from this process. Wondering about the future, Ronald Alfred explicitly connects some socio-political events with the opportunity to bring his art more into the open as a source of respect rather than vilification.

When Hoplology studies specific techniques, ways of wielding weapons, or ways of moving the body, it 14 | The Immersion Review

reveals some of the unified combative elements that the human body and certain combative tools afford.

Beyond their practicality and effectiveness, such embodied practices also have aesthetic qualities that connect with overall senses of beauty and ways of doing things prevalent in societies. As one of the informants phrases it, people have particular swings. T.J. illustrates these types of ideas in his description of his fieldwork projects. Exploring both of these elements can allow for the setting of hypotheses about shared roots or styles among various martial art forms practiced seemingly separately. Once again, this can connect to the transmissions of cultural forms either through free-willed interaction or oppressive structures of domination and colonization.

The martial arts of Barbados and Trinidad display global cultural flows and how the history of colonization and slavery has impacted them, as many of the informants emphasize.

In such oppressive structures, the practice of a martial art, even secretly, has been a source of esteem and a community of worth among those initiated in it when society at large

may not have offered such opportunities. Such practice has also been closely connected to spiritual and religious forms and has undergone influences by migration flows separately from European colonization.

As such, Hoplology serves as an entry point to the study of Afro-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean, and even Sino-Caribbean connections, in addition to those of various European colonial impacts. These arts become comparable with martial arts practice and cultural forms in the Carolinas, Venezuela, Colombia, or other sites.

For the scholar, the significance of centuries-long trans-global flows of combative cultures has a great deal of relevance to their own pursuits.

Such well-worn patterns point to the relevance of not only Area Studies such as North American Studies1 but even to the applicability of conducting Inter-Regional Area Studies in furthering their understanding of these flows.

The use of force is at the core of politics, both international and domestic. While hand-to-hand combat 1 Area Studies such as Latin American, East Asian, or Eastern European, are an academic discipline in many colleges.

is no longer the main point of military tactics, it is still an everyday concern for police officers and those facing civilian conflicts. And states who still have the monopoly of the legitimate use of force within their territory continue to maintain the use of firearms and certain types of edged weapons. Yet, classic philosophers of the state, such as Thomas Hobbes, who argued for the relinquishing of all individual rights to the leviathan of the state, still emphasized that the right of self-preservation and defense was the only right that could not be given away.

Martial arts can act as a vehicle for this. As Benji phrases it, martial arts can also be about the rejuvenation, rejoicing, and rediscovery of community. Martial arts can be tools of resistance both in physical encounters and cultural or symbolic structures of violence. Martial art practice is not just about the defense of the self but about the maintenance of community and dealing with societal problems through non-violent means. Martial art prowess can accrue respect and confidence in other fields of life too.

At the same time, once such practices become valorized, they become FOREWORD | 15

available to co-optations by political groups with nationalistic aspirations.

who train their arts in a way they find appropriate and fitting.

To understand the myriad reasons martial arts continue to exert such a strong pull among people from around the world, from the ordinary working man to the academic or politician, one must show up. That means one must physically engage with other practitioners to understand why specific arts emerged out of a community at a specific time to fulfill a need. Alternately, how has it changed to meet the needs and interests of today’s practitioners? And finally, why do people devote years of their lives to it?2 In such a project, a Hoplologist must put their body on the line.3 Looking at arts, books, stories, songs, and movies are important as well. But these possess only secondary and tertiary importance to the need to mix it up with those

Suppose one cannot successfully engage in a combative encounter according to the rules of engagement of those involved. What if the art fails to keep one whole or even alive? What good is the art except as a folkloric dance or museum piece?

The practical effectiveness of an art separates martial arts from other art forms. Even if one no longer dons a suit of armor or straps a bowie knife and an Arkansas toothpick to one waist to deal with a neighbor who shovels his snow on your driveway right after you shoveled your own driveway clean, that person knows they can de-animate a malefactor with extreme prejudice if the situation takes a sudden turn for the worse. The way that these arts train one not to run away from trouble but to run towards it with a sense of excitement, fear, and dread makes it clear how these arts can override the deep urge to flee or abjectly await one’s fate. Talking to many experienced practitioners, you will find many of them agreeing that martial arts can totally reorganize how one

2 See Wacquant, Loïs. (2004). Body & Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

3 In this way, Hoplology shares with the fields of Cultural Anthropology and Carnal Sociology the importance of conducting fieldwork and engaging in an apprenticeship to understand the cosmology of a community and the process of subject formation emerging through everyday life.

16 | The Immersion Review

looks at and feels about the world.4 This observation may sound like common sense to many readers. Still, this understanding that a martial art is much more than a physical discipline but can become an overwhelming passion and a conduit for moving through and judging the world in a different way serves as the basis of any Hoplological expedition.

Except for individual projects, there have not been any Hoplological expeditions in at least two generations until the Immersion Foundation set off for Barbados. Equipped with passports, state-of-the-art cameras, and a list of questions, expedition members also packed vera wood sticks, the kind esteemed by Venezuelan garroteros. Others took along poui wood sticks favored by the kings of Trinidadian Kalinda or alternately made sure their rod-wood sticks, those valued by those Bajan Sticklicking bad-men, were in good shape.

Sharpened steel cutlasses, the kind used by the bad johns of the islands, 4 For example, see Ryan, Michael J. (2016).

Venezuelan Stick Fighting: The Civilizing Process in Martial Arts. Lanham MD: Lexington Press. Or Greg Downey. (2005). Learning Capoeira: Lessons in Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

made their way into the luggage as well. Finally, hemp and steel cable whips, the preferred weapons of the Rope-Jab men, rounded out the expedition’s equipment. Now, properly prepared, members were ready to explore the origins, historical development, combative culture, and the battle-worthiness of what remained of what must have been a wide and diverse array of armed combative systems throughout the Caribbean and parts of South America.

The term Hoplology gets bandied around a lot lately by people who have only a dim view of what it is and its history. All too often, the term Hoplology serves as a term by those seeking to add their status by labeling martial arts vacations or road trips a scientific research trip.

Among those a bit more knowledgeable, the word Hoplology evokes memories of Donn Draeger. Despite the efforts by some to shine a light on their own name by turning a man into an icon whose words are a gift from the gods of war, Hoplology as a scientific discipline predates Draeger’s efforts by over 100 years. Never quite attaining the status of a discipline such as Anthropology or HistoFOREWORD | 17

18 | The Immersion Review

ry; nonetheless, Hoplological studies continue to be done, often under the auspices of other academic disciplines up through the present.

Going back to the beginning, Hoplology emerged alongside Anthropology in the mid-19th century by those seeking to create an evolutionary timeline of humans from early man to the modern age. During this early period, the Prussian officer Max Jähns examined the weapons of Europe as part of a larger historical, cultural period.5 Around the same time, R.F. Burton linked the preference of a weapon type to the physical build and technological sophistication of an ethnic group.6 And still, others, such as Augustus Henry Lane Pitt-Rivers, drawing on the work of the sociologist Herbert Spencer, sought to prove the evolution of a culture, from the simplest to the complex, is reflected in its weaponry.7 Altogether, a great deal 5 Jähns, Max. (1880; repr., Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1979). Handbuch einer Geschichte des Kriegswesens von der Urzeit bis zur Renaissance. Leipzig: Fr. Wilh. Grunow.

6 Burton, R.F. Sir. (1884: 1987). The Book Of The Sword. Mineola, NY: Dover.

7 Pitt Rivers, A. H. L. F. Lt-Gen. (1868). Primitive Warfare: Illustrated by Specimens from the Museum of the Institution (Part II). Journal of the United Services Institution Vol. 12. pp. 399–439.

FOREWORD | 19

of good descriptive Hoplolgical work was done during this time. However, by the mid-20th century, it became clear that attempts to rank cultures from the Barbaric to the Civilized through an examination of their armaments were inherently racist and biased. During this time, a shift occurred that looked at how different races or peoples used weapons in ways unique to them and were recognized as effective, efficient, and morally correct ways to fight.8 Still, another trend involved looking at how the exposure to westernization led to the disappearance of older ways of doing things such as fighting.9 The Hoplological project begun by Draeger was unique in the history of Hoplology, and he deserves a good deal of credit on multiple fronts. Working from the point of view as a Hoplologist, Draeger sought out the origin and morphology of weapons, such as the differ8 Malinowski, Bronislaw. (1920). War and Weapons Among the Natives of the Trobriand Islands. Man: The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. 20. pp. 10-12.

9 Koch, Gerd. (1988). The Kiribati Project: The Culture of the Gilbert Islands. Visual Anthropology. Vol. 1. No. 3. pp. 275–279.

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ences found between a Napoleonic French infantry sword versus a cavalry sword. Alternatively, he sought to understand how these battlefield weapons differed from French epeé used in civilian duels. Then in collaboration with the now forgotten Dick Hayes, Draeger and Hayes drew on General Systems Theory to consider the role of the martial arts as part of the totality of the culture of a community and not something to be examined separately.10 In his passion for exploring martial arts, Draeger apprenticed himself to a couple of Japanese koryu traditions. Draeger also encouraged many young foreigners to come to Japan and apprentice themselves to other lesser known koryu traditions that were in danger of dying out due to lack of interest. In furtherance of his dedication to the project of Hoplology, Draeger led a number of Hoplological expeditions to Southeast Asia.11 Finally, recognizing the importance of making knowledge accessible to the wider public, Draeger tireless10 Bertalanffy, von, Ludwig. (1972). The History and Status of General Systems Theory.

The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 15.

No. 4. pp. 407-426.

11 Personal communication with Mike Belzer 08/29/2021. Zoom meeting.

ly published his writings and others with similar interests. We noted earlier how Hoplology never became an independent discipline such as the closely related developing field of Anthropology. However, examining how individuals prepare themselves and actualize an armed combative encounter in all its facets is still a topic of interest by scholars in many fields.12 At this time, those working outside of academia, such as Mahipal Lunia and Vincent Tamer, and those working within, such as Michael Ryan, Philip Forde, and T.J. Desch-Obi, are pursuing Hoplological studies from their respective disciplines. At the same time, they have also contributed to championing the role of a New Hoplology as a continuation of R.F. Burton’s view of Hoplology.

For Burton, Hoplology was the study of how armed combat manifests itself in everyday life. For Burton, the 12 Stone, J. (2016). A Proxemic Account of Bayonet Fighting. Journal of Strategic Studies.

Vol.39. pp. 1-21. Molloy, Barry P. (2017). Hunting Warriors: The Transformation of Weapons, Combat Practices, and Society during the Bronze Age in Ireland. European Journal of Archaeology. Vol.20. No. 2. pp. 1-37.

topic of Hoplology as the study of armed combat was so broad that it could only thrive if scholars from a wide range of disciplines and interests contributed their findings to create a greater understanding of this organized mayhem we call armed combat.

Long gone are the days when someone could merely provide detailed descriptions of what one has seen or learned. What makes Hoplology a science today is that any information gained must be used to support or disprove long-established questions regarding the role of armed combat among humans. Inquirers might look at the relationship between a community’s culture, the biology of an individual, and a weapon. How did the use of a weapon arise? How was it adapted to fit the needs of a community? Who taught it, who learned it? Was a weapon seen as a simple everyday tool, a specialized weapon restricted by caste or profession, or was it raised to the level of art that can profoundly reshape the wielder?

What is the present state of armed combative arts today, and what is its future?

FOREWORD | 21

A study of this sort requires long-term academic study. And as an intensive dangerous activity, these studies also require an equally intensive study with a weapon system before coming to the field. Both elements provide a practical background to understand what the people we meet are actually doing instead of just taking everything said or done at face value. We have all met self-proclaimed teachers of dying or secret arts who, on a closer examination, possess only a superficial knowledge of an art at best and use this limited knowledge as a sheen to showcase their “invented traditions.” Now, there is nothing wrong with this per se from the point of view as a marketing tool.

Still, Hoplologists seek to capture the history of a community of practically oriented knowledge. To do so, one must uncover and document the trajectory of a weapon and its use.

With this approach, it becomes possible to understand under what conditions a weapon was used and how its use differs from today, instead of being relegated to a museum piece divorced from any practical knowledge surrounding its operation.

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In furtherance of this type of project, one element in the Immersion Foundation expeditions is to seek out those who trained a combative system where armed combat was, up until the recent past, part of the community’s everyday life. At times, we can only reach back to the students of men who once had to excel in fighting just to survive everyday life. Overall, though, a Hoplological expedition requires a familiarity with a wide range of weapon systems.

Admittedly, this can be a difficult achievement for one person to attain. One way to get around this dilemma is the formation of multi-disciplinary teams. The team that went to Barbados worked well beyond any of the participants’ hopes as members were familiar with a wide range of weapon systems worldwide.

Another aspect of Hoplological studies to be looked at critically is their short-term presence in the field. One issue with short term studies is the superficiality of data collected due to time constraints and the distrust of local informants to people showing up, asking a lot of questions, and disappearing. Plowing through the articles in this volume, the reader will

see that preliminary work on this expedition began long before anybody landed in Barbados. Members read all available articles, books, and dissertations. Mahipal and Vincent made contacts with quite a few locals and held numerous phone calls.

Places to go, people to interview and learn from were set up in advance as much as possible. Workdays lasted from 14-18 hours a day. One other element proved to be important: the willingness and eagerness to gird oneself with the offensive or defensive weapons appropriate to the situation and try conclusions with other members of the team and local practitioners in a respectful manner. The goal of these encounters was not so much to prove who is better or what system is better but to match the energy of the other and see what the other’s art can do. To do this takes a level of maturity and skill that only comes with experience. The value of the information collected is that it was done according to a specific protocol to maximize the reliability and validity of its findings, and the information presented can be used to supplement other more long-term investigations.

Over the last 100 years, violence has been increasingly treated as something deviant and better left alone.

Looking around the world, the destructive aspects of violence are plain for all to see in the battlefield graveyards on the field of Flanders stretching to the horizon. There are numerous semi-abandoned villages throughout Sicily and Greece filled with old people and children. Places where blood feuds and vendettas left all the young people dead or fleeing to urban centers to build a new life.

There is a great deal of truth to the idea regarding the socially destructive elements of violence.

On the other hand, the socially valuable and productive consequences of violence that can benefit society are often missing from the literature.

In this volume, we identify and discuss a few of these elements as it relates to cultural resistance, ecology, education, and socialization. For too long, the contribution of people living in tribal communities or small villages, rural or urban laborers, or small merchants have failed to receive their proper mention in history books. Or equally infuriating, their local knowledges are often trivialFOREWORD | 23

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FOREWORD | 25

ized. The struggles of a community for freedom and dignity can be recovered by those willing to listen and learn. The movements of peoples, either forced or voluntary, are also often reflected in combative arts in the New World. Men such as Mr. Medford (Cherry-Boy), Philip, Ronald, and Benji talk about the range of practical knowledges preserved from earlier forced African migrations and later economically stressed South Asian migrants to preserve a space of independence from the domination of colonial and post-colonial elites. Oral histories as these can provide a window into a look at the long-forgotten knowledges or suppressed histories of those peoples who built and sustained the world’s civilizations.

The enjoyment of fighting is a taboo topic.13 Today professional athletes often gesticulate wildly, grimace or howl as they celebrate their skill 13 Conley, Carolyn. (1999). The Enjoyment Of Fighting. Journal of Social History. Vol. 33.

No. 1. pp. 57-72. Ryan, Michael J. (2015). “‘Does anybody here want to fight’ . . . ‘No, not really, but if you care to take a swing at me . . .’: the cultivation of a warrior’s habitus in a Venezuelan combative art.” Ido Movement for Culture. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology.

Vol. 15. No.3. pp.1-7.

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with a little ball. Many fail to realize, these ball games came about from the need for small communities to develop a safer way to train village members to fight as part of a phalanx or other massed formations.14 As far back as the Neolithic when people began living in settled communities storing their surplus wealth in one place, people have had to protect themselves against threats from local elites, the state, bandits, or neighboring villages attempting to steal, extort, or otherwise siphon off their wealth. And so the same type of expressive emotional behaviors athletes or spectators indulge in with such wicked glee today are descended directly from those warriors and soldiers who rush into battle with a yell or a howl, who desecrate corpses, take body parts or photograph the results of a battle as trophies.15 Members of the Barbados expedition were eager for friendly and, at times, hard exchanges. All those 14 Hurley, John. H. (2007). Shillelagh: The Irish Fighting Stick. Pipersville, PA. Caravan Press.

15 Saramifar, Younes. (2019). Tales Of Pleasures Of Violence And Combat Resilience Among Iraqi Shi’i Combatants fighting ISIS. Ethnography. Vol. 20. No.4. pp. 560–576.

who took part shared a desire to test oneself and one’s art and the sheer joy of violence. The exultation of losing oneself in the heat of an encounter, where the risks are high, and the excitement of meeting someone who can challenge your abilities is a hard-to-pass-up pleasure. Most people’s experiences in martial arts today arise out of children’s classes they had once been enrolled in.

For a long time now, children’s classes have served as the main moneymaker for professional martial art teachers. Others might say we have become desensitized to violence with the growing popularity of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), allowing fighters to be knocked out by fist, foot, body-slammed, or even submitted by a rear-naked choke. But how many people are willing to get hit by hardwood sticks, get slashed by a sharp blade, or have their flesh and muscles ripped off their bones by a steel cable whip? Not many!

And for that reason, members of the Barbados expedition were eager to meet others who share the same passion for collecting hard data and simultaneously concussing, cutting, and whipping one’s colleagues and newfound friends during downtimes.

There is a sheer pleasure of taking a strike only to return a perfectly timed and delivered strike in return. Go to any local Dog Brothers gathering, and you will see what I mean. Issues such as these arise in the conversations between Mahipal and Keegan and the interview with Philip as he reminisces about the Stickmata symposium when both Philip and Marco Quarta of Nova Scrima tested conclusions in an impromptu and friendly match.

Technical issues prevented a second interview with Biggard. But we want to say right here, we all felt Biggard was special. He took it upon himself to not only act as a driver but to take us under his wings as guests to his country. And as a true martial artist, although a bit slower and wiser than in the past, he made sure to take all of us aside and see what our art could do against his. There are profound deep-seated pleasures in violence indeed, even if, in these cases, out of concern for the other, both sides pulled these final attacks to some degree at least. After all, we are not made of cheap pottery, although we will all return to the clay. In such encounters, a type of FOREWORD | 27

profound knowledge often emerges where one can begin to understand what type of situation or contexts led to the development of an art.

In other words, the act of hard-play can lead to a visceral understanding of how other cultures trained the human body to achieve victory, depending on the modality of combat involved. Nowadays, in the United States, our meat processing plants, state-sanctioned executions, and our wars are far away from us. We hire the uneducated, the migrant, or military contractors to do these jobs.

Diseases and pandemics were once unsuccessfully held at bay. Not too long ago, death was a close neighbor for many and still is in many, even though humanity has doubled in size during our lifetime. The cultural logic calling for men to settle grievances face to face armed with a stick, whip, or blade, to demonstrate one’s physical toughness and mental resilience in the face of adversity was a valued trait for many people whose life was a continuous struggle and still is today. For this reason, Hoplology has a long road ahead.

Another exciting concept brought up in the recent conversations with Ron28 | The Immersion Review

ald and Benji are the ideas of war magic, crossing the Kalunga, calling on one’s ancestors, or beseeching help from the god of war or the gods of life. The varied techniques employed to access metaphysical forms of power and protection to aid the individual in combat at one time were ubiquitous in martial arts training. Once dismissed as mere superstitions, scholars are increasingly recognizing them as valuable ways of learning how other people think, live, move, and act in the world differently than those brought up in the modern western way of thinking.

Let’s be clear, the principal reasons these older arts persist are their practicality and efficiency, allowing people to create a space to live, believe, and interact with others. Looking back on the role of Hoplology in his interview, Mahipal recaps for us how he sees the role of Hoplology is to examine the way communities have taken up arms and fought with them. To learn how culture, biology, and history shape how communities look upon, think about, and react to acts of violence. The idea is not to impose our own morals or values regarding violence on others but to

understand how people continue to rely on violence to engage in a wide array of projects that we call life.

By November of 2021, it will have been three years since we arrived in Barbados; three years, can you believe it? Since then, the Immersion Foundation has released one instructional video on the knife and stick arts of Southern Italy16 and is about to release the series, Secret Fighting Arts Of The Americas, on the results of the Barbados expedition.

Our work in this area still continues, as the reader can see in the monograph you are reading on a screen or holding in your hand. Our sincere hope is that you find something worthy in these pages; if so, our travails have been worthwhile.

er, and a group of people who have never all met each other, for the most part, all hopped on airplanes. Upon landing in Barbados, they all wondered what was going to happen.

Any doubts they might have had were soon allayed as everybody met with Mahipal coming up to us each in turn with a wide, warm smile on his face and arms outstretched saying, “Welcome to Barbados! I hope you had a pleasant flight. Alright, let’s get to work, shall we? We begin in five minutes.” And so, a New Hoplology was born. Reflecting on the Immersion Foundation’s work both past and present, Mahipal sums up the goals of an Immersion Foundation style of Hoplology in three brief directives:

Taking a step back, it was in the Spring of 2016, sitting in a restaurant with a few students after an Aikijujutsu class. For some reason, the idea of reviving Burton’s old project of Hoplology was brought and kicked around half seriously. The question quickly turned to how somebody would go about doing a hoplolgical project today. Fast-forward a bit lat-

Explore fearlessly—What this means is we must suspend all our cognitive biases and enter into a new world fearlessly. To come into a new world with a student’s mindset open to learning and seeking to collaborate with others to understand the logic and motivation behind the learning of an art. What was it intended to do, how has it changed, and why does it persist today?

16 See Cielo e Meraviglia: Secrets Of Apulian Knife Fighting with Maestro Domenico Mancino. https://www.theimmersionmedia.com.

Encode diligently—The goal of any Immersion Foundation project is to

30 | The Immersion Review

model, encode, and represent the physiology, beliefs, systems, and language of these arts to show the unique ways people transmit and train and test practically oriented knowledges. For example, exploring Trinidadian Kalinda, we experienced how older African ways of learning and transmitting combative knowledge through music and songs are still the main methods of transmission among today’s Bois-men.17 Transmit broadly—All information collected for publication must meet the approval of those who provided the information. All material is then subject to rigorous methodological analysis to evaluate the reliability and validity of all information. Those findings see the light of day as books, articles, monographs, streaming videos, and special live events with invited teachers. For example, with the Barbados expedition, we recorded all aspects of the expedition in highend 4K resolution amounting to 125 hours of clean video.

Not content to sit on one’s laurels, the Immersion Foundation continues its explorations to work with those who carry on Jogo de Pau of Por17

tugal, continue the stick and blade arts of the Philippines, or uphold and honor combative/healing art of the Maoris of New Zealand. In between these times, The Immersion Foundation hosted 11 stalwart exponents of the blade in the symposium, Legacy Of The Blade, and 12 highly skilled experts with the stick in what is remembered as Stickmata. And finally, 10 staunch authorities were able to lay out the connections between the combative arts of the Indo-Malay, Moro and Polynesian cultures in Born Of Blood. Notwithstanding the limitations on travel and the impact on countless lives in this pandemic year, which does not show any sign of slowing down, the Immersion Foundation continues its mission. We continue to explore the arts via new mediums, including over satellite connectivity and in-depth personal explorations with a group of aging masters. COVID, if anything, helps the old gatekeepers realize it might be a now-or-never moment to showcase, encode, and transmit their arts.

In this, the Immersion Foundation seeks to walk shoulder to shoulder with these masters to save their arts for the next generation.

Literally “stick men” in French.

FOREWORD | 31

ILF CARIBBE AN

The Hoplology Expedition

By Michael J. Ryan to Barbados Two men from Trinidad, each armed with two short-bladed machetes, are chanting a tune, bodies swaying, reeling and rocking back and forth alternately attacking, parrying, and countering the slashes, thrusts, and cuts of the other. T.J. Desch-Obi (friend and fellow university professor) and I are standing in a parking lot in Farley Hill National Park in Barbados, serving as the expedition’s designated gophers as everyone else searches for a good spot for the morning shoot. Twenty minutes earlier, I had just finished an 11-hour commute from my classroom in upstate New York, and I was already mesmerized by an artform I never knew existed. “Whew!” I said to myself, “This is getting serious really quick. It is going to be an amazing trip!” These first impressions were not wrong; the sense of wonder and awe continued non-stop for the rest of the week as we were introduced to several Caribbean combative traditions, a couple of which I had only heard of and two of which I had no idea existed. Such was the excitement shared by all of us who took part in this exploratory Hoplological expedition to Barbados.

32 | The Immersion Review

The Jab Jab Devils.

ILF CARIBBEAN | 33

ferent ways of using a similar technology. Another approach to hoplology examines how martial arts change in communities that are under societal pressure from modernization.

ckers.

Three generations of Sticklickers.

Hoplology is a social science discipline that began in the mid-19th century. It sought to understand the different types of weapons that explorers and soldiers would come across as they conquered new territories. Why did some tribes prefer fighting with spears while, in the next valley over, another tribe preferred fighting with bows and arrows? Why is there such a great diversity in the shapes, sizes and weights of swords?

Later on, professional scholars began to look at the evolutionary development of violence, asking such questions as how universal patterns of aggression might shape the development of local martial art tra34 | The Immersion Review

ditions. Currently, Hoplology is open to a variety of approaches. For example, some Hoplologists are interested in the connections between martial art traditions from the Old and New Worlds. Another branch of Hoplology is interested in how different cultures using the same type of weapon developed such different ways of using a similar technology.

Another approach examines how martial arts change in communities that are under societal pressure from modernization.

These are some of the many questions that led nine people from all around North America and the Ca-

ribbean to meet on the island of Barbados for 11 days. While there, we sought to document a number of martial art traditions before they disappeared forever.

Due to teaching responsibilities, I arrived a few days later then everybody else. In fact, as the cab dropped me off at the house where we would be staying, Mahipal Lunia, the expedition leader, came outside to greet me, saying, “Welcome to Barbados, I hope you had a nice trip. Put your bags in this room and be ready to leave in five minutes.” Sweaty, tired, and hungry, but full of nervous ener-

gy, I said, “OK,” threw my suitcase in the room, grabbed my Venezuelan fighting sticks, and hopped in one of the two rental cars.

My head was still swimming as our group drove along the Atlantic coast line. We gazed over miles and miles of blindingly white sand, blue waters, and crashing waves, all underneath a clear sunny sky. After a few minutes of driving, the land changed from a flat coastal beach to hilly bluffs.

We watched as the sandy beaches gave way to rocky limestone coves and massive boulders. The cars then turned away from the beach to head

The Guiding Light and The Anchor.

ILF CARIBBEAN | 35

into the hills of Barbados. One must remember that the hills in Barbados are no more than a couple hundred feet above sea level, and the island is so small that one can drive around its entire coastline in 45 minutes when there is no traffic.

Our scenic drive ended in a parking lot. Mahipal, the cameraman Vincent, and the driver of the second car, David “Biggard” Hinds, jumped out and took off up a hill with an old grey stone building on top. I was thinking about how hungry I was, and of the large trunk that needed to be carried to the top of the hill, when I heard the sounds of men chanting.

I turned, looked and was struck by what I saw. One of the men, Rondel (or Benji as he liked to be called), was a kind-looking individual in his mid-40s, 5’10” and about 215 pounds.

The other man, Keegan, looked to be in his mid-30s, around 6 feet tall and a solid 225 pounds. Both were big men, but with a pair of machetes in each hand, they moved with a grace and a lightness that suggested many years of training. Suddenly, hearing a holler from somewhere up the hill telling us to hurry, all four of

36 | The Immersion Review

us grabbed the trunks full of camera equipment, machetes, and sticks and began to follow the voice.

We stopped and dumped all the equipment at a derelict mansion once featured in the 1957 movie, Island in the Sun. Due to a fire in 1965, and subsequent years of neglect, it was now a crumbling and roofless ruin. Its interior walls were covered with moss, and vines crawled up and out where the windows must have been. What once was the floor was now a small forest of saplings and ferns. Feeling good, enjoying the sunny warm weather and clear sky, both T.J. and I laid the equipment down, stood back, and let the action unfold. Mahipal and Vincent began to set up the cameras on the rough-cut grey paving stones that once served as the front entrance of the building.

While they were occupied with this, Benji and Keegan pulled out their Kalinda sticks. These sticks are fairly big, 49 inches long and about the diameter of an American quarter. Gripping these sticks on either end with both hands, they began to circle and hop, swerve and scutter towards each other weaving their

“It is a way of life that shapes your every thought and movement. To become a master of the ‘stick science,’ as he called Kalinda, one must discover their own ways to move, attack and defend.”

NAL AND UNION:

around North ys. While there isappeared for-

ybody else. In Mahipal Lunia, arbados, I hope five minutes.” my suitcase in the two rental

isited

coast line. We hing waves, all hanged from a e way to rocky m the beach to Barbados are no small that one martial art, or fic. special and issuethe of incent combine f who up a hill with novative ways.

I was, and the ages develthewas sounds of ale history of the men, Rondel

0’s, about 5’10” th members of mid-30’s around GA, and was chetes in Ieach urned stateside ars of training. my base y, all fourtoofhis; us Ben Mooney in began to follow rin-ryu, and he know ured inhim the and old and in martial ears of neglect,

ered with moss context of tand once was the

Playing Gilpin on the beach.

Playing Gilpin on the beach.

ILF CARIBBEAN | 37

NATIONAL KARATE AND JUJITSU UNION:

H

History Revisited

By James Herndon

ave you ever wanted to discover the origins of a little-known martial art, or practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issue of Masters magazine will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new and innovative ways. ch of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was develed here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the ribbean.

met and trained with “Mr.B.” from 1969 to 1971, when we were both members of United States Air Force; he was stationed at Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA, and I was tioned at Robins AFB, Warner Robins, GA. We had both recently returned stateside Exotic locations, crazy adventures, and to our overseas deployments. was about a two-hour from mycurious base his; dmmuch up to this point, just aItquiet and gentle man, sodrive we were all about d Iand made weekend drives to visit his dojo by Mooney in m his frequent art. While the camera crew set up, Ronald and work.

Benjirun donned their carnival plenty of (actually hard Wild at Ben heart and wntown Valdosta, not on base).or Although a Shodan in Shorin-ryu, and he s, or costumes, known as the Jab-Jab, thefocused devils.Iofwas The costumes themselves are quite mind sums up the spirit of the trip. sorful a Godan Shito-ryu, I felt itofwas worth colored my timesatin and effort to cloth get to decorated know himwith and madeinout of a numbered different and silk rn what I could. bells His reputation had spread throughout Force devil and in martial ricate beadings, and decorative trims. On his chestthe theAir Jab-Jab will wear seart-shaped media. cloth decorated with sequins, rhinestones and small mirrors. Sandals wornfirsthand on the feet and a padded with two the devilish horns and facemask With knowledge, in this headpiece article I will review background andacontext of mpletes the head covering. development of the National Karate and Jujitsu Union (NKJU), founded by Richard

in 1974. My viewpointsatmay may not shared by festival others. of That’s OK. isI Allargeon little background is necessary this or point.

Thebepre-Lenten Carnival y know all what I know through my ownoreyes and experiences, and through conversaebrated around catholic countries former catholic colonies.

North American 38recognize |ofThe Review I will ns with many theImmersion people whom background and ders might this celebration as name Mardi below.

Gras inFirst, Newsome Orleans.

As it took ntext. pe in Trinidad and Tobago, the enslaved African populations were once forbidden to

Exotic locations, crazy adventures, and plenty of hard work. Wild at heart and focused of mind sums up the spirit of the trip.

“. . . dressed in their costumes and armed with 12 foot long hemp whips, the Jab

“In order to master the art one must, as he said, ‘Listen to the music and then find the music within yourself.’” sticks around their bodies until, with a sudden explosion, they clashed like two big rams, blocking countering, and dodging rapid powerful strikes, until by mutual consent they stopped. With smiles and hugs, both men backed off and began again.

After a few minutes of this, Keegan and Benji grabbed T.J. and Mahipal, saying, “Let us teach you Kalinda.”

A small portable CD player blasted some Soca music and Keegan began teaching a number of basic long and close-range strikes. When he got close to his opponent, Keegan would let his stick slide halfway down his hand, to better strike closein targets such as the collarbone or the back of the skull.

Benji then took center stage and taught over 20 different footwork patterns, to confuse, intimidate, and sneakily bring the Kalinda man close enough to his opponent to launch an attack. Benji went on to explain how Kalinda is much more than a set of techniques one memorizes. In order to master the art one must, as he

said, “Listen to the music and then find the music within yourself.” Kalinda, he went on, is not just a competitive martial art that one does during Carnival season and then the sticks are put away until next year. No! It is a way of life that shapes your every thought and movement. To become a master of the “stick science,” as he called Kalinda, one must discover their own ways to move, attack and defend.

Thoroughly exhausted after hours of shooting and training, Mahipal asked T.J. and I to demonstrate Capoeira Angola as part of an effort to showcase another combative art that, like Kalinda, possesses strong West-Central African roots. Although neither of us had played in years, we played a slow, low-to-the-ground game, until we were tired. Excited by what he saw, and gaining a second wind, Keegan jumped in and played a similar type of Capoeira game with T.J. All of us by that time were exhausted, so we all sat against a wall out of the way of the tropical ILF CARIBBEAN | 39

The Rouges Gallery.

sun and listened as Benji, with a recently cut stick he had brought from Trinidad, advised us how to pick and cut a proper Kalinda stick.

Let me tell you a little more about Benji. A passion for Caribbean martial arts led this man to a study of Kalinda, Rope-Jab, and Capoeira Angola. An equally strong interest in practical combat led to a study of BJJ, Catch Wrestling, Sambo, Piper knife, and a number of others. I found him extremely well-read, open-minded, and generous with his knowledge and time. It was a real pleasure to meet him. Sitting against a wall of 40 | The Immersion Review

the former mansion and scraping the stick with a broken beer bottle, Benji showed us how to shape and clean the stick up. After a long lunch, we continued interviewing these two men and then filmed Keegan doing freestyle Gilpin, or double machete movements. By that time, Philip Forde, a Sticklicker from Barbados and one of the main participants responsible for bringing us all together, showed up in the late afternoon to continue our investigations.

He brought with him 91-year-old Courtnay “Cherry-Boy” Medford. An old-time Sticklicker whom the group had interviewed at length on Mon-

The Rogue’s Gallery.

day, he provided us with fascinatMartial Arts Masters 19 ing information, which I will return to later. We then packed up, found a restaurant, ate, and went back to the house where we talked about Caribbean and South American martial arts until 3:00 in the morning.

I heard how the expedition had begun in earnest Sunday morning when the North American group and the Barbadians, Philip, and Biggard, set off for a plantation museum outside of the capital city of Bridgetown.

There, in an old small wooden shack, they were shown how the Queensbury style of Sticklicking was taught

and practiced. Training in these types of confined spaces shaped the tight and economical movements that characterize the system. After a long day of filming, the North American group went to the airport to pick up another group of Trinidadian martial artists. The wealth of information being recorded was amazing. Lying down to sleep, I kept thinking of the great footage shot and the many interesting stories recorded.

Waking up a few hours later to the sounds of Mahipal’s voice, we swallowed a few bites of whatever food we could find and by 7:30 A.M. were ILF CARIBBEAN | 41

“We would then mark individual leaves on a tree, and Ronald would strike them with his whip 10 feet away with incredible accuracy and just obliterate the leaf we picked out!” in the cars and out on the road for day two. This time, we drove further down the Atlantic coast and then up into the hills to a former plantation where we were introduced to Ronald, the “Jab-Jab King.” A big man at about 6’4” and 275 pounds, Ronald had not said much up to this point. He seemed just a quiet and gentle man, so we were all curious about him and his art. While the camera crew set up, Ronald and Benji donned their carnival mas, or costumes, known as Jab-Jab, or the devils. The costumes themselves are quite colorful, made out of a number of different satins and silks decorated with intricate beadings, bells, and decorative trims. On his chest, the Jab-Jab devil will wear a heart-shaped cloth decorated with sequins, rhinestones, and small mirrors. Sandals are worn on the feet, and a padded headpiece with two devilish horns and a facemask completes the head covering.

A little background is necessary at this point. The pre-Lenten festival 42 | The Immersion Review

of Carnival is celebrated all around Catholic countries or former Catholic colonies. North American readers might recognize this celebration as Mardi Gras in New Orleans. As it took shape in Trinidad and Tobago, the enslaved African populations were once forbidden to celebrate Carnival. After slavery was abolished in 1833, the Afro-Trinidadians began to take to the streets on the Tuesday and Wednesday before Lent dressed up in a number of extravagant costumes. Accompanying the masked and costumed merrymakers, Calypso bands would parade up and down the streets, dancing, drinking, eating, and causing a lot of good-natured havoc and some not-so-good-natured trouble. Usually, bands of neighbors or villages would gather together to parade, and with the Jab-Jab devils armed with hemp whips leading the dancers and musicians, they would playfully threaten onlookers with a lashing if not offered a drink or a handful of coins.

If the Jab-Jab devils leading a parade met another parading group, both would fight it out with whips to see who had the right-of-way. What is interesting about these “whip-jab” contests was that it is directly related to the immigration of South Asians from India in the mid-19th century.

Brought to Trinidad as agricultural laborers, Indians contributed their own styles of music, food, and religion to Trinidadian culture. These practices preserved a deep knowledge of a variety of whips once used to drive animals and that could also act as very sophisticated weapons.

Dressed in their costumes and armed with 12-foot hemp whips with wooden handles, Ronald and Benji danced and shook and bounced down the road snapping their whips and chanting. Singing songs that warned everybody within hearing that the devil is coming and that any other devils better run and hide, or they will suffer being beaten badly, if not killed, by the lashes of the Jab-Jab King. Watching Ronald and Benji snap their whips was spell-binding.

A number of us swear we saw sparks fly from Ronald’s whip when he snapped it.

After showing us how the Jab-Jab Kings would lead his troupe, Ronald then began to explain how the different rope-whips and cable whips were made. He showed us how these weapons could be controlled to such an extent that an expert could not only send his whip around and behind another Jab-Jab man, but up to his face to rip off his mask and take out an eye. It turns out blinding the other Jab-Jab King was one of the main goals in a Jab-Jab duel. A Jab-Jab man could also rip the flesh off an opponent, while leaving the clothes intact. He could whip the heart-shaped cloth the Jab-Jab devils wear on their chest, symbolically taking his heart. They could cut all the seams in a man’s costume, leaving him naked in the street. When in extreme close-range, the wooden handles could be used to pummel the opposing devil’s skull. Ronald also brought shorter steel cable whips covered with fibers taken from a cactus. These could break bones and rupture internal organs while leaving the clothes or the skin of the man intact. Ronald then showed us how he trained for power by whipping trees. We would then mark indiILF CARIBBEAN | 43

vidual leaves on a tree, and Ronald self Gilpin. The double machetes, or would strike them with his whip 10 Gilpin, comes out of the same culturfeet away with incredible accura- al and historical environment as Kacy and just obliterate the leaf we linda. Much like Kalinda, the opprespicked out! Finally, he described how sive colonial rule in Trinidad once the Jab-Jab devils would undergo forced many people to become banstrict purification practices involv- dits, robbers or smugglers to survive. ing prayer, meditations, ritual baths, These men are often remembered and herbal medicines, hinting at the as Robinhood types protected by deep hidden knowledge that these local villagers and, at times, shared men possessed. the wealth with the poor villagers. It ILF CaRIbbEan was among the former bandits, now From here, we moved to another turned criminals, that the art of the side of the former plantation and double machetes, or Gilpin, was pracin a small clearing in the forest that ticed and taught to Benji and Keehad taken over the land, Keegan gan. After long and careful deliberand Benji taught Mahipal and my-

ation, they decided to bring it into the open to keep it from dying out.

The machetes are short-bladed, about 20 inches or less, and often had hooks on the end showing their origins as agricultural tools. Keegan is a great teacher and a top Kalinda Champion. He is also the co-founder of BadJohn Productions, one of the top producers of Soca music today. Here too, it was stressed how the movements of Gilpin are found in the everyday life of the farmer, the fisherman, and the laborer. The same footwork and body movement that shapes Kalinda also influences

Gilpin. What is different is that the two hands can move independently, one high or one low when attacking, or they can attack or defend in pairs, trapping the other machetes while allowing the other to disengage one of his own machetes and attack before his opponent can free his own machetes.

From here, we finally went down to the beach where I brought out a pair of Dog Brother padded sticks. Here, we had a chance to strike each other as hard as we could and try out our own fighting skills against each other. A lot of laughter ensued, and a

fun time was had by all after a couple days of hard work. After dinner at the same restaurant, we all went back to the house and talk revolved around Ronald and the Jab-Jab rituals, training, history, and other stories of martial art traditions until 2:30-3:00 in the morning.

Thursday saw us once again up early at the sound of Mahipal’s voice, reminding us to be out of the house and on the road by 7:30 A.M. This time, we drove to one of the oldest churches in Barbados, where everyone spent the day demonstrating their arts. Ronald showed the cable whip and how it would work against stick attacks. Benji and Keegan once again demonstrated both Kalinda and Gilpin. Lastly, T.J. demonstrated Colombian Grima.

A late addition to the group, T.J. Desch-Obi is a tall and slender (yet deceptively strong) history professor from New York City. He is the author of the book, Fighting For Honor: The History of African Martial Arts in the Atlantic (University of South Carolina Press, 2008). While quiet and unassuming, T.J. has spent the last 20 years traveling through Africa and the Americas learning 46 | The Immersion Review

a number of martial art traditions from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Capoeira to Nigerian side-hold wrestling and Grima. Once he became comfortable and began to open up, he proved to be an invaluable resource for locating all these arts within a set of historical connections between West-Central Africa and Americas.

He also demonstrated Grima. Grima is a general term which refers to approximately 30 (or more) Afro-Colombian styles of fighting with a walking stick in one hand and a machete in the other.

After T.J.’s exhibition, it was my turn.

I gave a brief demonstration of the Palo Sangriento, or “Bloody Stick,” style of Venezuelan garrote as it is practiced in the city of Barquisimeto.

Biggard was such a helpful man. Appearing to be in his late 50s, he had been quite a “rogue” in his younger days and enjoyed drinking, gambling, and fighting with sticks. However, he married and settled down to raise a family, putting his roguish ways behind him. An accident crippled him for years, yet through sheer strength of will, he forced himself to walk and move around again. Although still not fully recovered, Biggard drove a

Ronald Initiating Mahipal into the Rope-Jab Brotherhood.

Ronald Initiating Mahipal into the Rope Jab brotherhood.

number of us in his van and showed After Ronald had trained us in the his own highlyin skilled style of stickShadows rope-whip, he invited Mahipal to Arts be and S windowusonto practice Malaysia with of the Prophet: Martial fighting which he had learned from initiated into the art in a gesture Mysticism (2009). his grandfather. Biggard was still a of appreciation. Unsure what to exThesebold joined surprisingly wide range and other curiouswell-researched man and pulled histories us pect,on yetahumbled and excited at theof subje Amongall the influential have been Meir Shahar’sgift, TheMahipal Shaolinwas Temple: to most the side at one time or anothunexpected told Histo Religionerand the the Chinese Artstest (2008) and T.J. Fighting during week, Martial so he could to stand stillDesch-Obi’s about 10 feet away.For Hon The History of Martial ArtofTraditions in the (2008) which descri his skills against all us, sparring The Atlantic leader ofWorld the group, Mahipal, links between African martial and5’11” Afro-American martial with us West-Central with great control and care. atarts about and 185 pounds, ap- arts. Ir Biggard was an unexpected treasure a bit nervous.

Ronald swung traditions were documented in John Hurley’speared Shillelagh: The Irish Fighting Stick (20 and we N. both learned from the The hempCreation rope at him as he A So and Benjamin Judkins andmuch Jon Nielson’s of “gently,” Wing Chun: manSouthern and enjoyed his company. emphasized. guess it was “gentle.”

I History the of the Chinese Martial Arts (2015) Ireconstructed the developm That night proved to beof a memoracrack practiced as the whipChinese wrappedmartial a and subsequent globalization one of the heard most awidely occasion. around are Mahipal’s chest then systems.bleThese scholarly works, and many others, greatlylower expanding our knowle

of the social environments in which combative systems have developed.

F. Dr ILF CARIBBEAN Donn | 47 ger’s dream of a serious and sustained academic engagement with the martial arts

and Italian martial arts. Headed towards the bar, I rem “When going to in the past when going to a rum-shop or a party, me near the place where they were going so when troubl a rum-shop or a up between hiswould arm and chestretrieve and their sticks. To my way of thinking, this mean party.

Men understand how these men would feel when facing struck their him in the face. Ronald to then hide sticks

During our time with Philip and Biggard one thing gifted him near with a rope-whip to conoutside the the sense of ethics and fair-play surrounding the art. tinue his practice.

Congratulating place where they rum-shop or a party, those concerned would always ta him, we going saw the so whip had left a were as not to show any disrespect to the owners. When welt along Manipal’s inner armsoand when trouble was at times bloodied his lower lip. And this was a turn my back towards him to try to bait him brewing, they just lean back and lower his stick a bit waiting for me gentle strike! could quickly different from the “hit the man any way you can” atti Itretrieve was then Vincent’s theirturn to be initiBack to the rum-shop though. Once Mahipal and I ated. Vincent, a tall lean man in his sticks.” projects, Philip took us outside and began to show u

mid-20s, was the cameraman, locamade up the art of Bajan Sticklicking. While Way tion manager, tech-guy, and a defense long- oriented “Queensbury” style, Philip was draw term student of Mahipal. Where fighting called the “Johnson” style. Of the three ac Mahipal was the low-key leader theofisland of Barbados,Thisthese arebreaks the were onlylike,ones is whattwo our lunch everyday.

You give some you get the group, gently encouraging us toexisted.

One interesting distinction betweensome.

Kalind This is what our lunch wards a common goal, Vincentorwas lack of it. Kalinda was, and is still, done with breaks Calyp the anchor who we all relied on for everything. Ronald gave him a gen24 SPRING 2019 tle lash as well that forced an involuntary shriek from the recipient of the gift, “served with love” as Benji would say. Ronald then presented Vincent with a whip as well. We all clapped in appreciation of the work Mahipal and Vincent put in to make this expedition happen.

The Trinidadian contingent departed early Friday morning and with them left a definite energy. They were immediately missed as they had contributed so much to the overall feel of the group. Still, the 48 | The Immersion Review

membered hearing from Philip that en would hide their sticks outside le was brewing, they could quickly nt I had to have a couple of drinks g trouble and wielding a stick.

expedition continued. Again, waking up and grabbing a quick bite we noticed about Sticklicking was to eat, we were soon off. This time, While fights might begin inside a our destination was a rum-shop loake it outside to settle conclusions cated in the working-class suburbs Philip and I crossed sticks, I would of Bridgetown. Here, we met Philip to come close. However, he would Forde and his son. Philip, who reto face him and begin again. Very cently completed his Ph.D. dissertaitude seen in Kalinda or other arts. tion on Sticklicking at the University I both finished with our respective of the West Indies, told us that he us the different characteristics that likes to come here for a drink every yne leaned more towards the selfonce in a while, to escape the stiffwn to a more sporting type of stick ness and formality of Academia. A ctive sticklicker instructors left on music teacher by profession, Philip left of the many others that once is a 6-foot-tall well-built man with da and Sticklicking was the music, a quiet, understated, way. He also spso wereand like,Soca everyday. give some you get some. Ryan and Lunia in an all out sparring session. musicYou accompanying possesses a wicked sense of humor combined with a sharp mind and Michael and Mahipal in an nefarious skills with the Bajan fightall-out sparring session. ing stick. About 39” inches long, the Bajan fighting stick is a fearsome weapon that once earned Barbadian men a reputation through the Caribbean and South America as people not to be trifled with.

The Rum-shop was just a simple wooden building behind a big house on stilts where people took refuge from the blazing sun by setting up lawn chairs underneath the house to sit around and relax. Simple roughcut lumber made up the bar, and ILF CARIBBEAN | 49

Cherry-Boy shows Mahipal old-school cuts.

sheets of unpainted plywood served as walls. A wooden bench stretched around three sides of the room for people to sit and drink. Scattered around the bar were also a few plastic chairs. Mahipal was in an especially good mood this day and began demonstrating a number of Japanese battlefield arts, internal Chinese arts, and Filipino weapon forms he had studied over the years, entertaining the crowd of locals and expedition members.

As an Anthropologist, I was more interested in the local culture and 50 | The Immersion Review

wandered over to the bar and had a few shots of the native rum to get me in the proper spirit of things. I am an older, tall, lean Cultural Anthropologist who teaches in the African and Latino Studies program at SUNY Oneonta in upstate New York. In addition to writing the book, Venezuelan Stick Fighting: The Civilizing Process in Martial Arts (Lexington, 2016), I have a background in Capoeira, Monkey Kung Fu, Pentjak Silat, Venezuelan Garrote, and Italian martial arts. Headed towards the bar, I remembered hearing from

Philip that, in the past, when going to a rum-shop or a party, men would hide their sticks nearby so when trouble was brewing, they could quickly retrieve them. To my way of thinking, this meant I had to have a couple of drinks to understand how these men would feel when facing trouble and wielding a stick.

During our time with Philip and Biggard, one thing we noticed about Sticklicking was the sense of ethics and fair-play surrounding the art.

While fights might begin inside a rum-shop or a party, those concerned would always take it outside so as not to show any disrespect to the owners.

When Philip and I crossed sticks, I would at times turn my back towards him to try to bait him to come close.

However, he would just lean back and lower his stick a bit, waiting for me to face him and begin again. It is very different from the “hit the man any way you can” attitude seen in Kalinda or other arts.

Back to the rum-shop, though. Once Mahipal and I finished with our respective projects, Philip took us outside and began to show us the different characteristics that made up the art of Bajan Sticklicking. In

contrast to the self-defense-oriented “Queensbury” style, Philip was drawn to a sporting type of stick fighting called “Johnson.” Between the three active Sticklicking instructors left on the island of Barbados, these two styles are the only ones left of the many that once existed. One interesting distinction between Kalinda and Sticklicking was the music, or lack of it. Kalinda was, and is still, done with Calypso and Soca music accompanying the fighters, making music key to developing one’s skill. Up until the 1930s Sticklickers fought to the sounds of a “Tuk” band. The previous day, while wandering around the church grounds, I met the groundskeeper who told me his father was a Sticklicker and a musician. Just down the hill from the church, Tuk bands would play nonstop on the weekends in the evenings until the sun came up. People would drink and dance all night long interspersed with bouts of Sticklicking when the men got a little too excited.

Learning Sticklicking was different from learning Kalinda as well. Kalinda was taught with a free-flowing, feel-the-music, attitude. Sticklicking, ILF CARIBBEAN | 51

by contrast, was organized by “cuts.”

A cut is a series of two-man drills. Of the seven cuts in Sticklicking, Philip had learned five in the Johnson style and five in the Queensbury style.

Biggard had also learned three cuts from the Queensbury style. In addition, there was the “Donnelly” style taught by a former Sticklicking teacher by the name of Darnnell “Stormy Weather” Lovell. The same man also taught a piece of a what he referred to as the “Sword,” which, contrary to what you may assume, was another single stick fighting style.

Philip, his son, and Biggard gave us an in-depth three-hour class on the Johnson style of Sticklicking. It is seen more as a sport-oriented form of Sticklicking, and men competed with champions from different villages. Held in semiformal or informal arenas, an open space would be set aside for the competitors and the event would be kept in order by a referee and one or more judges. Winners were often awarded a cash prize.

Learning the Johnson style began with circling. Traditionally, men would lay their two sticks on the ground in the shape of a cross and begin walk52 | The Immersion Review

ing in a circle around them. When a referee or elder said to “go,” the idea was to pick up your own stick while keeping the other man from picking up his stick, by stepping on it or flicking it away. This meant there were tricks to grabbing your weapon while depriving the opponent of his weapons, depending on if your stick was on the top or the bottom of the cross. We then moved on to the footwork patterns, which were quite simple, and finally the cuts. The cuts were a set of 5-21 attacks combined with strong blocks, parries and counter-attacks, grouped together in a very organized and rational manner. I found the system to be an extremely powerful and effective art. The North American contingent guessed that one reason Sticklicking became so organized is that, when the men stopped playing with musical accompaniment, a British model of organizing and classifying knowledge was adopted.

With the sun beating down on us, we took a break, ate lunch, and enjoyed some sightseeing in the mahogany forests of the Barbados Wildlife Reserve. Most of the animals roam free and visitors can get very close

and religion to Trinidadian particular was a deep know used to drive animals and th ticated weapons

Dressed in their costume whips with wooden handle shook and bounced down th chanting. Singing songs tha ing that the devil is coming run and hide, or they will killed, by the lashes of the and Benji snap their whip of us swear we saw sparks fl snapped it.

After showing us how th troupe, Ronald then began Counter-ambush training rope-whips and cable whips in sugarcane fields. these weapons could be co an expert could not only se Counter ambush training in sugarcane man,exploration but up to his face to rip off his m andfields. watch them, especially during another noonJab-Jab was the of techout blinding the other Jab-Jab King was one of the mai feeding time. In addition to several niques to deal with unique situations Jab man could also rip the flesh off an opponent, whil types of birds, we saw a number of could a man run up against the devils w whip might the heart shaped cloth theinJab-Jab green monkeys (who regularly hop taking course of everyday life.cut Forallexample, his heart.

They could the seams in a man Whenwhere in extreme close-range, the wooden h the walls and wander around the theinstreet. a country much of the land opposing devils skull.

Ronald also brought short neighborhood), iguanas, turtles, tor- thewas dedicated to sugarcane cultivacable, and covered with fibers taken from a cactus, R toises, and non-native animals such break tion, Philip showed us how to defend bones and rupture internal organs while leaving t as agouti, Brockett deer, caimans, intact. oneself against someone ambushing Ronald then showed us how he trained for pow rabbits and peacocks. you when you are walking down a then mark individual leaves on a tree and Ronald wou feetpath awayin with accuracy and justOr obliterate th a incredible sugarcane plantation.

On Saturday, it was back to Farley told us a little how the Jab-Jab devils also undergo str when two men are attacked by four National Park, and the mahogany ing, prayer, meditations, ritual baths, and herbal med to five guys, we saw how they would forest where Philip and Biggard took knowledge that these men possessed.

put themselves back to back and us deep into the forest to show us From here we moved to another side of the former pl fend off their attackers. We were how they find the proper tree limbs the forest that had taken over the land, Keegan and B Gilpin.

The double machetes, or slaps, Gilpin,and comes out of then shown some low kicks, to make a good fighting stick. After environment as Kalinda.

Muchalike Kalinda, the opp headbutting techniques Sticklickcutting a few sticks, we went down once forced many people to become bandits, robbers or er would use in serious fights. These to the bottom of the hill for more are often remembered as Robin-Hood types protected techniques revealed that SticklickSticklicking demonstrations. What shared the wealth with the poor villagers. It was amon ing was once a very well-thought-out stands out the most from this after- criminals, that the art of the double machetes, or Gilp

Benji and Keegan. After long and careful deliberation, ILF CARIBBEAN | 53 the open to keep it from dying out.

The machetes are short bladed about 20 inches or l

art which drew on a wide range of possible tactics to ensure victory, or at least survival, in a variety of situations. The idea that the art has changed over the years, with a number of systems and sub-systems disappearing, was further illustrated by the fact that none of our comrades knew all seven cuts of the styles they had practiced. Cherry-Boy, whom I introduced earlier, also shed light on this situation. He demonstrated several variations of the first three cuts from the Johnson style no one had seen before.

He remembered that, during his youth, a number of Sticklickers would hold their sticks in both hands at either end, as the Kalinda practitioners do today. When he saw the whips that Ronald had brought, he began to relive his skills with the whip.

These alternative ways of doing the cuts, holding the fighting stick, and using the whip are important because they suggested an older form of combat that might have once existed all around the Caribbean. Yet, it changed in the case of Barbados, died out altogether in other Caribbean islands, or persisted in places such as Trinidad and Tobago. Every54 | The Immersion Review

one was amazed at what Cherry-Boy was sharing and asked him why he never showed them these moves. “You never asked,” came the simple reply.

This exchange illustrates the benefits of bringing together trained “cultural outsiders” who can ask specific types of (often very basic) questions that even local experts might consider “too obvious.”

Overall, this was an amazingly productive day. Rewarding ourselves after a week of hard work, we took a long swim in the ocean, relaxing and trying to understand all that we had learned. Sunday, we packed up early and drove around the island taking in the Animal Flower Cave overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Carved out of the limestone cliffs over thousands of years, the cave is filled with natural rock pools filled with sea anemones.

From here, we drove back to the airport where, 20 feet from dropping off the car, Mahipal ran through a stop sign, which almost led to a big truck engine resting on my lap. After a near-death experience leaving the entire week to flash before my eyes, we headed to the terminal. While waiting for our flights, we worked on

the moves we learned and reflected on everything that we had seen.

My mind retuned again to the Animal Flower Cave. I recalled the limestone tidal pools filled with sea creatures and imagined how the ocean, at high-tide, would come into the cave, bringing in a chaotic mixture of new life. It was not unlike the many waves of peoples washed up on the shores of the Caribbean, often under very harsh conditions, and forced to survive. They brought with them their own forms of combat that were soon tested in countless ways by who knows how many people.

Over time, and out of these conflicts, new ideas about fighting developed.

Questions were asked. What was the most effective length and size of a stick? What was the most efficient way to hold and swing a machete?

The answers developed differently on various islands. These stylistic differences highlight the fact that there is no one best way to fight in the

abstract. The “best way” is the one that a single person can make work every time in a number of specific situations. From these waves of people emerged a wealth of combative systems, which we are still uncovering. Interviewing a number of elders, we glimpsed the diverse ways men fought when they met in different types of combat. We even learned a little of how these arts were used by people in their everyday life.

Yet, inevitably the waters must retreat, the pools become silent and still, with the low tide. There is a lot less commotion in the Caribbean today. This calm has brought less interest in wild brawls with machetes, or the stick or whip fights, which in the past happened most every weekend.

There is a lot less crime committed by men with machetes and knives.

Instead, people have turned their attention to more modern activities such as cricket, baseball, futball, mixed martial arts (MMA), or Tae-

“Hearing the rhythms of combat deep within their soul, they will search out and find these men, demanding to be given their birthright.”

ILF CARIBBEAN | 55

kwondo. With the introduction of these new activities, interest in the traditional combat arts has inevitably declined. However, thanks to the men you are about to meet; men such as Ronald, Benji, Keegan, Philip, and Biggard, that may change. They act as guardians of these traditions.

They know that, in time, the waves will once again come crashing down on the rocks, filling the pools and causing a commotion. Young people’s ears will perk-up hearing the sounds of clashing sticks, machetes clank-

ing, or whips snapping. Hearing the rhythms of combat deep within their soul, they will search out and find these men, demanding to be given their birthright. They will claim their heritage of resistance against oppression, discover the joy that comes from hard-fought contests with friends. They may even develop an appreciation for the profound and ancient knowledge that can show a young person how to navigate the troubles of life with honor, with head held high and a stick in one’s hand.

in the course of everye, in a country where as dedicated to sugar lip showed us how to t someone ambushing alking down a path in on. Or when two men o five guys how the two elves back to back and s. Wayne then showed and headbutting techwould use in serious echniques revealed to g was once a very well drew on a range of pose ensure victory, or at de variety of situations.

art has changed over umber of systems and ring, was illustrated by Philip or Wayne knew e two styles they had y, whom I introduced t on this situation. He al variations of the first Johnson style no one

The next generation claiming its heritage.

hat during his youth a number of Sticklickers would hold their The next generation claiming its heritage. t either end, as the Kalinda practitioners do today. When he saw 56 | The Immersion Review d had brought, he began to relive his skills with the whip. These oing the cuts, holding the fighting stick and using the whip are

HOPLOLOGY

The Quest to Discover, Examine, and Understand Martial Arts

By Michael J. Ryan

On the small Caribbean island of Barbados, nine men gathered for eleven days, swinging sticks and machetes, and even lashing each other with whips. Why would a group of men come from all over North America and the Caribbean just to fight, socialize and study regional combat systems when there are numerous martial art schools, amateur competitions, and bars in their own neighborhoods? This exercise was different, very different. We had come together to document and record a number of dying traditions that once flourished in the Caribbean and South America.

Up until recently, most every man carried weapons when stepping out of their home in rural areas of the Caribbean and Latin America. It could have been a simple tool like a machete, ubiquitous among those 58 | The Immersion Review

who worked in the sugarcane fields.

Or it could have been a knife if you were a butcher, a fisherman or a tailor. On the other hand, if someone was going to a party, a dance, or to share a drink with friends at a local rum-shop, you would probably carry a heavy walking stick. Upon arriving at the destination, you would stash your stick in some nearby bushes, behind a tree, or in the eaves of a roof. If there was trouble, you could easily retrieve your weapon and deal with the situation.

Time has the power to change all things. By the 1950s and 1960s, sports such as baseball, cricket, Judo, and Karate had captured people’s attention. The older practices of stick, machete and knife fighting, which had once been the passion of young men, began to die out. These arts came to be seen as something

HOPLOLOGY | 59

HoPLoLoGy

old-fashioned, brutal, and slightly embarrassing. They were done only by old men, drunks, and criminals.

While in the past most every man knew at least a little stick fighting, today there are only three active “Sticklicking” teachers left on the island of Barbados, 35 Kalinda “Boismen” left on the Island of Trinidad, and only a handful of “Whip-Jab” masters on the Island of Tobago. Of the 30 “Grima” (paired machete and stick) styles in Colombia, perhaps three are likely to continue after the old teachers die off, while to the east there is a slow fading of Venezuelan “Garrote” (stick fighting).

The danger of these magnificent arts withering away is what led to the first serious Hoplology reconnaissance expedition to the region in over 35 years. Hoplology itself is a term that is rarely encountered. It first emerged around the same time as Anthropology (the study of human culture, often focusing on the observation of primitive or tribal peoples) and was once quite popular. So, what is Hoplology? Stated simply, Hoplology is the study of how different peoples, around the world, fight with offensive and defensive weapons.

60 | The Immersion Review

The Quest to Discov

Rich

“Th and th had r his m inten the da traini

On als for New a mor Burto weapo in tw the c the R storie He co subjec ings.

Othe

Captain Sir R. F. Burton, Hoplologist, scholar, and explorer.

Captain Sir R.F. Burton, Hoplologist, scholar and explorer.

Sev while A.H.L concl cally For ex first w would and sh it into other

In h

Richard F. Burton and the Invention of Hoplology “The queen of the weapons,” Capitan Sir Richard Francis Burton said of the sword, and the weapon that is “paramount between man and man.”

By 1850, Richard Burton had returned from a number of years in India as a soldier and intelligence officer. In his mid-30s and out of shape due to a long illness, Burton recovered by undergoing an intense apprenticeship with the sword. This was a weapon that was disappearing from the daily experience of both soldiers and civilians in western Europe. Through intense training, Burton achieved a high level of skill.

One result of this experience was that Burton wrote a number of instructional manuals for the British army such as A Complete System of Bayonet Exercises (1863), and A New System of Sword Exercises for Infantry (1876). Following this, in order to create a more organized way of learning and comparing different sword and weapon systems, Burton invented the discipline of Hoplology, which he called “the science of arms and weapons of offense and defense, human and bestial” (1884:6). His

writings came out in two books, The Sentiments of the Sword: A Country House Dialogue (1911), and the classic Book of the Sword (1884). Around the same time, Burton also organized the Royal Anthropological Society in order to publish his studies of sexual activity, sex stories, and sex manuals which he found in his travels around the Middle East and India. He continued to write a number of studies on both fighting and sex, two of his favorite subjects. Following his death in 1884, his wife burned his remaining unpublished writings.

Other Scholars—Other Hoplologies Several pioneering Anthropologists were also contributing to the field of Hoplology while Burton was active.

A retired military officer who fought in the Crimean War, A.H.L. Pitt-Rivers developed a now outdated view of human evolution. Cultures, he concluded, evolved through time from technologically simpler societies to technologically complex societies. In other words, progress is an integral aspect of human history. For example, in his book Primitive Warfare (1868), Pitt-Rivers stated that one of the first weapons used by early man was a short stick. Over time, he beHOPLOLOGY | 61

lieved other tribes would change or improve it to suit their needs. Some peoples would lengthen the stick and sharpen one or both ends and turn it into a spear. Or they would flatten it and turn it into a Taiaha.

Others might bend it a little, turning it into a throwing stick. And still others would bend it much more to create a boomerang.

In his “Note on the Use of the New Zealand Mere” (The Journal of the Ethnological Society of London, 1870), Pitt-Rivers describes a unique war-club. While most clubs are used in downward ax-like chopping motions, the mere was deployed instead in sharp jabbing and twisting motions meant to penetrate the body and open gaping wounds. What all these examples have in common, according to Pitt-Rivers, is the continual progression and improvement of weaponry, and all other features of a culture.

Working in the Trobiand Islands (just off Australia) around the time of WWI, the renowned Anthropol-

ogist Bronislaw Malinowski also delved into the field of Hoplology.

In a 1920 article, Malinowski wrote about the different use of a swordclub, called a “Spatulate,” which was employed when men from the same village fought in local brawls. In contrast, when fighting men from other villages, Malinowski noted that Trobriander Islanders preferred spears and shields (1920). In this way, he showed there was a social division of weapon use based on norms associated with different types of combat.

In a village brawl over water rights, or accusations of greediness, lying or being a bad neighbor, the Trobriand Islanders sought to minimize injuries (or death) through the use of a less lethal fighting club. However, when fighting men from another area, Trobriand Islanders armed themselves with both defensive-oriented shields and offensive spears to minimize their own causalities while maximizing the casualty rate of the opposing side. Still, these two scholars approached the understanding

“Hoplology is the systematic study of man’s combative culture in all ages . . .”

62 | The Immersion Review

of Donn F. Draeger to once again take up the flag.

’s Hoplology

erving in the marines WWII, Draeger moved in the mid 1950s. He number of modern marincluding Judo, Karate, nd Kendo), and then explore Japan’s more l armed combat arts. pplied and was accepthe Kobudo Shinko Kai hich was dedicated to rvation of old Japanese arts from the Sengoku Donn Draeger and Karunakaran training.

States) period. Draeger Don Draeger and Hunter Armstrong training. ercely andofwrote extenweapons and combative tradi- The mass slaughter of the First World a number of Japanese tions primarily by collecting pieces War, and then the even greater deh East Asian martial arts. His best-known work remains the three-volume set for of museum study. Draeger also co-authored struction unleashed rts and Ways Japan (1973).

Comprehensive Asian a generation later during World War II, shocked Arts (1969) with Robert W. Smith.

He with then founded More recently, working Basil the journals Martial Arts the Research world. Many onal and Hoplos, and created the International Hoplology Center.liberal Western Richardson of the Victoria and Alscholars away from the study sionate interest in Japanese Roald battlefield arts led Draeger to reviveturned the discipline bert Museum, Knutsen has ogy. In the first issue of his newsletter Hoplos (Vol. 1.of#1), he explained whatand the field of personal violence, acquired extensive training in the y meant to him. This was a more expansive understanding of the fell field.in“HopHoplology to disfavor. By the actual practice of a number of Japhe systematic study of man’s combative culture in all ages….”

(1979:4).

Nev1950s, it was left to a retired World armed traditions.

Hisfrom book, Draeger’sanese vision of the field still emerged an understanding of the origin War II veteran by the name of Donn Japanese Spear: PolearmsFor and Their was it a hacking, drawing ry of weapons and their classification. example, F. itDraeger once ive weapon? is itsJapan shape, (1963), its weight, and how was intendedto to be usedagain take up UseWhat in Old discusses theabout flag. the differences lar types the of combat?

One might for difinstance, construction and enquire, variety of ferent polearms during the medieval Draeger’s Hoplology period of Japanese history. His work After serving in the marines during Martial Arts was unique in that, rather than just WWII, Draeger moved to Japan in describing the length, weight, and the mid-1950s. He studied a number shape of these weapons, Knutsen of modern martial arts (including explored how they were used by difJudo, Karate, Aikido, and Kendo), ferent schools, or “ryu.” and then began to explore Japan’s more traditional armed combat HOPLOLOGY | 63

arts. Draeger applied and was accepted into the Kobudo Shinko Kai society, which was dedicated to the preservation of old Japanese battlefield arts from the Sengoku (Warring States) period. Draeger trained fiercely and wrote extensively on a number of Japanese and Southeast Asian martial arts. His best-known work remains the three-volume set, Martial Arts and Ways of Japan HoPLoLoGy (1973).

Draeger also co-authored Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts (1969) with Robert W. Smith. He then founded the journals, Martial Arts International and Hoplos, and

created the International Hoplology Research Center.

His passionate interest in Japanese battlefield arts led Draeger to revive the discipline of Hoplology. In the first issue of his newsletter, Hoplos (Vol. 1. #1), he explained what Hoplology meant to him. This was a more expansive understanding of the field.

“Hoplology is the systematic study of man’s combative culture in all ages . . .” (1979:4). Nevertheless, Draeger’s vision of the field still emerged from an understanding of the origin and history of weapons and their classification. For example, was it a hack-

The Quest to Discover, Examine and Underst

between a N versus a cav field weapo in civilian d ogy’s Gener to create an method of be treated a Draeger him the graduat

Tools of the Trinidadian and Tobagan warriors.

Tools of the Trinidadian 64 | The Immersion Review warriors.

and Tobagan

Men such Keeley, who tial art goal also began came to Jap then found ryo traditio ryu’s school Buko ryu sc or Tenjin S grappling, among many others. While in one case (H. Armstrong), who introduced Don Draeger to th

ing, drawing, or percussive weapon?

What is its shape, its weight, and how was it intended to be used in particular types of combat? One might enquire, for instance, about the differences between a Napoleonic French infantry sword versus a cavalry sword, and how these battlefield weapons differed from French epeé used in civilian duels. Drawing on ideas from Biology’s General Systems Theory, Draeger sought to create an objective, rigorous, and scientific method of martial arts research that could be treated as a legitimate scholarly field. Yet Draeger himself was not formally trained at the graduate level in any academic discipline.

Men such as Quintin Chambers and Liam Keeley, who came to Japan for their own martial art goals, soon met up with Draeger and also began studying in the old ryu. Others came to Japan expressly to meet Draeger, and then found their own way to a number of Koryu traditions such as the Kurama or Tatsumi ryu’s school of swordsmanship, the Todo-Ha Buko ryu school of the naginata, or the Araki or Tenjin Shinyo ryu school of close-quarter grappling, among

many others. While in one case it was one of these younger men (H. Armstrong) who introduced Donn Draeger to the Tatsumi ryu. A number of these individuals became part of the next wave of Hoplologists contributing articles, writing books, or opening schools around the world. A classic example of the post-Draeger generation of writing and analysis would be the three-volume set, Koryu Bujutsu: Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan (1997), edited by Diane Skoss.

Others, such as Dave Lowry, explored more unique paths. He underwent an intense apprenticeship in 1960s Missouri with the Kashima ryu and has written numerous studies of Japanese Hoplology and culture. A limitation of this era was its narrow focus, studying only Japanese “battlefield systems” that originated before or during the early Tokugawa period (1601-1680). After that time, the Shogun was finally able to bring an enforced peace to Japan, and warfare ceased to rock the country for the next two centuries. One element I find valuable in this wide range of writings is that each author’s unique training experiences are often quite different from HOPLOLOGY | 65

other writers approaching the same subject. Their sometimes contrasting views provide a wonderful example of the richness and profundity that comes out of training in these systems which reflected the complexity of everyday life in feudal Japan.

The Rise of the International Hoplology Society Donn F. Draeger died in 1982. Hunter Armstrong, who during his time in Japan earned a teaching license in Shinkage Ryu kenjutsu and Owari Kan Ryu sojutsu, took the reins of the International Hoplological Society (IHS). Under his leadership, a number of Hoplological expeditions were undertaken throughout Southeast Asia focusing on the exploration and identification of what they saw as the distinction between “military” or battlefield arts and weapons-based civilian combative systems. In addition to these empirical driven goals, they also drew on findings from Evolutionary Psychology and Socio-Biology regarding the role of aggression to understand how different cultures have prepared young men to engage in battle. Although a great deal of work came out of this approach, it proved too narrow 66 | The Immersion Review

in its scope, and its theoretical base has not kept up with advances in the field of physical, psychological or the social sciences. Only two Hoplogical expeditions have been undertaken by the HIS in the last 35 years and very little of their findings have been released to the public.

However, in other parts of the world (such as China), there have been academically based (and often government-funded) investigations into several folk combat traditions beginning in the 1970s. One drawback

Armed with sticks, full of rum, and ready to rumble.

to many of these works is that they have yet to be translated into English, limiting the exposure of their findings. In other cases, they were inspired by ethno-nationalist or ideological considerations, and no real effort has been made to engage with the growing international literature on Martial Arts Studies.

Contributions from Other Fields Although not strictly Hoplologists, from the 1980s onward a number of scholars have subjected them-

selves to long periods of training in older martial art traditions and have written excellent and informative works on a wide range of hand combat practices. Historians, such as Karl Friday (Heavenly Warriors: The evolution of Japan’s military, 5001300 (1992), have published a number of important works. Matthias Assunção’s Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian martial art (2005) gave readers an important study of an increasingly popular New World tradition. Christopher Amberger’s HOPLOLOGY | 67

rbados for an 11 day Hoplological expedition to document the training, philosophies d oral histories of those Caribbean arts which are slowly disappearing due to a general k of interest. This expedition had a couple of goals. The first was a salvage mission. e sought toSecret record asHistory much information about these arts as was Many of us of the Sword: Adventhepossible. groups they were writing about. t that collecting this data might help to ensure their survival for another generation.

tures in Ancient Martial Arts (1996),

Loïc Wacquant’s now classic Body

The three university professors also hoped to gain greater insight into the breadth and also helped bring the attention and Soul: of an Appreniety of combative arts found to throughout Caribbean to and Northern LatinNotebooks America. ore specifically, they are searching for connections and differences how weapons are showed readers non-Asian combative traditions. ticein Boxer (2004) d and how people fight within different combative systems. Additionally, ongowhat it wasthe like to learn to box in the The 21st systems century alsothesaw rise today suggests a number of blending of different to meet needsthe of people ghettos of Southside Chicago during portant research of a questions. new field called Martial Arts

1980s.

GregT.J.Downey’s Learning Nor has theStudies intellectual ended with conclusionthe of the expedition. ledadventure by a number of the universisch-Obi, Philip Forde, myself and Rondell Benjamin (as a lay-Hoplologist) are con- in Cunning from Capoeira: Lessons ty scholars who underwent long peuing to research combative traditions in this part of the world. I plan to continue my an Afro-Brazilian Art (2005) introriods of trainingTrinidadian in several martial ining in Barbadian Sticklicking, Kalinda and Gilpin. Mahipal Lunia and duced newRondel generation of students ncent Tamer wereThese initiatedapprenticeships into the Whip-Jab school Ronald Alfred,awhile arts. mightofinnjamin is immersing himself in a long-term apprenticeship in the Training to Whip-Jab. the practice of Capoeira Angola. volve grueling training regimes, sufd research in these arts continues at both an academic and personal level.

Likewise, Michael Ryan learned how

fering injuries actually competThese efforts have given birthand to a “New Hoplology” which seeks, as Burton did, to to swing a fighting stick in rural midrch out highly skilled practitioners of thesetodying artsofwho are open to talking to ing or fighting according rules

Blazing a new path forward, beginning the exploration of the New World.

Left to right: V. Tamer, M. Lunia, T.J. Desch-Obi, and M. Ryan.

zing a new path forward, beginning the exploration of the New World. Left to right V Tamer, M.Lunia, T.J. Obi and M. Ryan.

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“Hoplology was always an open-ended exploration into how people actually fought.” western Venezuela in his Venezuelan Stick Fighting: The Civilizing Process in Martial Arts (2016). Just as relevant to the current volume is Philip Forde’s recently completed doctoral dissertation, “Blocking both Hand and Foot: An Examination of Bajan Sticklicking” (2018).

A number of other works deserve mention. Avron Boretz’s Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters: Ritual Violence, Martial Arts and Masculinity on the Margins of Chinese Society (2011) describes Kung Fu training with working-class men and petty criminals in rural Taiwan. Pentjak Silat on the island of Java was explored by Lee Wilson in Martial Arts and the Body Politic in Indonesia (2015). Likewise, D.S. Farrer opened a critical window onto practice in Malaysia with Shadows of the Prophet: Martial Arts and Sufi Mysticism (2009).

These joined other well researched histories on a surprisingly wide range of subjects. Among the most influential have been Meir Shahar’s The Shaolin Temple: History, Reli-

gion and the Chinese Martial Arts (2008) and T.J. Desch-Obi’s Fighting for Honor: The History of Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World (2008) which described links between West-Central African martial arts and Afro-American martial arts.

Irish traditions were documented in John Hurley’s Shillelagh: The Irish Fighting Stick (2007), and Benjamin N. Judkins and Jon Nielson’s The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts (2015) reconstructed the development and subsequent globalization of one of the most widely practiced Chinese martial arts systems. These scholarly works, and many others, are greatly expanding our knowledge of the social environments in which combative systems have developed. Donn F. Draeger’s dream of a serious and sustained academic engagement with the martial arts has been realized during the last decade, though perhaps not in the way that he had initially planned.

HOPLOLOGY | 69

HoPLoLoGy

The Emergence of a “New Hoplology”

The Quest to Discove

Although not writing as Hoplologists, many of these authors helped to test the field’s foundational hypothesis that undergoing long-term training can allow for a deeper and more profound understanding of how people prepared to meet the challenges that they encountered in their lives. The varieties of combat that were examined ranged from informal to formal recreational activities, self-defense between individuals, or clashes between groups of people. In some cases, even smallscale battles between clans, villages or tribes were described.

Having read a number of these works over the years, and undergoing longterm apprenticeship in several martial art traditions, members of the ILF decided to meet in Barbados for an 11-day Hoplological expedition to document the training, philosophies, and oral histories of those Caribbean arts which are slowly disappearing due to a general lack of interest. This expedition had a couple of goals. The first was a salvage mission. We sought to record as much information about these arts as was 70 | The Immersion Review

Weapons of the Caribbean Warrior.

Weapons of the Caribbean Warrior.

Ackno

I wou ciety (H advice a

Select

Burton,

Draeger Japan: I

er,

possible. Many of us felt that collect- Whip-Jab. Training and research in Examine and might Understand Martial ing this data help to ensure theseArts arts continues at both an acatheir survival for another generation. demic and personal level.

The three university professors also These efforts have given birth to a outsidershoped and willing sharegreater the deep structures their art.

Out of this to to gain insight of into “New Hoplology” which seeks, as Burlong-term training, a practitioner might gain insight into the ways in which breadth andmind, variety of combatton did,actions to search out highly skilled training the shapes the body and thus better evaluating combative occurring with or without and armor. other words, the New Hop- of these dying arts who ive arts foundweapons throughout theInCaribpractitioners lology takes as its subject the unique intersections of historical activities such bean and Northern Latin America. are open to talking to outsiders and as conquest, colonization, slavery, large-scale immigration, modernization, the More specifically, arewith searchto share the deep structures rise of inexpensive travel and thethey internet changes inwilling how combat is taught and at the local level. ingexpressed for connections and differences of their art. Out of this long-term If you have come this far you can understand that Hoplology has never been in how weapons are used and how training, a practitioner might gain just one way of thinking about, or studying, martial arts systems. It never had fight within different Nor cominto the ways in which traina single people set of concepts to guide its investigations. did it insight possess a unified body of bative technicalsystems. theories suggesting what wasthe critical, what could bethe body and mind, thus Additionally, on- anding shapes ignored, in a system of martial practice. Hoplology was always an open-ended going of different better combative actions exploration into blending how people actually fought. systems Its students often lookevaluating at different aspects of a combative system their insights contradict one to meet the needs of and people today mayoccurring with or without weapons another. That is the reality of combat. suggests a number of important re- and armor. In other words, the New Stressing this variety of approaches and attitudes is important, as is undersearch questions.

Hoplology takes as its subject the standing the ambiguity and seeming contradictions of everyday life in which unique intersections of historical combat takes place. However, one trait that many of the best Hoplological Nor has the intellectual adventure works share is that the authors have all immersed themselvesactivities deeply into the such as conquest, coloniwithartthe ex- that arise directly practicesended of a martial and conclusion seek to addressof thethe questions zation, slavery, large-scale immigrafrom its pedition. practice. This informs their Forde, investigations of the origins T.J.perspective Desch-Obi, Philip and social realities of these practices. It is with this understanding that we tion, modernization, the rise of inexmyself, and Rondel Benjamin (as a have begun a new Hoplology to investigate, document, describe and popularpensive travel and the internet with ize critical arts that have failed are to attract large audiences lay-Hoplologist) continuing to but still have much changes in how combat is taught to offer. research combative traditions in this and expressed at the local level. part of the world.

I plan to continue © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED my training in Barbadian Sticklick- If you have come this far, you can unowledgements ing, Trinidadian Kalinda, and Gilpin. derstand that Hoplology has never uld like to thank Hunter ‘Chip’ Armstrong of the International Hoplogical SoMahipal Lunia ofand Vincent Tam- much beenappreciated just one way of thinking about, HIS) for looking over portions this article and providing and insights. further information on this visit www.hoplology.com erFor were initiated into thegroup Whip-Jab or studying, martial arts systems. It school of Ronald Alfred, while Ron- never had a single set of concepts ted References , Richard F.del (1884) The Book ofisthe Sword. London Chatto & Windus.

Benjamin immersing himself to guide its investigations. Nor did it r Donn F. (1979) “An Introduction to Hoplology” Part I of II inpossess Hoplos. Tokyo, in a long-term apprenticeship in the a unified body of technical

International Hoplological Research Center.y

HOPLOLOGY | 71

theories suggesting what was critical, and what could be ignored, in a system of martial practice. Hoplology was always an open-ended exploration into how people actually fought.

Its students often look at different aspects of a combative system and their insights may contradict one another. That is the reality of combat.

Stressing this variety of approaches and attitudes is important, as is understanding the ambiguity and seeming contradictions of everyday life in which combat takes place.

However, one trait that many of the

best Hoplological works share is that the authors have all immersed themselves deeply into the practices of a martial art and seek to address the questions that arise directly from its practice. This perspective informs their investigations of the origins and social realities of these practices. It is with this understanding that we have begun a new Hoplology to investigate, document, describe and popularize critical arts that have failed to attract large audiences but still have much to offer.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank Hunter “Chip” Armstrong of the International Hoplogical Society (HIS) for looking over portions of this article and providing much appreciated advice and insights. For further information on this group, visit www.Hoplology.com Selected References Burton, Richard F. (1884). The Book of the Sword. London Chatto & Windus.

Draeger Donn F. (1979). “An Introduction to Hoplology.” Part I of II in Hoplos. Tokyo, Japan: International Hoplological Research Center.

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CHERRY-BOY The Last of the Grandfathers Speaks

By Philip Forde

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CHERRY-BOY | 75

Listening to Mr. Medford, or “Cherry-Boy,” talk, we are taken back to a time when people had a much greater combative repertoire to draw upon. And there were many more occasions to draw on this vast reservoir of combative forms. Unarmed striking, kicking, standing grappling, different blades, different whips and the stick could all come into play. With the stick, one could use it for self-defence, as a recreational pastime, or as part of a professional sporting event. As the 20th century progressed, most of these other arts had fallen to the wayside, leaving out only the stick as the main weapon. And by the early 1960s, this weapon, too, was in a serious state of decline. Here, we are able to take a peek into a long gone past.

[Editor’s Note: The editors decided to leave the interview as it was recorded as much as possible, allowing Mr. Medford to describe the world of his youth in his own voice. Those words in parentheses are in modern standard English to help understand Mr. Medford’s more local register. The interview may take some work, but it is well worth the effort to read what he had to say.]

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Philip Forde: How old are you now, and when did you pick up the stick to do Sticklicking?

Mr. Medford: I am 94 years. I was born the 26th of April, 1927. When we first began with the stick we were boys, still in short pants. Because that was what was going on and we did like it. So be old men. There was no stick bout (in) the road we had to run and hide and practice. So, when we get to find out we would walk . . . we used to walk with the little stick all when we did (were) 16 years and pelting lashes at one another, and not nah (no) spite nothing. The old men use to go and hide and we would know where duh (they) is (are) and go and pimp (peep). So, we learned the first lesson got in seven lashes: 1, 2; 1, 2; 3, 4; 5, 6; 7. This stick is your

protector, your stick must be outside your body. All the time; any part of your stick. Your stick should move, whenever you move. Whenever you move, you must inside your stick. You understand? You would swing with the stick outside your body if not yuh (you are) carrying your body to the stick. But when you do so . . . the stick would tek (take) all the . . . and according to the lashes, the kind of lashes. You understand? Now the head lash, the head lash: yuh (you) blocked it with nuff (a lot) of slant in the stick. Because if yuh (you) block it half level it would still come down in your head. So when you get a head lash, you walk out of it so it would land by your shoulder . . . yuh (you) pass it so and that the stick carry the lash off of you.

CHERRY-BOY | 77

PF: Did other members of your family play stick?

MM: My brother, I had a brother.

Died at the age of 99. He liked the stick more than he liked food. He had two right hands (ambidextrous). He felt a lash at you. When he shaped up at you, you in (don’t) know where the lash coming from. He can use he (his) left just as good as he (his) right. He din (wasn’t) a strong man but he could work harder than a donkey. Hard, hard, hard.

PF: Did people play with two hands when you were younger, or with one hand?

MM: One hand . . . Twirling, we call it twirl with the hand. You used it when you were blocking. It depends on the lashes. If you block with two hands, this hand liable to get hit. The stick would slide. For a lot of the lashes, you walk out. If the man pelt a lash at yuh (you), yuh (you) let the

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lash go out so. Queensbury,1 all of the Queensbury, the majority was one hand. Well, with the Johnson2 is sometime different. Johnson in (doesn’t) got (have) no pretty licks.

He would pelt a lash at you anytime . . . You got (have) to read the man in he(his) face. You know, most of the time when a man gun (going to) hit you he look at where he gun (going to) hit. You don’t read the stick.

Read the man eye. And when you read he eye, you position yourself to see what he gun (is going to) do.

1 Queensbury was a popular style of Stickling considered more for self-defense situations.

2 Johnson is another popular style. This style is better suited for recreational bouts or professional matches. These two, Queensbury and Johnson, are the two most popular schools on the island today. They are also the two schools whose repertoire of lashes has been retained.

PF: Tell me about the whip now.

Where did you learn to crack the whip?

MM: Just bout (around) the gully.

We use to mind (watch) cows. Cattle. That was a profession. That was work. Because we in had no lorry.

And the cane3 use to have to haul (transported) by cows. So we use to plait three strand but I get it improve to plait four.4 But we had men that coulda (could have) plait six but I never get do far . . . four was good enough for me. Cracking? I can’t do it now because of my hand.

We all used to walk with a piece of whip. That was a practice (or) habit. By minding cows. And all we use to walk with a piece of whip. That was a practice, a habit. . . . If a fellow get piece of rope-whip, and then now. And then . . . now they use to

kill nuff (a lot) of animals, and they call it cow skin whip. The dog hunter mek (made) out of the same material. And we use to buy them from the man that could plait them. So they would plait? Whip. Everybody use to walk with a little whip because it was a passion. We never practiced with nuh (any) whip. You practiced the stick. Children from between 10, 12, and 14. Come up and move the sticks.

3 “Cane” meaning “sugarcane.”

4 Plaits as Mr. Medford is using the term refers to the thickness of the whips or the number of plaits used to weave the whip.

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PF: When you were young, did people punch, cuff, and kick?

MM: Punch, you mean when they practising or playing? Kicking really did not . . . Kicking come up from the wrestlers. The normal man, the normal Caribbean used to box. I did (was) fairly good. We had local boxers here. . . . We start to her bout boxing bout a man name Joe Louis, Maximilian, [Tommy Farr?] all dem (those) men, we used to hear bout dem (them) and we in (didn’t) had (have) no TV, we had a radio and only certain people had radios. So we had to left and go by any man that had a radio we stand outside and hear them fight. So [Jimmy Reeves] was the world’s heavy weight boxer.

(We) had men come up hard hear just hard. Joe Louis did a rich (got rich) by boxing, mek (made) yuh (you) feel rich. Then we had a man, Joe Louis did (was) a black, we had a white man name Tony Galenta, strong. If we had the ability, in dem (those) days like now, dem same pic-

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tures would be mekking (making) money now because people would watch dem (them). They would pay to see them. We used to go to the theatre. I used to go to the theatre every night in the week. You know the Colony Club? I used to work there at a horse stable and down in the Garden [a district in Barbados], dem got (there is) a Catholic Church down there, that was the theatre.

Wallcott did own that and then duh (they) sell (sold) it over to another company.

PF: Did you ever throw people over your hip or shoulder?

MM: Yes, yuh (you) had tuh (to) position yuhself (yourself). Yuh (you) gotta (have to) bring de man pun (on) it. You understand. After you, well if you catch he off guard, yuh (you) gotta (have to) be strong and active cause even if de fella careless and he pelt he hand at you, watch me, yuh (you) gotta (have to) be strong and fast, de man pelt he hand at you, yuh (you) catch he wid

(with) dis (this) and drag he ta yuh (you) and pick he up from hay (here) and gone so wid(with) he or we used to just lift yuh (you) up for a joke.

Backstrip (back trip), you know wuh (what) is a backstrip? Put yuh (your) foot behind dat (that) way and push yuh (you) down, yuh (you) can’t step back, yuh (you) gine (going to) fall down.

PF: Were there any tuk bands5 or kettle and drum playing during Sticklicking fights?

MM: Yes, yeah. We had, well de two things . . . when the Sticklicking gine (going) on, the band didn’t used to play. Yuh (you) listen to the band cause de (the) Sticklicking didn’t a hateful situation, it was a friendly . . . we used tuh (to) practice all about and den (then) after the young fellas get into it, it start to get cruel by attacking at old men. De old men stop it and it dead (died) out.

5 A musical ensemble in Barbados that usually consists of a double-headed bass drum, triangle, a flute, and a snare drum.

No no, de music and de fight didn’t used to be together because both was attractive. Yuh (you) listen to de music and all who listen to the fight and then the music or yuh (you) listen to de fight and den de music. Boy, I used tuh (to) play drum, steel actually, a three-corner thing.6 I used to play alla (all of) dem (them) things.

I did banjo, I give my grandson one, a guitar, I don’t know wuh (what) he do wid (with) it.

PF: What do you think about how the Indian fella7 use the whip?

MM: Well, we used to keep de whip to drive de (the) cows wid (with).

Dat (that) did (was) de (the) cow minders, dat(that) did (was) to drive dem (them) wid (with), yuh (you) know, drive dem (them) out when dey (they) ploughing ground.

6 A triangle.

7 A South Asian man.

CHERRY-BOY | 81

PF: Did you fight with cutlasses?

MM: Yeah, dat (that) did start (started) hay (here) but we didn’t get too far wid (with) it hay (here). Not fighting, practising, not nuh (no) hatred nutting (nothing). Not because you could see de opportunity to cut de (the) body (the person). No we used tuh (to) call it sword licking after we start to go to theatre and so on. We pick it up from de (the) screen cause dem (they) have (had) swordmen but not in Barbados . . . outside . . . we in (didn’t) had none a dat (that) hay (here) in particular. We had a lil (little) thing, but de (the) sword did different. But de (the) Sticklicking did (was) a profession hay (here). A lotta (lot of) we did like it but it does put a temper in

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yuh (your) body. When you is (are) a Sticklicker, sometimes, it is just like when you is (are) uh (a) good bicycle rider or anything so, it does mek (make) you want tuh (to) show off. If I tell you something now ,Philip, all of my equals in age around hay (here) dead out all the people around my age dead out (died). But I did (was) good at riding a bicycle, man you mekking (making) sport. I did good at driving truck, anybody hear me or hear my name call gine (will) talk bout (about) working, driving truck, and riding bicycle? Man I used tuh (to) let it go pon (on) de (the) road, let it go. I fall off a bicycle more than one time. But then when yuh (you) get ageable (old), yuh (you) get uh (a) better understanding.

CHERRY-BOY | 83

WARRIORHOOD Keegan & Lunia in Deep Discussion

By Michael J. Ryan

During their interview with Michael J. Ryan, Keegan Taylor and Mahipal Lunia discuss the dangers of digital forms of teaching martial arts and their play with live cutlasses during the Barbados expedition.

Keegan Taylor: Children are coming up with a different kind of thing now. My son is a very good example of the average kid. The average kid is about our average when we were coming in. Looking at their minds, they can still play, they can still go outside, they can still have fun and interact with stuff outside. But they also have an almost as equally big or even bigger appetite for the digital world, digital space. That combination between the hungers for those two worlds is creating a new landscape for learning. I say that to say that games like stick fighting and some of these traditions: we have to find new ways of passing them on that can be applied in the real space. Real space is still fun. I was in a drum session two days ago and I was wondering, how can I digitize this? I can see digitizing almost every other experience, even the sexual experience. But I do not know how we are going to digitize what drumming and all that does. Whereas you

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might hook up some neurons in your brain and feel excitement and your heart pounds, there is so much we do not know about drumming. You may be able to begin synthesizing that experience. In the same way, things like Kalinda and stick fighting and other traditional stuff, what I know in terms of my culture. But there are other things as well that we think it is necessary to pass on as an art form.

I think things are being passed on in the real world in real time. Yet it is being affected by two things. First is the current generation’s responsibility in instilling information and finding new ways to instill it. Secondly, the actual usefulness of that information to the next generation and how they think about that. According to my philosophy on that knowledge, a lot of the stuff that we are doing now is not going to get us to where we need to go. Children already know that. How do I give you Kalinda if you are starting to write your own script for the future? Do

you think it is important for Kalinda to be there in your new digital, or whatever world that is coming? I think it is. But is it really? That is just my personal philosophy.

Mahipal Lunia: I hear you. Let me add a thing here. I think digitization is great. But as you know, when you go into the world of the digital, it is zeros and ones. There is something very primal and something really great about the analogue experience. Whether it is Kalinda, or Shastravidya,1 or any other art, usefulness is important. But so is physical and ancestral archaeology, at least the way I think about it. It is a way of connecting with the ancestors in such a rich way that when we lose that, we also lose who we are and where we are in time. The dan-

ger of digitization, and I say this as I am watching my little girl here. Like you said, the new generation is far smarter than we were. But the danger is that everything is digital, it is very easy to lose track of who we are and where we are. It is easy to get lost in everything else. Without a firm standing of - Boom! This is who I am, and - Boom! This is where I am, and - Boom! When my head breaks open or when my skin is torn, and this blood comes out. It is real. There is something very human, very visceral; something very ancestral. It teaches you courage. Courage in the absence of challenge is not really courage. If we lose courage, I think something is lost. Those are my thoughts. I would love to hear what you think.

1 Shastravidiya is combative system from Northwest India. Written records mentioning this art go back to the 16th century. However, oral traditions give it a much earlier origin date. Shastravidiya should not be confused with Gatka, a martial art from the Punjab and practiced by the Sikh.

WARRIORHOOD | 87

KT: Yes, definitely. I think I appreciate that, Mahipal. As I told Michael earlier, when you asked me what my thoughts on the trip were before and then after: what do you guys get to nerd about martial arts at our level?

I mean, Benji and I would go on for years. We would be driving to one place or another for three hours. We would talk about a range of things, including martial arts. He was the first person talking about the idea of Hoplology to me, about people going to places and studying warriorhood. I was like, “That was an actual thing?” Having these kinds of discourses, it triggers other aspects of me. I do not get opportunities like this on a daily basis. Coming back to the point, I was in a drum session two nights ago. The things that happened to me there, I am telling you, there is no way that I could see that being digitized. Not even the greatest ability of AI could reproduce what happened. Not what I felt, but what happened to me. I was transformed in one night. The person talking to

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you - if we had spoken before that, it would be a different conversation.

ML: I hear you. Maybe you did not want to go here, but I am going to take you there anyway. Because in some ways when there is something visceral and blood comes in, I think it also wakes something else up. I am not sure that can be woken up digitally. Let us bring it down to earth. Look at even something as simple as a mass. You hear a mass on a television set or audio. You can feel something, but in the presence of somebody who actually is doing the mass, and they actually understand what the mass means, including the ritual murder, if you will. It evokes something entirely different.

That understanding only comes very viscerally. I do not think it can come digitally. This is my thinking at this stage. Things may change 50 years from now. That visceral, that blood, that sweat, and that fear, the real fear that your stick may break and open your head. It does something else.

KT: The direction that this is going is a question about what humanity is.

Definitely, we exist in different states or forms. I am not even talking about crazy Star Wars things. I am talking about who I am as a person with my thought patterns. It is independent, but it is also subject to my physical flesh and the way that I feel. These things are opposing, because feelings and emotions are part of me as a being. You sit down in this flesh body, and there are things that are going to be there, even when you leave: the drive, the energy, and the emotions. I am marveling these days at how marijuana is amazing. It is interesting how, when you feel a particular way, a very definite amount of data can be correlated by a mind in one way. When you are feeling another way, you can come up with a whole next equation with that same data. It is telling me something about what it means to be human in the flesh.

ML: I completely agree with you.

This is where I was going. When you get into the digital world, you are entirely in the realm of the neocortex. When we are actually dealing with physicality, we are getting into the cerebellum. This is where how I am, how my body proper is in space, how it is in this geography, changes. Just activating the frontal brain is great. It can give you interesting ideas, send you on trips, but if the body does not go along, then what the hell!

KT: This is exactly where I am in my thought and in my research. Let me bring it all back to the experience of the martial arts. For example, this is a big one for us: the advent of the Zoom sensei or the Zoom instructor. One of my colleagues seems to be doing a good job at excelling at Zoom by having a very simple setup with a thriving Taekwondo school. I think it is scary because that could become a norm. This could mean that there is a lot to be lost in trans-

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lation. These are the things that we are talking about right now. I feel like that is literally what we know we lost from 100 years ago because things always have to change. Things that benefited and maximized the human experience; some of it had to be let go. This is where I am coming to. Let us say, for example, COVID. Let us just say people stop shaking hands 100 years from now. What will be the reason for that? Because 100 years ago, people got COVID partly from shaking hands, but then what would be lost is that we know the feeling of an embrace when you come up from a party. People are going to be looking at us, my kid might be like after 50 years and be like, “Dad used to hug and get sweaty for Carnival.” “Oh, my God, eew!” It is like looking back at Woodstock and be like, “What’s going on there? All you free-love types.” But we know things have been lost. It makes me think about what the Egyptians in the ancient times knew about that was so

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everyday and commonplace that it has been totally lost to us now. That is why I am saying the human experience. That is just where my mind is, it is not like I am finished with the thought process. This is where the ideas are bouncing around.

ML: I agree with you. The way I see it, I think the danger is in everyone thinking they just have to look at video instruction. For example, you can get just about any art in the world for 20 bucks, you can get a tape on it, and you can, quote unquote, “Learn from a world-famous master.”

If it is really that easy and that simple - that just activating the front of your brain with a digital thing gives you skills - then everyone would have improved tremendously. You do not find that to be the case. The reason for that is I think your frontal brain, which is doing the strategy, the tactics, the fantasies, if you will, it is living at one speed. If the body does not live with it, if that integration does not happen, you will not enter

into a state of flow. If you are not happy with the flow, you are not going to fight; you are not going to be able to live.

KT: We can really get deep into some of these mythologies. For example, let us take two fictional ideas: the idea of the Jedi warrior and the idea of a supreme AI soldier of some sort, whose abilities have been enhanced by nanotechnology of some sort. Those two characters just came to mind because of our conversation. What is the lived experience I am having now? What if your whole memory is wiped like Jason Bourne, but your skills are still intact? We know this happens because the brainbody has started learning. There is an added advantage when it is time for the body to act, when the brain and body come together. I was meditating on this about two nights ago.

There are things I learned from my teachers that they literally did not teach me. It is just the way they said, “Do this,” and then they would hold

my leg a certain way, or they would touch me a certain place and say, “Do that” without saying it with their mouth. I learned from King Kali. But I learned from most of the people I was around. But why I say I learned from Kali is because we spent a lot of time together. When we would go places, I would just retreat into myself and watch him like a movie, and then both knowingly and unknowingly started practicing his mannerisms. The way he spoke to people, the woman, the children, if he had to be upset before he was upset, what were his triggers. Being able to look at that informs literally everything I took away from a stick fight or that I was conscious of.

ML: This is where the danger of people who are just thinking and making maps and models of everything is. They missed the meat of it. What happens is, they think they figured out what a map or a model is, but they do not understand the physicality and the intentionality involved.

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“. . . part of learning is being with that ancestral knowledge, with those teachers. It is not what they show in a class or when they are fighting, but what you absorb from everything around them. That cannot be gotten from a videotape.”

“I came here to dominate.

Then I was beautiful, not dominating.

Then I got to dominate again . . .

I love to see beautiful warriorhood.

That is what it was.”

KT: In Barbados, we tested our martial arts. Could we now test what you are talking about? This body’s infused cerebral connection versus a skill-based connection? Could we test those two human beings: the person who is physically and mentally realized and the person who is absolutely mentally realized? It is the way I feel. What is the meat?

ML: What I am saying is this is one of the reasons we started the Hoplology expeditions. There are way too many armchair experts, who basically can figure out and say, “Okay, this is what this art does, or this is what that art does.” Or this is what this teacher can do, or that is what that teacher can do. They are very good at criticizing, because their mental model only shows them a very small aspect of what they do. But like you said, part of learning is being with that ancestral knowledge, with those teachers. It is not what they show in a class or when they are fighting, but what you absorb from everything

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around them. That cannot be gotten from a videotape. That cannot be gotten from trying to map out and say, “I have built a model of this.”

You have to live it. Everything that has light will also have darkness. Everything that has dark will also have light. The problem is the guys who build these models; they only want to model the light and not understand that the thing that builds, that light is coming from that place of deep darkness. The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow. The moment they try to break it out, they start the process of judging: this is good, this is bad, or this is how it should be done. I will do this better, blah, blah, blah. They lose the whole structure of what made things come alive.

KT: I agree with that 100% because it is just recently I realized that it is like asking yourself, “Keegan, do you know that you are a shitty person?

You know that you are the bad guy in someone’s story? Do you know

that you hurt people? Do you know that you have fucked up? You have gone on stage and performed horribly. You did shit in a stick fight.” But you also did great in stick fight, you also did great on your stage, you are also amazing to people, you are also the hero in someone’s story. Where do I get off in changing or judging which version of Keegan I love? I can do that. But I could also accept the totality of myself, and then understand the true power of it. Some of the things that I am able to do come from the so-called fucked-upnature that I at times assume. Some may say, “Man, you are a bit too intense, bro. Why cannot you just take it down sometimes? Why do you always say things like that?” But the way I would just say something very bluntly and not realize how hurtful it probably was is also my ability to run in front of something that someone else would not run in front of. In a verbal way, it is expressed as me being blunt. But in a physical situa-

tion, it is reflected in how I might be a couple of ticks faster than the average person when it comes to being tactical or responsive. That is what I am. I accept that ugly, dark space.

Those ugly things that we do not like about ourselves, I think it all comes back to what we were saying about the teachers and absorbing things that make things work. When we go deeper into what we are talking about, we are going to start understanding what really makes people tick, operate, and be able to execute certain types of martial arts. In your Hoplological journey, you have seen cultures, and not necessarily martial arts alone, am I right?

ML: 100%; it is not just cultures. I also see what most of polite society might call the dark side. Everyone pisses on fighters until their village is attacked, then you are worshipped.

In times of peace, you look down on them. But yes, you are right. You have to look at the culture. You have to look at the relationship with vio-

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lence. I was talking to Michael one time, and I said that one of the most beautiful moments in Barbados was when you and I both played Gilpin. You did not know me, I did not know you. Here we are in some other bloody foreign country. We are like, okay, let us feel each other out. You remember that, Keegan?

KT: That was an entire topic before you came online. But yes. You know, I would love to talk about that again with you.

ML: I will tell you my experience of it. There were times when Keegan cut me. There were times that I cut him, and both times, we tasted the mythical blood. I do not know if Keegan remembers that. I remember it like yesterday. There was also both a respect, and a sense of, “Okay, this is interesting.” I think the game with Gilpin bonded Keegan and me more than anything else. That was very dark, because he was calling his gods and I was calling my gods, and he knows what I am talking about.

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KT: This is why I am saying, Michael, that there is only one way for you to really understand what happened there. That is for us to talk about it.

Because the things that happened there were the beginnings of something else for me. As I said before you came online, Mahipal, I was getting to know you just as much as I was getting to know me in that moment. It was closer to a sweet Capoeira game for me, and I have never had a sweet Capoeira game. Meaning my body and my physicality has never allowed me to express what I have been able to express in other art forms. What I see others get out of a really great Capoeira game in Brazil. That whole flow. I have been able to taste a few different alternate realities. Just simply marijuana and some mushrooms. Both can be very extreme experiences. I am sure there are others. But you see flow.

The most difficult question to answer in stick fighting is, “Why do you play stick fight?” I have come to under-

stand that is just like asking, “Why do you play blades? Why do you do that?” I think the primary feeling is because this is where my soul can access flow in the highest from. You run to that drug, because of the places where you can have that unique flow, that unique thing, especially, if you are a warrior, or are interested in bloodline; this particular chemical concoction that is only found from the practice because my genes are spliced to react to this agent. That is why I receive a certain type of flow that draws me to play stick fight or draws me to do Dambe boxing, or Laamb,2 or whatever. That is it. For 2 Dambe is a recreational fist fighting competition of the Hausa people. Competitions are held regularly in Nigeria at present.

Originally, Dambe was restricted to butchers and fishermen caste members but now are more open. Dambe matches at present consist of three rounds of no set time limit in duration. A round can end in a number of ways: if someone is too injured to continue; if there is a lack of activity; if a referee calls a halt to the round; or if a body part other than the feet touch the ground. Laamb from Senegal is a form of traditional West African wrestling permitting strikes with the hand. The goal of

me, on the beach - I need to think about that, because things are happening even now.

ML: This is what I was saying. I think a part of that flow is also us being able to access what society calls a dark path, or a dark part of ourselves to bring that out, where you are cutting the guy’s neck and you are drinking that blood, so to speak.

You cannot do that in normal society.

Yet it is a part of who we are going back tens of thousands of generations. We are proof that our ancestors survived. It was not all hugs and loves and singing Kumbaya. I assure you of that. I think the more we access that memory, the more, by modern standards, people will say, these guys are unethical, or these guys are violent, or these guys are this, or these guys are that, but it is very special when you run into somebody a bout is to lift the person up and dump the opponent outside a given area It is now considered a national sport and has garnered a large audience of fans who watch the bouts in person or through other forms of media.

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else, who has also awoken that part of themselves and that part of that ancestral memory, and found a way to express it and honor everyone who came before. For me, that was magical. I was telling Dr. Ryan, I said, “Dr. Ryan, that was very special, that was very intense, it is not something that happens every day.”

KT: To me, that was such an unscripted event. That moment was so significant in our lives. Yet it was so insignificant in terms of us not looking out for that. It is like it almost did not happen. It was powerful because we, you, and I, had an exchange the day before, in the ruins. We were sharing and we were talking a few things. We did lay hands on each other; we did a few things. You saw me and I saw you in our own ways.

The following day was quite dangerous, I think. It was dangerous because it was two egos. By ego, I do not mean arrogance, but I mean it was two people who were really serious people in their own rights, and

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who did not know each other. There were a couple of human beings in terms of this intellect sitting encased in the flesh. The flesh in itself is seeing things while the intellect is seeing other things on that beach. Now the beach is significant too. Where we did this stuff is significant as well. What was happening, I know you mentioned calling on the gods and all of these things. I remember it happening physically in my head.

But I knew for a fact that having the blades in my hand, and having that conversation with you, felt like a Capoeira dance that allowed me to reach a state of flow, that allowed me to just sit back and look at myself, that allowed something new to be accessed in me for the first time. I think other than in practice, and with Benji, that was the first time I had ever fought with anyone with blades, period. What made it significant is that you are not just someone. Sure, it was not a fight to the death. But it was serious. I know it was serious be-

cause of what happened afterwards.

I can tell you about some of the stuff that happened there. There would be a time where I will be feeling myself.

I will give you a cut. You will be like, “Oh,” and I feel myself again. I will be like, “Okay.” So, there was that. I came here to dominate. Then I was beautiful, not dominating. Then I got to dominate again. I know for me; I personally love excellent sportsmanship. I love to see beautiful warriorhood. That is what it was.

ML: That is what it was. Because even though we both got into that place of dominating and saying, “I will live, and you will die,” there was still deep respect. I was telling Dr. Ryan why that moment was so significant. Michael was like, “Oh, I just remember a little bit of it. Why was it so significant?” I said, “No, that was one of the highlights of the whole thing.” It was so much in the flesh.

KT: To juxtapose, the scene with Benji3 did not happen the same way. I think Michael had asked me what had happened, and it was difficult to explain. But it makes sense, because it was when you are dealing with blades it is always more than blades.

I think blades, sticks, and stones literally invoke some of the most primal emotions in someone. For the wielder as well as the person who is about to receive the threat. It kind of breaks it down to brass tacks. I do not want to seem like the guy who jumps off the building and says, “I do not believe in gravity,” but my brother, gravity believes in you. That principle I think is what martial arts does for us. It allows that visceral learning of this physical realm that you are in.

3 Benji and Keegan played Gilpin on a parking lot the morning I arrived while most of the crew was scouting a location for the days filming. I was amazed and fascinated seeing the two men play with a pair of short machetes in each hand using what to me evoked a very African way of moving the body.

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ML: I think it also does one other thing. As I am thinking about that day on the beach, I think it is what separates men from boys.

KT: Pretty much. In today’s PC culture, though, what is a man? Because there are different types of men, you know that, right? Mahipal, you have become a bit toxic there.

ML: They can call me toxic; they will call me toxic until someone attacks them, then I will be their favorite friend. But you know what I mean, between men and boys. The boys, they become experts at telling you what they think you are doing. But they can never do it. They will never put their skin in the game. What men do is, they actually put the skin in the game first. The understanding comes after putting the skin in the game. What boys do is they want to understand, build maps of things.

What they will also do is, “Oh, I already understood this, so I do not have to do it.” And they move on to the next thing. But if you are talking

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about warriorship, the warriorship will not exist until you have men. I know in this PC world, it is not good to say, “Be a man,” but I will say, “Hey, man, be a man and be a woman and be a whole man be a whole woman.”

If you do not like that, do not listen to me.

KT: That is simple. It is about the transmission of these energies in the new space that is being constructed. It is being constructed at a very quick rate. Teachers, and digital archivists like us need to find a way to preserve certain experiences. At least that is how I feel. I feel like I just want to create a nice way to feel the past, or the things that have been lost. I think virtual reality technology is something that is interesting.

Now bear with me, you guys, I do firearms training. That is an area I focus on. I had not been to the range for quite some time. I went over to a friend’s house, but I do my practice at home. We put on the VR, played this game. It is basically a shooting

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game where these robots are coming up to you and you have to be in weird positions. You open a room.

It is not like you have this toy gun.

That is physical. You are in a real scenario. I was able to perform kind of good at the game, in the first go.

He was like, “Wow, you did really well at that on the first time you did that, how come?” I was like, “Well, yeah, I kind of understand the game.” But what I was more interested in is the fact that I was able to create a good score; while my brain knows it is not a real threat, VR has a way of being really, really real sometimes. How do I translate an art form like stick fighting or some kind of thing where the physical feeling can still be there?

All the stuff we are talking about where we understand the physical spiritual penetration is still required.

I am guessing, as I said before, the kids that I know are being exposed to the digital, yet they still want the physical realm. But the digital realm has to keep up.

ML: But I think that the digital should follow the physical, not the other way around. If you just take the video game metaphor, what happens when you get shot? You take stupid chances, you get shot, you die; you just reboot the game. You have not learned consequence. What happens if you and I fight, and you do a stupid mistake? There is a consequence, there is going to be blood.

What that blood will do, what that blood does, is it actually gets you thinking better. This is the old brain and the new brain coming together.

If we just train the new brain, it is very easy to get lost in the fantasy and lose touch with the body. I think the AR and the VR, they have a role to play. They are nice things to do skill enhancement. But skill acquisition has to be in flesh.

KT: Is this something that you see as a breakdown that already exists?

Or can we say that these are the elements for a white paper or thought study on this kind of digital-meets-

physical-flesh type of thing in the whole training industry? Does this impact us? How? For me, it is a significant thing.

ML: I think these are just thoughts that I have been developing since this COVID nonsense started. With a lot of the Zoom lessons happening, and people talking about, “Oh, we will study this over Zoom.” I kept fighting it because I said, “What Zoom will not teach you is feel.” I think about it this way. It is very simple. It is as simple as this. It is all adults listening too, so I will just say it. You can watch all the porn in the world, but it is still your right hand that is your best friend. When you are with a person, you actually feel that. There is an emotion. There is a touch, and you grow old together.

You may not have the same bodies, but there is still something real. That is the difference.

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KT: That is the difference. Holding on to that wildly human experience and not forgetting that that has value, too.

it and it resonates a certain way, it means that you know it already. But did you? Are you guys putting that shit on the shelf too long?

ML: I think a lot of people shun violence. A lot of people shun the warrior ethos. They just want the good part of it without the bad. What is good and what is bad is redefined in every generation.

At the end of the day, you are right.

Kids need to breathe and to feel.

Like my kid had an experience the other day with blood and being hurt.

I realize that seeing your kid go under some kind of physical pressure is always difficult. There is no better feeling than seeing who they are. It does not mean that they come out of it looking like a ninja versus them falling apart and crying like a kid would. Just seeing who they are in that moment is something in itself.

KT: I want to say something. I feel like I am a sub-average consumer of general world content. For example, I frequent Instagram, I am in touch with the so-called things. My headspace in terms of entertainment and culture, I can really be average in terms of my thought. I can tap in and, if I were to classify what you guys are seeing right now, I would say that is so not where the culture is going right now. To hear you say to me, as a warrior myself, who is functioning in our non-warrior world, it felt like a bit of a reminder even to myself. I would love to say, “Yeah, I know this already,” but when you hear

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I was lucky to see my son deal with it when a curtain rod came down on his head and busted his head open.

He did not know it was that serious.

He was continuing to play and then the blood started running. When he realized what was going on, he shut down. He is trying to be this character that he was creating from watching Spider Man. I was like, “Son, you

have to be strong.” Then, at that moment, he just cried out and went crazy for probably 45 to 50 seconds. For the rest of the time until they put the plasters on his head, that little kid was a soldier. I was like, “Yo,” I could not help the pride that I felt in him.

Just the other day, my friend lost his daughter. That kind of stuff. It really deals with you differently. It caused you to think of your own circumstance. Why is it that kids have to feel suffering? Why do they have to go through the things that they have to go through?

ML: Because it reveals who they are: if we do not have shit done to us, if you do not know what deep betrayal is, you will never know what true love is. If you do not know what deep pain is, you will not know what deep pleasure is. If you do not know what it means to have your world broken down for you, or to you, you will not know how to reconstruct it. I think when the stuff happens 99% of the time, you have no control over what

is happening to you or why it is being done or who is doing it. A kid dying; cannot have been through that, there is no logical explanation to it.

But in that moment, something is revealed in you. I think we go through this period of intense madness, and that madness either extinguishes you, or you come out stronger. I think it serves a purpose. But then again, somebody else might not get it. That is the way I see it.

KT: That is an appreciated way. It does not help that I am also a subscriber to the warrior ethos. We are kind of encouraging each other’s ideas here. But I know for me, having a deep introduction like that to my son built my bond to him, knowingly or unknowingly to him. Despite that moment being ugly, I met my son in a deeper way.

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ML: You got to know him beyond the mask.

KT: Yes. I have thought of him and the idea of him deeply, especially over this week. My son loves to play superheroes and dress up. I actually think he believes that he is heroic. He believes that he has to recover from a situation. When you see things happen, he cries, and he falls, and he gets up, he rubs, he goes back into like a super serum recharge. He is four going on five, but I have been seeing that coming up now. I wonder how much of it is nature versus nurture. Or is this the type of soul that has been downloaded into this body?

There is definitely strength there.

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ML: Big Questions. Save that for a nice bottle, and when we come down to Trinidad, because that conversation will go on for a while.

KT: This is real. And this is one of the best ways I have spent a Saturday evening in a long time. Needless to say, I miss you guys.

PHILIP FORDE

Gatekeeper of Sticklicking

By Mahipal Lunia

A music teacher by profession, Philip has been practicing Sticklicking since the age of 14. His love of the art led him all over the island of Barbados relentlessly searching for others who could teach him more about this gradually disappearing art.

Pursuing a Ph.D. (University of the West Indies) to further his understanding of this once popular practice, Philip expanded his investigations by travelling across the Caribbean where Barbadian men had lived, worked, and fought. He looked at other stick fighting methods to understand how they are similar to, or different from, the traditions he learned at home. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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What is Sticklicking?

Mahipal Lunia: What is this Bajan stick fighting, what is Sticklicking?

Philip Forde: I would say Sticklicking is the recreational martial art of the Barbadian men. I believe we can trace it back to the days of slavery. Of course, it has changed over the years as society has developed.

I also believe that what we practice now evolved from a more complete,

well rounded martial art to one focusing on the stick alone as it became more of a sport. Historically speaking, I believe it is a combination of several different African stick fighting art forms with some British military influence.

Philip and Biggard in a Sticklicking game of chess.

The Styles ML:

How many Sticklicking styles are there and what makes them different?

PF:

There is Queensberry and Johnson, those are the ones that are still around.

They were around when I was learning myself, but we heard of Mapps, Donnelly, Square, Diamond, Creole-all different styles. There was one called St. Francis or Sir Francis, or Francis. It went by variations of the same name.

Sir Francis was an unarmed striking art. It is possible that originally they were all part of one martial art with various techniques, un-armed and armed techniques, and that somewhere along the line they became separated. Some people

Forde and Biggard in a sticklicking game of chess.

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ML: How was Sticklicking practiced in the past?

PF: It was the main form of recreation among the formerly enslaved men and a means of self-defense against animals and other people.

My grandfather was a postman and one of the things he had to fight or guard against were dogs, especially on the plantations. So being a stick fighter helped him considerably. It turned out that it was very useful against dogs and against people who would want to attack you.

While in the past it was very popular, there were probably only a few who could be considered masters. Still, many people did practice it on some level. After the 50s and 60s, especially with the rising popularity of cricket, there was a decline in Sticklicking. It is not very popular now, and many young people don’t know of its

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existence. And even if they do know of its existence, they have probably never seen it played or practiced. It is in a low place right now, but we hope to change that gradually.

ML: How many active Sticklickers are left on the island?

PF: I would say about three people that presently teach. There are several students still learning, but they are not at the stage where they can teach yet. I would say no more than 20, my son included. Hopefully they will pass it on. All the old men that were actually Sticklickers have died already. So, my generation are the oldest ones who are practicing it right now.

The Styles

ML: How many Sticklicking styles are there, and what makes them different?

PF: There is Queensbury and Johnson, those are the ones that are still around. They were around when I was learning myself, but we heard of Mapps, Donnelly, Square, Diamond, Creole—all different styles. There was one called St. Francis or Sir Francis, or Francis. It went by variations of the same name.

Sir Francis was an unarmed striking art. It is possible that originally they were all part of one martial art with various techniques, unarmed and armed techniques, and that somewhere along the line, they became separated. Some people specialize in the unarmed techniques. Not so long ago, you could still see some of these unarmed techniques.

Getting back to the different styles, the biggest differences between

Queensbury and Johnson is in the philosophy of fighting. Queensbury is very fluid. It has a lot of movement, and is very dance-like, which is typical of African-derived martial arts because most of them are done to music. The Johnson style has moved away from the dance-like quality and is more of a static form. The movements are not as great or elaborate as the Queensbury style. That is the main difference.

Other differences include how it is taught. For example, both styles have seven “cuts,” but they are composed of different strikes and different blocks. I mean, both styles have the same kind of blocks, but in the Queensbury, we tend to do a different kind of block more so than the Johnsons. So there are several differences, but basically they are compatible.

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kind of slip the lash or let the strike slide a the two blocks.

I mentioned before that the different styles t We find Johnson’s fighters traditionally wou stop your stick and knock it to the ground.

Philip showing Mahipal one of the unorthodox cuts.

Forde showing Lunia one of the unorthodox cuts. • Old school dueling methods being shown.

off yours, and then step in and strike. That is what the situation looks like.

st cut in Johnson you learn the blocks where you nock your opponent’s 44 stick to the ground. The SPRING 2019 of the Queensberry is learning the other types ng, so it shows their preference for the kind of hey like. That is reflective of both of the systems have taught. talked about different positions?

efore each stage or cut there are different posihold your stick in. Some of these positions are ensive and some are more offensive. It’s very matter of personal taste which ones you will n my opinion, these positions help you control or to control what your opponent is doing. That’s use the position. I will hold up a position and fluence where my opponent can attack. And g to what position he holds, I would adopt my to suit.

Philip teaching Michael some Sticklicking cuts.

mple, he holds a position where he could easily strike me to the head, d straight to your head, I might assume a position that would block that nitial strike, so he would have to do something else to strike me. What I hough, is that the defensive positions are not always the best. It is useful opponent feels comfortable enough to be careless of his own openings, 114 | The Immersion Review e leaves himself open to be hit. describe the system’s footwork?

Forde teaching Ryan some stick licking cuts.

Learning Sticklicking

ML: So if a new student said to you, I want to learn Sticklicking, what would the journey to mastery look like? How would you take them through it?

PF: First we teach the blocks and the strikes. When I was learning, we would do the first cuts until you mastered them, which will take a little while. Before you master those strikes, I may introduce some of the other cuts to keep things moving forward but keep going back to the first strikes.

When students are blocking fairly well, we introduce some drills to gradually simulate what the actual Sticklicking fight would be like.

When they have learned to handle themselves well in the fighting drill, we start to do some free play and make it real.

ML: How many cuts are there in the Johnson style?

PF: Seven strokes or strikes, but the first three are the most important because those are the basics of the art. When you master the third cut, then you can fight and defend yourself against another stick fighter.

ML: How many blocks do you have?

PF: There are two kinds of blocks. I have never heard of a formal name for them. You basically try to knock your opponent’s stick to the ground, so you cover his stick or keep it away from your body. The other type of block is one where you kind of slip the lash or let the strike slide along your stick. Basically, those are the two blocks.

I mentioned before that the different styles tend to do, or prefer, different

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blocks. We find Johnson’s fighters traditionally would use the blocks where they try to stop your stick and knock it to the ground. The Queensbury blocks try to slip his stick off yours, and then step in and strike.

That is generally what the situation looks like.

tions help you control or attempt to control what your opponent is doing.

That’s how you use the position. I will hold up a position and try to influence where my opponent can attack.

And according to what position he holds, I would adopt my position to suit.

In the first cut in Johnson, you learn the blocks where you try to knock your opponent’s stick to the ground.

The first cut of the Queensbury is learning the other types of blocking, so it shows their preference for the kind of blocks they like. That is reflective of both of the systems which I have taught.

If, for example, he holds a position where he could easily strike me to the head, downward straight to your head, I might assume a position that would block that off the initial strike, so he would have to do something else to strike me. What I found, though, is that the defensive positions are not always the best. It is useful that the opponent feels comfortable enough to be careless of his own openings, so that he leaves himself open to be hit.

ML: You also talked about different positions?

PF: Right. Before each stage or cut, there are different positions to hold your stick in. Some of these positions are very defensive and some are more offensive. It’s very much a matter of personal taste which ones you will adopt. In my opinion, these posi-

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ML: Can you describe the system’s footwork?

PF: It is very much dependent on who teaches you. My main tutor, McDonald, taught me the whole concept of

ing forward but keep going back to the first strikes.

When students are blocking fairly well we introduce some drills to gradually simulate what the actual Sticklicking fight would be like. When they have learned to handle themselves well in the fighting drill we start to do some free play and make it real.

ML the How many cutsthe arediamond.” there in the Johnson “square and You We style? had other tutors who taught me work on the sides ofbut a the square howaretothe move feet and where to PF: either Seven strokes or strikes, first three mostmy important because those are the of the you master third cuteverything. then you can and or step on basics the sides ofart. theWhen diamond. put the them and Sofight it very against another stick My defend cousin,yourself George Fowler, when I fighter. much depends who taught you. My ML:asked How many do blocks you have? re- main teacher of the Johnson style him about foot positions “You walking down Ithe me the and the diaPF: plied, There are are two kinds of blocks. have taught never heard of a square formal name for them.

You basically to knock you your with opponent’s stick the ground, so you forward cover his road and a mantryattacked mond in to terms of stepping stickYou or keep it have away from body. The type of block think is one there whereare you a stick. don’t time your to worry andother blocking.

I don’t kindwhere of slipyour the foot lash or strike your stick.ofBasically those are about is, let youthe got to slide any along set patterns footwork in eithe two blocks. defend yourself.” So he didn’t have ther style for retreating. thatstepping the different anyI mentioned particular before way of or styles tend to do, or prefer, different blocks.

We find Johnson’s fighters traditionally would use the blocks where they try to moving his feet. stop your stick and knock it to the ground. The Queensberry blocks try to slip

Old-school dueling methods being shown.

thodox cuts. • Old school dueling methods being shown.

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Sport or Self-Defense

ML: We have talked about two forms of Sticklicking: a sporting and a self-defense version of the art. Can you tell us about how the sportive type of Sticklicking?

PF: In the past, the men had very little free time, except on Sundays and public holidays. We would practice on Sundays mainly. But when the public holidays came along, people would travel to different districts and have organized competitions. People from their neighborhoods would follow them. Sometimes they would rent a truck and the truck would take a whole set of spectators to support their local champions. That’s how it was organized.

It was the public holiday thing to do, move from one district to the next to watch the stick fighting contests.

Many times, in order to accommodate the crowds, the bouts would be held in open areas. But there were

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also competitions that took place inside casinos and places like that where money could be charged for entry and the fighters could receive some of the proceeds. It was very popular. Often a Tuk band would be there to play with the fighters or just entertain the crowd in between bouts. It was a very festive atmosphere.

ML: And the self-defense style?

PF: The sport of Sticklicking was point sparring, so the emphasis was only on stick techniques for sport.

There was an emphasis on not letting the opponent hit you, which is very much a Johnson style thing. What I found is that the Queensbury style doesn’t mind taking lash if it would give them an advantage in the fight.

In this way, you are truly going to lash each other.

A Queensbury fighter might take a lash on his buttock, but when he does that, he’s going to move in at P F the same time and try to finish you off with the butt of the stickProfessor, or some- Music Teacher and Sticklicker thing like that. I never learned to take lashes in the Johnson style. That is what made me feel the Queensbury style is more self-defense oriented, because the object is to get close and finish. If you are taking the lash on your buttock or your arm, so be it. Whereas in Johnsons, we never practiced taking a lash at all.

HILIP

oRDE

Philip showing his new friends the church where he is the organist.

Forde showing his new friends the church where he is the organist.

46

SPRING 2019

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Choosing and Preparing a Stick

Stickmata

ML: Where do people get their stick from?

ML: You are one of the featured teachers at the upcoming Stickmata event. What are you looking forward to, and what do you plan on showing everybody?

PF: The popular sticks were Guava and Lode wood. These two are the most popular, but we also use Black Sage, Black Willow, and Bay Leaf.

Bay Leaf is a very hard stick, but they are oily, and if your hands sweat, it can be an issue. We also had a stick called Yellow Hercules, that was the most common stick back in the day.

To choose a stick, you would go down to a gully and try to select a piece of wood as straight as possible.

Then you cut it a little longer then you need it. After that, one sets the sticks over an open fire until the bark cracks, then you know it is cured. Finally, cut it to its right length. The other technique was to bury it in a cow pen in the manure for like two weeks. Then when it came back, the bark had fallen off and the stick was cured.

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PF: Sticklicking is one of my passions, actually it might be the only one, and whenever I have the opportunity to share it with people, I just welcome the opportunity. It doesn’t matter who they are or what the situation is. For those who come to Stickmata, what I teach will represent the art of Sticklicking in its purest form, so to speak. I’ll be teaching them the strikes, blocks, and footwork that are essential to the style, as well as the counters to those things. That is all fundamental to the style, so when they leave, they will have a good idea of what Bajan Sticklicking actually is. They will be able to apply it if they have to.

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Post-Script

PHILIP : MARTIAL ARTIS T, MUSICIAN , AND PROFE SSOR

Two years after the ILF Hoplological expedition to Barbados in 2018, Michael J. Ryan interviewed the original co-members of the expedition via Zoom to commemorate the expedition, get their reflections on it, and see what they are up to nowadays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In this post-script interview, Philip talks about learning the art of Sticklicking and researching the last of the Sticklickers left alive. Philip talks about hosting the ILF expedition team in Barbados and his time teaching at the ILF symposium, Stickmata. Philip talks about one of the many highlights of Stickmata, including the end of his teaching section. Very Politely, he asked if anybody cared to try his knowledge of the stick with their own. Dr. Marco Quarta, in a very gentlemanly fashion, volunteered to accommodate him. Both men thus armed, a highly technical, lightning-paced respectful game took place by two men who at the end of it smiled, shook hands, thanked the other for a pleasant workout and then retired to different parts of the hall to tend to their contusions.

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Michael J. Ryan: What were you thinking was going to happen when we were all coming to visit you?

Philip: I was not sure. I was not sure exactly what was going to happen. I had only met the Trinidadian guys to train; that was very briefly. I saw some of what they did. I never saw the Whip-Jab. That was a complete revelation. I was not sure what to ex-

pect. It was a very rewarding experience. Everything came together very well. I was also still working, so I was not with you all the time. I did not get to see everything, but what I saw was well worth the effort.

MJR: In your own realm of Bajan Sticklicking, Cherry-Boy introduced you to some aspects of Sticklicking you were not aware of before?

Philip: Yes, that is what happens in these folk arts. There is no one way of doing them. Almost every person that you speak to has a different dimension to show you. Cherry-Boy had a slightly different staff, techniques, and everything to show me that I never saw before. That was very interesting, different ways of holding the stick, different sequences of lashes, different techniques to try to trap your opponent, that kind of thing. What was more interesting, apart from the stick fighting with Cherry-Boy, is that I was able to

learn from him the whole wrestling techniques practiced in the Caribbean before the introduction of Judo.

I made sure that the things that he was talking about predated Judo by decades. These techniques existed before Judo in Barbados. He was able to show me some of the techniques that they would use in wrestling when he was young. Some of the throws are very similar to Judo throws with slight differences. It was just amazing that this thing existed.

I am very happy that he was able to show me these techniques because

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nobody does that now. Any wrestling that we do in Barbados now will either be Judo or mixed martial arts or something like that. I was very happy that I could get that information from him before it is too late.

Now we know that there are kicks that the Sticklickers did; the use of slapping, the use of the elbow, and things like that. We found out that when Sticklicking became a sport, all the non-stick techniques were eliminated. Yet, it was still taught by some of the fellows as secrets that they did not teach to every person. I wonder if wrestling, the stick fighting, the kicks, and everything was originally part of one art that became separated over time. I am just wondering.

I do not know how I am going to find out. If it was just one universal art that included everything, that later divided into different sections as time went on. I am not sure how we will ever find out, but I am going to try.

These wrestling throws are few in terms of techniques. You just have to perfect them and use them in differ-

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ent ways. Let us compare with Judo because I do some Judo too. When you become a black belt, then you learn 40 throws. But when you watch Judo competitions, the people have one or two favorite throws; they do not use more than that. You learn everything, but now you specialize in one or two throws. It comes back to simplicity. Whenever you finish, a few things go perfect, and that is what works for you.

There is a man who is still working. I have to do some interviews with him.

He is very cagey about showing me the stuff that his grandfather did. He told me his grandfather dreamed of him and told him not to show any person these things. But a couple of years ago, I went to his house around Christmas. He likes whiskey, so we drank some whiskey, and that loosened him up a bit. He was showing me some other stuff. We know that the kicks in Sticklicking are low kicks to the knee or near the groin, but no higher than the groin. Yet he showed me kicks to the ears and things like that that I have never seen before.

His grandfather did that in his style of Sticklicking. The rationale was that, if attacked by a person that had a stick but you did not have a stick, what would you do? He would go into the kicks if he did not have a stick. He would use his kicks to disarm the man. That is amazing stuff.

The kicks were snapping, very much like a karate kind of kick. He would kick low to deceive you, and then the power kick would then come to the ears or the head area. It is like a feint: a low kick and then a kick to the face. I have to go to him again and see if we can get him to talk some more. I did not want to push

too much because he did not want to show us any stuff. I did not want to push too much on that one occasion.

You have to ease into these things, as you would know.

Apart from the Sticklicking and trying to teach a couple of people to pass on the knowledge, a lot of stuff is happening with my music. I have a concert this Thursday, and then I promised to write some organ pieces based on Barbadian folk songs for a recitation in Canada, around June-July next year. So I have my hands out of different pies. That is my other love. Not sure which I like more, but music pays the bills.

MJR: Could you tell us about your experience in the Stickmata Lab? Philip: I still have wonderful memories of that. I keep telling myself it would be good to do something like that again. But these things are almost impossible to replicate; they are never the same. These things are once in a lifetime, and things will never be the same again. But that

was truly an amazing experience.

A lot happened outside of the conference center. Because there is so much going on that I just decided I cannot take in everything. It was just too much. You tried, Michael; I admire you for that. I just gave up and said, “This is too much information.

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I just cannot take it all.” But I would be hanging out outside, in the sun where it was a little warmer, with a lot of fellows who do Philippine martial arts. We would be talking casually, comparing arts and everything.

What was amazing was that when they showed some of these Philippine stick techniques, I told them that we do that in Bajan Sticklicking too.

That was amazing. There was very little they did with a single stick that I did not see already in Bajan Sticklicking. What I realized was that the major difference was the length of the stick. The stick’s length will determine the angle that the block was at and things like that: subtle differences, but the same technique. It was just amazing to chat with those fellows and share that kind of knowledge. The stuff that I saw at that Stickmata was just unbelievable.

I am not sure he was Russian, the Russian fella, Martin Wheeler, but the fella who learned from the Russian secret service Systema. That is almost unbelievable. I cannot quite describe to people what it is like.

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We had a spontaneous contest with Dr. Marco Quarta. It was spontaneous because we did not plan that.

What happened was that the participants were asking for a demonstration. He was asking me a lot of questions about the techniques as I was demonstrating and teaching. That is why I asked him if he wanted to have a little something. He agreed, and I did not know what to expect because I did not know anything about him at all. Without blowing my own trumpet or being boastful, I had confidence in my skill as a Sticklicker, so I felt I could handle myself reasonably well.

I was very impressed with his level of skill. I do not want to sound conceited because I am confident in my abilities. He really tested me then because I had never seen him play before.

I did not know his art or anything. I had to be very watchful to see what he was doing and things like that.

And some of the techniques he used were not familiar to me. It kept me on my toes. It was an invigorating exercise from several points of view.

It confirmed that Sticklicking, I had never had any doubts about it, but it confirmed that Sticklicking is just as good as any other art. Just playing with him, seeing his different techniques, and being able to match them. It was very stimulating, and I will never forget that. That was just terrific. I tell everybody about that.

As people have said before, what I find about martial artists, true martial artists, is there is no ego involved here. No person is trying to better the other person. We fought, and we fought tough, but there was no malice. If I got a little strike, there was no getting angry and wanting to retaliate. There is nothing like that. I think when you engage a person at that level with sticks and no protection, I think that it is like bonding with the person. Although you might not know this person on one level, you have now made a connection with them on some subconscious level. I am not sure I could put it in the right words, but you have engaged this person on a very deep, profound level. I do not think anything can beat that.

It is something I think about all the time. I have fought people already here. If you give them a little lash, hit them, they get angry and want to retaliate aggressively. Big egos: that is not what it is about. True martial artists, people who respect the art and everything, that kind of meeting could only happen with true martial artists and respect the art and respect fellow martial artists and things like that. I cannot put it in words how terrific it was and spontaneous. You cannot plan these things. You can never plan something like that. If I knew that I had to fight someone, and he knew he had to fight someone, maybe he would have gone to a different mindset and had more apprehension. Yet, it was so spontaneous. You had no time to think of anything. Just pick up and let us go.

What happens in music, too, incidentally, when I accompany a soloist and things like that. Of course, martial arts is more competitive. When I accompany a soloist, I practice with them beforehand. However, even so, it is still a connection of a different

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type with a different way of getting to the same connection. I have not thought about it yet, but when I work with a soloist and everything works out good, I have to be in sync with the soloist, I have to watch when they breathe to know when they are going to begin the next phase, and I have to listen to when they are slowing down or ad-libbing. I have to be very connected with them to follow them. Although what Marco and I

did was more competitive, there is still a rhythm to it. You still have to be in sync with the person that you are fighting. You have to respond to what they do very much, like how I would do it if I were accompanying someone. I would be very conscious of what they are doing, how they are moving. There is still a connection, just getting to it by different means.

There is a rhythm to fighting. There is a rhythm to your movements.

Vincent Tamer: Have you been teaching Stickllicking in Barbados? Has COVID affected any of that?

Philip: COVID produced a twoweek complete shutdown. Although it would ease a little bit, it was still very strict. We were not allowed to do anything except go to the shop, go to the pharmacy, or go to the doctor.

Emergency personnel had a special pass. You are allowed to be on the road. But several people got arrested when they should not be on the road. We are coming out of it now.

Everything is open now. Since Sep-

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tember, I have hooked back up with some students, and I am teaching a few students. I do not have a class, per se, because we are all very busy.

I meet people individually whenever I fit in the time. I have only three students. Right now, I am teaching my eldest son. He has started. I am trying to teach him in between everything. These are very keen students— that is all you need. You do not need a lot of people.

I am privileged. As I said, music pays my bills. I teach them for free. At my stage now, I am anxious to pass on what I know. Once they learn what I know, that is fine for me. Passing on this knowledge is my end goal.

I have other ways to make a living.

The money is not important to me.

Most of the older men taught me free, without payment or charging me anything. I am very cognizant of that. The fellow who taught me the most was MacDonald Tull. I was introduced to him. Back in the early 1980s, he charged me the equivalent of one US dollar a lesson. It is nothing whatsoever. Eventually, we became very good friends, and he would not charge me anything after that. People thought I was his grandson. He kept animals, pigs especially. Sometimes when he wanted to feed the pigs, I would go and buy the feed for him. I would take him any place he wanted to go, things like that. We became very, very good friends. When he died, I gave his eulogy. That is how close we were.

What was interesting was that when

I started learning with him, another student came along with me. Eventually, that student felt he had taken what he needed to take, and he stopped coming to the lessons. But by that time, Donald and I were good friends. I still kept going to visit him. I would say that I learned more from him after the official lessons were over.

He would remember things at odd moments when you go visit him. “I got something to show you,” he would remember. These things are not written down. They are taught by passing on by teacher to student. He could not follow a manual to make sure he covered everything that he wanted to teach me. So, things would come back to him at odd moments, and he would teach me a lot of stuff after the official lessons had finished. That is why I know quite a lot, because it was not a transactional relationship.

It started that way but soon became something more than that.

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VT: Could you tell us about the old way of teaching Sticklicking?

Philip: I learned the old way. Because we fight with our right foot forward, we have a technique where we have to learn to pull it back. If a strike comes to the foot, you can pull the foot instead of blocking it and strike at the same time. I was learning this technique. My right foot was swollen stiff because I was not moving it back quick enough. That lesson was well learned. I would be fighting Donald, playing with Donald, and he would strike me on my thighs, hard, the water coming into my eyes. I do not hit my students. I do not hit them like that. The joke is that Donald would always be telling me that he teaches without hitting you. That was what he was saying. I still got a lot of strikes.

I am a teacher by profession. My teaching profession influences me in how I teach martial arts too. People gradually increase the intensity.

Eventually, I will be able to throw the lashes that I want to throw at the students. Then, they will have the

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skill over time, and I know that they will be able to block it. They will get to the same point that I would have gotten to with Donald just by a gentler progression of skills and everything. One of the things I refuse to do, though, and I am not saying that I am thinking it is wrong or that I am judging other people who do it, but I still use sticks that are not padded.

We still do not have any protection when I teach.

What I have learned over the years is that I have learned control so that if I throw a lash at a student and I see that he cannot block it, then I have enough control not to hit him. I will show him, this is what you should do and everything. Now and then, we get a little lash on the knuckles or something, but that is not very often. Learning with unpadded sticks is one thing retained from the old way.

Nobody messes with you. A little bit gentler. They must know that, if they do not block the lash, that they can get hit. They must know that.

I learned from at least six different older men that had a slightly different take on stick fighting. That is what I am grappling with now. Donald was the one that was the most systematic. I base everything on what he taught me. Then I add stuff from the other stick fighters. The thing I have grappled with is when I am teaching it now, should I teach them as separate things? The basic one lash Donald taught me, and then add-ons. That this is what this other person showed me or whatever? Or should I just incorporate everything into one and teach it as one? I do not know. That is one of the things I am grappling with. I wonder if the way forward is like with, say Judo: it has had all of their techniques pretty much put together. I wonder if that is the way forward. I am not sure.

I am inclined to think that it will depend on the student and how much the student wants to learn. If I finish teaching them one system, basically what Donald taught me, and they still want to learn more, then I could teach them the other stuff.

That is probably how I am going to end up doing it, based on the interest. I teach all the time, not only martial arts. When I am teaching my organ students, I have realized that every student does not want to get to where I might want them to go. I have decided that instead of frustrating them and frustrating myself, if you want to just go from here to there and are happy with that, then I am not going to force you to do anything. I will introduce it to them and see how they respond. If their response is not, “I really want to do this,” then I teach them basic stuff that will be good for them. The deep stuff, the student has to show that they want to learn it. The student has to want to learn, and you cannot force it on them. I have decided that how I treat my organ students, I treat my Sticklicking students too.

I will teach you, and how far you go will depend on you.

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RONDEL BENJAMIN Combat Martial Artist, Hoplologist, and Pioneer

By Jon White

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I am very pleased to present this interview with Rondel Benjamin.

Rondel has been a pioneer in the revitalization of the Afro-Caribbean martial traditions that collectively fall under the group of practices known as Kalinda. The Bois Academy of Trinidad & Tobago, an organization that Rondel co-founded, has been essential to the revitalization of these arts, actively working to create opportunities for people to experience the restorative power that lies at the core of these martial forms. The wide range of opportunities they have created includes programs designed to use Kalinda in restorative justice and gender-based violence initiatives. The art has been employed in a number of other institutional settings, including Creative Art Entrepreneurship, Debating & Position Defense for University Students, Kalinda as a New Pedagogy in Youth Education, At Risk Youth Engagement, and Propagation of Kalinda as a Lifestyle.

RONDEL BENJAMIN | 137

The critical work of protecting these dying art forms through multimedia platforms, especially in the pop culture area, is one of the hallmarks of the Bois Academy, and has resulted in three documentaries, three music albums, and several plays. After immersing themselves in this art form for over a decade, Rondel and his team have achieved victories in the National Stickfighting Competition and amassed several 2nd place awards. Their dedicated campaign to win recognition for Kalinda as the national martial art, and tireless focus on honoring the living elders of the form, is a powerful example of the role of ancestral veneration in African spiritual traditions. Kalinda has been a critical tool in helping the displaced Africans in Trinidad & Tobago recover their cultural identity and is a perfect example of how enslaved Africans resisted their oppressors through cultural retention.

Kalinda encompasses Gilpin (blade/cutlass combat), Bois (stick fighting) and Rope-Jab (a flexible weapon and whip-based form).

Rondel specializes in Gilpin and Bois. He has been exposed to multiple martial forms including Gracie Jiu Jitsu, Sambo, Kali, Muy Thai, Kung Fu, Karate, and Boxing. Additionally, he has been an avid seeker in the realm of martial combatives, being an early adopter of systems like the SPEAR, Defence Lab, Piper Knife, and Systema. This has allowed him to create a unique teaching style and gain deep insights into the interconnected nature of his traditions and their martial application.

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Beginnings

Jon White: Thanks for sharing your story with us, Rondel. How long have you been involved in Kalinda?

Rondel Benjamin: It depends on what you define as the beginning. It may have been when my mom found me walking at 10 months, arguing with a bench and mumbling my first word, “fighting.” It might be the fact that my DNA profile comes from the famous, little-known, Merkin clans in Marouga Trinidad. Six companies of Colonial Marines—free Africans who fought against the Americans in Virginia during the US War of Independence in 1812. They were fierce guerilla units that settled Trinidad in one of the most inhospitable regions, Marouga. Or it could have been my first attempt to locate and access research on Kalinda when I was 18, which included the most critical conversation I had in my development

as a young martial artist. It was with a local luminary and historian, Dr. Gordon Rolher. I asked him to point me to the research on Kalinda in the local University regarding its past and history. His answer was simple, “There is none and it is on you to fix that.”

Most likely, though, it was me getting a job in Marouga 13 years ago, meeting and being mentored by three of the greatest elders in the regional pantheon of Kalinda gods: King Kali, Congo Barra, and Stokely. I also received mentorship and brotherhood from one of the more iconic active Kings, David Brown.

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Current Projects and the ILF Expedition

JW: Can you share with us the latest developments in your martial research, and what has been the most impactful development in Kalinda in the last year?

RB: I had the pleasure of taking part in a Hoplological expedition to Barbados focusing on Pan-American martial traditions. The research was am very pleased to present this interview with centered around the Southern CaribRondel Benjamin. Rondel has been a pioneer in the revitalization of the Afro-Caribbean bean and Northern South America. martial traditions that collectively fall under the group of practices knowns as Kalinda.

The Bois It encompassed Colombian Grima, Academy of Trinidad & Tobago, an organization Rondel co-founded, has been essential to the VenezuelanthatGarrote, Bajan (Barbarevitalization of these arts, actively working to dian) Sticklicking, andfor people Trinidad &the create opportunities to experience restorative power that lies at the core of these Tobago’s Kalinda fightmartial forms.suite The wide(stick range of opportunities they have created includes programs designed ing/Bois, Rope-Jab, Gilpin). to use Kalinda and in restorative justice and gender

sion was so distinct from other Caribbean and South American practices.

Many of the rumors regarding Kalinda’s origins and development were confirmed. We now have a clear picture of where we need to focus our efforts as we unravel the puzzle of Kalinda’s history and origin.

I

based violence initiatives. The art has been employed in awas number of other institutional settings The Expedition organized by including Creative Art Entrepreneurship, Debating & Position University Students, Mahipal Lunia of Defense the forImmersion Kalinda as a New Pedagogy in Youth Education, At Risk Youth and Propagation of Labs Foundation.

ItEngagement was mind-blowKalinda as a Lifestyle. ing and, in some respects, life-alterThe critical work of protecting these dying art forms through multimedia platforms, especially ing. I have for had susin theyears pop culture area, certain is one of the hallmarks of the Bois Academy, and has resulted in three picions regarding the interrelation documentaries, three music albums and several plays.martial After immersing themselves in this of Caribbean traditions, onartform for over a decade, Rondel and his team Benji shows the traps of Kalinda Stick. victories and in the National Stickwhy Kalindahaveinachieved its form expresBenji shows the traps fighting Competition and amassed several 2nd place awards. Their dedicated campaign to win of Kalinda Stick. recognition for Kalinda as the national martial art, and tireless focus on honoring the living elders of the form, is a powerful example of the role of ancestral veneration in African spiritual traditions. Kalinda has been a critical tool in helping the displaced Africans in Trinidad & Tobago recover their cultural identity and is a perfect example how enslaved Africans resisted their oppressors through cultural retention.

Kalinda encompasses Gilpin (blade/cutlass combat), Bois (stick fighting) and Rope Jab (a flexibleReview weapon and whip-based form). Rondel specializes in Gilpin and Bois. He has been 140 | The Immersion exposed to multiple martial forms including Gracie Jiu Jitsu, Sambo, Kali, Muy Thai, Kung Fu, Karate and Boxing. Additionally, he has been an avid seeker in the realm of martial

The links between Rope-Jab and Kalinda, and the influences of both the African and Indian diasporas on its development, was probably the biggest single revelation. I expect that this connection will lead us to more clearly locate our point of origin.

Let’s just say Haiti and Martinique, here R we come! a onDEL RtICLE b tItLE EnjaMIn

Combat Martial

For us, being able to spend time with other regional researchers, academics, and practitioners of these forms gave us unprecedented access. Within the group, it was super fun watching the arts pitted against each other, all in the name of science. Of course, whacking people with sticks and whips is a unique brand of fun that many never experience, but it’s one of the most amazing feelings Artist, Hoplologist and Pioneer on earth.

Benji teaching Mahipal and T.J. some of the Kalinda footwork patterns in an old plantation.

Benji teaching Lunia and Obi some of the Kalinda footwork patterns in an old plantation.

Current Projects and the ILF Expedition JW: RB:

Can you share with us the latest developments in your martial research, and what has been the most impactful development in Kalinda in the last year?

RONDEL BENJAMIN | 141 I had the pleasure of taking part in a Hoplological expedition to Barbados focusing on Pan-American martial traditions. The research was centered around the Southern Caribbean and Northern South America. It encompassed Colombian

One Man’s Understandings of Kalinda

JW: Can you give us some insight into what makes the Kalinda so unique among other regional martial arts?

a dueling art. Thus, its effectiveness and efficacy has been maintained through that rigorous crucible known as “battle.”

RB: Kalinda isn’t a martial art. For me it is a lifestyle and better described as a martial tradition. Kalinda encompasses an approach to spiritual development, strategic thought, healing traditions, diet and performance science, music/ritual/ dance, and the development of martial skill. It is, in many ways, one of the primary social structures through which enslaved communities kept the rituals of warriorhood and initiation alive. It has always been an equal opportunity event with both male and female historical figures participating fully in its expression. Some of the songs seem to date back at least 200 years. To this day, fighters determine success on the “first blood” principle. Kalinda in Trinidad is still

Kalinda shares many elements that seem to identify it with other Central and West African traditions of combat. It shares many common elements with Mayole from Martinique, Jogo de Pau from the North of Portugal (in its Afro-Brazilian expression) and Capoeira Angola from Salvador Brazil. Its two hand (ambidextrous) stance (with its preference for butting and tripping), focus on agility and continuous movement, giving it a character that is best suited for close-quarter combat. It is a very expressive art and its practitioners are known for aggressively closing the gap, lending to its reputation as a brutally effective method in melee and multiple assailant combat.

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Benji t and Lu

Benji teaching the double Gilpin to Michael and Mahipal.

it as Ase, that Africa word we use to describe that force that binds us all. It is somewhat like “the Force” in Start Wars…right?

One of the objectives of Kalinda has always been assisting its participants in achieving a state we describe as “stalwart,” a kind of stoic transcendence, a momentary enlightenment. It is a reaching past the temporal in to a dimension of completeness. I often imagine that the enslaved Africans’ ability to access this state was elemental in their ability to resist the horrors of their time, and find in themselves that beauty and creativity that Caribbean men and women are known for. This is what it took to create their own way, to imagine their way to liberation. I my humble opinion that is one of the greatestRONDEL storiesBENJAMIN of humanity’s | 143 ability to overcome. I strongly believe Kalinda, and its presence in all the ter-

aonDEL R RtICLE b tItLE EnjaMIn

Hopes and Dreams

JW: Where do you see Kalinda in 10 years?

RB: Kalinda will be a key component in the revitalization of the Caribbean male and the wider African/Indo-Trinidadian diaspora. As Budo is to the Japanese, so Kalinda will become to the people of the Caribbean.

Kalinda can be a key element in the process of developing self-awareness, especially in the Caribbean context.

Self-awareness, we have found, leads to self-actualization, a necessary attribute of all warriors. This self-actualization is critical in helping us recover and reconstruct our identity as a people. Self-identity then leads to one recognizing his or her place in the wider community. This community consciousness leads to that selfless space, to a kind of harmony with the fullness. The harmony that we seek is found in the gayelle [ring of combat], with the ancestral, the

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Combat Martial Artist, H

Fo ers, academ access. Wi against eac people wit experience

One Man

JW Ca so unique

RB: Ka described to spiritua and perfor martial ski through w and initiat with both expression To this da Kalinda in efficacy ha “battle.”

Ka other Cen common e Benji and Ronald bringing traditions together. the North of Portug Benj and Ronald bringing traditions from Salvador Brazil together. for butting and tripp a character that is b art and its practition spiritual, the communal, a oneness its reputation as a b with the life force we all share.combat.

We

Where know it as Ase, that AfricanJW:word we do you see K RB: Kalinda will be a ke use to describe that force that binds and the wider Africa so Kalinda will beco us all. It is somewhat like “the Force” element in the proce context. Self-awaren in Star Wars . . . right?

attribute of all warri and reconstruct our nizing his or her plac leads to that selfless s that we seek is foun spiritual, the commu

One of the objectives of Kalinda has always been assisting its participants in achieving a state we describe as “stalwart,” a kind of stoic transcendence, a momentary enlightenment.

It is a reaching past the temporal into a dimension of completeness. I often imagine that the enslaved Africans’ ability to access this state was elemental in their ability to resist the horrors of their time, and find in themselves that beauty and creativity that Caribbean men and women are known for. This is what it took to create their own way, to imagine their way to liberation. In my humble opinion, that is one of the greatest stories of humanity’s ability to overcome. I strongly believe Kalinda, and its presence in all the territories where resistance was greatest, was a critical factor in fostering this state of being.

JW: Thanks for your time. Where can people reach you if they have questions, or want to access training?

RB: We have Facebook and Instagram pages called, “Bois Academy of Trinidad & Tobago” or “Bois Academy TT.” We have two documentaries available, No Bois man No fraid (2013) and Our Souls Turned Inside Out (2015). I am excited about some of the upcoming video and online instructional material with Immersion Labs. We also take interns in Trinidad and have a distance learning program. You can email me at R.Benjamin@Defencelab.com.

Ase O and Vibes like Sand.

RONDEL BENJAMIN | 145

Post-Script

BENJI : CROSSING THE K ALUNGA

Benji reflects upon his time running the Bois Academy, ranging over topics such as the philosophy of teaching, devising a pedagogical progression, and teaching non-Western combative arts.

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Michael J. Ryan: How is college coming for you, your master’s degree?

Benji: It has been exhilarating to begin to access the historical accounts of what we do, to delve into the possible sources, and really to experience time as a continuum and not just snapshots. One of the things that I hope to share with academia is the perspective of the doer. There are many assumptions in the theses I have read. It is clear to me that they lacked the internal or the initiates’ view from some of the conclusions they made, though, from their perspective, I can see why they would make them. I am quite surprised at the inability to understand the inner workings of what we do as a way of life.

One classic example is that in Trinidad and Tobago, Carnival began in 1838. All of the carnival bands were Kalinda bands. They would describe the Kalinda bands in a way that disconnected them from their root source: the central Bantu people.

They keep trying to impose West African beliefs or infrastructures on a

process that had at least a whole other layer to it. It was just curious that they could not see that they were imposing two different, though interrelated, belief structures because they were external. In doing that, they completely erased one of the influences to speak about the one they have more books on. When they do not have experience, it is researchers speaking about what they can read. If there is an unwritten area of knowledge, then it is just invisible. That was one of the exciting yet surprising things about academia.

Being an initiate impacts epistemology; it changes the way we access knowledge and learn. You have a foot in both worlds, so to speak, the academic world and then the world of these societies. It is fantastic. That is a type of knowledge that has long been overdue.

One of the things we hope to do at the Bois Academy encourages more initiates to feel comfortable in academic spaces. It is almost as if there

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was this one gayelle1 where we did not know we could participate. We want to enter academia like we would enter any other gayelle to learn the rules of those fights and experience combat in those spaces. Combat for us is life, intellectual, physical, spiritual, and emotional. They are all ways of gaining knowledge. That is critical to our knowledge acquisition mechanism—fighting or opposing ideas.

One of the important things is that we have to understand that the academic world has communicated ideas. There are essential ideas inside of there that the practitioner can access. I do not think it is necessary to inform the academic world of the internal mechanics of our process. It is important to share our philosophical approach, sharing new ways of learning, and new ideas that can inspire other areas of knowing and learning. Kalinda, in many ways, is a type of logic. That is useful, even 1 An informal ring or arena for competitions such as Kalinda or cock-fighting.

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if it isn’t for the esoteric practice of Kalinda itself. It can help create organic spaces, spaces where we revalue different sources of knowledge.

We need to write to open academia’s eyes to this soma and practice. Writing is, for me, more like creating a pathway to help those who live in a world of the mind to recognize there is another world, not necessarily to give them that other world on a page. It is a delicate balance that one finds because I believe that there is value in passing knowledge on. I believe there is value in libraries: living, written, emotional, energetic. I think it is all-important. It is crucial for those who have these types of practices to inform the world that we exist and challenge them to broaden their perspectives. Knowledge has become very narrow in some ways.

That is something we have to be very wary of, that echo chamber thinking.

MJR: Is there a difference between the Kalinda we see in Carnival and the Kalinda we would see in a self-defense situation?

Benji: That split, the tendency to have this dichotomy of x and y, is opposite of the nature of what we do. What we do is living sorcery; it is the continual expansion into the world of that sacred ritual where we give and receive energy. It is like language: ABC’s, a sentence, grammar, a hip-hop song, poetry. They seem like different things, but they are not for us. It is not these sharp dichotomies. If I am in a church, I use language slightly differently than hanging out with my buddies on the block. But if I speak well and have mastered the art of transition, I can speak anywhere and communicate effectively. So for me, Kalinda is one thing. It is just a matter of the environment I am in that affects how Kalinda will adapt herself to the space.

Do I learn it differently for each of those circumstances? The true answer is it should not be different, and my spirit should be able to adapt. Our learning process is not

the Western learning process. We enter an altered state first and acquire knowledge in this other realm, this subconscious realm. It is subconscious learning in a structured way.

Subconscious learning then allows one to adapt very, very quickly. It is much faster than cognitive processing. Combat should never base itself on cognition. The process is just too slow.

One of the major jumps is that there are two things we do that do not fit the present paradigms in martial arts. We are not Western, and we are not Eastern. We are something else.

We are Eastern and African, all in one. Then there is a never discussed third layer. But Trinidad had a massive native population when Columbus arrived in the New World, over 300,000 inhabitants. They did not die out; they just mixed into the population. We in the Caribbean have this unique tendency to present hybridized forms. Our hybridization

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happened in an environment that was very, very toxic and very, very aggressive. In our environment, only what worked or what could be hidden survived. It was a terrifying period of stripping away and clashing, and being forced into tight spaces against each other. What we now have is this superbly compressed way of being that is very essentialized.

There is another fact to our cultural forms. There is not a lot of tradition.

Yet there are hints and flavors of what was, but I have to be honest, there is something else here. There is a newness, a kind of futurism. I think what people call globalization happened here in a very intense way for over 250 years. You know that the Chinese in Trinidad were doing the Dragon Dance in 1840. Does the carnival dragon form represent the Chinese? The most influential visual artists in Trinidad’s history are all Chinese. Why is that? All the people who are famous for teaching Trinidadian dance in Asia are Chinese women. The National Ballet Company in China, the post-Chinese revolution,

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was formed by a Trinidadian dancer. Every year, the Trinidadians get scholarships to go and teach dance in China. Nobody knows this, but this is so. When you look at anybody who does Kalinda, there are whole elements of Indian dance done intuitively. I cannot even tell you which dance it is, and most of the people here cannot even tell you, but anybody familiar with certain types of Indian dance will look at some of these stick fighters and say, “Oh, I see what you are doing.”

What is Kalinda for the street? I will give you a good example. Stories tell it the best. One of my teachers got in the fight against five guys. He was sitting on a barstool, and they pushed him. He fell backward, caught the neck of a beer bottle, broke it on the edge of the table, and cut three of them before he hit the ground. I said, “Okay, so did you study street fighting and Kalinda?” He said, “What are you talking about,” I said, “What did you do? Was that another style?”

He said, “Style? I don’t know what you mean.” And I understood what

he was telling me at that moment.

His art will express itself in every environment in a way that best matches the moment. Blade, bottle, whip, or stick, are all just expressions. They are different. It is sculpting. It might be oil, paint, watercolor, or charcoal.

I do not care if you give me something because we are primates that use tools. You give me a tool. I will use it in my art because the way I learned it expresses itself because the pedagogy is subconscious acquisition. All training occurs in that altered state.

are constructed in our magnificent humaneness to survive and protect ourselves. What I think my ancestors recognized is they had to bypass cognitive education and manipulations.

In our case, I suspect, they needed access. This style of teaching has a lot to do with bypassing those institutionalized colonial programs. They understood that our way of learning and being in our environment was so destructive to our self-esteem and self-awareness that our minds are our own worst weapons. To be a people who are in danger and enslaved.

It is a method that is very close to just the Caribbean way of teaching things: of teaching craft, mask-making, singing. It has to do with allowing people to access altered states primarily through music and through trance. In these altered states, one is encouraged to express oneself while facing stimulus. The organism will correct and defend itself accordingly. If you are in an altered state and provide exceptionally good stimulation, you will acquire the necessary connection. At the end of the day, we

What that means day in day out to your self-esteem is incredible. Our elders clung to the old methods of bypassing self to get to deepest selves to do the teaching. You have to do counter-programming for people to retain and continue to survive, thrive, and be happy. People talk about our cultural forms as resistance and retention. I am like, “No, our form is about rejuvenation, rejoicing, and rediscovery.” I remember talking to some of my elders. They were like, “You cannot try to con-

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textualize what we do by speaking about the generating of pain and suffering.” No way. The stuff we do comes from joy, comes from love, of war. It comes from that, that thing that thrums in your heart, when you hear drums beat, and somebody stands in front of you and says, “I am here to destroy you,” that laugh that comes from your belly, you want to spit in the face of destiny herself and say, “Try, try your very best,” or whatever you are going to do.

Try your very best. There is an old part in our songs: my name has been assigned to the list of death.

But the devil could refuse my body, that I am so terrible the devil refuses me. When you look at the Jab-Jab, it means King Devil.2 It is an inver2 These are masked characters for Trinidad’s Carnival. The Jab-Jab dance in front of their neighborhood floats and challenge other Jab-Jab men who lead other neighborhood floats. Armed with hemp and steel cable whips, they proceed to whip each other until one side gives way. To prepare for this extremely pain-filled dangerous duel, Jab-Jab men prepare their bodies, minds, and souls for a month or two before Carnival. Drawing on South Asian and African knowledges,

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sion of what the devil is. Our devil is our Archangel. Our devil is God. Our devil is the bringer of wisdom and knowledge: he who travels to the shadow place, to dark places to find the light.

One of the things one of my teachers called me was a Sin-Eater. We make space sacred because we eat up all the sin in the space, all the sin in the room. We can bear it; we are that set. We are willing to walk the dark path to enlightenment. It is not for everybody. We quickly find that when people transition into a trance, the trance will either kick them out of our space or let them know that they are home. It is also a faster way of evaluating a student.

If the student is unwilling to travel or transition, they are not even willing to learn. Then we do not have to waste ten years showing them anything. They will realize this space automatically is not for them. Maybe they take special herb baths and eat specially prepared foods. They pray and meditate and adorn their outfits with sacred symbols of protection.

they need to do guitar or play chess, or you know, checkers. That is your stuff. This stuff is for a specific part of humans, those who have a certain kind of wiring and who are willing to travel the roads that are not for

the weak of heart. It does not make us better than anybody else. It is the opposite way. It makes us those who must carry the load to make sure that the others can travel safely.

MJR: Can you give me a roll call of some of the great Kalinda champions or kings that you knew back in the day?

Benji: I will tell you about my teachers. I have five main teachers: King Congo Bara (Adam Cooper), King Stokely (Sean Paul), King Kali (Karl Swamba), King David (Matthew Brown), a.k.a. Acid, The Number one Stunner, and Nolan Cummings. Of my teachers, only two of them are still alive. But I speak their name in everything I do, because they are with me always here and when they are in the other place. Then we have

people like Cinecia from Kuva, King Tiger from Kuva. We have Zabuka, a.k.a. Avocado. We have the Silver Fox, Killer Whale, Mastifé, Zaya Wonga, Black Prince, Grabs, Grub, and Bump. Trinidad is famous for pejorative nicknames like Brazil, which is also something you would find very interesting. Very similar. Big Head.

Those are the kind of nicknames we have down here.

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edge that has been passed down to us. We can cross-pollinate it with many other arts. For instance, I have been working on various sounds in my musical practice that integrate the energy of the stick fight drumming and creating new works unlike any mainstream sound that one can produce today. In the martial arts, I am continuously exploring the infusion of Kalinda into the combat applications of other fighting styles, like boxing and grappling, with significant success. I am excited about the future recognition of Kalinda as an OS [Operating system]. I think it is a very good teaching tool and an even better one for personal development and self-discovery, not only as a martial artist but as an individual as a whole.

RB:

How has Kalinda impacted your music and artistry?

KT:

Kalinda allows me to explore my voice and become confident in using it to control fighters, to influence their mood and their state of mind. I’m sure you can imagine how important and impactful that would be. I am in the process of making music for the masses. To be able to create a sound that can move people and change their state of mind through song is a highly elusive skill that is not easily taught amongst the chantwelles.

Raising a storm at the edge of the blade.

Martial Arts Masters

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69

MJR: Can you talk about the role of play³ from your understanding?

3 Benji: There are two sides to the understanding. I recently ran across some dudes who talked about elite human performance and the factors that produce extreme performance.

So they name them urgency, intensity, rest, and how it programs the mind and the chemicals. Then there was this one caveat, it slipped out of him, and he said, “But then there is play.” There is humor among the most elite warriors in the world, this dark joy they take in their practice, and the chemical that it produces in the brain. A chemical or hormone pro3 The term “play” as it is used academically has a number of definitions. According to the Dutch historian, Johannes Huizinga, “Play is a free activity standing quite consciously outside “ordinary” life as being “not serious,” but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner.” (pg.13).

In Huizinga, J. (1955). Homo Ludens: A study of the Play-Element in culture. Boston: Beacon Press.

duced in the expression of joy ends up bonding the practice of hardship and accelerates the mind’s ability to acquire the data. So on one side of it, I think that the playfulness and joy is a performance hack. That is one side of it.

On the other side of it, I do not know any other way to do it. I was talking to my mother this Christmas, and she is talking about my uncle. His name was Uncle Achoy Wilson. Achoy was a very feared headbutter. My mother spoke about walking through Port d’Espagne. When the men would disagree, they would start circling, and their hands would go up like this.

They would crack heads and fight just with headbutts. She remembers watching it, and the whole crowd would be laughing. Achoy is the guy who taught me to butt.

I would be on the porch with him. I was maybe four, maybe five. He realized I was a tough boy. He pulled me aside from the rest of the family.

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He made me hit his hand. When I hit his hand, he laughed—one of those laughs that make a kid feel great.

The more I butted him, the more he would laugh, and then he would use his knuckle occasionally to correct. If I butted with the middle (forehead), he would respond with a knuckle.

But if I butted right (with the upper lateral ridge of parietal bone right above the temporal bone), he would give me an open hand. If I butted him perfectly on his chest, he would fall over and laugh. To me, my ability to fight bonded with this joy shared with older men. So, I did not even know it was fighting.

I was maybe 14 years old, and I got into a fight in school. A guy stepped too close, and I just cracked him, knocked him up, boom! The whole crew went off, and everybody said, “Benji, how did you learn to do that?”

I did not even remember because I did not know that I had learned it.

When I butted him, I was laughing.

Then the whole crowd was laughing.

And then my mother told me of her time growing up. She would see men

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fight over her mother. Two men in the village: they formed a circle, and they would butt. It is just that the experience of it does not even feel like it is a hack. It does not feel like it is anything. It is just what we do.

My uncle had his teaching parts because it requires some environmental context, the community, and the way the community engages with you, which helps you see. What I am doing brings pleasure. When I do it, it brings valor, and the community lifts me up by their joy, their joy in seeing me express myself in a way that is hard to gather.

Play is technology, but it is something else. It is something felt, something that you smell, something in the kitchen on Christmas Day. It is something where, when you visit all your old uncles, they take joy and pride in looking at you to be a stalwart, a little one. So my son is the same thing now. He just smashes me, and we will be throwing elbows and headbutts and knees. He is laughing, and I am laughing. So his whole experience of contact with martial arts of violence

is for him just this huge game that is the funniest in the world. When he engages in a real fight, his brain is not wired to see it as a moment of fear but to find joy at that moment.

I did not do it on purpose. I just did what others did with me. If you look at Rickson Gracie and their family, look at them with kids. That is how they teach the kids. There is minimal correction and very little instruction.

If you look at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s best guys, they learn by playing; they learn by doing. It is part of an epistemology. It is part of how we gather knowledge. It is like a gift that bypasses general psychological biases, fear, and self-preservation because I am not in any of those modes. It is this whole next mode, outside of the normal function.

Serotonin is coursing through my brain. It is addictive. It is like being jacked up on joy juice. The more I do it, the happier I get, and the

happier I get, the more pain I can take. There is this whole part of play that is misunderstood. I am not even talking about the victory in our ritualized play. When I read that stuff, it feels devoid of the feeling that play brings. That belly laugh that as soon as I punch in your face, we will hug up because I am so happy I punched you, and you are so happy that I punched you. It is hard to explain to people who are not exposed to combat in that way. For Western minds, it is complicated. For Asian minds, they struggle with it because combat becomes a serious ritual, and you tricking me in the middle of the game is considered an insult. It is very complicated. It is not stripped down and naked in a certain way, and just primal like six monkeys and a barrel, just everything goes. It is something that needs more exploration and more thought.

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MJR: What are the roles of orishas, or saints, and blood in Kalinda?

Benji: Ifá or Xango4 practice does not govern Kalinda. That is West Africa and was one of the main problems I struggled with. Even if you look at Brazilian Capoeira practice, you must understand that freed or indentured West Africans came into the Caribbean and Brazil in the 1850s. They came as free-laborers.

They did not come as slaves. Because of that, they came culturally intact. Because they came culturally intact, they took positions of control in culture. The word “Candomblé”5 is a Bantu word meaning “house of initiation.” Yet now, in Candomblé houses, they practice Ifá.

4 Ifá and Xango are part of Yoruba religious practices that were carried to the New World.

5 Candomblé is an African diasporic religion emerging in Brazil during the 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between the traditional religions of West Africa and the Roman Catholic form of Christianity. There is no central authority in control of Candomblé, which is organised through autonomous groups.

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That was the late intellectual colonization of the Caribbean space. That was a Bantu Angolan space that became West African very late. So when you talk to old stick fighters, they say, “That doesn’t govern here.”

Orixá6 is a child of Kalinda, but the energies that govern Kalinda are far older. In a Caribbean sense, Palo7 practice would be closer to what you know. Some Santería practices are closer to Kalinda. The reason is why? Because the Congo Angolans became Catholic in 1400. Because the symbol of the Congo Bantu peo6 From the Yoruba spiritual traditions, Orixás act as intermediaries between humans and the supreme being, Olodumare, who rules over all. Every living being and natural phenomenon was created by Olodumare, and is therefore infused with his sacred energy, known as axe (ashay), or life-force. Because his powers and responsibilities are so vast, Olodumare does not involve himself directly in human affairs. Legend maintains that for this purpose he created the orixás. Each orixá embodies an aspect of Olodumare’s creative power in personalized form, representing both natural phenomena and human qualities.

7 Palo and Santería are African diasporic religions that developed in Cuba.

ple was a cross, and there were sun worshipers, resurrection and death, all of those ideas. In the whole of the Americas, among Afro Caribbeans and Afro Americans, the idea of Christianity is very Congo, very Angolan, very Bantu. Our beliefs hide in

our christian practices, or what you would call hoodoo, or roots magic, or wanga, or obeah8 practices rather than Ifá practice. That may be useful to you. We practice something older that looks different than what people would call orixá practice.

MJR: Can you explain a little bit to me why the Cuban Palo dance is important?

Benji: Have you heard of Manikongo, Manikongo was the royal military bodyguard sacred dance. Because each cult in Africa, each fraternity had sacred dances. When you look at the money dance,9 or warrior dances from warrior fraternities and the relationship arising between embodiment through dance and music: you cannot dance that dance unless 8 Obeah and Wanga are spiritual practices from Haiti and the West Indies. These spiritual practices are traced back to the Fon people of present-day Benin.

9 The money dance takes place among the Yoruba people at weddings. During a money dance, male guests pay to dance briefly with the bride, and sometimes female guests pay to dance with the groom.

you become embodied. It is a way of testing if you are in a trance. Then it becomes our way of teaching you in a trance and teaching you how to get into a trance. What katas became to the Japanese, dance has always been to the African. It is the first corporeal language, and everything is taught through aspects of that. The primary method is teaching embodiment. It is also a way to verify trance and to measure instruction while in a trance duly. It is like what you would call mobility training; or what you would call rhythm and timing training, perception training: all of that can occur without weaponizing. When you weaponize, you cre-

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ate stress, and stress diminishes performance. You can also hide critical, highly complex maneuvers inside the dance that allow transmission without cognition: learn the dance. Then I will show you how to use the dance later on. Because Africans love to dance, they dance every day, so you get reps, but you do not want to walk around with this killer mindset.

Again, that is probably a different culture. Warriors then on the continent were always half warrior, half hunter, half village thief. They were not reading the letter. They did not have these warrior cults who are warriors full-time all the time. Even the Leopard Society10 would meet outside of agrarian time.

MJR: How about the role of blood? I know the gayelle has a blood hole in the center of the ring. Is that correct?

Benji: Always. Let us think of blood as the primary mechanism for the transport of primordial creative energy. The blood is the pathway of ch’i—a bad analogy but close enough.

10 The Leopard Society was a secret society active in the early to mid-20th century and operated in todays’ Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria. Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travelers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards’ claws and teeth. The victims’ flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the secret society. According to their beliefs, the ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the secret society as well as their entire tribe.

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Blood is that which carries the ntu, or the primordial energy. Blood is high sacrifice. It is the giving of the life force itself to sanctify the space. In all cultures, blood sacrifices are the highest form of appeasing the gods.

In Christianity, Jesus gave his blood.

In Passover, the Jews use blood, and in Islamic sacrifice for the firstborn child Qurbani they slaughter a ram: blood. All Abrahamic traditions recognize that sacrifice is the highest form. No different. It is the juice that makes everything run.

MJR: Have there been many changes in the Bois Academy in the way you teach Kalinda?

Benji: Not really; we have been faithful. We play a lot. We talk a lot. We dance a lot. We sing a lot. The only thing that may be different is that we are pushing for people also to become. The particular problem in our region, the Caribbean, is that it has damaged historical transmission like any colonized place. Our stories are unclear and confused. There is lying.

One of the big lies, for example, is in India. I was reading an article about the caste system recently. It is a mod-

ern lie. Modern Europeans continue to inject many lies into our history.

Our job is to strip away the lies and speak the truth. Build our culture on its truth rather than the lies and an interpretation through the European lens. Some of the best Anthropologists in the Caribbean are writing a pack of lies. We need to stop it. We need to say, “No, that is not us, that is not our culture, that is not how we see ourselves, that is not who we are,” and move on from there.

MJR: Can you tell us more about the wisdom school?

Benji: We just bring in elders to speak to us. Our history is transmitted orally through the generations. We find all the elders and old masters and bring them in. We let the students ask questions because, in our transmission structure, the teacher will only teach if the student asks the question. But what happened in the 1950s and 1960s with the advent of

modernism is that kids started feeling like they did not have to ask and should just be taught. We have had to teach our students how to ask and then bring the elders back so that the kids can ask them. We have to form elders again and form teachers to form children then. It is beneficial in putting our culture back together again.

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Ronald is my elder.11 If I bring one of my students around Ronald, I have to teach them how to talk to Ronald.

If they do not know how to speak to Ronald, they will try Instagram, Facebook, and Google: they think, “If I type it, I should get the answer.”

And you are like, “Yo, it doesn’t work that way.” Let us sit at someone’s feet. You have to live to serve. You have to learn to be respectful of what they believe. You walk into a Hindu home, your shoes are on, and you have a piece of steak in your hand. You are like, “Well, I’m paying you money.” So because I am paying you money, you should teach me.

And you are done. Before you ever started, you finished.

You walk into an orisha yard, and you do not pay obeisance to the stool, then nobody is going to talk to you. But these kids do not know.

They think education is a process 11 Ronald Alfred is the last King of the JabJab whip-men of his lineage on the island of Tobago. He currently has a school where he is passing along his encyclopedic knowledge of many aspects of traditional Trinidadian culture to the younger generation

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that is their birthright. To save them, we have to teach them how to ask and then bring the elders back.

Then document all of this. Because what we ask them to do is form a generation of elders. Once we have the elders formed, then we can proceed again. You see many people who tried to form the kid, but this will not work because the kids will be growing up, and they have nobody to go and ask questions. So we have to do it both ways. You have to form juniors and then form seniors from those who bridge the gap. Our organization operates through and through in alignment with the principles that we believe in.

We have nine yards. It is in the yard where we learn our ideas of competencies as a place of gathering. We have the wisdom school, the performance, and the theatre arts because our culture is very performative. There are also the combat arts and medicinal healing schools with herbs and plants and a bushcraft or survival school. We have our archiving yard, where we gather and

pass on our stories, an ancient and traditional practice. Then we have a yard that focuses on adapting Kalinda to modern times. It is a future yard where we work with film, animation, the Internet, and Instagram.

We have to master those skills too. It is not enough to master the old skills.

Once we master technology, we also have to master teaching itself. So we have a yard inside our yard called

the Academy yard where anybody who can enter academies is encouraged to enter and pull their own research documents. We go to Western Guyana, go to all these old libraries, pull down information, strip it down, and access it. Finally, we have the yard that is the most ancestral knowledge. Westerners might call it a magic yard. But that is a story for another day.

MJR: What aspects of Kalinda will belong to the future in 20-30 years?

Benji: All of it. We have to remember the Caribbean is uniquely going through what the world is now going through. We have been going through that for a long time. A lot of our forms are already accepted.

We have already become more modern in many ways. We are already hybridized. If we can survive slavery, COVID is a joke. COVID is not worse than slavery. That is what my old teacher Congo Berra said. He just laughed, he said, “150 years ago, we were in chains. What’s COVID?

COVID doesn’t have us in chains.”

He said, “This shit is easy, Benji.” I got his point. It is not the same, and the world is changing. But we have a form that is built to change, built to adapt.

I used to term Afro Caribbean identity as plastic, but it is not plastic.

That is a lame technological word. It is more mercurial. It has no external form; it explores and adapts. If you look at African dance in the New World, the tango is an Afro dance, and the samba is an Afro dance, ca-

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lypso is African dance, hip-hop is African dance, salsa is African dance, bomba is African. They are all the same, and they all come from the same root culture. They are all very Central African. You can tell by the name tango, samba, bongo, bomba.

They are all from the same group.

They do not look alike, though. That is because wherever they are, they absorb whatever is useful from the culture that they are in. It modifies, twists and turns, becoming something new. If you look at the musical forms in the New World and the musical form that dominates modern culture, which is all this r&b, soul, hip-hop, they all have the same root.

But their expression is different. Because it reflects the nature and experiences of those who create and those who listen, they adapt wherever they go.

I am not worried about Kalinda. Kalinda may be dance, it may be poetry, it may be visual art. There may be software built on Kalinda’s ideal, like accessing trance, it may inject itself into AI, it may turn itself

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into a whole style of Caribbean authorship and literature. It is already there. It is a way of life because it is a philosophy and not just a physical form. It will express itself wherever people express themselves. We have clear examples of that. If you look at the original jazz, you are going to see the word Kalinda there. Jazz is a child of Kalinda. In our spaces, we have many mothers. One child can have many mothers. India, Africa, and China are all mothers of this one child. Nobody gets to own the child. The child is available to access all the knowledge of all of its mothers. When somebody asks me what I am, I cannot say I am an African. I grew up more Indo than African because of the schools I went to and the people I have been around. I am not African or Indian.12 I am not Trinidadian, and I am not any of those single things. I grew up in Wisconsin, too. I like string cheese and yogurt.

Nobody likes strawberries more than me. I am one of the only black dudes I know that just loves cool weather.

12

Benji means South Asian.

You put me in snow up to my nose, and I am like a pig in the mud. So it will be fine. It will find a way to express itself constantly everywhere it goes. I think you all are familiar with Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces. I like to call what I do the Martial Art With A Thousand Faces.

Rope-Jab and Kalinda are the same thing, just different faces. It is the same art with different faces. 30% of Kalinda movements come from India. I am sure about it. I know people who have an understanding that it is Lathi.13 It is dripping with Lathi. It is like the main rhythm we use when we are fighting. All of the African drummers call it the Tassa Han. Tassa is an Indian drumming style. If you look at any good art, you will have flexible weapons, hard weapons, and projectile weapons. You are going to have an empty-hand; you are going to have some form of wrestling.

Rope-Jab is just the flexible weapon version of Kalinda.

13 Lathi refers to different forms of stickfighting from Northern India, done with a five-foot bamboo stick.

I do not see them as different arts but as part of the Kalinda suite of arts. Gilpin, Rope-Jab, stick fighting are all the same form. They take different expressions; they have other influences, they have a different flavor. The costume is almost the same; the songs, the same; a lot of the esoteric practices, the same; the movement complexes, the same. Let us say myself, or someone else is fighting Mahipal. He does some weird Aiki-Kai, crazy ninja stuff, and looks good. We like it. Guess what, it is now going to be in Kalinda. We do not care. Once it works, it is in. If it does not work, guess what, it is out. That is all. Two arms, two legs, ahead; we want to live; this is the driver. There is ritualistic stuff, there is preferential stuff, and finally, there is cultural retention stuff. But at its very core, it is much simpler than that. I think we are lucky that our forms have not become formalized in the 1960s and 1980s. There was this time when martial arts all became homogenous and very rigid. We did not fall into that trap then. We understand what

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that does to an art. So we are not going to do that. We are going to resist every urge to formalize.

There is a guy, for example, in San Francisco who says he is doing Kalinda. I can never say he is not doing it because Kalinda does not work like that. All I can say is he is not doing the Kalinda that I know. That is all I can say. There is no one way to do our art. What we do know is: he will lose. He will die, so to speak. But that is okay. Because he will come, he will get his ass kicked, go and practice, and get better. Then he will fix himself. That is all, all our arts are very easy. You can go into any Capoeira roda14 with no teacher and play.

14 A roda in Portuguese-speaking Brazil is like the gayelle in Trinidad, an informal space to play Capoeira.

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Nobody is going to stop you from playing. You are going to get your butt kicked. If you go and practice, and you come back, and you get a little bit better, everybody is going to say, “Yeah, you got better.” Nobody cares if you have a fifth-dan or a tenth-dan; we do not care. Can you play, or cannot you play? There are other ways to learn; there are easier ways. Let us get down to the root of it. How does an art form? It forms by you in competition with your enemy, and your enemy forms it. If you win, you keep doing what works, and if you lose, you have to modify. That is it.

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MJR: How did you come to the Barbados expedition? How did it come about, and why did you want to come to Barbados?

Benji: I wanted to meet Philip Forde.

That is all. I knew the Sticklickers in Barbados are critical. We just knew of each other, but we never physically met. I love Sticklicking. It is like Kalinda with one hand. We play with two hands, and they play with one hand.

It is a little bit too European for me.

They were enslaved for a much longer time. 200 years longer. They have lost their music, culture, and magic, but at the same time, they held so much. That is what impressed me the most. Remember that slavery in Barbados took shape on a flat island: no forests, no maroons, no cockpit country, and an extreme form of British dominance. The British were some of the most vicious holders of slaves. A lot of Southern American tactics in buck-breaking came from Barbados.

I am impressed at how much they kept and how much they still knew, even though I felt sad at how much they lost. That is one of the things

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we hope to do in our connection to Philip. Give them back more.

We have always wrestled here. We have always wrestled and kicked. Kick, butt, wrestle; continuously throughout the Caribbean. The only thing that was not popular was punching. Slapping, yes, but there is not even much of that. We butt, we kick, and we wrestle. That is how I know if somebody is saying they are doing African combatives. If you are punching, then I am not as comfortable. West Africans punch. Even then, they tie their hand up with rope. Even then, they knew the human hand did not evolve to hit things hard. The hand does sacred things to us. The hands are used to heal, not to hit. That is why even in Capoeira, you can do a galopante,15 you can slap, but it is frowned upon. It is profoundly disconnected from the spiritual side of 15 An open-handed slap delivered much like the western hook.

the practice. The hands are to heal; the feet are to fight.

One of the keys to all our forms is, there must be aesthetic beauty. You are victorious when you are more beautiful. Not when you are more functional. People say, “Ah, those guys are flashy.” They have to understand that in African combative tradition, your ability to be flashy under pressure demonstrates superi-

or skill. When you see Muhammad Ali doing the shuffle with his hands down, he shows that his skill is so high that he does not even have to do what you are doing, and he can still beat you. But people think it is about being cocky. Again, the Western understanding of aesthetics and the African understanding is just so different. It is not about being cocky.

It is about showing beauty.

MJR: What did you think about the multiple styles among the expedition members?

Benji: T.J. is amazing. There are three things about T.J. that are unique.

He is a scholar who is not afraid of bringing traditional African divination and spiritual practices into the research world. I knew that many academics frowned upon it, but he blew my mind in that he valued traditional rituals as much as he did academic rigor. That was the big lesson from T.J. He, myself, and Dr. Philip Forde recognized intuitively that the Bajan

Sticklicking and Colombian Grima probably have a shared root and that the Kalinda was slightly different. Yet, at the same time, the body english and the movement complex were all shared.

My suspicion is that Spanish and English fencing influenced the form.

That is the theory: you absorb whatever is useful, which is critical for all the African diaspora. If you see something that is looking good, that

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works. I am not one of those purists who believe in looking back and just holding on to things the way they were just because they were. No, we all survived, and people who survive do whatever they have to. The shared roots are inspiring. I did not have any proof that Gilpin was a system.

It was taught to me, and I was told it was real, but who knows. But Mestre Niguel was one of T.J.’s teachers who saw videos of the Gilpin, and he was able to tell us, you are doing this.

Then he sent back a video of exactly what we were doing. He could tell us the mechanics, which means then the Grima and the Gilpin are connected even if not by direct tutelage.

Mahipal has been extremely influential in reigniting among us, the Caribbean practitioners, a desire to study our forms and our way with a little more rigor. I have to admit, Mahipal is probably the reason why I went back to school. It is not any single person; the trip made me go back to school. But Mahipal, in particular, was influential because of his ability to code-switch between

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academia, spiritual, martial. I admire that. I admired his sacrifice. I have been the one who carried Kalinda for 15 years on my own, out of my own pocket. I will never be a rich man, and I am much poorer for it. But I am also much richer for it.

When you are low, and you feel like you are crazy, you feel like you are wasting your life until you see other crazy people wasting their lives.

Then at least you know we are going to go down in this boat burning and screaming, but there will be others with me. His confidence, his organization, I admire those the most.

Suppose he asked me what I took from him. My style of Kalinda is called the efis style. The guy who is my main teacher, they call it efisté. If I had to steal something from Mahipal, it would be his mind. Not the intellectual capacities; he is a smarter dude than I am, but the way his mind works. I admire that the most. He is a thief. He sits behind, and he learns from everybody. He does not show what he knows. Mahipal and I, we both know. We have conversations in

person when nobody is around. That is how you learn from a thief. You cannot get them out in public, or it is not going to work. As an Indo-African, I also smell an Indian martial artist who is exposed to continental Africa. Mahipal is the same as me.

He is actually like an Afro-Indian.

He would not probably say it that way. But he knows about continental Indian, continental African ways in a way that very few people do. He is a very weird hybrid. So he is like a Caribbean person who did not grow up in the Caribbean. His pattern is very similar. So in terms of food and some of the things he says and how he would hold his body. It is like I was with one of my best friends from school.

Mahipal’s mind is very familiar to me. I cannot explain why but I feel a filial kind of bond. It means a lot.

In comparison, T.J. and yourself are American. It is not an insult; I am less familiar with American energy.

There is a certain bravado, or, like with T.J., his level of occulting himself is so high that it does not feel quite

Caribbean. We are a more open people. I lived in Mexico for four or five months. You (Michael Ryan) have a smell of, not even a Mexican; it is like an indigenous smell. But it is on another layer of Americanness. Because I grew up in Wisconsin, I am familiar with it. But there is something about it that does rub me the wrong way sometimes. For example, an Americanism would be: you would be in a very serious moment, and an American would crack a joke to take the tension out of the moment. I do not necessarily see the need to take the tension out of the moment. It is okay if the moment will be tense sometimes. So those are the ways in which I connected to each one of you. I got from you, Michael, that it is possible to be smart and be down to earth, be a warrior, and be a scholar. You are the living embodiment of that. I suspect T.J. is like that too. But there is no proof. He is just like a ghost.

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MJR: I am really interested in that play between Keegan and Mahipal with the cutlasses. Do you remember that?

Benji: Yes. I was worried about the game. Keegan is my little brother. He goes into a certain state, and I did not know where it would lead Mahipal to go because I sense Mahipal also has that same access. When those old spirits meet, sparks can fly.

I was not worried about the outcome.

Because you know, we do not care: whatever happens, happens. But certain kinds of energy, certain ancient spirits when they meet, it is tough to untangle after. Keegan was at a point where he was drawing from a very injured and dark place. Not bad or good. I just did not know what it would trigger in Mahipal. Because Keegan is younger, he had less control over it. Mahipal was fighting for the whole time in Barbados not to open particular doors. You could see it. He was trying to keep Satan, as we would say, certain zombies out of the space. It was just that I was just

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worried. Once they started, they were fine. But Mahipal was doing a thief thing. Keegan did not see that Mahipal was stealing. When somebody is stealing your moves and using your moves back on you, it is cool. But it is dangerous. Because once you get into the pattern of them reflecting, you are fighting yourself, and then they just inject an idea from outside of the mirror. It shatters the glass.

That is what I was seeing. I was like, “He’s stealing, he’s stealing, he’s stealing, don’t let him steal that.”

Have to make him pay for stealing, and I do not think he saw what Mahipal was doing. That is an old fox.

What he started doing was reflecting. That is banditry.

Kalinda is love. We have a lot of stuff coming. I am excited about the future. Walk good.

KEEGAN TAYLOR Carrying the Traditions into the Future

By Rondel Benjamin

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Hearing the call of the warrior path as a young teenager, Keegan plunged headlong into this journey first studying Aiki-Jitsu, Shotokan Karate, and Simba-Ryu. After a number of years of study, Kegan turned to the grappling arts of Judo, Systema, and BJJ. Continuing to heed the call of the warrior, Keegan continued to study Kali, Escrima, Muay-Thai, and Scott Sonnon’s body-flow project to expand and deepen his understanding of combat. Much like the African warrior/griot of old, Keegan also continued to explore his love of music, looking backwards to the rhythms of Africa and African diasporic musical expressions of resistance, but also forward, blending these traditional rhythmic ideas with the emerging musical ideas coming out of the creative impulses of young Caribbean musicians today.

After discovering Kalinda, Keegan began an intensive apprenticeship under the master practitioner Rondel Benjamin, eventually becoming his senior student. Kalinda is a stick fighting art form that is native to Trinidad and Tobago. In essence, it is a blood sport fought between two opponents each wielding four-foot hardwood staffs in an effort to strike the opponent about the body with the purpose of drawing first blood. Keegan quickly became enthralled by the very essence of the game. The combination of music and combat with just enough pain proved to be addictive. Keegan has since become an avid student of Kalinda, embracing all its customs, traditions and practices. He continues to train in Judo and Jiu Jitsu, with elements of striking from the Defence Lab syllabus alongside Kalinda.

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First Steps

Rondel Benjamin: What got you interested in Kalinda, and why do you still play the game?

Kegan Taylor: I found Kalinda, I like to think, but I know the truth.

Kalinda actually found me. I am an artist in that I write and produce music, so that artistic energy is always upon me. However, the warrior spirit resides in me too, and I have always been seeking a way to feed these two wolves inside me without giving favor to one over the other.

[Laughs].

Many years ago, on my way to perform at a show, I heard the sound of the African drums thundering into the night. Abandoning my initial quest, I was captivated by the spectacle of a stick fighting competition. Seeing the men compete so

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gallantly with their wooden “sabers,” fighting to the beat of drums and the chorus of the singers chanting in their old Afro-Caribbean melodies, that was enough to convert me to the tradition of Kalinda I now belong.

Truth be told, had it not been for the enigmatic and charismatic teachers I learned from, I am not sure that I would still be with the art today.

The way these instructors live and practice is so unlike the ways of other traditional teachers. Their relaxed everyday manner seemed to fit my own artistry and allowed me to learn from them more easily. I was able to assimilate their teachings mainly because it was like second nature to me, almost like breathing. More importantly, I enjoyed every moment of it, including the pain.

Finding One’s Stride

RB: Do you find Kalinda to be an effective martial art? Is it a combat form you have found to be useful in the modern world of Functional Martial Combatives?

KT: As a matter of fact, I do. I consider Kalinda to be an operating system that once infused into one’s body, informs the practitioner’s movements, strategy, tactics and execution across all martial platforms.

It teaches rhythm, timing and even mindset. It allows fighters to out-wit, out-last, and defeat any opponent.

Once he or she is able to assimilate the teachings and apply the philosophy of the art, it is less about the stick you wield and more about understanding your own movement and body. It took me a very long time to understand this concept but

as I have grown and explored the art form over time, I can now see how much Kalinda has transformed me into the fighter I am today.

For instance, in my Judo practice, I have found that when I apply my Kalinda footwork, it opens up my throws much more then when I try to suppress it or leave it out completely. I have even seen and heard of the same thing happening with other Kalinda players who practice other fighting arts, so I am very confident in its power as a combat system.

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Moving into the Future and Reality RB: Where do Violence youKalinda see Kalinda in RB: is a very violent game. It has resulted in the loss of life and limb. What the near or even distant makes you play itfuture? after knowing all this?

KT:

As a martial artist, I have always wanted

to test my strength, my skill, my ability in KT: Kalinda, for me, is a treasure the most real way that I could, amongst skilled and dangerous men. Call it foolish trove of opportunity, resources andwho if you will, but I think many fighters train for self-defense have always wanted ancient knowledgeto know that has how their skills been match up on the streets. And while stick fighting is less chaotic than the passed down to us. more Weorganized canandcross-polstreets, in some ways the emotional, psyphysical impact can outlinate it with many chological otherandarts.

For inweigh real life challenges. Having gone in the gayelles [competition spacstance, I have beentoes] war working on varfor so many years has changed me into a more well-rounded and capable warrior ious sounds in my than musical practice I would’ve ever dreamed possible.

The rituals and preparations have seeped into my everyday and, as I continue that integrate the energy oflifethe stick its practice, I know that it continues to feed my development as a warrior. fight drumming and creating new RB: This unique blend of Kalinda and music is quite intriguing. Where can we find works unlike any mainstream sound your continuing works on marital arts and music? that one can produce today. In the KT: The research is on-going at the moment, we will make the music and even the martial arts, I ambut continuously extraining methods public as soon as we have tested and troubleshot the mechanploring the infusionics ofof Kalinda the martial arts aspect. into We should begin releasing our findings in the combat arena within the year and, as the combat applications ofcomingother it relates to the music, log on to Tenartto hearand some ofgrapour new confighting styles, like istry.com boxing cepts. I can be reached at k33gantaylor@ gmail.com, or simply refer to the Bois pling, with significant success. I am Academy of Trinidad and Tobago for further details. excited about the future recognition Keegan, the Lion of Trinadad.

Keegan, the Lion of Trinadad. © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED of Kalinda as an OS [operating system]. I think it is a very good teaching tool and an even better one for personal development and self-discovery, not only as a martial artist Martial Arts Masters but as an individual as a whole.

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RB: How has Kalinda impacted your music and artistry?

KT: Kalinda allows me to explore my voice and become confident in using it to control fighters, to influence their mood and their state of mind. I’m sure you can imagine how important and impactful that would be. I am in the process of making music for the masses. To be able to create a sound that can move people and change their state of mind through song is a highly elusive skill that is not easily taught amongst the chantwelles.

Chantwelles are the singers that guide the fighters in the ring accompanied by the drummers. I have been around these men studying their skills. I have also been infused with the power of the drum. Just being around it and playing it, learning its language, has done things to me I still cannot explain. It affects the way I see and hear music now. I guess it is up to the people to decide if they like what it has produced. So far, the feedback has been very encouraging and positive. So now it is for me to apply my own creativity to the existing structure and see how it feeds into my creative process.

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Violence and Reality

RB: Kalinda is a very violent game.

It has resulted in the loss of life and limb. What makes you play it after knowing all this?

KT: As a martial artist, I have always wanted to test my strength, my skill, my ability in the most real way that I could, amongst skilled and dangerous men. Call it foolish if you will, but I think many fighters who train for self-defense have always wanted to know how their skills match up on the streets. And while stick fighting is more organized and less chaotic than the streets, in some ways the emotional, psychological and physical impact can outweigh real life challenges. Having gone to war in the gayelles [competition spaces] for so many years has changed me into a more well-rounded and capable warrior than I would’ve ever dreamed possible. The rituals and preparations have seeped into my

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everyday life and, as I continue its practice, I know that it continues to feed my development as a warrior.

RB: This unique blend of Kalinda and music is quite intriguing.

Where can we find your continuing works on marital arts and music?

KT: The research is on-going at the moment, but we will make the music and even the training methods public as soon as we have tested and troubleshot the mechanics of the martial arts aspect. We should begin releasing our findings in the combat arena within the coming year and, as it relates to the music, log on to Tenartistry.com to hear some of our new concepts.

I can be reached at k33gantaylor@ gmail.com, or simply refer to the Bois Academy of Trinidad and Tobago for further details.

aaRRyInG C RtICLE tItLE tHE tRaDItIons

Keegan, Chantwell an First Steps

RB: What still play the ga

KT: I foun Kalinda actuall produce music, ever, the warri been seeking a giving favor to

Many years ag the sound of t Abandoning m tacle of a stick so gallantly wi of drums and t Afro-Caribbean the tradition o not been for th from, I am not

Keegan & Lunia conversing with live blades.

The way these ways of other manner seemed from them mor mainly because breathing. Mor including the p

Finding Ones Stride RB:

Do you find Kalinda to be an effe found to be useful in the modern

KT:

As a matter of fact, I do. I consid infused into one’s body, informs and execution across all martial KEEGAN TAYLOR | 183

It teaches rhythm, timing and e last and defeat any opponent. On

Post-Script

KEEGAN : TR AILBL A ZING FOR THE NE X T GENER ATION

Looking in the rear-view mirror as he is barreling forward, Keegan is among the generation of upcoming stalwarts: those who have attained a certain level and then testing their skills, heart, and mind against all who would stand their ground and permit him the pleasure of a match. Far from just seeing himself as a martial artist, Keegan reflects upon his time in Barbados, playing Capoeira, crossing sticks, fencing with cutlasses, and facing off with a stick versus a whip. Then with the same open hearted and joyous energy, Keegan turns his eyes forward and delves into other topics. We talk about how to reconcile archaic combative traditions with emerging technologies, producing music and videos, and last but not least, coming to understand the role of fatherhood in raising children in these uncertain times.

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Michael J. Ryan: What were you expecting when you decided to go on this trip with us?

Keegan: It is a long time to remember what the feelings and the thoughts were. But I can tell you it could not have been what we expected. First of all, doing something important for your martial art is one of the key drivers for me, at that time and even now. It felt like like-minded people had come together to deliberate, talk about martial arts, test it, and be honest. It was a dream come true. I am not just saying that.

Coming up, you always wanted to explore the philosophical aspect of what you do and the whole idea of warriorhood, the directions it could come from on a global scale. What does this person from this place or that think? What is this person from Africa or India thinking? When you reach a particular place in your martial arts, you start recognizing that it is not just about belts. Some people

go down the route of belts: this is how I see myself; I am a Sensei now, a black belt.

Then some people chase a different direction, and it is just two different types of the way. Coming together in that melting pot, I knew that it was exciting. I knew that it was not something I was expecting regarding the kinds of thoughts we were getting.

Most importantly, like with all trips, it is about how you feel when you just got there, and then on the last day or night when everybody is having a beer together; that kind of completion in a circle. I remember meeting Mahipal in the car park of a food place. At the end of the day, all of you became different human beings to me. No matter what I was thinking, the expectation was surpassed.

Post-Script: KEEGAN TAYLOR | 187

MJR: One thing I noticed is that you wanted to test all of us. Is that fair to say?

Keegan: Coming to know myself a little better now, I think it was because you let a puppy run around in a space where it can enjoy itself. It is like I was a kid, an exuberant kid meeting other kids after lockdown. It is that kind of energy, more than let me test your style against my style.

It was more like, “Hey, these guys do not have a problem with playing with knives. Wait, these guys like to hit with sticks? I get to just do that at any point in time? We have seven days to do this? Okay!” It was more like that. Especially you, Michael, you are down for anything. That is why I used to ask you about your trips, and I was always interested in that different level James Bond life just touring all over the world. Everybody on this trip was just great.

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I have a video of when I played stick fight versus whip with Ronald. I post that from time to time. I get my ass handed to me, and people ask, “Why are you posting that?” I reply, “You all do not understand: that is my joy.” I am not posting that to get likes. It would be nice if everyone understood what they saw. A lot of the things that we did with you all are things that we had always discussed.

We would always be trying to make connections with stories that we heard from our teachers about when stick fighters would fight with good fighters, for real. We did something that nobody had ever done before.

We were able to test to see you stick fight. We know things about our arts and the arts you all brought that I know no one else knows, because of what we did.

MJR: Do you remember that game with cutlasses you and Mahipal had?

What can you tell me about it? What did you bring away from it?

Keegan: I find that technology helps us to remember very well. I have posted that video recently too. I remember it; of course, I do. The thing about that fight that impacts me the most is Mahipal. That is where we met each other, or I met a different side of him. It was more about him and I and the blades work. I literally mean that. What I remember about the fight itself, or how it felt, it felt more like Capoeira. It felt like how Capoeira feels in terms of a conversation with combat movement. I could cut you, and you could cut me, I could hit you, and you could hit me.

It is not like a dance where you are saying something like, “I am dancing

with you, and you are dancing with me.” In a fight, it is a danger for danger, but this is how warriors talk. Our warrior spirits were in an exchange because I think the day before that, he was showing me some things, he was instructing me. In this case, I was able to show him a side of myself that did not need instruction, that I was able to be something to him.

That is how it felt to me. He was seeing things that I was doing that he had not seen before. I was also doing things there that I had not done before. I was discovering things too.

That is why I am where I am in my journey now. I understand that at that point, a becoming had begun.

Post-Script: KEEGAN TAYLOR | 189

MJR: Why did it feel like I was hearing music whenever I watched you and Benji play with sticks or cutlasses? What is going on with your music career?

Keegan: The first question of how come you are hearing music is because there is music. Count yourself lucky to be able to hear it. So that is the answer to the first question.

You train to the music so that you move to the music even when it is not there. You will end up speeding up that music, slowing down in your head based on the situation, either consciously or subconsciously. There is always music. As Trinidadians, we also have our thing, our swing when we do things. Maybe because you have traveled so much, your brain knows how to read swings as a survival mechanism. That is how you are able to learn these different cultural swings. As a man coming from one place, your brain is attuned to swing. We have a swing signature if you want to say. What you are hearing is what you are actually seeing and reading in it. You could tell that there is music to this because there is

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a pattern that your brain recognizes as something that can be synced to music. You are seeing a coordinated dance. If I show you a waltz without the music, you will know that that is a waltz, but you also know that there is music. I think that is an explanation for that.

What is going on with my music career? It is growing because I am changing my music energies. I was pushing it towards others. I would create work for others to benefit.

Now I am turning that energy back onto myself. I am doing more of my music. I am now doing more film and more videography, so the whole thing is becoming a bigger story. We are telling different stories now. One of the key things that I am trying to do is represent martial art in film.

We have a couple of martial-art-focused short films coming out. With more attention to detail and quality than dare, I say we would expect to

see from a small Caribbean country.

I am trying to brand Caribbean action martial arts.

We have a gritty look. I was keeping this quiet until I had something to show you guys and just drop it in the group. To say, “Guys, this is what we are doing.” It is an exciting thing, actually. The whole idea is that the films themselves have allowed me to represent my martial arts in a significant way. Do you know the comic book, Old Man Logan? You reached a stage in your martial arts where you feel confident, but your body is not what it used to be. You are slower, but you are stronger. Back then, I thought I could kick somebody’s ass, man, I was joking. I could really kick somebody’s ass now. What was I thinking five years ago or two years ago last week? At the same time, they say your mind is going if you do not keep up with your body. I have

always wanted to tell stories with my martial arts across the decades because I am still an artist. People might know my art as a musician, but as an artist, I am also a martial artist. Everything I have done for the last 20 or 30 years about martial arts has been a story and a telling, if you will. Now I have reached a different stage of that telling. So now this telling is in film.

Looking at Immersion Labs and the kind of stuff that you guys do with the type of networks you all have, we have a real shot at creating something within the fight circuit. I am just thinking off the top of my head.

I am not even marketing to you guys.

I am very open with my conversation sometimes. The first film, we just completed. The different styles I practice, I tried to organize the fight choreography to share that. The guys I am working with have a goal

Post-Script: KEEGAN TAYLOR | 191

to be organized and registered. The movies are not about movies. I think of them like a peach, where the core is really the fight scene. You should be able to break this down and see exactly what we are doing. You can rewind as a fight professional and look at it. To say, “Okay, that was well executed.” But then you have a story around it. The story is Caribbean. When you look at it, you feel immersed in the Caribbean setting.

The closest thing you could see to it in terms of the fight and color is probably The Raid. That is the aesthetic we went for, in terms of that kind of gritty, slight shaky cam.

The second one we are looking to do is Capoeira-based. We are going to look at Capoeira. In the first one, I am one of the stars with two other young men. My fighting style in the movie is Judo. Part of the choreography is stick fighting. That scene got

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cut due to some issues on set. But the way we constructed it, you can break it down as a scene and see the full thing. I will do a second cut of the rehearsal before we cut that scene, so at least it will still be out there in some form. It is a thug scene, so we are fighting, and he runs off. We both fall to the floor; he runs off to get a cutlass. I look around, and I see a stick. That is when we are having the stick versus the cutlass: a four-beat, six-beat interaction. Then he cuts my stick in two, so the fight becomes two-handed. I throw one. It gets crazy. That is what is exciting me right now.

Vincent Tamer: How is Kalinda doing, especially in relation with all the COVID stuff? Are the matches still happening?

Keegan: As far as I know, this is not communities. That is just what it is. the time for it. The government has Certain things are there because it said that they are not doing any. is there. Not because we try to carCarnival is not happening next year. ry on a tradition. We are doing this That is the time when Kalinda usu- because it is easy. To someone else a C t t ally happens, but you never know. looking in, it looks like a technical Chantwell Bois Man Something could happen. TheKeegan, kids thing that has and broken down and can are still coming up with it, though, be tracked and traced; it becomes a Chantwelles are the singers that guide the fighters in the ring accompanied by the drummers.

I have learned been around these and men studying their skills. I have because it is cultural. It is as easy thing to be studied byalso been infused with the power of the drum. Just being around it and playing it, learning its language, has done things to me I still cannot explain. It affects the as learning certain foods to cook kids.

My son knows it, he does not way I see and hear music now. I guess it is up to the people to decide if they like what it has produced. So far, the feedback has been very encouraging and posibecause Nana made it in specific know it,mybut he toknows it. and tive. Sohe now itknows is for me to apply own creativity the existing structure aRRyInG RtICLE ItLE tHE

RaDItIons

see how it feeds into my creative process.

Keegan ready to rumble Kalinda style.

Post-Script: KEEGAN TAYLOR | 193 70

SPRING 2019

NATIONAL KARATE AND JUJITSU UNION: History Revisited

H

By James Herndon

ave you ever wanted to discover the origins of a little-known martial art, or practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issue of Masters magazine will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine the practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new and innovative ways.

Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was developed here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the Caribbean.

I met and trained with “Mr.B.” from 1969 to 1971, when we were both members of the United States Air Force; he was stationed at Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA, and I was stationed at Robins AFB, Warner Robins, GA. We had both recently returned stateside from our overseas deployments. It was about a two-hour drive from my base to his; and I made frequent weekend drives to visit his dojo (actually run by Ben Mooney in downtown Valdosta, not on the base). Although I was a Shodan in Shorin-ryu, and he was a Godan in Shito-ryu, I felt it was worth my time and effort to get to know him and learn what I could. His reputation had spread throughout the Air Force and in martial arts media.

With firsthand knowledge, in this article I will review the background and context of the development of the National Karate and Jujitsu Union (NKJU), founded by Richard Baillargeon in 1974. My viewpoints may or may not be shared by others. That’s OK. I only know what I know through my own eyes and experiences, and through conversations with many of the people whom I will name below. First, some background and context.

Training in Japan While stationed at Johnson Air Force Base near Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, between 1956-1962, Richard Baillargeon had the opportunity to train under Kyoshin Kayo, who was affiliated with the Seishin Kai organization, headquartered in Osaka.

Johnson AFB was formerly Iruma Air Base when it was under Japanese control during WWII. Kyoshin Kayo was a member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, and was assigned to Iruma/Johnson. The style of karate they practiced was Shito-ryu, as being refined by

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Martial Arts Masters

73

DAVID “ BIGGARD” HINDS Memories of Old-Time Barbados

By Michael J. Ryan

DAVID "BIGGARD" HINDS | 195

David “Biggard” Hinds is a retired carpenter who we brought on board as a driver for the ILF field team. During the first day, it came out that in his youth, Biggard was an accomplished Sticklicker and still possessed a high degree of skill, a willingness to engage with us, and a desire to test his talents. He became an integral member of the ILF team, both as a source of Sticklicking information, a driver, and as a friend. Saulud, my good friend! Hope to see you again soon.

Fortunately, Biggard was already known to a local scholar researching Sticklicking traditions. Here is a collection of excerpts taken from interviews done by Philip Forde in 2015, where Biggard talks about his early memories of stick fighting in the 1960s. The interviews have been edited and re-written for clarity, consistency, and easy reading.

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ertain would u. It ught cause uld get getting always brave ld do got to ove for

rene Church. And after church was done on Sundays, I would run down to Farm Path just to watch Sticklicking, because they would play in our yard, practically every Sunday.

Learning how to use the stick PF:

So did fellows fight with two hands or one hand on the stick?

DBH: Mostly you begin with one hand on the stick, but sometimes, fellows did “bar” Years the stick, they used to call itEarly “barring the stick,” they used to hold it with two hands, in that way you could strike out with either the right or left hand.

PF:

Sticklicking was something anybody could learn or was it very secretive?

“Biggard” Hinds: I was born DBH: Only certainDavid fellows would teach you.

It wasn’t taught openly, because fellows would get scared of getting hit.

It was always only the brave ones would do it in Hillaby, raised up in Hillaby, used because people get scared of getting hit and so on. So, you got to have the love to go to church at Hillaby Nazarene for it.

Church. And after church was done on Sundays, I would run down to DBH: Right…everybody didn’t want to teach you and people keep it as a secret, that’s Farm Path just to watch why it is dying out now because people hold Sticklicking, it back too much. they would play in our yard, PF: Why wouldbecause people hold it back so much? every DBH: I don’t knowpractically why…. You had manySunday. people that used to come and watch because PF:

But even back then you had to find somebody to teach you.

people wanted to see the real art of it, what it was really like, so there were

play while Cherry

Biggard and Philip play while Cherry-Boy advises.

DAVID "BIGGARD" HINDS | 197

Learning How to Use the Stick

Philip Forde: So did fellows fight with two hands or one hand on the stick?

DBH: Mostly you begin with one hand on the stick, but sometimes, fellows did “bar” the stick, they used to call it “barring the stick,” they used to hold it with two hands, in that way you could strike out with either the right or left hand.

PF: Sticklicking was something anybody could learn or was it very secretive?

DBH: Only certain fellows would teach you. It wasn’t taught openly, because fellows would get scared of getting hit. It was always only the brave ones would do it because people get scared of getting hit and so on. So, you got to have the love for it.

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PF: But even back then you had to find somebody to teach you.

DBH: Right . . . everybody didn’t want to teach you and people keep it as a secret, that’s why it is dying out now because people hold it back too much.

PF: Why would people hold it back so much?

DBH: I don’t know why. You had many people that used to come and watch because people wanted to see the real art of it, what it was really like, so there were crowds coming to watch it. I figure then, that is why they held back, because if too many people learn, you are not going to get the crowds to come.

Preparing the Stick

PF: How about stick throwing?

DBH: . . . I never saw it, but I heard of it. I heard of a watchman at Apes Hill Plantation. I heard people say there was a time that this guy had went to carry away some fruits and things and my grandfather came and the guy was running, and my grandfather throw the stick and twirl it and it went between the man’s legs and trip him up.

PF: Some people used to call the stick, the sword.

PF: What were the types of wood they would make sticks from?

DBH: Most of the sticks they made from Guava, Baywood, Black Sage, hard woods, you know, Rod Wood.

PF: How would they prepare the sticks?

DBH: They would cut the sticks and hold them over a fire, smoke them, cure them over the fire, until the bark comes off. Then they soak them in oil and put them out to dry.

DBH: Some people used to call the stick the sword and the way they used to walk with it and hold it. Some used to walk with it under their arms, some used to walk with it behind their back, some walked with it over their heads, across their shoulders, all ways.

DAVID "BIGGARD" HINDS | 199

Biggard taking his stick to the whip.

PF: How did people see these Sticklickers?

DBH: They looked upon them as champions…. My grandfather, once he got a stick, water couldn’t touch him! He and Rock were it, the fellows used to look up to Abraham. Every time you look [people would yell out], “Rocky, Rocky.” He was the Champion down.

PF:

In that area? [Hillaby]

DBH: In the area. [Hillaby] Then they had another guy in Barker Corner, Sonny, a short guy in Barker Corner.

PF:

What year was this?

DBH: Back in the 1960s.

PF:

And these men would travel around?

DBH: Yeah, my grandfather would go out and play all over the place. Orange Hill, Mile and a Quarter, Four Hill, and people would go with him. They would go in groups. Someone would have a truck-the truck would pick up a load of fellas and they would go.

PF:

And people would eat and drink at these gatherings?

DBH: After yes, they would have some drinks but not during. My grandmother used to cook when they would play in our yard, she would cook big pots of food.

PF:

And they would fight only with sticks?

DBH: only the stick.Review 200 Yes, | The Immersion © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Biggard taking his stick to the whip.

Sticklicking Activities

DBH: A Sticklicker named Abraham Rock who played in the Johnson style and my grandfather “Bugga” Smith who played in the Queensbury style.

PF: How would they begin matches in those days?

DBH: They would lay the sticks on the ground crosswise and start by going around in a circle. There would be a referee standing by who would count down, [then], they grab their sticks and begin to play. The only time I saw fire flash from sticks was in our yard in Hillaby. It was my grandfather versus Rock. They were playing, and Rock had my grandfather in a corner. Another old guy, I don’t remember his name, at one point tells my grandfather, “Move from there” and Rock put a head lash. And then my grandfather break [block] and come out a flash of fire from the sticks and they stop the contest then.

PF: They used to play on Sundays?

DBH: Mainly on Sundays because I remember going to church and running from Hillaby to get home then to see the fellows playing stick. So actually, every Sunday evening they used to play stick in our yard . . . Other fellas used to come from different areas and play but the Sunday that Rock and my grandfather played, that was one of the biggest things you had, because you had fellows from all around to come see that duel that Sunday. People played till you stop, you understand, then you play for 20-25 minutes or so and you stop and two more would go and play, that sort of way.

DAVID "BIGGARD" HINDS | 201

PF: How did people see these Sticklickers?

PF: And these men would travel around?

DBH: They looked upon them as champions . . . My grandfather, once he got a stick, water couldn’t touch him! He and Rock were it, the fellows used to look up to Abraham.

Every time you look [people would yell out], “Rocky, Rocky.” He was the Champion down.

DBH: Yeah, my grandfather would go out and play all over the place.

Orange Hill, Mile and a Quarter, Four Hill, and people would go with him. They would go in groups. Someone would have a truck—the truck would pick up a load of fellas and they would go.

PF: In that area [Hillaby]?

PF: And people would eat and drink at these gatherings?

DBH: In the area [Hillaby]. Then they had another guy in Barker Corner, Sonny, a short guy in Barker Corner.

PF: What year was this?

DBH: Back in the 1960s.

DBH: After, yes, they would have some drinks but not during. My grandmother used to cook when they would play in our yard, she would cook big pots of food.

PF: And they would fight only with sticks?

DBH: Yes, only the stick.

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DAVID "BIGGARD" HINDS | 203

RONALD ALFRED Guardian of Martial Tradition, Master Mas Maker, and Herb Healer

By Rondel Benjamin

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Martial Arts Masters

RONALD ALFRED | 205

79

It is my pleasure to present the enigmatic Ronald Alfred. Ronald is the last of the Whip Masters. Trinidad Masqueraders of yesteryear all have stories of large bands of “Jab-Jabs” meeting on the roads and engaging in duel-style battles. The victors left with arms raised and the losers deflated, bloodied and broken.

This is the environment in which Ronald came to manhood, acclaim, and prominence as one of the “hardest hitters” that the art has ever seen. He is the guardian of the very secretive, time-honored, art of Rope-Jab or Trinidad Jab-Jab. His work in education and the dissemination of this sacred Caribbean martial form may have single-handedly brought it back from the edge of extinction. The Alfred family is now in its fourth generation of active Rope-Jab Players.

[Editor’s Note: This interview presumes one has some previous knowledge of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. Ronald mentions the masked and costumed characters that appear during the Carnival parades. Of the many characters, one is called the “Jab-Jab,” or the devil. The word “Jab” is a slang for the French word for devil, “Diable.” Another character is the “Jab-Jab Molassie,” or the Molasses Devil. The Jab-Jab Molassie smears himself with oil, or lard mixed with colored dyes. He then jumps and leaps about like a wild man, threatening to smear molasses on onlookers unless they pay them off with spare change. Other times, he parades chained up.

The colored bodies and the chains are supposed to represent the slaves of old who were chained, mistreated and exploited for centuries on the sugarcane plantations of the country where molasses was produced and then refined into sugar.]

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Rondel Benjamin: Ronald, talk to me, help us get some insight into this unknown martial form.

Ronald Alfred: Hi Benji. Most JabJab/Rope-Jab is a “Mas” [a form of Masquerade]. They see the costume and the colors. They watch us chipping [dancing] down the road, they hear us singing our Lavways to the rhythm of the willows [ankle bracelets covered with bells] in our sacred procession. What they don’t know is what lies beneath. When we are

marching through the towns and villages, we bring woes and sorrow to any of our kind that we meet. It’s a dance to challenging any Jab man who dares to face us in combat. The Jab man also be seen as the devil incarnate.

I forget occasionally and call it a “mas” ‘cause we have always known that it is our martial art. To our family, to those in the know, it was always more than mas, even than a battle. For us, it is a way of life. It

RONALD ALFRED | 207

is our form of self-defense, yes, but way more. What you see is my religion, that space where my soul could “float,” where we can become whole.

Jab has given me everything I have, everything you could ever need. But the thing is that it takes as much as it gives.

We have had to give up a lot to keep it alive. It is hard to provide for the hundreds of people that depend on us to make costumes, to get transport for the bands, to provide whips and gear for all the kids in the village so that they can participate in our annual procession.

RB: What is the history of RopeJab? Where did it come from?

RA: The history and origins of RopeJab are shrouded in the past. My grandfather was Alfred Bachu. He was the “King of Diego Martin” and passed the tradition to my father, Winston Alfred, the “King of Central.” The tradition then fell to my older brother, Rodney Alfred, and myself.

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You can find mentions of Jab-Jab/ Jab Molasie as early as the 1830s.

You hear of men covered in black paint crack the costumes’ tail, whipping and being whipped. By the 1930s, the Jab Molasie, Black skin painted and the Rope-Jab Jab, begin to appear as two different characters. One symbolizing the pain and struggle of the enslaved soul returning for retribution, and the other reenacting the rites of passage or initiation seen in many African and Indian cultures. These are rites that measure, that test a man, rites of warriorhood, rites of battle.

By the 1940s, we can see strong influence from the whipping traditions of Kali Puju Rites [a cult of Hindu worship tradition brought from India by indentured laborers who arrived in Trinidad as early as 1845, initially from the region of Chota Nagpur] on the Rope-Jab practitioners of East Indian descent.

was Alfred Bachu. He was the “King of Diego Martin” and passed the tradition to my father Winston Alfred The “King of Central.” The tradition then fell to my older brother, Rodney Alfred, and myself.

You can find mentions of Jab Jab/Jab Molasie as early as the 1830s. You hear of men covered in black paint crack the costumes tail, whipping and being whipped. By the 1930s, the Jab Molasie, Black skin painted and the Rope Jab

Jab-Jab Duel. [photo courtesy of Maria Nunes.]

Jab Jab Duel, photo courtesy Maria Nunes.

Jab-Jab’s out in full force during Carnival. [Photo courtesy of Maria Nunes.]

Jab, begin to appear as two different characters. One symbolizing the pain and Jab Jab’s out in full force during Car struggle of the enslaved soul returning for retribution, and the other reenacting val. Photo courtesy of Maria Nunes the rites of passage or initiation seen in many African and Indian Cultures.

RONALD ALFRED | 209 These are rites that measure, that test a man, rites of warriorhood, rites of battle.

By the 1940s, we can see strong influence from the whipping traditions of Kali

RB: What is the primary mission of the Original Whip Masters, or JabJab men?

RA: To spread the tradition of Trinidad Rope-Jab. When I hear the stories from my father’s time, there were stories of Rope-Jab bands from all over Trinidad battling for supremacy. You see, we fight full contact with whips but no protective gear. Our only protecting is our heart and skill.

The man who quit first, or who falls, will lose. We are one of the last active bands. We want to spread the art, to help it return to its former glory.

spite of the tribulation, lack of support, and financial disappointments.

Sometimes I don’t even know how we are going to get the support to put the band out, buy the materials, and cover our basic costs. I wanted to give up so many times but the truth t a is, “IRadidn’t choose this, it chose me.”

Every time I believe the load is too onaLD RtICLE

ItLE LFRED

Master Mass Maker, H

spirit that guide rituals of purifi there. The plan price we paid fo also found in th

Long ago is like a living manifestation o connection to tion. The word of it is so proud ing.

Let me share my dream with you.

What I want is to take it to the world, face the best they have and see how we measure up. I want to see what there is out there to learn, because I believe we have plenty to teach.

AD HERE RB: In closin prove my skill

RA: Benji, pra mind and my sp begin fasting an into battle with

The truth and your Jumb something else see things that interested in ev

You see Ja video or a book

RB: Is there anything you want the world to know about you and your journey in Rope-Jab? RA: People always ask me why I play Jab. They ask me why I persevere in

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RB: Tell me o blew your expe

RA: I never ex Lab Foundation

Ronald demonstrates cable whip Ronald demonstrates Cable Whip against sticks.

Kalinda Sticks.

To meet m on, even have als that we pra intertwined our Indian Heritag against Kalinda want to carry i exposed to the globe because of the coming true.

RB:

How can we get in contact with yo

RA:

We are on Facebook at Ronald Alfr presence: The Original Whip Master

© The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGH

much to bear, that the mission is a failure, the art itself provides for me.

It lifts my spirit, guides me to a new level of understanding. I want everyone to experience the peace it gives.

To float on her wings, to be carried to a place I can’t describe.

RB: I want to say thank you again for sharing your amazing art with us. This is a unique experience to sit with a real master and receive such a deep look into the core of this rare and unknown martial tradition.

RA: [Laughter], Nah man, thank you. Sometimes my elders, uncles and other family members, quarrel with me for breaking the tradition and opening up our family secrets to the public. I do it with an open heart because I believe this is the moment, the time for world to know what we have preserved. I want it to spread, to grow.

RB: Ronald, I hear you and the band jokingly refer to the whip master space as “Deh Jab-Jab Hospital.” Why ?

RA: That’s because that beautiful space is the place that our Jumbi [a word used in Trinidad which came to mean muse or spirit guide] resides, a space where the spirit that guides me resides. The plants that we use in our rituals of purification, to bathe with before battle, are all there. The plants we use to heal our bodies with when the price we paid for the battle was higher than expected, are also found in that holiest of spaces.

Long ago, it would have been called a yard. A yard is like a living dojo wrapped in nature, in spirit, and is a manifestation of Jab itself. For us, Jab is a spiritual thing, a connection to something that essentially avoids description. The words escape me sometimes because the feeling of it is so proud that even trying to describe it is diminishing.

RONALD ALFRED | 211

RB: In closing, can you share any tips or tricks to improve my skill in Jab? RA: Benji, practice is real important.

I train my body, my mind, and my spirit everyday. 40 days before the Carnival, I begin fasting and praying. Purification is critical. To enter into battle with a pure heart is essential.

The truth, though, is that when everything lines up and your Jumbie land [when you enter a trance state], something else does take over. I have been able to do and see things that to this day I can’t explain, and I am not interested in ever trying to.

You see, Jab is about experiencing life. There is not a video or a book that could help you with that.

RB: Tell me one experience in the Jab-Jab journey that blew your expectations?

RA: I never expected to go to Barbados with the Immersion Labs Foundation!

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To meet martial arts researchers that could shed light on, even have knowledge of some of the traditions and rituals that we practice. Seeing the big picture, seeing how intertwined our traditions are with both their African and Indian heritage. I am excited about that kind of thing.

I want to carry it to India and Africa. Watching it being exposed to the globe because of the Immersion Labs efforts is my life’s dream coming true.

RB: How can we get in contact with you?

RA: We are on Facebook at Ronald Alfred. We also have a webpage and Facebook presence: The Original Whip Masters—Jab Jab.

Master Mass Maker, Herb Healer

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rt itself or me, it pirit and me to a of under. I want to expepeace it float on s, to be a place I cribe.”

even know how we are going to get the support to put the band out, buy the materials and cover our basic costs. I wanted to give up so many times but the truth is, “I didn’t choose this, it chose me.” Every time I believe the load is too much to bear, that the mission is a failure, the art itself provides for me. It lifts my spirit, guides me to a new level of understanding. I want everyone to experience the peace it gives. To float on her wings, to be carried to a place I can’t describe.

RB:

I want to say thank you again for sharing your amazing art with us. This is a unique experience to sit with a real master and receive such a deep look into the core of this rare and unknown Martial Tradition.

RA:

( Laughter ), Nah man, thank you. Sometimes my elders, uncles and other family members, quarrel with me for breaking the tradition and opening up our

RONALD ALFRED | 213

Post-Script Post-Script

RONALD : POST-SCRIPT THE MAN A WHIP TITLE IN E ACH HAND

Ronald Alfred the Whip-Jab man. One of the treasures of the expedition was meeting Ronald. A holder of a whipping tradition whose roots go back to India and Africa. Here, Ronald talks about the role of the Jab-Jab men in Carnival and the intensive long-term preparations regarding a strict regime purifying the mind, body, and soul to prepare oneself for hemp rope and steel cable whipping contests. Ronald also reflects upon his time as a member of the ILF Barbados expedition.

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Michael J. Ryan: What did you think about the trip to Barbados, and what led you to want to join us and present your arts to us?

Ronald: The trip was, without a doubt, a new experience for me coming out from down in Trinidad here. I saw different fighting styles besides the whip: the sticks and blades that were around. The experience for me was great. I saw other martial arts than what I do. I learned a lot from different martial arts and martial artists. The art form in Trinidad is something I do not think the world would ever see. The art form is dying. We are the very last living people with the knowledge. I see that if I can promote and show it to people, it will survive, and the art form will not just go away. Those people who I learned from are no longer here, and the younger people did not have the chance to learn from them. So, it is two things: getting the world to see and sharing my knowledge. Now that we have the Internet, we can see many fighting styles around the world. We have a different style. We throw our bodies at it; we can give

and take a little differently from everybody else.

Lots of people use whips. They may strike a bull, but nobody has full contact fighters as we have. That is how we do it. As I said, when I go on the Internet, I may see different things on whipping. Things that are related to us or that have a resemblance.

Something might be a little different.

You might see men try to do it with power, but they do not have breaks.1 What happens in Rope-Jab fighting is that how you learn to hit is the same as learning the breaks.

1 Breaks are how lashes from the whip are blocked.

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MJR: What did you find especially interesting in your time in Barbados with us? Was there anybody or anything you found especially interesting?

Ronald: Everything interested me there. One thing maybe was the older man, Cherry-Boy.2 I was not surprised when he said he could crack the whip. I did not doubt him, but it was something wild. He was a good memory. We also had our little fun exchange. He got all of us. That was nice because although I was doing my thing, I saw you as possessing a different striking style. I learned some techniques from it. I hate to say it, but I saw opportunities to combine these fighting styles with my style, which was good.

From the time I got to the airport till the day we left, I dreamed it would happen. I almost thought it was a dream. But it was reality. Just to hear that people studying martial arts would be interested in me. We finally got the chance to go there and do this. Every single moment, some2 See the interview with Cherry-Boy in this volume.

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times I may be quiet and watching, but I was still trying to tell myself, is this for real? Is this really happening? I get the chance to do something that I just cannot shake. But this happened; it really happened.

My uncle, I hoped that one day the world would see him. I put out all this great power in the bush and practiced in the bush while I grew up. I always had the feeling that when he died, as his friends told me in a way, one day the world will see it. And through this, it has happened. I am grateful for that. I am so thankful for that. Every single moment that I spent in Barbados was worth it. Even watching you all’s styles of fighting.

MJR: Can you tell me something about the history of Jab-Jab as you remember it?

Ronald: Jab-Jab is something in our village, in our island. Everybody is different, but Jab-Jab is our fighting art form. It is an indigenous martial art. Equality was the only avenue to promote and showcase it. How I see it is that after the Canboulay riots,3 3 The Canboulay Riots took place in 1881.

The police only put down with much effort and help from lathi-armed South Asians who acted to beat back those Afro-Trinidadian Boismen who took advantage of the celebratory atmosphere to target the Indian communities during these annual celebrations. On the one hand, colonial authorities tried to limit revelry and bouts of violence that broke out during Carnival. Some of the violence was good-natured, some of it was criminal, and some served as a show of resistance to a racist, oppressive government. On the other hand, the drive to ban Carnival and other public celebrations was part of a larger effort by colonial and elite white governments. At this time, many Latin American and Caribbean governments sought to drive the darker-skinned members of society out of public spaces where much of their cultural events took place. Over the centuries, repeated efforts took place to push these public events out to the city’s outskirts or to erase their culture completely. In addition, as part of this effort, governments tried to recruit European immigrants and attract foreign capital for infrastructural improve-

the African brothers sought freedom to portray their thing with stick fighting. After the early brothers came to Trinidad, they saw the path of mixing our martial arts with the African brothers fighting for freedom. That was the path. The mayor criticized it: you cannot showcase, you cannot go out and play, because people will criticize you, and say you are doing Obeah, and all of these crazy things now; we are dealing with the devil, and a spiritual warfare path; bad spirits that walkers will gather; hoodoo hunting. So, we have seen the ments to help their export-oriented economies. Commodities such as gold, hardwoods, rubber, coffee, or sugar were the mainstay of many of these economies. They needed a hard working, disciplined, low paid, and ideally European workforce to exploit. The drive to whiten their communities was a movement to be seen and recognized as a civilized and white country equal to any other European country. Any public celebrations by non-European communities, either secular or sacred, or recreational pastimes such as Capoeira, Garrote, Grima, Sticklicking, Rope-Jab, or Tinku was treated as an embarrassment, unhealthy activity, and a site of social disorder.

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opportunity to be able to come out and showcase. In any case, we showcased traces from the past, usually hidden in Obeah practice and worship. After the Canboulay riots and when they had freedom, we filtered through and were with the African brothers without being condemned and criticized. To showcase it and to showcase what we do. Now, any portion that was not a showcase of it is our worship. It is our practice; it is our way of life. People did not see that it was more than a game. In the Carnival, people would not notice you as more than that. I am saying this for the first time in public because we were never allowed to talk about it or teach anybody outside of the circle. It was supposed to remain within. It is something we did alone.

So, it was quite an art form.

The Jab, Rope-Jab passes for it. That was the avenue if we just went out and did it. Wherever you had battles whip against the whip, King against

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King. The better man will tell. Then we will leave from this village, and we will hit the next village. We will challenge those Kings from the other villages. And the better man tells the battle until it blows. I would say, “Show up to go, come back home.

If you cannot play, do not play.” It was the rule, and it still is the rule; you cannot change it. They say JabJab was Rope-Jab originally because when you play, you battle. You live for that. You live a life of it. You go home, play, and make preparations: fasting, get ready, make your whip on time. So the breakdown on JabJab is that we are a fighting art form. It is an indigenous martial art, and that was the avenue through which you could showcase it without being criticized or judged. You know it is terrible, but most people want to see it through a barrier where it is just play. It is a lot more than play. What will people want to think about you? People see you as being

a dark-skinned person; they will tell you that you are black and that you should not be there. But we will work on that. You know people will come to you because they do not know or never understand what it is about.

But now we are a true art, and we

are out teaching more people, educating them about it more, and understanding it. It has shifted from something looked down upon in the past to something that is greatly respected today.

MJR: Who are some of the great Whip-Jab Kings that you remember?

Ronald: I was writing something this morning, writing down the names of those who came before us. I will start with my father, Edwin Sir Alfred.

He was the man. I loved my grandfather too, Alfred Bachu. It started with Alfred Bachu in Diego Martin. My father went to Alfred and then me. Then we come along to my generation. Outside of our bands, there were other men. Patoo, Patrick Carlin is his real name. From Talparo, he was the King on that side. The handsome younger fellas, Alan Maru and Michael Maru, two young fellas who played with him. They were like his nephews. We had Patoo Patrick Carlin. We had Sonny Visnod. Sonny Visnod was the King of Dow village.

He was a very top-class whip man, too. I learned a lot from him.

We had Sonny Suclaro. He was from Pepper village in Gran Couva. We had Boise Mohammed. Boise Mohammed was from Claxton Bay. He played paso ano. We had Rampersad Singh. Rampersad Singh was

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one of the Kings that played with a band. He was the King of the band in the Carlson Field area. That was more the farming area with cattle.

Although he was a King of another band, I learned a lot from him. I learned to make a whip from him.

I learned some moves, and he sang the chants. We used to call him [unintelligible] because of the way he moved. He could be real sneaky.

Remembering the chant histories is what drives you to go forward. Other fellows who used to play: Boboi Balino, Ramdi Chaplin from Preciado.

There were a lot of fellows who could have played. They just stood up and played; they played cable whip; they just played anything you called for them to play. It did not matter. If we die during this time, we die. That is just how they used to play.4 4 Whips are either made of hemp or steel cable. Blindness was a major hazard of these whip men, and the eyes were the most favorite target. With a skill hard to believe, these men could cut clothing stitches, leaving an opponent naked. They could rip his flesh and

As years go by, all these Kings would be amazed that they joined together.

Talparo, Gran Couva, Pepper village, Balmain village, Preysal village, Dow Village, Claxton Bay. Seven bands joined together to battle against our band. My father was the leader of our village, but the other villages were never successful. The gentlemen tried to form the band, but they could not make the band. Someone told me that. So, we were a toque band. But one time, all these Kings joined together and tried to battle against our band. It had bloodshed at the root. That was real blood, real sweat, and real tears. Men went to the hospital. Some men were not so well after. It was a clash or battle with Kings.

Sonny Visnod was outstanding. He was a whip fighter and a stick fighter. I remember when I was young and saw him playing. He was outstanding, an outstanding whip fighter. He leave the clothes he wore unscathed and, of course, cut up his eyes. The steel cable whips could also do this as well as break bones and rupture internal organs.

once lifted a man with a whip across here, and the man got popped in the head, and he busted his butt. Some men focus on the head and pop themself just to get the head, and they are not afraid of the lash. I have so many more. This other man, Mark Beltcher, was in battle, the second King. My father was the first King, and Mark Beltcher was the second King. He was my father’s right-hand man then. He knew how to battle as well. But he was just as lucky. He had his own band too, but he left his band and started to play with us. He was an outstanding player.

Mark was one of the men strictly playing cable.5 We went to the police station. I was younger and went with him. I was walking with him. He rested his cable up on the counter at the police station and told the police, this is what he is playing, and he is not playing anything else. He was playing with cable and cable alone.

We were always at the police station.

We were supposed to notify them 5

Steel cable whip.

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what we were playing at so they know the fighting is going on at the police station. You would get married in the head because the whips are solid iron, flexible cable. They were amazed that we would call them. We would start our battles. Mark was a great influence in my life, too. Even my elder brother, Rodney Alfred, I learned a lot from him.

There are different styles that men fight. Yeah, that is what I would call Hasid Human. He is from Preysal.

He got married to my elder sister.

He was a perfect long-whip fighter. Perfect, perfect, perfect. He will still come up, although he is not as strong as before. He was the perfect long whip fighter that I ever saw. I learned a lot from him. He was not a big fellow either, believe me, he was smaller than Mahipal. But you do not have to be big and strong to play this game. He had battled a lot bigger men than his size and strength.

He was successful in his battles. Then there were the old men from Preysal.

Most of them were Kings. The next generation, from my father, they

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knew the art, but they did not continue to practice it. Because some of them were afraid that their mother will tell them, “Do not play this game because it is violent.” Then, later on, When they get married, their wife will say they do not want you to play that, that is dangerous.

Besides my family, there are a lot of Jab Rope-Jab people because their Kings are in other bands. I was in a little circle, and they were all I was with because there were no avenues or other ways to come up. Then a gentleman named Rondel Benjamin6 made several attempts to contact me and to talk to me. Honestly, I had been laying low for a few years because you must remember that we were taught not to talk about this to anyone. But then Rondel came on board and started to hold a stick. He opened the doors that I had wanted to go through, but I could not do it before. Rondel came on board, and you would not believe that these things would ever happen.

6 See the interview with Benji in this volume.

Besides that, there are a lot of people we would call members of the original Jab-Jab. They are not fighting, but they are the brain work behind it that will help us go for the answers to deal with certain issues.

We talk about toque bands. We talk about cheating the match, the Bois Institute on campus. We have some history with Rampa Sad. She came on board with us in a whole new way that they would not be fighters in the ring, but they will help us do things and get our views through that we could otherwise not get through. To take everything on your own with the number of people we have financially, I cannot do it anymore. I do not know how it has happened, but it has happened. People said it was impossible, but at the end of the day, it has happened. So that is a wide range of people, but I must say Rondel is a martial art artist and has improved us in many different ways.

We went to areas like Talparo. Talparo had a lot of Patu Namoraide.

Print a Storm and a man named Mike Kenneth, and they have Harley

[unknown] and his sons. I was younger, and they were the older set of people before me. I played many of them. The [unintelligible] and Storm [?] were big men like myself. We never had too much of a one-on-one talk with them. We would not talk to them much, but we would battle with them. During that battle, you would learn so much from them. You will watch his style, you will watch how he holds the whip; you watch his foot, you watch the movements. You will shadow them with a shot and how they do the breaks. And they will lose. Within the combat, you will learn more than actually talking to them because, in this game, it is less talk and more lash, more fighting. That is simply what the game is. I will learn from them from the time we are approaching them. They will come out with their thumb out here or hold their fist forward here; we will see them rolling their wrists; different styles. We see the forward thumb, fist, rolled hand, different things. You will read them, and if you want to learn, then you will learn.

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You will watch them. You will watch when they step forward, when they step back, when their hands are up, or when they are hanging. That is how I used to talk to them: through actions and not talking.

Mahipal: What did you learn by watching all of us?

Ronald: To begin with, I did not want to talk to people overall, even in Trinidad. I am being honest here. I am being real. When people wanted to talk before in Trinidad, I just stopped them. I did not want to talk with anyone. Then I learned from experience that you could communicate with people—with people who are willing to share their knowledge. This is something I wanted to do around comfortable people, people that appreciate me. I felt appreciated, and I know I was appreciated. I was silent a lot at first and just watched everybody. I thought people would not understand me, my style, my lifestyle, or the way of this practice that we do here. Some might not understand it, so they would not respect

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it. I was wrong. Everybody showed that respect. Besides, I am learning; I am doing my whip thing. I watched everybody with their different styles.

I learned plenty; I learned a lot. I saw things that I could blend into my style. In the martial arts world, you will keep learning; you can never finish learning. Philip Forde, I did not believe he would fight with that stick like that, in that style. Biggard, too, they were alright. Then I saw the technique with Mahipal. That was amazing.

I liked that with the blade. Professor Obi, when I saw the way he struck, shook, and moved, I could use my whip like that. Pull it, make a hipshot into a straight shot. Many things come to mind. Mahipal was pulling on everybody’s hand. He put out his hand there and was sticking it down. I told myself he would not be able to move my hand. I said there is something wrong there. I did not believe what I was seeing. So, I put my hand out, and I noticed how this man could move my hand. He is just a small piece of a man. I put out my

hand there, and he brought it out.

That amazed me. I told myself, wait, there is something more here. My strength is at least a couple of times greater than Mahipal’s. I told myself

it would not happen to me. He cannot move it. To have that experience when he moved it, it was unbelievable. I learned something from it too.

MJR: How do you teach a young person to become a Whip-Jab fighter?

How do you train somebody?

Ronald: First to begin with, there is the cultivation of the village, creating a culture in the village so that everybody will want to be a part of it. Then the younger ones, when they grow up, all they want to be is a whip master like myself. They like to share it; they want to be it. They want to be like me, and they will come. When they do, you have to learn how to use the whip. You have to tell them that you must learn to respect the whip; you must learn to respect this weapon for what it is. There are some men who take it up and use it to hit anybody for no reason at all.

But you must have respect for the whip, and you must have respect for

the yard,7 because you are going to see that the plants are wrong, as is everything else. They must see the value of this. You are not going to take this and do as you well, please.

Some men take a gun to protect you, but some men will also use it to rob people. It is the same thing with a whip. It is for the battles. Students are expected to use them with love.

Then we will carry them, but they will come to the yard. They will learn to fight. Just as you learn to hit, you must learn the breaks. We will teach them different styles of hitting and different styles of breaks. We train shots coming at you with plants on 7 See the interview with Rondel Benjamin in this volume, on the yards as places of teaching and learning.

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their throat as targets. Then we let them practice the hits. You do not want to be teaching them to hit the leatherman while hitting at you at the same time. We show them different shots. Basic one-two, then we do 1, 2, 3. We go through our body, up our body, then they build themself, and then they will go.

Next comes strength training. We hold the lash, and we live life. We do hard work. We cut blades of grass, clear the trees, pick up the logs, and carry them. We clean up the village.

That is a form of training by itself.

We work on grazing the cows. Sometimes the younger fellows go with me. While the cows are grazing, we plant our whips and practice how they do. This way, they will learn to hit. They do not learn hitting alone, though: they also learn how to make a whip too. You do not want to ask for one or use a whip that you do not know about. We teach them how to make the weapons, how to do breaks, and how to hit. We train to defend a lash shot. But while you go along, you cannot learn everything in one

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day. They start learning basics and build, build, build. We do body shots.

We do headshots. We do face shots.

And only then do we go for fine targets like your eyes, nose, and ears, and we give them some points that will knock you out, depending on the style you want to use. The younger people will learn, but they would not learn at that level yet. These are the gifts that we are going through.

If you want and are ready, you are willing to come into the game and start-up; you have to learn the breaks and put an ugly mug shot here. Knock you out on your ear here. Really knock you out. You have to breathe properly and watch your eyes. You have to learn the breaks.

You also have to learn to toughen your body. You may want to train on the porch alone for the fighting.

You have to learn about the plants to heal your body. You have to learn the plants that toughen your body. If you want to take a lash, you have to be tough. You will get these different plants. We show you, and then you learn that lesson later. You will learn

to prepare the bush and apply it to yourself. Learning to do whip fighting is about many things: fighting, whip-making, bush medicine, heal-

ing, and everything else; attack and defense; everything and more. But it will be taken in stages.

MJR: Can you tell me more about the role spirituality plays in Whip-Jab? Ronald: We start with a fast. It is for the Carnival. The fasting process is partly a spiritual preparation. Our ancestors play. They are still with me. We invite them to come, and after the process, after the Carnival, we send them back home. We ask them to come. In that preparation, we do offerings first. Offerings to them, I say we do Hoodoo and Kali worship. We do offerings to deities.

We do our prayers to Bhairo Baba, Munesh Prem, Annowar [?] Baba, Mother Kali, and Dee Baba, who is for the land. The land produced the plants to heal the body. That preparation is for 14 days where your ancestors walk with you. We take them to guide us. How we do our, we call it negotiation [?] for my determination for my soul [?] or anybody else

here. We get the signs, the dreams, or whatever might come to us. They will say your play with this fella.

They will guide you through everything, but you must pay attention.

If you have something with you and you have to pay attention to it. The reason for tribute, purge, and preparation needs to happen and move with you. Whips, sticks, and the whip, men’s graves; we mount the whip in the cemetery. They go to the cemetery to get help from somebody, not always good spirits, you might say.

So, if they hit you with one or the other, your wounds could turn bad.

When healing, you cannot draw out the puss because it serves the purpose of paralyzing you. You get hit, and you will not be able to raise your shoulder or your hand again.

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It can take you out for life. We do spiritual preparations to block that.

We put up a wall then to break from that. Because some men do special things, I know that. They throw bad things, and you have to be ready to face it. It is not only a physical battle but a spiritual battle too. We do bush bouts, Carnival, Sunday night because Carnival is Monday, after the 14 days of fasting. Like in our chant: 14 days before the Carnival, I must observe the ritual; 14 days before the Carnival, I jab and start the ritual; the ritual starts. We get ready because the Carnival’s Sunday night is when the bush bouts take place.

We bathe in the bush, get an oil rubdown, spread it on the legs. Visnod and my father, they rose up, and they got a whip. They got a real hard one because you had to taste how you are going to face battle tomorrow.

The whip you use for that is not only just to test your feet. It also gives you something. It gets you ready to take the ancestors, to move with them.

You go, and you follow the rituals.

You take the plants, offer prayer, of-

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fer water. You offer to the plants because plants were given by nature, and you offer the prayers to say that you are going to use this plant as medicine, pray about it, pull it out, and you use it like that. You have to take the plant at a certain time, a specific time. We learn the different moon phases and the different hours. There is a system that we work with—a new old code. We walk with the full moon and the different moon phases. There are certain times you use plants, as it is beneficial to take it at a particular time.

For traditional spiritual preparation, you walk the journey with the ancestors. When I play, when people see my band, they see we are coming, everybody is dancing, and they say they see a glow with the band. They see something different; they see me appearing bigger than I usually am.

Sometimes they cannot explain what they have seen, but they see something I do not. I cannot see, but they look different. When I am playing, I just feel the presence of the old men with me. I feel my father pass here. I

feel the older Kings who used to be with me. I know they are there and here. You know they are here with you; they will guide you through.

There is a system that you will go through when you train with us. You will cover the rules that are set. You stay away from meat, alcohol, and you spend time away from your wives. The ladies will stay separate from the men. You must keep yourself clean in heart, mind, body, spirit, and everything. You are preparing for a battle; you are preparing for war. But you must follow the rules of the spiritual. I want to feel the pinch; I want to fall if I break the rules. There must be clean hearts and minds. We do the offering to the deities every day, and every day we walk before we leave to go and battle anybody on the road. There are certain mantras about that we say if I should break it on the way to you. There are certain things that you say and how you say. You cannot be asking for guidance from the spiritual world, and then you go and break the rules in the material world

because you are lying to yourself, you are untrue, and you are not honest enough to be no warrior. I see a lot of fellows fall because they break the rules. When they are in this spot of preparation, you are attracted to these kinds of things in them. It will be tempting you, in a sense. A lot of fellows feel when this skill set is up in your hand, meaning you use the plants on their hands. You take this with you; you cannot break the rules.

The warrior gods will actually help you when you want to be victorious in a battle, and then you break the rules. That is straight up. If you are not straight up, do not work through this procedure. You cannot fool them.

Dee Baba is the master of the land, Munesh Prem is the warrior, Bairu [?] is the whip God. Hanuman will give you strength, another fear, and mother Kali is the supreme of all. We could go into many more and then go wider, but this is a basic explanation.

The ancestors of Trinidad had a culture of practice that came from India, but we also acknowledge our debt to the African people. The Or-

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isha people also have a strong connection with us. I have seen it. We learn about the practice where we learn from their ancestors, but they

are our own ancestors, but then we link with the others. In Trinidad, we are all one people, so we live as one people.

MJR: Can a foreigner come to your village and learn, try to become a King?

Ronald: Yep. No. Yeah, you could try. Try it. You could try. It is a lot of work, believe me. But anybody willing to learn, I am willing to teach.

Once you take it very correctly, we would not hand down certain secrets, certain ways of doing things if you are not carrying the proper way. If you come to the island, you want to learn to make whips, and you want to fight, then yes, we could do it. But you have to come with the correct attitude. We do not want anyone to come over here and just take this, exploit it, and do what you well, please.

Then there would be nothing of it; you would feel there is nothing important. It is actually much more. So yes, we are willing to teach you, but you must show respect for the art form.

What I have experienced in my life

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is that I have not had anyone that I have taught who did not learn; everyone that came through the yard, a hundred of them. Everybody that I teach gets it. Once you are willing to learn, you could be part of it. But again, you have to come straight. If you are not open and straight, and there is a sizable wrong, we cannot straighten you.

We are willing to teach people. I think that this could go worldwide.

You can have international whip fighting competitions. I believe this kind of competion could interest many people. We have a ton of other fighters in Trinidad who I train and who would be willing to relocate and teach people and then come back as part of a team. We could have a competition. But before we have the

competition, we have to make sure that we train people outside the island. Similar to boxing, or wrestling, or wherever it may be. The stick fighting now has the right potential here too. We have two great martial arts in Trinidad and Tobago here. This one could be wider than Tobago. We will teach people, and again I say you have to respect the art form because it was a secretive art. It was something we all were never allowed to talk about, tell people, or speak aloud. If you were not a brother, noone would say anything. My brother would come right here, watch you, and he would walk away. He would not teach anybody else besides me.

But we are losing it. The art form is dying; the knowledge that I have is the last living family with it here. I guess I share it to the younger people. But we could go wider with the correct general system in place.

We would test to see if you can take the pressure and how you will deal with it and how you will deal with that situation under pressure. We will put you through some things to see

how you are going to appreciate this art form. If you feel that this man is just hard on me, it is not so. You must work through the simple test. The simplest lessons are the hardest. It is not going to be easy. But in the end, it will be rewarding for those people who want to learn.

Rope-Jab does not offer you to be a fighter alone. Yes, you will learn to defend yourself. You will also learn to develop different levels of stamina. The training is linked with nature. You learn to respect nature.

You learn to respect the plants; you will learn to respect the environment and the world, and then with that, you will learn to respect people in the world. That is beyond being a fighter alone. Yes, you can handle yourself all day, but the future is more than just being a fighter. It is valuable if you reach a certain level of discipline and embrace a certain level of values. We learn to respect everything else. I have learned to respect other martial artists. I have passed through most of the roughest fights in Trinidad and Tobago with Rope-

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Jab. I have had real battles. real bouts and battles with a great deal of blood shed. But your family and siblings come first. If you come to my village and ask, they will tell you that I am the most disciplined and quietest person. Yet everybody respects me. Nobody ever really messes with me. That means that people must fear me, but then we come to an understanding, and then we can live together. Learning the Rope-Jab art form is not about being a fighter alone. You will also learn the value of this world, the Earth.

Everybody wants to hit, and nobody wants the breaks. When they get lashed, they want to know how to heal their body. You tell them your breaks were wrong. With that, we will go to a whole new topic here now. Youngsters in my village want to learn. Why do they want to learn?

Because, yes, Mr. Alfred, this man real bad, but yet he is real cool, good, and understanding. And he knows how to deal with situations too. Why do people jump into situations and worsen them? I am talking about

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real fights, real trouble, and real everything. You learn to deal with situations in life through dialogue, guile, and the battle way with the practice of this art form. We will teach you to deal with everything else. Those other fellows come down, people come to me with their problems, and then we can rectify them in a good way.

We are talking about real problems.

We do not want the guns and the drug lords and things here. We resolve these problems easily because they respect me. They know that we can sort out our differences quietly. We understand how the world is today in Trinidad. We do not manufacture guns, but we have plenty of them all over the world. Maybe we should have sticks and whips rather than guns?

I think that we should have some more whips and sticks. I want to do something. I talked to Rondel also.

We wanted to go back to the villages, make some whips, give them to the younger fellows in them, and coach them a little bit to see if we could get a wilder or faster side of

them out, to bring a fight back to them. We are trying to make this thing wider. Some fellas could learn.

But you have to remember the rule, if you cannot play, do not play.

MJR: Are there any final thoughts you would like to share with us?

Ronald: Well, we have already lost some fighters that we had here who have passed on. We have to come up, and we are the current present.

We appreciate this opportunity given to us to allow us to present a true representation of our art. We appreciate that we are grateful, and thank you so much. As a Trinidadian, as a local going, I talk how I talk, and I do what I do, the way I do it. This is the way I like to be. Come to Trinidad, and talk Trinidadian. They take it back to America. So, the way I talk is the way I learned to talk. When you are not talking, you will be singing.

We sing the chants the local way. We talk the local way. India and Africa come to Trinidad; we blend, and we

create. So we will have a little bit of everything. You do not usually see an Indian with an African body. You are big, and you are dark. You try to mix everything.

On behalf of all the whip men that have passed on, we would like to thank you for the opportunity and appreciation of our art. Whoever thought this would happen? Whoever thought that we would outreach in Barbados through the Immersion Labs for the world to see our art?

People doubted that this could be true, that this guy must be lying.

Thank you so much for the opportunity. I appreciate that. And thanks for valuing us.

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NATIONAL KARATE AND JUJITSU UNION: History Revisited

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By James Herndon

ave you ever wanted to discover the origins of a little-known martial art, or practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issue of Masters magazine will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine the practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new and innovative ways.

Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was developed here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the Caribbean.

I met and trained with “Mr.B.” from 1969 to 1971, when we were both members of the United States Air Force; he was stationed at Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA, and I was stationed at Robins AFB, Warner Robins, GA. We had both recently returned stateside from our overseas deployments. It was about a two-hour drive from my base to his; and I made frequent weekend drives to visit his dojo (actually run by Ben Mooney in downtown Valdosta, not on the base). Although I was a Shodan in Shorin-ryu, and he was a Godan in Shito-ryu, I felt it was worth my time and effort to get to know him and learn what I could. His reputation had spread throughout the Air Force and in martial arts media.

With firsthand knowledge, in this article I will review the background and context of the development of the National Karate and Jujitsu Union (NKJU), founded by Richard Baillargeon in 1974. My viewpoints may or may not be shared by others. That’s OK. I only know what I know through my own eyes and experiences, and through conversations with many of the people whom I will name below. First, some background and context.

Training in Japan While stationed at Johnson Air Force Base near Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, between 1956-1962, Richard Baillargeon had the opportunity to train under Kyoshin Kayo, who was affiliated with the Seishin Kai organization, headquartered in Osaka.

Johnson AFB was formerly Iruma Air Base when it was under Japanese control during WWII. Kyoshin Kayo was a member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, and was assigned to Iruma/Johnson. The style of karate they practiced was Shito-ryu, as being refined by

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99

Finding an Anchor in

HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING

By Vincent Tamer

A longtime student of Mahipal’s dojo, and with a degree in filmmaking, Vincent put in countless hours of prep-work for this project, pouring over Google Maps and searching for the perfect shooting locations. He was also in charge of locating markets to feed all of us, securing cars, renting a house with Wi-Fi, and creating a shooting schedule that kept us on track and moving forward. His days began before ours and for the first half of the trip lasted well after we all went to bed. The long hours began to wear on him and it showed. However, because of his organizational skill the team was able to take up the slack, while Vincent fielded all our questions and resolved issues with cameras, computers, and other recording equipment. He was the anchor we could all turn to when we needed help. He was he guy who knew where we had to be and who we needed to talk to. In spite of all these responsibilities, Vincent still had some time to get involved in the training.

HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING | 237

The Beginning This project has been an adventure full of revelations, reversals, and unexpected surprises. I can truly attest to the existence of a guiding spirit, for to have found myself on this path feels like a story out of some sort of book. Some background may be necessary to understand the personal significance of this expedition.

I have been making films since I was fourteen years old, and it was that long-standing passion that drove me to film school in my early 20s.

It was there that I became burnt out with the process of filmmaking

Our professor was eager approach to Anthropology and, after a failed film, turned my mentary “The Cave of For gaze towards spirituality. It was also sentation of the French ca during this time that Irather took a fateful than tying this new Introduction to Anthropology course I left school.

Looking bac in anbeen authentic which was a subject I had inter-manner. W ested in for some time.that point had been throug industry.

Our professor was eager leavefilm schoo Aftertoleaving the textbook behind and offered his to Peru on a pilgrimage.

Ir as the few years went own personal approach tonext Anthronothing feltclass right. Comple pology. I recall the first day of would never make another in which Werner Herzog’s documenboth my spirituality and pa tary, The Cave of Forgotten Dreams Searching for a Teach was shown. I was struck with its curia brief stint studyi ous presentation of the After French cave a place that not only instil paintings and deep interest in the self. It is rare to find a pla human condition. Yet,fortunate rather for than finding Mou

family that regularly train quarter lover o to cond a bond our spir

It wa expedit little do a focus and sty the Bla only na it was that br proper approac was mis the val

Vincent with Sensei, a lot more than just martial arts.

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Vincent with Sensei, a lot more than just martial arts.

ILF Barbados

The expedition with the

tying this new found interests together with my background in filmmaking, I left school. Looking back, it is clear that I had no idea how to marry these passions in an authentic manner. What I lacked was perspective. All of my filmmaking up until that point had been through the lens of someone who deeply desired to “make it” in the industry.

After leaving film school, I found myself following my former Anthropology professor to Peru on a pilgrimage.

I returned from the trek with more questions than answers, and as the next few years went by, I explored many different avenues of spirituality, although nothing felt right. Completely abandoning cinematography, I convinced myself that I would never make another film. It was my rediscovery of the martial arts that rekindled both my spirituality and passion for filmmaking.

Searching for a Teacher After a brief stint studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I found myself longing for a true dojo, a place that not only instills martial ability but also offers a pathway to one’s authentic self. It is rare to find a place that still upholds that latter mission, so I count myself as fortunate for finding Mountain View Aiki Arts. Our dojo is a small and tightly knit family that regularly trains three times a week. However, our training also consists of quarterly Shugyos, which was a major incentive to join as I am a lover of nature.

Shugyos are mini-expeditions into the wilderness to conduct and test our training. These seasonal trips also serve as a bonding experience for the dojo and as a way to get in touch with our spiritual side.

It was these adventures that laid the ground work for our future expedition. The Immersion Labs Foundation (ILF) grew out of this little dojo

“Many in the West go to church to be with God, but who battles to invoke a god?”

HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING | 239

as a means to promote a unique approach to learning and a focus on the overarching principles that unite various martial arts and styles.

From the birth of ILF and our first seminar, Legacy of the Blade, which featured blade arts from around the world, it was only natural that we would progress towards Hoplology.

In short, it was martial arts and the guidance from Mahipal Lunia Sensei that brought me to where I am now. Martial arts also provided the proper context for me to begin examining spirituality as well as re-ap240 | The Immersion Review

proaching filmmaking with an authentic purpose, something that was missing throughout film school. This alone is a true testament to the value of practice.

ILF Barbados The expedition with the ILF was a watershed moment for me; the strange novelty of returning to filmmaking, beginning the study of Hoplology, and witnessing rare martial arts and the culture that birthed them. I am always inspired when I see how martial arts are woven throughout people’s lives and culture. They were

something that I imagined happened in only one of two ways, as a sport or as means of self-defense.

Witnessing the approach of Caribbean masters opened my eyes to how integrated these practices were within their culture. They served not solely as a means of self-defense, sport, amusement, and play but also as a spiritual practice, with songs and dancing woven into them.

This multi-faceted quality brings the art of combat to greater heights as it serves the individual by first becoming a means of communication and then coaxing out more and more authentic expressions of the self.

There is no doubt that this quality is alive in each martial art, but it is the prevalence and visibility of that quality within these Caribbean arts that is so inspiring. There is something fascinating about an art that can exist in so many modes: game, dance, combat, ritual, with the only difference being the intention that the fighters bring.

The spirituality imbued in these arts is something deeply fascinating. To engage another in ritual combat as a means to fortify one’s spirit is something that touches upon a

deep need in Western civilization, a desired connection to the divine.

Many in the West go to church to be with God, but who battles to invoke a god? It was within the Trinidadian arts of Kalinda, Rope-Jab, and Gilpin that I found this spiritual aspect and it is something I have taken home with me for contemplation. How can I venerate my gods and ancestors with my actions? How can I connect to the mythic spirit of battle in a meaningful way in this modern age? What appears on the outside as sport, or a pastime, blurs the lines between mundane training and a true act of ritual.

The stick as a weapon became very interesting to me during this expedition. The old Barbadian Sticklicking tales of men who died after duels is suggestive of their brutal efficacy. All of this is guiding me towards a deeper exploration of the stick’s many forms. There is a primal quality to it, seen across cultures as a weapon and a tool of travel. Indeed, all children experience an instinctive admiration for the stick when they first swing one in the woods.

HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING | 241

ajor part.

History Revisited

The expedition left little time for self-reflection as there was rarely a still moment my days. There was always something to be filmed, footage to download or gear to ganize for the next shoot. We often rose at 6 AM and were ready to arrive at our locaAnother momentous torecord theduring those early on by 8. There may even have been a podcastBy oraspect interview to James Herndon orning hours.

H

expedition was that it was my first

We filmed at a new location each day. Chosen locales were rural villages, national filmmaking in artist at each site arks, beaches,full-fledged plantations and a church.

We filmed endeavor a different martial ave present you evertheir wanted to discover origins a little-known art, or hey would system and thenthe it to of Lunia Sensei and martial Prof. Michael over five years.

This teach homecoming was machete and stick on awas distant This yan andpractice Prof. T.J. Obi. Some kind fighting of free play oftenshore? presented at special issue of Masters magazine will introduce youWe tointimidating. a group enlivening and astate. little I who combine e end to show the art in its most fluid set aside of an individuals entire day e practical and scholarlytostudy of global fighting in new innovative ways. which just so happened be Thanksgiving) as systems a free play day.and Each feel as though I’veand come fullthe circle; I pages was develach of artist the hand combat systems which they describe coming artial would present their system then theyinwould try them ped here, ineach the Western hemisphere, and reflects complicated social history of the ut against other, which to be incredibly exciting! After had been soproved enmeshed inthefilmmaking aribbean.up filming at our location we would break for lunch, take an rapping that Ibegin became jaded to1971, the process.

Iboth members of our to and rest and thenwith filming again. was during thiswe time that I met trained “Mr.B.” from 1969It to when were ee conducted our Air interviews with artists inatwhich would share GA, and I was United States Force; he was stationed Moody AFB, Valdosta, abandoned itthein pursuit ofthey meaning, story and theirWarner time training. addition to that, were ationed at stories RobinsofAFB, Robins,InGA. We had bothstories recently returned stateside only to find myself returning to the ways told between shots and in our short rests.

There truly was not om our overseas deployments. It was about a two-hour drive from amy base to his; ull during the expedition! nd Imoment made frequent weekend drives to visit his dojotime (actually run by Ben Mooney in beginning.

However, this multiowntown Valdosta, on the base).

Although I was aMichael Shodan and in Shorin-ryu, and he I can recall retiringnot to bed at 11 one night and seeing TJ ple disciplines are being united, from as Godantheir in Shito-ryu, I felt it was worth time and effort to get to know him and ill asharing past and present findings inmy their studies of history and arn what Hiseight reputation hadthis, spread throughout the up AirtoForce artial arts.I could.

We spent days like filming all the way the and in martial visual arts to the martial arts, theolts media. curity gate at the airport. It was fascinating but also a great deal of hard ork. came easy Anthropology at the in end of article some days.

Yet some nights I found and context of ogy, and even ritual WithSleep firsthand knowledge, this I will review the background yself lying in bed, my mind still buzzing from the day’s revelations. e development of the National Karate and Jujitsu Union (NKJU), founded by Richard magic.

While still a may part of who Ibyam, aillargeon in 1974.how My well viewpoints may orwent not beasshared others.

It was surprising the logistics as far schedules and That’s OK. I nly knowwere what I know my own eyes andIexperiences, and film is through less something willso my beplanning ob-through conversacations concerned.

I had never been to Barbados ons withfor many of thepart. people will name below.

First, some as blind the most Yet whom we hadIno with our shooting loca-background and sessing over than issues a medium for the ntext. ons and the weather cooperated surprisingly well in spite of it being the et season. Co-directing this of project with things.

Lunia Sensei wentreturn smoothly. discovery other This raining in Japan ensei approached directing from a martial arts angle, prompting quesfilmmaking willofBase benefit many andPrefecture, Japan, While at Johnson Force near Sayama, Saitama ons thatstationed wereto informed by hisAir decades training. tween 1956-1962, Richard Baillargeon had the opportunity to train under Kyoshin not just myself. The goal is now more ost-Game ayo, who wasAnalysis affiliated with the Seishin Kai organization, headquartered in Osaka. than self-expression.

It and is culturhnson AFB was formerly Air Base when was under The fact that this isjust onlyIruma the beginning for theit ILF theJapanese Hoplo- control during WWII. Kyoshin Kayo was a memberIofhope the that JapanweSelf-Defense Forces, and was assigned gical Expeditions is awe-inspiring. can revive older and al preservation through the study of The style karateaccepted they practiced wasinShito-ryu, as being refined by ssIruma/Johnson. well-known martial arts asofwidely practices local regions Vincent powering his passion with state-of-the-art here they arethe diminishing. it wouldof alsowhich be amazing to take such humanYetstory, combat is equipment. Vincent powering his passion with state of specific subject, such as Hoplology, and bring it to the masses (outside of a martial art equipment. certainly a major part. ts context). Imost have also gained further insight into my own investment in martial arts uring this expedition. While the primary purpose of martial arts is self-defense, I have

The expedition left little time for self-reflection as there was rarely a still moment in my days. There was always something to be filmed, footage to download, or gear to organize for the next shoot. We often rose at 6 AM and were ready to arrive at our location by 8. There may even 242 | The Immersion Review

Martial Arts Masters 103

have been a podcast or interview to record during those early morning hours.

We filmed at a new location each day. Chosen locales were rural villages, national parks, beaches, plantations, and a church. We filmed a different martial artist at each site.

They would present their system and then teach it to Lunia Sensei and Prof. Michael Ryan and Prof. T.J. Desch-Obi. Some kind of free play was often presented at the end to show the art in its most fluid state.

We set aside an entire day (which just so happened to be Thanksgiving) as a free play day. Each martial artist would present their system and then they would try them out against each other, which proved to be incredibly exciting! After wrapping up filming at our location we would break for lunch, take an hour to rest and then begin filming again.

It was during this time that we conducted our interviews with the artists in which they would share history and stories of their time training. In addition to that, stories were always told between shots and in our short rests. There truly was not a dull moment during the expedition!

I can recall retiring to bed at 11 one night and seeing Michael and T.J. still sharing their past and present findings in their studies of history and martial arts. We spent eight days like this, filming all the way up to the security gate at the airport.

It was fascinating but also a great deal of hard work. Sleep came easy at the end of some days. Yet some nights, I found myself lying in bed, my mind still buzzing from the day’s revelations.

It was surprising how well the logistics went as far as schedules and locations were concerned. I had never been to Barbados, so my planning was blind for the most part. Yet we had no issues with our shooting locations and the weather cooperated surprisingly well in spite of it being the wet season. Co-directing this project with Lunia Sensei went smoothly.

Sensei approached directing from a martial arts angle, prompting questions that were informed by his decades of training.

HOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING | 243

Post-Game Analysis The fact that this is only the beginning for the ILF and the Hoplological expeditions is awe-inspiring. I hope that we can revive older and less well-known martial arts as widely accepted practices in local regions where they are diminishing. Yet it would also be amazing to take such a specific subject, such as Hoplology, and bring it to the masses (outside of a martial arts context). I have also gained further insight into my own investment in martial arts during this expedition. While the primary purpose of martial arts is self-defense, I have found that it is the cultural and spiritual aspects that truly fascinate me. It is precisely those two aspects which can motivate potential students to take up these traditional combat systems. I am hopeful that

I can bring more of these aspects into my own training so that I may discover my own personal expression and find my own beat.

For those interested in the study and archiving of fighting traditions, I would suggest first getting to know the martial arts in one’s own town.

Every culture has created some kind of fighting style to address threats, create bonds, and entertain the village. I am constantly surprised when I discover new fighting styles existing in countries I could never have thought of visiting. Lo and behold, a legitimate stick fighting style still exists on the margins, entertaining small groups while the rest of the town watches television.

Joining a small or traditional school may also help to bring exposure to martial arts that have not been

“It is the smaller schools operating out of garages, or with classes held in public parks, that often hold the keys to the old ways.”

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divorced from spirituality. Larger dojos and gyms in the martial arts business most likely don’t have time for this. It is the smaller schools operating out of garages, or with classes held in public parks, that often hold keys to the old ways. There are oGICaL the FILMMakInG also opportunities to intern with the

ILF on some upcoming expeditions.

Feel free to get in touch and be ready to work! While I am still discovering what will come of this marriage of film, Anthropology and martial arts, I know that there is great value in documenting these ongoing journeys of self-expression and discovery.

Post-Script

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Post-Script Post-Script

VINCENT: POST-SCRIPT THROUGH A LENS TITLE DEEPLY

Michael J. Ryan: Do you remember what stood out for you in the pre-planning of the expedition?

Vincent: To take it back right to the beginning, Mahipal Lunia Sensei called me. He just proposed that instead of bringing these guys1 here, it might be a better idea to go there and see them in their element. It could be a fun thing. The first thing I thought was, I did not even know what language they spoke in Barbados. I have to admit how naive I was, it could have been French. But it sounded great. I was a little nervous, because it was such a new thing.

Planning it was interesting because I had never been there. It is essentially like planning a vacation. So, I looked up some interesting sights to see. Fortunately, it is a fairly small island. I looked at what would be interesting to film in and then just talked to Philip.2 He guided me through some interesting places to set some of the filmmings in. One that sticks out was Farley Hill National Forest, 1 Vincent is referring to the interviewees from Barbados and Trinidad.

2 Dr. Philip Forde.

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where there are some ruins of an old mansion there. That was just such a win for us to film in those beautiful ruins. That was our second day with the Kalinda guys. So, it was pretty interesting. I had never actually done location scouting for a place I had never been to. I was always used to doing it locally, and driving there, and seeing it. So, that was cool. It was very satisfying to be able to do that.

It was hard, too, because I was the film crew. Everybody helped out. Everybody did the labor and helped carry things. But in terms of what goes where and all the little technical details, it was me. It was such a small production. So that was tricky, but I could handle it. It was nice to get help for the later expeditions that we did. But this one has a close place in my heart just because I was doing all of this stuff, running around, switching out cameras, and everything like that.

MJR: As an Anthropologist and martial artist, what stood out for you during that trip? What people or what events?

Vincent: I think the big thing, because it is a personal interest, is how martial arts can serve as a rite of passage, especially for young men becoming actual men. That has always been an interest to me, how martial arts can be a vehicle for that. Before, it was actual combat that did that. In these modern days, especially in the West, there are no rituals for that. It is hard to come by aside from joining the military and seeing actual violence or joining a gang or something like that. Even in martial arts in the West, so much of it is watered down or commercialized. So, it was interesting to see how these arts functioned and how they served all these different purposes— not just teaching you how to fight, but how they engage a whole community as a means of self-expression through dance and singing. But also allowing the youth to fight in a controlled manner that probably will not get you killed, but will put a set of balls on you for lack of a better

way of putting it. So, that was one thing that impressed me.

I had not been doing martial arts for probably about two years when I embarked on this trip. I had trained a Japanese martial art. So, it was nice to see the difference. These African Diaspora arts did a lot of gamifying of the art.3 The way I learned was just so interesting to me. It blew me away at the time. That was a watershed moment for me in terms of how effective it can be to teach by making it a song, or a dance, or just something fun, something that you can put your whole heart into, rather than just learning a technique.

3 Vicent is referring to the idea of “play” as something not serious as it takes place outside of everyday life in restricted space.

But in that space where there is no set goal, just a mutual agreement to stop playing and the made-up rules are taken seriously. At the same time, there is a lightness of not taking oneself, the game, and the stakes too seriously. For a deeper exploration of “play,” see Johannes Huizinga. (2016). “Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture.” Angelico Press.

Post-Script: VINCENT TAMER | 249

So, that was a big takeaway. I wrote quite a bit on that in my notes. That stuck with me and something I have tried to bring into my own martial art. Practicing Aiki Jujitsu, trying to find ways to gamify it, especially when I am teaching my younger students where it is important to instill discipline, focus, and attention.

But at the same time, how we could make it so that they want to do this.

That is something I was left with seeing these guys, Keegan and Benji with Kalinda, and the Sticklickers

Philip and Biggard. So, it was extraordinary. Then, of course, RopeJab as well, it is just amazing. How could you get kids to go out and go up against each other and whip each other into submission? But they do it, and they love it. There is a gamification to it. There is an entertainment aspect with the Carnival, and then there is also this ritual aspect that the whip King Ronald Alfred is carrying forward. It is very interesting to see that the multiple platforms of these arts can serve different purposes.

MJR: What were you expecting when you went down? Did you have any expectations of what was going to happen?

Vincent: I cannot even remember if I did. It is so hard to get back before it. Because the second I was there, I was so enmeshed in the whole culture and just seeing all this newness.

It is tough to imagine what it was going to be like beforehand. I remember the first day just getting used to the humidity and the rain and training in the jungle. It was something. I guess I could not have imagined how

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the Trinidadian guys came from left field for me. I was not expecting to see such a strong emphasis on song and dance. There is a lot of philosophy with the ancestors coming in and the spirituality. I was not expecting that. I was expecting this to be more of a showcase of technique with history. But there was much more to it.

There was a spiritual dimension that I was definitely not expecting.

MJR: What have you been up to lately?

Vincent: As of late, I have been trying to wrap up a lot of these ILF projects. A lot is going on. In 2018 and 2019, we were going for it, with all of these different projects, a lot of travel. And now, maybe the coronavirus is somewhat of a blessing in disguise because with the downtime I have, I can start to address all this footage I have. So, as of late, I am working on the Italian blade martial art, Cielo é Meraviglia.4 I butchered that, of course, I need to work on my Italian. But that is a lot of fun. I have finished our Caribbean documentary.5 Then I have got to arrange all

of this footage now. The bulk of the footage is not cut down as a documentary. It is just a straight-up educational piece showing everything in full, all the techniques, and giving everything we filmed. But I still have to structure it somewhat. There is a lot of play. There is also the Portugal documentary. That is next on the chopping block. Then there is the Philippines expedition, and then a few of our big flagship seminars, Born of Blood and Stickmata, in between.

4 A knife and stick fighting system from the Ofantina valley in Apulia province, Italy. See the seven-hour streaming instructional film, “Cielo é Meraviglia: Agro-Pastoral Italian Knife Fighting. With Maestro Domenio Mancino.” https://www.theimmersionlabs.com.

5 The soon-to-be-released three-hour streaming documentary, “The Secret Fighting Arts of the Americas.” https://www.theimmersionlabs.com.

Post-Script: VINCENT TAMER | 251

MJR: What events or situations really stood out for you as a filmmaker and as a martial artist from those ILF seminars?

Vincent: I will start with the martial artist. It is tough because there is so much to like. As the name implies, there is so much immersion that it is almost overwhelming. But for me, I just loved having this huge swath of time where the days blended together. I could focus on martial arts, and especially within Born of Blood,6 there was a huge play element to it. I had many comrades there from just the dojo and people I had met in travels. It was great to have fun on the mat and just experience and experiment with different techniques.

I was doing things that I had seen in an Italian seminar or doing some stick fighting that I have seen in the Filipino martial arts. That was pretty cool. And Born of Blood, it was amazing to see all of these different people coming together who I have 6 Born of Blood took place Feb 21-23, 2020.

A symposium looking at the links of martial arts systems from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Polynesia.

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seen over the years. You get this feeling of a global community. That was very rewarding, very rewarding.

There are moments of pride, too. In Stickmata,7 seeing Dr. Philip Ford, a Sticklicker, we met in Barbados. He was fencing with Marco Quarta, an Italian stick fighter. To see these two worlds meet and this very spirited fencing match was just incredible.

It is just awesome. I just felt excited watching that.

7 Stickmata took place Feb 22-24, 2019. A symposium, a globalized examiantion of stickfightg from around the world.

s and 2015, might would class e rum ’s the

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p and David open éran, of Féching hool. d last arrote open thing 254 | The Immersion Review

kmata and leading a demonstration.

Sticks, blades and cats - the holy trinity

MICHAEL J . RYAN The Fighting Stick and Machete in Venezuelan Garrote

By Mahipal Lunia

MICHAEL J. RYAN | 255

Michael J. Ryan holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Binghamton University. Much of his professional research focuses on the study and documentation of lesser known traditional fighting systems.

His extensive fieldwork in South America is documented in a scholarly volume titled “Venezuelan Stick Fighting: The Civilizing Process in Martial Arts” (Lexington Books, 2016). Michael remembers how his journey into Anthropology and Hoplology began early in life reading National Geographic about the Indians in the Amazon and watching Bruce Lee in the “Green Hornet,” seeing Sean Connery/Donn Draeger in James Bond’s “You Only Live Twice” and Tom Laughlin/Bong Soo Han in “Billy Jack.” These two passions, Anthropology and martial arts, drove Michael for much of his life.

Hitchhiking around the world for six years prepared him to be a good Anthropologist. Pursuing this career path led him to the door of a number of unique martial artists who recognized his passion for their knowledge and accepted him as a student, probably more out of the idea of trying to keep him out of trouble than any innate skill he possessed. In one of life’s strange twists Michael switched from a study of Amazonian riverine peoples to Venezuelan stickfighters. A few years and a few phone calls later, Michael ended up as a core member of the ILF expedition to Barbados. The following interview, conducted by Mahipal Lunia, examines the rise, decline and recent transformation of the various styles of stick and knife fighting that collectively comprise Venezuelan Garrote. The evolution and origin of these systems provides an important comparative case study for individuals interested in the development of New World combat systems. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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MICHaEL j. Ryan

Mahipal Lunia: Can you tell us a little bit about Garrote, what it is, and where it comes from?

Michael J. Ryan: It has been the object of my research for many years.

Most simply, a Garrote is a braided hardwood tapered stick, about walking length, that was once carried as a part of a man’s daily dress in Venezuela from the 1920s to the 1970s.

After that, it started disappearing along the coastal areas. Actually, during the 1920s it became uncommon in some rural areas. I would say that it was gone in some of the more extremely rural areas by the late 1950s. In other places it lasted through the 1970s.

Michael int. Training Mande Muda Silat with Leslie Buck, 1997.

Michael in training Mande Muda Silat with Leslie Buck,88 1997.

SPRING 2019

A braided handled walking stick was primarily a self-defense tool used against animals in the rural areas, but it was also a symbol of manhood.

It represented notions of elite mas-

MICHAEL J. RYAN | 257

culinity, signaling that the man who carried this was willing to uphold his honor and protect this property at all costs. Of course, something similar was also a symbol of manhood among Western Europeans. We are familiar with it as the riding crop of the colonialist in old Tarzan films or French Foreign Legion movies.

The gentlemen’s walking stick was a symbol of elite status among white men in Venezuela where the population was predominantly a mixture of detribalized Indians and Africans who were placed in a strict racial hierarchy. So, a nonwhite man carrying a stick is basically proclaiming that he too is a man of equal worth and is willing to defend this claim in a way that other elite males would see as normal and right. He was asserting a type of status and equality that had always been denied. In certain hands the Garrote was thus a symbol of resistance to oppression.

Where did it come from? My guess is that it ultimately went back to the

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circa-Mediterranean region. Within Venezuela, it seems to have been centered in the rural areas and was connected with the herding cultures of the Midwest and the Llanos, which makes sense.

People riding mules, horses, or oxcarts would need these to keep the animals going and everything in line.

That might possibly be traced back to the southern Spanish herding cultures of Andalusia. There is a possible North African connection which I’m trying to explore but have yet to gather really strong evidence for.

Specifically, an Algerian stick fighting art is practiced among the Berber. They use longer sticks, 38 or 39 inches, but it also has a braided handle. Its footwork follows a diamond pattern. The footwork in Venezuela is a bit more elaborate, but it has interesting parallels. The problem is that in southern Spain, people herded cows, and in North Africa, it was predominantly sheep. Hopefully future research can uncover some conclusive evidence.

abject labors all the way into the 1920’s.

Garrote ties back to the time of the Guapos. That i men, elbows out, wide brim straw hats, and big mu sticks just walking along, thinking that they were th streets. And, if anybody looked at them wrong, the fight.

My historical research suggests that Garro best understood as developing sometime in the walking stick became a popular item initially had many strands including the m fighting, Canary Islands stick fighting, po stick fighting stemming from regional he Berber or Irish stick fighting traditions. Th of Venezuela. Garrote developed in unique the countryside. As political unrest and civ parts of Venezuela, and more waves of imm together to create various local forms of G

Training Apulian Sheppard stick and Stiletto with Italy, 2013.

MRyan. Figure. Training Apulian

Sheppard stick and Stiletto with Gregory Vuvolo, Italy 2013.

There were also different forms and level carried a stick, but most people were not erybody will develop equal skill even if th everybody wanted to be great. Not every Gregory Vuvolo. really need is two or three solid techniqu would you learn any more when what you really wa a family man?

ML: Are you saying Spain is the connection, between Algeria and Venezuela?

Other comes directlypassionate from about Otherevidence people might be extremely thedifferent Southern Spanish herding cul- people a teachers and train with different ended up with complex, sophisticated tures where a alot of herders usedart. Occas sophistication was passed down, and added upon, u occupational tools, knives, goad MJR: Possibly. So much of the archiML:spears, Is Garrote just sticks or were or cattle prods, not there onlyother to weapon tecture, food, and dress in southern MJR:herd During fieldwork alwaystoheard that it could b theirmycattle butI also protect Spain comes directly from North Afof my teachers throughout Midwestern Venezuela w themselves against bandits or rival be used as a machete.” They would, if there was a m rica. And that culture was also transranches. urban/rural me howThere to usewere some also techniques.

And if you can s posed to the New World. There isn’t tensions when herders came to the strong enough evidence so I can’t city to sell their goods and might be say with certainty 92 SPRING 2019that a certain attacked, or when city people raided stick fighting art came directly from the countryside to rob these herders. a specific spot or had some well-deThere seems to be more direct evifined influence. dence of that link.

MICHAEL J. RYAN | 259

ing Stick and Machete in Venezuelan Garrote

of thefrom more the extremely rural areas late 1950’s.

In other places itmade lasted A professor University of byOfthecourse, Canary Islanders through La Laguna in the the1970’s.

Canary Islands great contributions to Venezuela A braided walking primarily a self-defense tool used claims that there handled is a direct linkstick be- wasthroughout the years. There areagainst stick animals in the rural areas, but it was also a symbol of manhood. It represented tween what they call the “Palo Chi- fighting genealogies that trace their notions of elite masculinity, signaling that the man who carried this was willing co,” or the and the walk-thisway back tocosts.

Canary Island immito “small uphold stick,” his honor and protect property at all Of course, something ing sticks usedwas in also Louisiana, grants.

This link can be seenWe in are Juan similar a symbol Cuba, of manhood among Western Europeans. familiar withThe it asway the riding colonialist in old Tarzan or French and Venezuela.

I sawcrop theof the Yépez, a renowned stickfilms fighter who Foreign Legion “Palo Canario” used movies. in Venezuela learned from Temaré Pacheco, and The gentlemen’s walking stickthe was aLeón symbolValera, of elite whose status among in was that people grabbed it from fatherwhite wasmen from Venezuela where the population was predominantly a mixture of detribalized Inmiddle and swung it at each other, the Canary Islands. dians and Africans who were placed in a strict racial hierarchy. So, a nonwhite mirroring each other, in figure eightproclaiming that he too is a man of equal worth man carrying a stick is basically It is said that León Valera taught his patterns.and Tois both Obi and willingT.J. to defend this myclaim in a way that other elite males would see as son the Spanish military sabre and and right.

He wassystem asserting a type of status and equality that had always self, thisnormal suggested a fighting Canarywas Island when In certain hands the Garrote thus a stick symbolfighting of resistance to that hasbeen nowdenied. become a style of folk they were merchants. While traveling oppression. performance.

Where did it came from? My guess is that it ultimately went back to the circaMediterranean region. Within Venezuela it seems to have been centered in the rural areas and was connected with the herding cultures of the Midwest and the Llanos, which makes sense.

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People riding mules, horses or oxcarts would need these to keep the animals going and everything in line. That might possibly be traced back to the south-

to Lake Maracaibo, they supposedly met an Englishman and, as a favor for saving him from drowning, he taught them something called, “Palo Ingles,” English Stick. You stand up straight facing the opponent in profile and thrust the stick at his face or throat. I have only seen it performed once and was unable to record it at the time. When León Valera came back in the late teens, or early twenties, he picked up some local styles from around the Tocuyo valley where he lived.

In 1923, he blended all these systems together and performed his art in public. That was the birth of one particular style. Informants like José-Felipe Alvarado, and the other chroniclers of the mid-19th century, made distinctions between military sabre, local Venezuelan stick arts, and Canary Island practices. This suggests diverse genealogies, or lineages, that had been kept separate but could be blended into a whole range of practical combative activities.

ML: What are people talking about when they mention the “time of the “Guapos?”

MJR: We are talking about the old days. That was a time of a weak state control, a time of feudalistic economic and social conditions in the rural areas where, up through the 1940s, sugarcane was milled through wood-fueled technology that had not changed since the Middle Ages.

Hacienda owners had an iron grip on their workers and held them in debt servitude, which was really a form of economic slavery. They were not paid in cash, but rather in the company’s script. The workers would

MICHAEL J. RYAN | 261

have to buy their goods at the company store, where the prices were greatly marked up. If people tried running away, the foreman of the Hacienda would grab some workers and they would go off into the hills and bring them back.

At the local level, the Hacienda owners wielded extreme power. But up in the hills and mountain, there were still detribalized Indians. There were also small farmers and escaped African slave communities. They resisted being reduced to abject labors all the way into the 1920s.

Garrote ties back to the time of the Guapos. That is when you would find these men, elbows out, wide brim straw hats, and big mustaches. They had big thick sticks just walking along, thinking that they were the best thing ever to walk the streets.

And, if anybody looked at them wrong, they would challenge them to a fight.

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My historical research suggests that Garrote (as a practice) is probably best understood as developing sometime in the late 19th century, after the walking stick became a popular item of dress for the elite.

And it initially had many strands including the military sabre, Spanish stick fighting, Canary Island stick fighting, possibly even Spanish civilian stick fighting stemming from regional herding cultures. Maybe even Berber or Irish stick fighting traditions. These traditions enveloped all of Venezuela. Garrote developed in unique ways in different pockets of the countryside. As political unrest and civil wars occurred in different parts of Venezuela, and more waves of immigrants came, it all blended together to create various local forms of Garrote.

There were also different forms and levels of transmission. Everybody carried a stick, but most people were not great stick fighters. Not every-

eep. Hopefully future clusive evidence.

onnection, between body will develop equal skill even if they put in an equal time. Not evhitecture, food and erybody wanted to be great. Not evdirectly from North erybody liked to fight. All you really so transposed to the need is so two enough evidence I or three solid techniques to get through life. Why would you certain stick fighting fic spot orlearn had any somemore when what you really want is to make money or to be a family man? y from the Southwhere a lot of herdnives, goad spears or heir cattle but also to dits or rival ranches. nsions when herders goods and might be ided the countryside ms to be more direct

Other people might be extremely passionate about this art, and they would visit different teachers and train with different people and challenge masters. They ended up with a complex, sophisticated art. Occasionally, that complexity and sophistication was passed down, and added upon, up until the present time.

of La Laguna in the e is a direct link beChico,” or the “small used in Louisiana, I saw the “Palo Cahat people grabbed it t each other, mirroratterns. To both T.J. fighting system that performance.

made great contribuDanys Burgos, Andrés Yépez, Snyder Ramos, Michael, Saul Teran. El Papelon, Venezuela, 2005. the years. There are ace their way back to Canary Island immigrants. Top: Discovering a tradition of garrote épez, a renowned stick fighter who learned from still exists in central Venezuela. Guaribe, era, whose father was from the Canary Islands. 2013.

MICHAEL J. RYAN ght his son the Spanish military sabre and Ca- Bottom: Danys Burgos , Andrés Yépez, n they were merchants. While traveling to Lake

| 263

ML: Is Garrote just sticks or were there other weapons as well?

niques using them as a weapon, both alone and with a knife.

MJR: During my fieldwork, I always heard that it could be used with a machete. All of my teachers throughout midwestern Venezuela would say, “Yes, the stick can be used as a machete.” They would, if there was a machete laying around, show me how to use some techniques. And if you can swing a stick and a machete, then using the knife is very similar.

One man, Díman Guitterez from Bobare who lived in Barquisimeto, was known for using a six-foot lance, which for me evokes the idea of a cattle prod being used as a weapon of self-defense.

There was also the Palos Sangriento style, which was taught by Félix García who just died last year at age 101. He taught a series of twoman stick drills. He also taught a stick and knife method, and the machete, which he approached differently than many other people.

Another man who just died was named Adrian Pérez. He said that as a youth he used to see cart drivers with something called an “Mandador.” It was a stick with a couple of leather straps a little over three feet long. Basically it was something that mule train drivers would use. He developed a series of 10 or 12 tech-

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Sticks teachers always remind practitioners that the stick is just a substitute for the blade, and that means that you can’t just block, but you have to avoid the blows.

ML: What are some of the key principles, concepts, techniques within the art?

MJR: What is interesting to me as a social scientist is how material technology shapes different combative traditions. If you’re wearing shoes, if you go barefoot, you’re wearing tight or loose pants, it can all constrain and shape how you move your body.

The same is true with sticks. The length of the sticks and its weight shapes how people move their bodies in combative situations. A garrote is heavily tapered. It’s not all one diameter. It is like swinging a pool cue from the thin end, which means that you can snap it in ways you can’t snap a Filipino rattan stick.

I am not saying that one is superior to another, rather they can be used differently.

that makes it unique is the complex geometric footwork. This might originate in some Spanish systems which include footwork patterns going to the right and to the left and circling.

It all seems a lot more complex than other styles that are more linear, or maybe offer a type of triangle. These are all excellent methods, and they can serve you well. But, for some reason the Venezuelans preferred more elaborate geometric patterns.

Another difference can be seen in their general posture and high body carriage. The chest is open, the chin is up, as if to say, “Hey, what do you want from me?” It’s a different way of expressing machismo than what you see in other combative traditions.

The weapon’s taper really gives it some unique possibilities that other traditions maybe decided not to exploit. The other thing about Garrote

MICHAEL J. RYAN | 265

y future nce.

between

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Mahipal being a bully. The good-natured testing and challenging of each other in Barbados never stopped.

ML: What is “Tamunangue” and how did it come to have a relationa in the ship with Garrote?

link bee “small uisiana, alo Caabbed it mirroroth T.J. em that

MJR: Sometime during the early 20th century, villages in Midwestern Venezuela would drink, eat, and pay their respects of Saint Anthony.

Interestingly, the fights that would break out among young men were somehow incorporated into this fesontribu- tival. You would have a group of muhere are sicians playing introductory instru-

mental songs. Someone would gather everybody around saying the rituals were about to begin. And then two men would engage in a duel for a while, refereed by a man named the Capitan Mayor. He would keep everything going. Then, depending on the village, there were five to seven different types of dances involving both men and women, some in pairs and other being group events.

back to Canary Island immigrants. Top: Discovering a tradition of garrote wned stick fighter who learned from still exists in central Venezuela. Guaribe, ther was from the Canary Islands. 2013.

he Spanish military sabre and Ca- Bottom: Danys Burgos , Andrés Yépez, merchants. While traveling to Lake Snyder Ramos, author, Saul Teran. El 266a favor | The Immersion Review man and, as for saving him Papelon, Venezuela, 2005. alled, “Palo Ingles,” English Stick.

Sometime in the 20th century, duels started to be incorporated into this dancing. I was told that these were real fights where blood could flow.

Young guys will get pissed off at each other. People got a little drunk and started hitting each other harder and things escalated. You run into somebody who stole your girl at a party a few months ago, so you invite him to get your payback. It was the same situation if somebody was messing with your sheep or coffee.

And it wasn’t just sticks. Machetes or knives were commonly seen. Or it could start out with sticks and then people would start pulling machetes and knives out of their pants and socks.

Sometimes groups would go somewhere else and stage massive brawls involving sticks, machetes, knives, bricks, bottles, or anything else they can get their hands on. Violence was much more acceptable back then.

Grievous injuries or the occasional death were mourned. And all of this

could have legal ramifications. But death was much more common. Between malnutrition, malaria, dysentery, and other diseases, life expectancies were much lower.

In the 1940s, Venezuela finally had a modern army that imposed order across the country. Eventually the military dictatorship was overthrown. There was a democratically elected government and they wanted to bring everybody under an umbrella where all Venezuelans were the same. There was a conscious effort to create the notion that we all share the same history, goals, and identity, rather than simply being isolated communities.

To promote feelings of national unity, they popularized and promoted the Fiesta de San Antonio. As part of that folklorization process, “La Batalla” [the older form of celebration and fighting] was changed from being a real duel to a performance art. In fact, it was taken on the road

MICHAEL J. RYAN | 267

and promoted not only within Venezuela but around the world to show the beauty of Venezuelan culture.

Sometime in the 1940s it was renamed the “Tamunangue” after the six-foot-long Tamunangue drum which are played in performances.

And that is how most people know Garrote today. The Tamunangue is a dance often performed by wom-

en and children. Needless to say, the old guys who are still alive look at this and say “Hmm . . . Garrote came first.” They tell me “Garrote came first and Tamunangue came afterwards.

Don’t forget that, Garrote is an art of the Pueblo, an art of self-defense.

It is not a dance.”

ery similar. One om Bobare who as known for ush for me evokes being used as a

died was named at as a youth he with something was a stick with a little over three s something that use. He develtechniques using alone and with a Michael and Mahipal in the middle of the forest.

Sangriento style, which was taught by Félix García Ryan and Lunia in the middle of the age 101. He taught a series of two-man stick drills. He forest. nife method, and the machete, which he approached er people.268 | The Immersion Review

mind practitioners that the stick is just a substitute for

ML: What is it like learning Garrote in Venezuela today? And how might individuals in the Americas or Europe go about studying these systems?

MJR: Nobody in the United States is openly teaching this material, and anyone who says that they are is lying to you. Within Venezuela, over the last two decades people have moved to Caracas and taken the art with them. So, there are some classes in the parks in downtown Caracas and around the city. In the rural areas, up to 2015, there were a few public schools. These might meet in someone’s shoe shop, where you would have to move the equipment before the class could start. Or may-

be someone had a little rum-shop.

You would clear the tables and that’s the school.

There have been schools at this level of organization throughout the centuries. Unfortunately, most of those had died out by the 1990s. The people I studied with in 2005, said that they trained their last students in the late 1990s. That was really the end of this generation of schools. By the time I was doing my research, the older generation of teachers was dying out and that last generation of students, men in their forties, were saying “Garrote is mine, I’m not teaching this to anybody. This is my art.” Obviously if they don’t change their attitude, Garrote is to die.

MICHAEL J. RYAN | 269

A few of these guys have started opening up and teaching publicly.

Manuel Rodríguez and David Gonzales have been holding regular classes open to the public for the last few years. Sau Téran, one of my instructors and another student of Félix García, like Manuel and David, is teaching Garrote again in the back of his Kung Fu school. Eduardo had students, even though he died last year. He had a long history of teaching Garrote openly in his backyard. Those men are very open and very friendly and that’s about it. Everything else is BS.

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ML: Last question. You will be coming to Stickmata and leading a demonstration. Will this be the first time that Garrote has been shown in the United States?

MJR: No, but this will be the first time that authentic Garrote will be shown. Or maybe I should say that it will be the first time that you’ll see a pale reflection of the real Garrote.

To be honest, my skills, they’re pretty weak. I’m not that good in Garrote, but I can demonstrate some of the system’s authentic content. I will try to replicate the environment, the context, that it is practiced in. Hopefully the people I’m showing this to can understand it, and feel it, the same way I felt it. After that, people can draw their own conclusions as to what Garrote might have to offer.

STICKMAN DOH ‘ FR AID NO DAMOM : Stick and Machete Fighting in the New World

By Michael J. Ryan

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A number of tell-tale signs point to a wealth of living combative traditions in Latin America and the Caribbean, if one goes off the beaten path and keeps one’s eyes open. A farmer riding his bicycle along a rural path with a three-foot stick, strapped underneath his frame. A night watchman in Barbados strolling along the grounds of a factory late one night giving a twirl to a three-and-a-half foot stick. Alternatively, while enjoying Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago ,one may come across two men in brightly adorned devil costumes thrashing each other mercilessly with a long rope or shorter steel cable whips.

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One question arising from this wealth of traditions is the differences in the way these men choose to fight.

There are common elements among these arts, such as the one-on-one ritualistic nature of these combats and that many of these arts deeply connect with local African-descended communities (with midwestern Venezuela being a notable exception). Also the use of the stick or the blade being highly valued over firearms (again, with the use of whips in Tobago being a notable exception).

Examining the variety of the sticks or blades used in these areas in different combative modalities such as bar brawls, sporting events, or traditional celebrations leads to a range of interesting questions.

At this time, however, the focus of our discussion turns to the connections surrounding the development of these arts as emerging out of a set of historical, political, economic structures, and cultural norms. In order to further explore the nature of these linkages, instead of looking solely at the Caribbean or only Latin America, two countries are chosen from each region, recognizing that these areas have a long history with

each other where the movements of peoples, ideas, and technologies crisscrossed the area for centuries.

Due to the unique conditions of conquest, colonization, and incorporation into the North Atlantic trade network, this area provides a unique site to examine various ways local combative traditions have shaped and are shaped by larger socio-political and cultural forces that swept through the region.

One proviso to keep in mind when thinking about the origins and development of combative arts was that no ethnic group has ever had a monopoly on armed fighting traditions.

In Western Europe, people regularly fought with sticks and blades of various sizes and engaged in rock-throwing melees or duels at both the individual and communal levels until the mid-19th century. In the case of Africa, the number of scattered accounts published over the years suggests a widespread existence of armed combative traditions throughout the continent. What this means is there is a real possibility that any combative technique may have quite a convoluted genealogy, and that one must draw on other sources to trace STICKMAN DOH 'FRAID NO DAMOM | 275

an art to a specific area and point of time. Furthermore, many of these arts were developed by men whose only goal was to achieve some form of victory and were often quick to take moves wherever they encountered them as long as they were seen as effective. Since combat is a very pragmatic endeavor, this adds another layer of difficulty in trying to trace back a community repertoire of combat. With this mind, we begin in the Caribbean.

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Barbados The easternmost island of the Caribbean, Barbados shares elements with other countries of interest. This study provides a unique perspective on how the art of stickfighting (or Sticklicking as it is known on the island) evolved over the last 50 years: from a diverse collection of armed and unarmed self-defense and ritual fighting techniques to a popular recreational sport before receding from the public consciousness in the face of cricket and other modern sports.

At present, it is mainly recognized as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of Barbados.

In simple terms, Sticklicking utilizes an approximately 39 x 1 1/4” hardwood stick against similarly armed individuals. Up until the 1950s, especially in the rural areas, most men armed themselves with a stick upon leaving their houses. Historically, Sticklicking is best seen as a collection of African stick and single-edged blade fighting traditions that were later influenced by the

English saber and single-stick traditions. The earliest accounts of stick fighting in Barbados only go back to the 1940s, which probably betrays the lack of interest local chroniclers had in Afro-Barbadian popular culture rather than a centuries-long absence of combative traditions in the country.

One element Barbados shares with every other country under consideration here was the insatiable demand of Western Europeans for sugar. The demand for sugar is what

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drove a great deal of the transatlantic slave trade and the importation of Africans into the New World.

Barbados was first settled by the English in 1627. By the 1630s, the spread of sugarcane plantations on the island had led to the need for a large pool of cheap reliable labor.

Captured Africans were brought to the island to deal with this labor issue in such great numbers that after a few decades, the enslaved African populations were double the English population of free and indentured servants.

Another consequence of the ascendancy of an export-oriented plantation-economy was a displacement of small farmers in favor of a planter class who dominated the social, political life of Barbados up through the abolition of slavery in 1834. The planter class then continued to dominate the country’s affairs up through the 1930s. At this time, violent civil unrest spread throughout the British-held colonies of Latin America and the Caribbean revolving around the diminishing global demand for sugar, which exacerbated the already harsh and exploitative conditions of workers who lacked political repre278 | The Immersion Review

sentation. Only with the advent of independence in 1966 did the plutocracy of the planter elites come to an end.

In conjunction with a stranglehold on the political and economic system by a small number of elites, the Church of England played a prominent role in the history of Barbados controlling the educational system and by extension the means for social advancement. For anybody seeking to escape the toil of poorly paid agricultural labor, those in power ensured aspirants embraced English values and cultural practices espoused by the church and supported by the government.

As in many other areas, the beginnings of combative arts that we see today in the New World are challenging to pinpoint. Nevertheless, by the early to mid-19th century, chroniclers began to document the existence of unique combative systems throughout the region.

Research by Motteley (2014), and Forde (2018), provides an overview of Sticklicking in Barbados from the 1940s to today and informs much of the following information. During this time, Sticklicking was present

both as an art of self-defense/security tool and as a leisure activity. Interviews with men who were active Sticklickers in the 1940s present a picture where Sticklicking is highly popular throughout the island and treated as a valued skill. The oncewide popularity of Sticklicking can be seen in the number of different styles remembered as being practiced at the time such as Donelly, Maps, Square, Diamond Sword, San Francis, Queensbury, and Johnson. Of these, only the last two remain at present.

In addition to fighting with a 39” or longer stick, some Sticklickers also learned how to fight with empty hands alone and in conjunction with stick techniques that included punches, slaps, kicks, trips, hip and shoulder throws. These variations suggest a wide range of combative moves to deal with a variety of modalities, or the rough and tumble nature of combat where one does anything needed to win. Due to the lack of firearms, and possibly a valorization of close quarter combat as the manly ideal of “fair-fights” at the time, men predominantly fought with occupational tools such as knives, machetes, and walking sticks. Thus, securi-

ty personnel such as police officers, night watchmen, and labor foremen, had to possess a level of skill with the stick to control unruly crowds of disgruntled or overly excited peoples.

The value of possessing Sticklicking skills can be seen on occasions when local policemen would swing by the houses and pick-up locally renowned Sticklickers to help arrest particularly noticeable troublemakers. The reputation that these stickmen possessed was carried along as part of a long ongoing pattern of Barbadian emigration around the Caribbean and Latin America to escape the overpopulation and depressed living conditions back home. Many times, their skills with their sticks were used by colonial governments or plantation owners to quell political violence or labor unrest. In fact, the local form of British Guyanese stickfighting of Setoo supposedly disappeared in favor of the proven efficacy of Barbadian Sticklicking (Forde 2018). And so came the old adage, “Stickman doh ‘fraid no damom.” With a long, oiled hardwood stick in his hand, a Bajan (Barbadian) man would strike fear in the devil himself with his ferocious attacks.

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As a recreational activity, Sticklicking was intimately associated with African practices, as Africans made up the majority of the population for centuries. From early accounts around WWII, Sticklicking involved men holding the stick near the ends in both hands and dividing the stick into thirds, as is done today in Trinidad and other islands. A shift from a two-handed to a one-handed grip in turn suggests a shift from African understanding towards a European understanding regarding the best way to wield a stick.

Sticklicking as a leisure activity, revolves around social events ranging from dancehalls, casinos, and house parties. Matches were held in a boxing ring, a marked-off area, or just within a circle of spectators. Three-minute rounds with one-minute rest periods were adhered to. Judges were picked, to enforce a rule system based on points given for successful hits or knockouts, and prize money was put up for the winners. Neighborhood champions would also travel to other parishes to challenge other resident champions. Friends and family and fans would rent trucks or walk to these matches to support their local heroes.

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On a more informal level, weekends, especially Sundays, were times for informal house parties where Tuk bands played, people could buy drinks and food from the woman of the house and men could fight all night long in refereed bouts. Finally, more informal spontaneous fights broke out at parties and rum-shops.

Altogether, the evidence suggests that there was a widespread appreciation of Sticklicking matches outside the purview of British authorities. In other words, in the face of oppression and injustice, Afro-Barbadian men created and maintained their own social space where older masculine values of toughness, cunning, and physical agility could be tested, cultivated, and appreciated by family, friends, and neighbors, creating a sense of community in opposition to the elite planter class and their views of what was proper entertainment. Still, it is interesting that there appears to be a lack of heavy-handed enforcement of the ban on carrying these types of weapons that was seen in Trinidad and Venezuela.

Nevertheless, the effects of English hegemony seemed to spread among the popular classes during the latter

half of the 20th century when the incorporation of English cultural values of sportsmanship, fair-play and even a repertoire of specific techniques, appeared to have reshaped Sticklicking. This influence could be seen in the way the stick was held, manipulated, areas targeted as well as victory being determined by third-party judges. Rules prohibiting the hitting of a person when his back was turned, when he dropped his stick, or when he was lying on the ground, further reinforced new ideas of sportsmanship.

Around the time of independence, oral accounts suggest the central role of Tuk bands accompanying Sticklicking bouts (playing before and after individual bouts) began to lessen.

The way Kalinda is done in Trinidad, the music is key to mastering the art and it is performed in a way that highlights strong African roots. This time of independence is also when the Barbadian search for a national identity came to fruition, and more universal English sports such as cricket (introduced earlier to promote English values) began to gain in popularity, almost wiping out the existence of the local art, Sticklicking,

on the island of Barbados. Today, there are only three active teachers left on the island who at times give demonstrations at schools and state holidays to promote the island’s heritage.

Kalinda and Whip-Jab in Trinidad and Tobago Flying 200 miles South by Southwest, we come to another former English colony whose stickfighting traditions have undergone a journey quite distinct from that seen in Barbados.

On the islands of Trinidad and Tobago the stickfighting art of Kalinda is still heavily associated with the pre-Lenten celebration of Carnival.

While the whipping arts of the JabJabs are a lesser-known aspect of Carnival and Gilpin, the art of the double-machete was just revealed to outsiders in 2018.

The development of Kalinda, the Whip-Jab, and Gilpin, much like Sticklicking in Barbados, is connected with the expansion of sugarcane production as one the principal export crops of the New World. First settled by Spanish colonists, Trinidad remained sparsely settled until invitations by local Spanish authorities led French planters with their STICKMAN DOH 'FRAID NO DAMOM | 281

slaves, free blacks and mixed-blood freemen to relocate from neighboring Caribbean countries in the late 1700s. England took possession of the island in 1797. By then, African slaves were double the population of European inhabitants. Trinidad also shares with Colombia, Venezuela, and other countries a tradition of marronage or independent African/Indian communities; however, the maroon communities were small and relatively quiet in comparison to other colonies in the New World.

Slaves continued to be brought to Trinidad from other Caribbean islands until 1834 when Britain outlawed the practice. This further muddies our attempts to sort out the origins of these people’s practices. After the abolition of slavery, the continual need for a reliable, docile, and cheap labor force led planters to bring in indentured servants from India beginning in 1845. By the time WWI was under way, and further emigration ended, an estimated 145,000 people had immigrated to the islands from North-Central India.

Sugarcane dominated the economy in Trinidad until 1884, when the cultivation of cacao began to replace 282 | The Immersion Review

it. The Cacao boom lasted until the 1930s when a global economic downturn, urban rioting, and local crop-related diseases destroyed the market. By the early 20th century, the production of oil had overtaken other export crops. Politically a colony of Britain since 1797, Trinidad and Tobago were ruled by governors selected by the crown who were given almost unlimited powers until 1925, when limited suffrage allowed the election of a proportion of a legislative council. Universal suffrage arrived in 1946, and full independence was achieved in 1976. This progress should not blind the reader to the fact that the state continues to repress alternative ways of belonging and exercising one’s citizenship in a free manner as seen in significant government crackdowns on dissidents as recently as 1980 and 1990.

Kalinda as a stick fighting art and the Whip-Jab are intimately associated with Carnival. However, we cannot forget the existence of Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Trinidadian combative systems that existed before their incorporation to Carnival, nor their use in other modalities besides combative ritual duels. Mid-

western Venezuela also provides another example of this, where Garrote was seen as predating its connection with the Tamunangue celebration.

is led to the blood hole in the center of the ring to offer his blood to the ancestors (Greenberg 2009). Then the next match begins.

At present, Kalinda is a stickfighting or “dueling” art done with a hardwood rod approximately 48 X 1¼”.

Kalinda is a refereed sport with one or more judges. In a Kalinda match, a group of drummers stationed alongside the gayelle or ring begin a rhythm, and the chantwelle begins singing a chorus whose response is often picked up by members of a fighter’s entourage and spectators.

Two men enter the gayelle where they dance around the open space, and each other evoking their African ancestors. Then each contestant performs a solo series of dance steps to feel the spirits, to loosen up the body and let the spectators know the ancestors and invincible protect them.

Striking below the waist is the only principal prohibition. The main target is the head where the Bois-men seek to cut the other man’s scalp so that he bleeds. However, disabling a man with body shots or leaving the decision to the judges are also alternative ways of winning. If a man’s head is bleeding or is “bus open,” he

The earliest accounts of stickfighting in Trinidad suggest there was already a perceived public-safety crisis which inspired the passage of a law prohibiting Black men from carrying sticks over three feet in length.

By the 1860s, there are accounts of regularly held stickfighting contests among the ethnically marked popular classes drawing young men from the colonial elites known as “jacket men” who would take part in these contests. Crossing racial and class boundaries was a threat to the social order and a cause for public concern.

Reading these fragmented accounts suggests that while European forms of blade and stick fencing were a commonly accepted pursuit among elite young men at the time (Hill 1972:25), interacting with African Bois-men who were clearly not their equals exposed the upcoming generation to the debased superstitions and vices of the most disreputable class of society (Cowley 1999:124).

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with the repression of other popular ethnic or class expressions, such as Capoeira in Brazil and Garrote in Venezuela. In these countries, governments imposed laws and instituted infrastructural projects designed to erase the mark of stigmatized communities in urban areas in the drive to modernize and bring their countries in line with Western European patterns.

During these repressive decades, in the rural areas away from strict colonial oversight, secret societies, fraternal orders, churches and village community groups would keep alive older traditions linking them to their African ancestors. Sites would be created and protected where young people could gather to meet socially and engage in rituals of courtship and agonistic competition. These socially sanctioned fights would give young men an opportunity to engage in risky situations whose outcomes could burnish one’s reputations of toughness, cunning, resilience. The resulting social capital could be converted into desirable marriages or an increase in wealth through security jobs or participation in informal/ criminal enterprises. While outlawed 284 | The Immersion Review

early in the 20th century, Kalinda still played a role in Carnival with newspapers covering the crowning of new Kalinda Kings up until the 1980s. As part of a drive to create a sense of national identity among the diverse peoples on the islands, the 1940s saw a shift promoting once stigmatized rural African, and South Asian cultures while forgetting others, such as Chinese. By the late 1990s, due to the state promotion of village traditions, Kalinda was again treated as an integral feature of Carnival.

Carnival, Kalinda and Whip-Jab Carnival was first celebrated in Trinidad in the late 18th century. Originally an elite pre-Lenten costumed celebration, the European descended planter class could dress up like African slaves in private homes and have a good time before the austerity of Lent. After slavery was abolished in 1838, free African began to celebrate their own Carnival processions in public places known as Canboulay, where once oppressed communities could celebrate their freedom and collective power. Neighborhoods would construct their floats and display their personally costumed revelers in street parades. Upon meet-

ing other neighborhood Canboulay groups, boasts and taunts directed towards each other would often lead to challenges and ritual duels with heavy hardwood sticks leading to a never-enforced ban on Canboulay in 1868. In addition to intimidating and repelling elites through their unique celebrations, Bois-men, or stickmen, would take the opportunity to harass, intimidate and assault local Indian merchants and laborers. In turn, this led to merchants hiring men skilled in the Indian stick arts such as Lathi, Gatka, or Shastravidya to protect their community. They were also deputized by the local police chief of Port of Prince one night in 1880 to help the police in putting an end to one of the biggest acts of civil unrest on the island. As a result of these clashes, the governor rescinded the earlier ban on Canboulay.

During this time, Canboulay was treated as a prequel to the Carnival which had a profound effect on its form. The domesticating of the excesses of the transgressive revelry through combining both events resulted in a concomitant decline in the popularity of stickfighting matches and greater participation

Fiber whips used in the Jab-Jab system.

by an emerging middle class of the island. Then in 1904, the Trinidadian state was able to enforce a ban on the carrying of sticks longer than three feet in length or hitting each other with these sticks, leading to even further widespread decline of the art. A set of further restrictions on Kalinda players and African drummers in 1944 coincided with the advent of WWII. The increased STICKMAN DOH 'FRAID NO DAMOM | 285

presence of allied ships and personnel in the area contributed to the development of steel-pan music and local street fighters putting down their big two-handed sticks in favor of switchblades and other small concealable weapons to continue their contests and informal economic activities (Cowley 1996). The role of Gilpin as a double machete art claims the same social roots. I learned that the art was always held in secret until it was extensively documented by the 2018 ILF Hoplology expedition members, because some local teachers were afraid the art was going to disappear.

The Jab-Jab men lead the local Carnival floats. Upon meeting another float protected by other Jab-Jab men, they duel with long cactus fibered whips that can tear the cloth of a Jab-Jab man while leaving his skin intact, shred his skin to ribbons while leaving the costume whole, or cut the seams of the other Jab -Jab leaving him naked in the street. The predominant target, though, was the eyes, resulting in several blind or half-blind Jab-Jab men and a decrease in the number of young apprentices. The shorter whip made of steel cables, in turn, can break bones and rupture internal organs.

The profound influence of North Indians in Trinidad and Tobago is especially visible in the Carnival mas or costumes of the Jab-Jab men. The Jab-Jab characters are a later addition to the series of accepted costumed characters paraded during Carnival. They are dressed in a brightly colorful satin costume hung with bells and decorated with mirrors and rhinestones. On the head, a hood with stuffed clothed horns protrude, and other sacred symbols complete the mas.

What is interesting about the JabJab devil-men is their strong links with the North Indian herding cultures and the worship of the goddess Kali along with African Orixas.

These men have highly specialized knowledge of local medicinal plants and hold themselves to a high degree of comportment all year long.

Then one month before Carnival, they dive into an even more rigorous regime of fasting, mediations, visualizations, herbal baths, and prayer to prepare themselves for the upcoming whipping duels.

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What is unique in these ritual duels of the Kalinda and the Jab-Jab men is the deep connection to ancestral origins seen in the music, dress, language, and beliefs of participants.

This rich visual, aural, and emotional evoking imagery is quite different from the stripped-down austere stick play of the Barbadian Sticklickers today. While these islands have a shared historical trajectory as English colonies, the enduring role of a French Catholic colonial elite appears to be a determining factor in the perpetuation of these arts. As opposed to a more austere and less tolerant Anglican Church, Catholicism has a history of tolerance towards

the syncretic merging of subaltern or colonized communities’ beliefs and practices. In the 20th century, the rise of the nation-state had led several countries to embrace local traditions as iconic expressions of a common root shared by all citizens.

In Trinidad, this included Carnival, which then expanded to include Kalinda. In Venezuela, it led to the renaming of the local festival of St. Anthony of Padua and its raising to the status of a national dance that included the stick duel of Garrote as we will see in the next section.

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Colombia and Venezuela: The Political Economy of Stick and Machete Fighting in the New World Garrote in Venezuela Separated by only ten miles of water making up the Gulf of Praia, Trinidad and eastern Venezuela have had a long history of trade and exchange. The links between the South American mainland and Trinidad go back to the pre-conquest days. One element shared by Trinidad, Venezuela, and Colombia was a lack of mineral deposits, or large urban Indigenous populations, that could be rapidly exploited. As a result, the area quickly became a backwater of the Spanish empire.

Unlike many other areas of the New World, such as the Valley of Mexico and the Eastern seaboard of the USA, Venezuela never suffered the horrific demographic decline of Indigenous peoples. This dynamic, in conjunction with a low population density, has always plagued colonial and post-independent Venezuelan 288 | The Immersion Review

authorities. Socially, Venezuela was organized into strict racial hierarchies that the country continues to struggle with up until the present.

The lack of wealth meant that only 120,000 African slaves were imported into the region and were used mainly in the cultivation of cacao along the coastal regions. Immigrants from the Canary Islands after the Spanish contributed most of the population after Indians, while a much smaller but continual movement of free African from neighboring islands into Venezuela rounded out the population. The Segovia highlands of the Midwest, where most of the research on Garrote has been conducted, was different from Barbados and Trinidad as the population was composed predominantly of de-tribalized and Hispanicized Indian populations. Economically, Venezuela was, and still is, based on

export-oriented raw materials. There was much geographic variation over time and across space in the country.

The province of Venezuela was governed from several towns in the Midwest before settling in Caracas. The geography of the region discouraged intra-regional trade, and goods were usually shipped to local ports along the Caribbean coast for export. The regional economy was also reflected in the political sphere, where from the time of the wars of Independence to the early 20th century there had been two major parties calling for a looser federated type of political state or a more unified centralized regime. For example, the old province of Barquisimeto once served as a dividing line between Royalist and Centralist forces to the North and Liberationist and the Federalist forces to the South and West. This political dividing line proved to be a Garrote stronghold and was a prime battleground between competing factions for over a century.

Lacking a standing professional army until the early 20th century, regional power brokers working through ties of kinship and patronage would align themselves with cur-

rent politicians or presidents in Caracas who could supply money and some arms. Supplies were directed downwards through social networks and kinship structures to hacienda foremen and local merchants. They would then rally local workers and relatives to arms. Drawing on these relationships of mutual support, competing politicians could quickly mobilize large numbers of hastily organized rural laborers and farmers to attack each other to increase their holdings, or band together in larger groups to drive a regime change. The Federal Wars of the mid-19th century, for example, began as a fight over which political party was to take the presidency. Soon, the violence spiraled out of control, becoming a class/race war leading to the death of five percent of the population and the cessation of almost all organized economic activity and government rule. Coups by local warlords continued acting as a normal channel for regime change until the mid-20th century.

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the government over to civilians led to a degree of political stabilization.

The installation of Hugo Chavez and then his successor Maduro led to the institution of a socialist state that, as of this writing, has resulted in the almost total collapse of the infrastructure which is held up solely by armed forces loyal to the ruling party.

What Is Garrote?

The definitive history of Garrote in Venezuela has yet to be written. Most research on Garrote has focused on its development in the Segovia highlands. The research I conducted in 2005 and 2013 has shown there was, or still is, strong pockets of Garrote throughout many regions of the country with some possible links to some styles of Colombian Grima. As Garrote was or is still found in many pockets of Venezuela each with their unique ethnic history, the question arises whether Garrote is one art or many?

My research suggests Garrote came from Spain as a result of a “Civilizing Process” in that country in which the merchant class and elites stopped carrying blades in favor of walking sticks and canes. The wooden goads 290 | The Immersion Review

of herding cultures in the south of Spain and military saber fencing brought over by soldiers were other lines of combative knowledge that existed parallel to Garrote and had influenced many practitioners over the years. Other sources would include the Canary Islands and West Africa. In summary, instead of one origin, I suggest Garrote was developed many times and, in many places, repeatedly as people continually reinvented and reconfigured the art according to their local needs. The innumerable styles of Garrote grew out of these tangled roots.

At its most basic, a garrote is a hardwood tapered and oiled walking-length stick used in the civilian sphere as a weapon and as an integral part of a man’s public dress. In the Midwest, a man would not appear in public without his garrote, regardless of his level of skill. By the early 20th century, the disappearance of garrote seems to have taken place along the coast in big urban towns. In more rural regions of the far Midwest, the local government was finally able to enforce a ban on the carrying of garrote in the 1950s and in the center of the Midwest

by the 1970s. Nowadays, I was told men keep their garrotes behind their front door, strapped to their mopeds or in the trunk of their cars for when the need arises.

One element shared in common by a number of the countries under consideration is that accounts of local stick arts emerged in the 19th century and were used in a wide range of different modalities such as civil self-defense, local forms of communal recreation, and in religious festivities accompanied by music.

Garrote was always seen as an art of the civil sphere although chroniclers write how certain individuals had studied Spanish military saber, and local Garrote styles or Canarian stick arts, suggesting that authors sought to keep the military and civil spheres separate. It was often said that “Garrote was never meant to kill, just gain respect,” signifying the stick was used in intracommunal disputes to reduce the outbreak of unrestrained violence and the spread of blood feuds in a place where state control was weak. If individuals sought to kill another person, they would turn to the blade and later, increasingly firearms.

Some styles of Garrote only trained with the stick or palo, other styles trained with the palo, the machete, and the knife. Policeman up until the 1950s in the city of Barquisimeto were armed with machetes and learned to use different parts of the weapon to inflict pain, break bones without cutting, or slice open bodies depending on the severity of the offense of those they were dealing with, suggesting another highly developed method of civil combat developed by local security forces.

Garrote was also treated as a rough brutal recreational pastime where young men could while away the time between friends and create deep bonds of camaraderie. The practice was also seen as a valuable method to teach young men physical toughness, mental resilience, and a set of quick reflexes and a sharp mind to set up and escape tricks, ambushes, or other traps that might be set by those claiming to be your friends. Readers should bear in mind that, during this time, there were bands of roving militias crisscrossing the entire area. They might be found shooting at their political enemies or resisting the encroachment of large STICKMAN DOH 'FRAID NO DAMOM | 291

landowners against small Indian or mixed-blood farms. Of course these militias also survived by taking everything they could from the local farms and villages they came across.

Venezuela has been called Latin America’s least Catholic country (Dineen 2001). Nevertheless, there are numerous traditions of the local worship of saints. Originally, there were only six main towns and several smaller villages in the midwestern state of Lara, carved out of the larger province of Barquisimeto that celebrated the feast of St. Anthony of Padua. Sometime in the early 20th century, Garrote was incorpo-

William Liscano teaching author La riña con palo.

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rated into this religious ritual. Not long afterward, local scholars turning to popular cultural manifestation began to write about the beauty of these local festivities. Finally, in 1948, the newly elected civilian government of Venezuela, seeking to unite the diverse people that made up this country (who had no broader identity beyond that of a city or province), co-opted this local festival and changed its name to the Tamunangue.

This rearrangement served as an example of how the three primary races that settled Venezuela have been perfectly harmonized in the

Tamunangue, instilling in the people of Venezuela the notion that they all share the same blood and history of everybody else in the country.

Another result of co-opting this local pastime as a national icon was the marginalizing of the violence associated with it. This was accomplished by substituting thin sticks, allowing women to participate and breaking up any impromptu fights. In the working-class neighborhoods and rural hamlets, real violence with sticks and blades still breaks out on occasion, much to the embarrassment of the more “educated” and “refined” member of society. In other parts of Venezuela, this type of “Garrote” is now seen as a performance art while the styles of Garrote that they continue to practice are visualized as purely fighting arts.

Colombia Moving west across the Andes then down then across to where the Magdalena river empties into the Pacific Ocean, a unique local collection of stick and machete arts known as Grima emerged. The colonization of what was to become Colombia began in 1525. The growing importance of the colony to the Spanish crown can

be seen in the way the province was soon raised to the status of the Viceroyalty of New Granada by the King of Spain. At this time, New Granada encompassed the present-day countries of Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Independence came about in 1830 after years of hard-fought struggles.

Victorious generals, Simon Bolivar and Francisco Santander, became the first president and vice-president, respectively. Emerging from these two men’s political ideas arose the main political parties of the Liberals and Conservatives whose platforms have shaped every event occurring in Colombia up through the present. Although a democratic system has remained in place since independence, there have been three military coups as well as two major civil wars, “The War of a Thousand Days” taking place from 1899-1902 took 100,000 lives and “La Violencia” from 1948-1958 costing 300,000 lives. A truce resulting in the two parties alternating the presidency put an end to the violence lasting until the 1970s, when ideologically leftist guerillas began building states within states in remote or marginal arSTICKMAN DOH 'FRAID NO DAMOM | 293

eas of the country. These groups at first found a sympathetic reception among peasants for opening up the new lands after having fled the large plantation owners and their hired gunmen who sought to reduce small farmers into landless wage laborers.

The 1980s marked the rise of drug cartel violence. The onset of the 21st century has seen a leveling of political and drug cartel violence. However, outside the major urban centers, state control is still weak, and low levels of violence are endemic, greatly compromising the functioning of civil society (Herrera 2016).

Economically, gold proved to be the primary source of wealth to the conquistadors and colonists, but as in other states in the region, it was soon replaced by sugar cane. Later, tobacco took off as a major export crop in the 18th century, followed by coffee in the 19th century and bananas in the 20th.

Indigenous peoples provided the first pool of forced labor, but they were soon replaced by enslaved Africans after the widespread deaths of numerous Native American communities. African slaves were brought into Colombia soon after the found294 | The Immersion Review

ing of its first city and in such numbers that, at present, Colombia has the second largest African-descended community in South America after Brazil. Unlike the other countries where marronage did not play a significant role in the country’s development (with parts of Venezuela being an example of this), there were several escaped or free-African colonies (or Palenques) that acted as strongholds of African cultures and traditions until recently (Herrera 2016).

Within the Pacific coast, Cauca region, El Palenque de El Castigo, and El Palenque de Monte Oscuro were the most well-known. Men trained in Grima played a prominent role in every major conflict from the wars of Independence onward, fighting on any side that would promise them freedom. After slavery was abolished in 1851, due to the support of the Liberal party, Afrodecendeantes armed with lances and machetes, as well as some old rifles, fought valiantly in the War of a Thousand Days, the Border wars with Peru in 1932, la Violencia, all the way up through the guerilla movements of the 1970s-80s. In the area occupied by Afro Colombians, community members often found themselves caught between the fir-

ing lines of the guerrillas and the Colombian armed forces exacerbating the already harsh and oppressive conditions (Desch-Obi 2009).

What Is Grima?

Grima, like Garrote, is best seen as an umbrella term for several predominantly Afro-Colombian armed combative systems done with a single stick, single machete, or stick and a machete in each hand. Peinillas (a shorter thinner machete), double peinillas, lance, knife, whip, and straight razors have also been employed. Like Venezuela, styles such as Sombra Caucana, Palo Negro, Cubano, Español, Frances, Relancino, Venezolano, el Costeño, Sombra Japonés, are some of the 35 styles known today (Desch-Obi, 145). However, as T.J. Desch-Obi explains, all these styles were related and shared a common core of eight strikes and fundamental defenses (146). What is unique in the history of Grima was that an economically driven-out migration of people leaving Cauca early in the 20th century led to Grimadores teaching the art professionally in other parts of the country.

Grima and the Military The contribution of Afro-Colombian Grimadores has been largely ignored in Colombian history. Both in the Wars of Independence and the War of a Thousand Days, squadrons of lancers and machetes provided the determining force in key clashes.

Recruited to serve in the border war with Peru, Afro-Colombians comfortable with machete combat took part using the machete or the peinillas as their principal assault weapon because the single shot rifles issued to them were no match for the modern repeating rifles the Peruvian soldiery possessed. Waiting until nightfall, squads of machete- and peinillas-wielding Afro-Colombians would assault Peruvian encampments where they could close the distance between combatants and use their blades with great effectiveness.

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Grima in action. [Photos by T.J. Desch-Obi.]

Honor Contests Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, where face-to-face social interactions occurred, a relationship of reciprocity and mutual obligations held over weak state control.

One’s social reputation was highly valued, easy to damage, and called for almost daily maintenance to uphold. Often, acts of violence were accepted ways to increase, protect, or regain one’s social reputation or honor. Honor contest could occur throughout the regions under consideration in informal sites such as bars, parties, dances, or other sites where young men would gather during their leisure time. At other times, honor contest could occur more formally during previously agreed-upon dates. Skilled grimadores migrating out of the Cauca were able to provide a culturally valued, highly effective way of settling interpersonal contests in a way that was seen as culturally right, normal, and natural, i.e., through the blade, man to man.

A strong tradition of the professionalization of blade-dueling teachers was also seen in Barbados and to a lesser, more scattered degree in Venezuela. What is interesting about 298 | The Immersion Review

these teachings in Colombia, Barbados, and parts of Venezuela is the existence of a graduated, progressively more difficult pedagogical system of learning that can take a beginner through moving his body alone, to wielding sticks and eventually a variety of blades and with weapons in both hands. The widespread embrace of dueling with blades became so popular that in the late 19th

and early 20th century, schools developed specialized guards meant to draw an opponent to attack specific ways, leading to other schools developing counter-guard tactics designed to specifically overwhelm a particular guard and style of a competing school. For example, if one man was skilled in the Grenadino style, another man might find a school specializing in the Venezola-

no Moderno style to overcome their strengths. Colombian Grima also appears to be unique in the integral role women played in the development of this art, with many men freely acknowledging the high level of skill of some women, a situation only rarely seen in the other traditions examined here (Desch-Obi 2009).

Better days in Venezuela. Saul Téran teaching the author El Palo Sangriento in Barquisimeto.

Conclusion The insatiable demand for sugar by the West profoundly changed the ecology, political economy, and cultures of the New World. Forests were cut down to make room for large plantations and to fuel the transformation of sap into molasses. Large pools of docile, cheap labor led to the destruction of several Indigenous communities. This was followed by the continual importation of forced and indentured laborers from African prisoners of war, and then South Asian and East Asian laborers replacing older labor pools which became unavailable. An emerging planter class arose throughout this region, coming to possess great wealth and influence; ending up either acting with the state authority or acting as a state within a state, all in a drive to maintain or increase profits. The political and economic power of these North-Atlantic markets was one of the principal drivers shaping the area and the cultures and everyday lives of the people.

There was, and still remains, a Mediterranean “culture of the blade” seen throughout Latin America. It valorizes the idea of two men facing 300 | The Immersion Review

each other, eyeball to eyeball, with a blade in their hand to resolve their disagreements. Among communities where honor is a highly sought-after and ephemeral status marker, such contests can quickly spin out of control. In a harsh land where state rule is weak or nonexistent, and patron-client relations or kinship networks make up a community’s network, the death of an individual can unleash a cycle of bloodshed leading to the destruction of a local community. However, the use of a stick came to be seen as almost equally valiant as the blade, as proximity is required and the promise of pain is guaranteed, but the less lethal nature of the stick could act as a cultural brake on unrestrained violence.

The wide variety of stick lengths, sizes, grips, and targets inspired interesting questions that drove the genesis of this article. Definitively tracing these arts back to their communities of origin can be an almost impossible task. How can one distinguish between a community bringing over their system, or borrowing and modifying it after looking at practices in other communities? This comparison can be a difficult task,

but some amazing work has been done by Desch-Obi and Assunção linking the art of Brazilian Capoeira to Angolan Engola. Trinidadian Kalinda and some of the older styles of Grima have strong African-oriented traditions ranging from body movement, spirituality, and language strongly suggesting African origins.

In the Midwest of the country, Venezuelan Garrote owes its development to a predominantly Hispanicized Indian population. In contrast, the Garrote developed in the Northern state of Falcón emerged from an Afro-Venezuelan population. Finally, the Garrote practiced in the Midwestern states of Guárico and Miranda states emerged out of a centuries-old network of exchange and trade between the Afro-Venezuelan populations of tne coastal mountian range and Hispanicized Indian populations in the plains down below.

The plethora of different ethnic communities push one to ask whether Garrote is one art or many arts.

In the Midwest where a majority of the research has been done, Garrote emerged out of a strong Indian/European ethnic base which emerged

secondary to the North Atlantic trade networks. Combined with a single-handed grip, and a much different set of body movements than those seen in Trinidad or parts of Colombia, it seems likely Garrote has strong Spanish and Canary Island influences.

Barbados is another unique example, as it is a predominantly African-descended country. Oral interviews with older Sticklickers suggest that there was a shift from holding the stick near both ends to a one-handed grip near one end, suggesting that in the mid-20th century, a shift from older African to British saber tactics occurred (Forde 2018). Thus, martial arts are best seen as pragmatic living traditions that change over time in response to the needs, ideas, and representations of practitioners.

Finally, the Jab-Jab whip master of Tobago claims deep roots back to India and Africa. A co-investigator on a Hoplological field trip to Barbados in 2018 who was raised in India, exclaimed the Jab-Jab whip informant was more Indian than he was, and that he had a particularly Indian

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view of the universe going back to the time of his grandmother. At the same time, other members of the team from Trinidad made sure to also take note of their strong links to older spiritual traditions as well. Finally, the role of the church and Western sports appears to have various levels of impacts among these arts.

In nominally Catholic or Catholic-influenced countries, local combative traditions were at one time incorporated in dominant religious celebrations resulting in changes as well as the persistence of these arts, both inside and outide these religious

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circles of influence. Barbados and Venezuela provide alternative trajectories, with Barbados’s social life being greatly influenced by the Anglican church, which has had less tolerance for heterodox cultural manifestations. In the case of Colombia, there is not enough information at this time to make any generalizations. Finally, it appears that the introduction and promotion of modern European and North American sports by elites caused the near disappearance of these arts. The shifts are especially seen in Barbados and Venezuela, where cricket and base-

ball respectively spread through both areas, capturing the hearts and minds of the younger generation who turned their back on older masculine pastimes. They came to be

seen as simply the actions of an older, more brutal and hyper-masculine alcohol-fueled tradition of chaotic violence, warlordism, and corruption that is better left in the past.

Selected Sources Cowley, John 1996 “Carnival, Canboulay, and Calypso: Tradition in the making.“ Cambridge Cambridge University Press.

Dineen, Mark 2001 “Culture and Customs of Venezuela.” Westport: Greenwood Press.

Desch-Obi, T.J. 2009 “Peinillas and Popular Participation: Machete fighting in Haiti, Cuba and Colombia.” Memorias. Revista Digital de Historia y Arqueología desde el Caribe, núm. 11, noviembre, pp. 144-172. Universidad del Norte.

Mottely, “Elombe”Elton 2014 “Cover Down Yuh Bucket: The Story of Sticklicking in Barbados.” Fat Pork 10 10 Productions. Kingston, Jamaica.

Forde, Philip 2018 “Blocking Both Head And Foot: An Examination of Bajan Sticklicking.” Ph.D, The University of the West Indies.

Greenberg, Elan 2016 “Stick Man” Hemispheres. United Airlines in-flight magazine.

Herrera, Sascha C. 2016 “A History of Violence and Exclusion: Afro-Colombians from Slavery to Displacement.” MA, Georgetown University.

Hill, Errol 1972 “The Trinidad Carnival: Mandate of a National Identity.”

Austin: The University of Texas Press.

Ryan 2016 “Venezuelan Stick Fighting: The Civilizing Process in Martial Arts.”

Lanham: Lexington Books.

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T.J . DESCH - OBI Wandering Warrior-Scholar of African and Afro-American Combative Arts

By Mahipal Lunia

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T.J. is a historian and martial artist who has trained intensively in a number of systems over the years. He is also so low-key you could pass him in the street and never know that this quiet man spent years training both Nigerian side-hold wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, first with Helio Gracie, then Rickson Gracie, and finally John Danaher (head coach of the Danaher Death Squad). After some coaching with longtime friend and martial artist Mark Cheng, T.J. entered a Shuai Jiao (traditional Chinese wrestling) tournament in Paris, France and medaled in his weight class.

In addition to his recreational activities, T.J. has spent decades wandering through Africa, the Caribbean, and South America searching out African, or African-descended, martial art traditions. Back in the 1980s and 90s, civil wars were flaring up throughout Southern Africa.

He was repeatedly caught in the middle of quickly shifting lines of control as government and rebel offensives moved back and forth.

Once, T.J. was stuck in a village (with an ever-diminishing supply of food) for a few months. Eventually, he and a few others were able to take advantage of a break in the fighting to escape by boat across a river. From there, he made his way back to government-held lines and safety. In Colombia, T.J. found himself once again caught between government and rebel forces as he searched for a renowned teacher of a local system of Grima.

In New York City, where he is a professor at Baruch College, he spent a great deal of time training with the legendary Angoleiro from Bahia João Grande. Both of us consider ourselves very lucky that we are able to combine our passion for research with our other love of martial arts. Here is a sampling of his story. This interview has been edited for clarity and re-written in parts for ease of reading.

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An Explanation of Grima

Mahipal Lunia: Let’s get right to it, what is Grima?

T.J.: Grima is an umbrella term for a wide range of predominantly stick and machete fighting arts coming out of Colombia. When we talk about Grima, we’re kind of describing a bird’s-eye view of them all. But they’re all really different from each other because some of them specialize in different weapons, different ranges, different tactics. What unifies them is they’re all coming out of a particular social geographical context in Colombia.

ML: So, is there a specific region in Colombia where this is found, or I can just walk into any street and that will be Grima being practiced there?

T.J.: Grima can be found throughout Colombia, but of the 35 styles or so that I’ve seen personally, all of these styles have come from a par-

ticular place which is called the Cauca. So, if you can imagine, we’ve got roughly a rectangular country and then splitting it into separate parts are two rivers. We have the river Caquetá and the river Magdalena.

These were the main transportation routes through the country and in between these rivers, we have mountain ranges.

We have these very steep and deep valleys in between these mountain ranges. So basically we’ve got a coast mountain range, valley mountain range, etcetera. As we go farther east, the elevations are going up and we’re talking about being up in the Andes where it gets very cold.

For example, Bogota, the capital city, is one place you really want to wear a jacket. As we go west towards the Pacific coast, nobody wears jackets, they would be sweating bullets.

It keeps getting hotter and hotter.

Does that make sense?

ML: Yeah.

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to block the temple,” and you figure out how to put it together by yourself by watching other people fence or “play machete.”

I really enjoyed the fact that there was this clear teaching structure, and, in a way, it was like watching a kung Fu movie from back in the1970’s. You know T.J.: As go down, the elevation come thosewe old Hong Kong Shaw Brothers films we allisgrew es up on.

It’s like from a story the southwestern or Mahipal beats me using this style so, to get revenge, I find a master of also where going down but there are these Pacific coast area of Colombia. this other style to come back and defeat him. That’s how duels operated in Colombia.ranges You had alland these river differentseparatrival martial art academies and people mountain ML: You studied quite a few differwould be like “if you beat me, and I was using the Grenadino style when you ing were theusing country.

Continuing going another style, I would go out and learn this other style which can ent styles of Grima but also othadvantage of the weaknesses of your style and defeat you.” So, there was westtake down into the western third of that kind of thing that I always associate with Hong Kong Kung Fu movies. er martial arts through your life, This thing, where there are challenge matches between academies and then, to the country, we are getting near the right? avenge, themselves the masters have to learn another style and on What and on likeis it about Grima that Pacific that. coast, which we consider the

attracted you?

One ofregion. the other things that really caught attention was the number of Pacific Colombia has my two approaches that you could find in the same area of the country. And the third T.J.: first went to Colombia, I thingthe that struck me wascoast that as a in historian could pursue theseWhen different Istyles coasts: Pacific the Iwest of Grima back in time. With Haitian machete fighting, itwas is very studying difficult to pushthe Haitian art of maand anything the Caribbean therevolution north. atAll back before the in Haitian the end of the 18th century.

In Colombia it was different, because there was a variety of different styles. I I had completed my chete fighting. of the Grima styles that I’ve seen could look these styles as if they were layers in a rock, in what geologists call trip toused Haiti. Then I had heard layers. up examining the language third these Grimadores and stratigraphic been able toI ended trace their lineagto identify techniques and styles and combined this with the different way these masters moved to follow the development and spread of Grima back in time.

T.J. with the tools of his trade.

TJ with the tools of his trade.

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about these Colombian arts from a Garrote teacher I met in Venezuela and a Haitian machete master who spoke very highly of Colombian Grima. When an opportunity arose for me to visit Colombia, I went thinking that this is going to be just a side project, because I was really into Haitian machete fighting. After seeing it in person though, I became hooked.

What fascinated me about Grima was really two things. First of all, they had a very clear teaching structure.

In Haiti, it was much more of a loose intuitive kind of training. You know, “Here’s how to strike to the temple,” “Here’s how to block the temple,” and you figure out how to put it together by yourself by watching other people fence or “play machete.”

I really enjoyed the fact that there was this clear teaching structure, and, in a way, it was like watching a Kung Fu movie from back in the 1970s. You know those old Hong Kong Shaw Brothers films we all grew

up on. It’s like a story where Mahipal beats me using this style so, to get revenge, I find a master of this other style to come back and defeat him.

That’s how duels operated in Colombia. You had all these different rival martial art academies and people would be like, “If you beat me, and I was using the Grenadino style when you were using another style, I would go out and learn this other style which can take advantage of the weaknesses of your style and defeat you.” So, there was that kind of thing that I always associate with Hong Kong Kung Fu movies. This thing, where there are challenge matches between academies and then, to avenge themselves the masters have to learn another style, and on and on like that.

One of the other things that really caught my attention was the number of approaches that you could find in the same area of the country. And the third thing that struck me was that, as a historian, I could pursue these different styles of Gri-

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ma back in time. With Haitian machete fighting, it is very difficult to push anything back before the Haitian revolution at the end of the 18th century. In Colombia, it was different, because there was a variety of different styles. I could look at these styles as if they were layers in a rock, in what geologists call stratigraphic layers. I ended up examining the language these Grimadores used to identify techniques and styles and combined this with the different way these masters moved to follow the development and spread of Grima back in time.

ML: Is it mainly men who practice it?

T.J.: One of the fascinating things about this art was that it was not just a masculine practice. There wasn’t a lot of aggressive machismo among practitioners as you would expect to see among rural, rough, machete fighters. There were all these women also who were really good practitioners of this art.

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I would have to say, though, that when you have so many arts and so many masters, it’s usually really hard to choose your favorite. But as far as my favorite masters, there’s no question, it was Master Sarturia. I interviewed her in January at 104 years old. Her father was, without a doubt, the most respected master in this region where she lived in Caponera, and she was his “Contra-Maestro” (which is like your assistant instructor) since she was a young teenager.

When people came to the academy, they had to “touch” sticks with her first before the teacher. She was the one people had to go through first, she was the gatekeeper, which says a lot. I interviewed guys and they were like “Aggghhhh! Saturia beat me with a horse spur,” you know the spur you’d have in the back of the thing. “She just had a horse spur and I had a stick and machete and she still beat me.” For men in that kind of a culture to admit that, well, it was eye-opening.

ML: Yeah, you touched sticks with her?

T.J.: I did, but you know, I first met her on something like her 96th birthday, and she was such a sweetheart.

At that point, she was a great, great, great, great grandmother, so she wasn’t trying to hurt anybody. She was very happy to kind of teach me and tell me what she knew, but she wasn’t trying to hurt people at that point. She had the heart of gold.

It was evident, it was evident, you know, even just when she was talking, the comfort in how she was holding the machete. She’d be singing and swinging a machete and using it to accent her songs. It was clear she was quite impressive in her younger years. Looking back at all the masters I met or heard about, she was probably the most prolific master in all of Colombia.

This guy named Tuerto, even him, I got the impression from a number of guys that his wife even outshone him.

So, I met a number of guys who said,

“Yeah, I started with him, but I finished my training with his wife who was better.” I was like “Wow, man!” this is really different. In the other places I had been prior to Colombia, machete was just a masculine thing.

On top of that, there were these women in many areas who were enforcers. If a husband was beating his wife in public or something like that, one of these women would come and say, “Hey, back off!” or for example, “If you want to fight a woman, fight me,” and she would teach the guy a lesson. It is really different than other places I’ve looked at in the African diaspora where there’s a really strong female presence and then on the, let’s say, the spiritual side, there was an idea of the Virgin Mary as a type of Warrior-Goddess. But this was more along the lines of an African-Colombian Virgin Mary which was not necessarily the traditional Catholic view of the Virgin Mary.

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A Brief History of Grima

ML: What about the social status of the Grimadores? Are we talking about everybody being working men and women, or were they held in high esteem? What was that like?

T.J.: Let’s go back to the time of slavery where we can initially trace back the existence of classical Grima. First of all, people should know that when I am using the terms, “classical,” “neoclassical,” or “modern,” these are the terms I invented to order and understand the styles. Practitioners wouldn’t say, “I practice a classical Grima style.” They would just say the name of their style. But I have tried to put these styles into a historical context so, these classical styles have been around since the end slavery, about up to 1850.

The year 1851, marks the formal end of slavery. Informally, it would go on for another few decades just be-

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cause of the nature of the law. There was a law that said if you’re born before this year, you would be freed after a certain number of years of forced labor for your former master.

So even though 1851 brought freedom to most people, there were still these people who had been born to slave parents where the old law kept some people under slave-like conditions for another few decades.

As for the practitioners in this time that we are talking about, the Afro-Colombians, they can be divided into three distinct social groups. First we’ve got enslaved people. Then there are “Freed-Blacks.” These were people who were able to take advantage of the law in Spanish-speaking countries and saved up enough money to purchase their freedom. As a result, we had a significant number of Freed-Blacks, particularly in the Cauca. It was probably even

higher in the Cauca than other places in Colombia. There were some sub-communities where we had a Freed-Black majority, or the highest percentage of the population was actually Freed-Black even before the abolition in 1850. Third, we had the Maroons. The Maroons were people who didn’t purchase their freedom.

They had attacked their masters or ran away, and they formed communities in hard-to-reach areas and defended themselves by force of arms.

In the Cauca river valley, we had a number of famous Maroon settlements and also along the Polo River and the Valle de Patilla River. These settlements survived for centuries despite numerous assaults on them.

This is the specific social class that the art of Grima was associated with in this early time period, but it would change as time went on.

ed to spread out from these Black communities in a more systematic way and into the White or Mestizo (Mixed Indian-White) areas. This included the Indigenous communities in neighboring areas such as Tolima, which is to the west, and north into the province of Antioquia. What happened was that there were masters of Grima who were traveling for work. They would go as migrant workers and set up schools of Grima in these Indigenous, Mestizo, and White areas, and the art really began to spread. Now there are communities, let’s say in Antioquia province, where all the practitioners are White or Indigenous. But when you trace the teacher’s lineage back, you eventually will get to a Black master.

Grima was traditionally associated with Blacks and lower-class workers.

But even that changed in the 20th century. At that point, Grima start-

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The Machateros

ML: Who were the machateros?

T.J.: To continue my history lesson, the political parties that would dominate the country were formed before the slaves were freed. They became known as the Liberal and Conservative parties. Immediately after the freeing of the slaves, the Conservative Party started one of many civil wars and the Liberals, as a newly formed group, didn’t have an army.

They were young and they were a younger party and they didn’t have a strong rural base of support of large landowners with many workers who supported the Conservative party.

Wealthy plantation owners who had a large number of workers under their control would order their workers to gather their relatives together, pick up their machetes, and instead of chopping sugarcane, begin chopping the enemies of the big landowner and the Conservative. Many

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countries in Latin America never had formal armies until recently. Instead, a number of large plantation owners and powerful merchants would order their workers and their relatives to support their political cause with force of arms against competing plantation owners and powerful merchants to see who was going to be president and control the government. In Colombia, things worked out differently as the Liberal party formed these democratic societies where they tried to convince the Afro-Colombians to back their political cause and form private armies that would support them.

After the end of slavery, the Conservative party rose up, and it was the Afro-Colombians who came to the defense of the Liberal Party, because the Conservatives were trying to reinstate slavery. In response to this, Afro-Colombians, far beyond

those who had been trained in any of these small-scale private armies, rose up en masse with their machetes. In the decades after this conflict, these guys were referred to as “Negroes Peneilleros,” or “Negroes Machateros,” because they were the Black men who would rise up and defend the liberal cause.

these wars, it was the Liberal Party who relied on these Negroes Machateros. These guys were the frontline fighters. They were frontline shock troops which in many other contexts would have made them cannon fodder. But Colombia, in this time period, didn’t have a lot of artillery or repeating rifles. They all had different calibers of rifles and it was hard During the second half of the 19th t.j.

DEsCH-obI to find ammunition for everybody’s century, there was a long period of rifles. civil wars with new war breaking out once every seven years. And in all of

Wandering Wa

The M

ML: Wh

T.J. blocking a machete attack to the legs in Colombia.

TJ Blocking a machete attack to the legs in Columbia.

T.J.

TJ: To would do freed. Th ties. Imm Party sta formed g a younge of large l vative pa of worke their rel chopping owner an never ha plantatio ers and their relatives competing plantation be president and con ferently as the Libera to convince DESCH-OBI | 315 the Afro armies that would sup

This slapdash approach to war allowed “shock tactics” to be really powerful. And when you look at how these wars ended, with the pro-slavery forces of the Conservative party defeated, they always have one re-occurring complaint regarding the “Negroes Machateros.” You would think that these machateros are just lining up to get mowed down, but the low quality of the rifles available allowed these guys to be effective all the way up into the last of the great 19th century battles which was the “War of a Thousand Days.”

This war was as epic as its name suggests. It actually lasted over a thousand days. It turned out to be a battle between the Liberals and Conservatives parties, and one of the bloodiest battles Colombia ever endured took place during this conflict. Many of these battles were settled by the sharp edge of a machete.

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Machete-swinging Afro-Colombian peasants were still used as frontline shock troops as recently as the 1930s, when Colombia fought a border war with Peru. At this time, Peru was trying to take control over an area of the Amazon where the city of Leticia is located. The Colombian government recruited a battalion Afro-Colombian Machateros from the Cauca region known as “Machateros de Muerte” or the “Machete-Men of Death” and sent them against a trained and well-equipped modern army. Many a brave machateros lost his life in this conflict. However, during the battle of Tarapacá, for example, they were responsible for the few victories on the Colombian side, relying purely on the machete and a fighting tactic called the “Lastico de Sombra.” Basically, they were trained in low-light conditions and would attack enemy encampments at night when they could get close enough to nullify the range of the Peruvian rifles.

Techniques, Tactics, and Styles of Grima

ML: What are some principles, or concepts, that the diverse styles of Grima hold in common?

They would take a pose and hold it.

And the guy who was insulted, it was his job to enter.

T.J.: Beginning with a look at the systems that were created in the last quarter of the 19th century, there were a large number of styles that had a distinct form of dueling which used what was called “Paradas,” or guards. Not all styles used Paradas.

For example, the during the time of slavery, it was more common for two armed men to circle each other.

What ended up happening was that a ridiculous variety of different Paradas came about that looked, to an untrained eye, as if they lacked any combative value. But that was the point! It wasn’t supposed to make sense. Because if I am mad at you, and you take a Parada I have never seen before, I’m angry, and you know when you’re in an emotionally charged state your ability to think rationally drops. So, if you take a regular Parada I am familiar with, I’m going to attack you like a banshee, like a berserker, because I’m angry. However, if you take a position I have never seen before, now I have to stop and analyze. And think to myself, “OK, this is a trap,” because every position is a trap.

Beginning around 1850, there was one mother style that took on this new approach to dueling. It was taken up by other Grimadores and incorporated into their own styles, and this type of dueling became very popular and began to spread around the region. Among those who trained in these styles, the man who was being challenged would take a defensive stance called “The Parada.”

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and Malicia. I’ve got to trick you. I’ve going and tell you, “Ahhhhh, no man, I don’t want s is Malicia. It is the key because when you’ve it’s a battle of Malicia.

n Mahat get esting sell an he end w how repare an use efense. hasize l) em-

forms h full some e they round. T.J. & Michael in what can best be called “Scholars Gone Fighting.” precautionary stops, you never cross the guys TJ & Ryan in what can best be called center line and that’s where your strike stops. Scholars Gone Fighting. ecaution A is that in cases where he didn’t Parada tries to draw youhave in, to take this weird position. “Aggghhhh, a good position. So there is precaution and force you to make a mistake that now I have to take a second to cool can be capitalized on. In one Para- down and look at this.” So, they do al Malicia” terms of control of the terrain, da in I’m showing this because I want what they call “Grundiar,” or circling. d the exit. There were elaborate tactics for you to attack here. The aggressor They have to analyze how to enter has to think to himself, “If I attack because if you just rush in “a Bobo,” here, the invited opening, where will like a fool, and just go to the obvious the counter come from, so I can be opening, there’s a trap waiting117 for Martial Arts Masters ready to counter the counter.” This you and you’re going to pay for it. was a system to restrain violence beMany of the styles, not all, but many cause, “Now I’m mat at you and you styles, have that characteristic which

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I haven’t seen anywhere else. The closest thing I’ve seen is actually the Sticklicking wheret.j. they D had this-o batEsCH bI tle of positions. But in these styles of Grima, it’s not really so much a battle of positions. Instead, one person takes a Parada and waits. The other guy’s job is to figure out that

Parada or make him move out of the position with false attacks.

I find these Paradas really unique. I haven’t seen these types of guards anywhere else. These Grima styles are so diverse, It’s difficult to make a generalization.

Wandering War ML:

TJ: it was gressiv see am women

I wo arts an favorit it was old. H in this “Contr she wa

Whe with h to go t intervi me wit of the machete and she still b well it was eye-openin

T.J.’s Grima against Keegan’s Gilpin.

TJ’s Grima against Keegan’s Gilpin.

ML: TJ:

Yeah, you touched sti

I did, but you know I something and she was

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ML: What makes a great Grimador?

T.J.: The key characteristics are, for the classical style, flexibility and what they call “Destreza” or “Compas,” which would blend the skills of dexterity and timing together, as the term, “Compas,” covers both of them.

It’s both timing and dexterity. The key, though, is “Malicia.” The masters will say, without Malicia there’s no Grima.

Grima is fundamentally Malicia. I could be unarmed and if I’m in a bad situation, I’ve got to escape with force and Malicia. I’ve got to trick you. I’m going to feign like I don’t want to fight and tell you, “Ahhhhh, no, man, I don’t want to fight,” and then attack you. This is Malicia. It is the key because when you’ve got two guys who have good skill, it’s a battle of Malicia.

Malicia is a very broad term. Within Malicia, there are all these subsets that get their own names. One of

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the interesting subsets is “Nyngassa.” It is where I sell an attack, but I negate my attack at the end to read your reaction. Now I know how you defend that strike and I can prepare my counter to your counter. You can use Nyngassa in both attack and defense. Many styles of Grima also emphasize precaution, and Malicia (in general) emphasizes precaution.

In some styles, one of their primary forms of Malicia is to never enter with full strikes. This is because there are some other strong styles of Grima where they swing all the way through to the ground. As a result, Malicia demands these precautionary stops, you never cross the guys at the center line, so you go to the center line and that’s where your strike stops. It may have less power, but your precaution is that, in cases where he didn’t have a counter in mind, you’re left in a good position.

So there is precaution and deception, Nyngassa.

There can also be larger “contextual Malicia” in terms of control of the terrain, or putting myself between you and the exit. There were elaborate tactics for how you enter a house. How do you exit a house? If you’re exiting a house or you think someone is going to attack and it’s a narrow opening, what strikes do you use to clear the doorway? There were strikes that they would use as they entered the doorway to clear the area. I can clear the left side of the doorway without exposing myself if I guessed wrong and he’s on the right side, then come back and clear the right side, and even get out in case the guy was actually on the roof.

These types of precautions sound paranoid. They even think about how you should shake hands so that you can’t get caught in an armlock.

How do you turn a corner, closer to the wall or wide? It depends on the style. I’ve heard both explanations.

In the Spanish style, you never cross a corner close because, if the guy is right around the corner with a knife, you’re not going to have time to read the attack and defend it. What is crazy is that most Grima practitioners, if you ask them directly, will deny knowing any of this. “I don’t know that. I have never heard of it,” they would explain. But if you watch them turn a corner, it is obvious! You already have a sense of which style he comes from just by the way he walks, the way he turns a corner, the way he’ll shake your hand. You already know that this guy “knows.”

These are clear giveaways because a normal untrained person isn’t going to shake your hand at these angles so that you can’t put him in a wrist lock. These became the tells that then encouraged me to push guys to open up. I could tell that at least he had been around Grima people, even if he wasn’t training.

Within Grima, we have formal experts or exponents, but then we also

T.J. DESCH-OBI | 321

e they we’ll nited States ortunity to

ing to Copost-peace museum, go e day there tional postless than a ebel group], regions. In her guerilla g the vacuthe FARQ into these i that says

id that was ARQ hasn’t n in the urlled “invist walk from ther. If you T.J. learning Grima from one of the old masters in Colombia. ons asked. As a foreigner not knowing any of this, walk in certain areas alone because you don’t know are and they’ll just….

TJ learning Grima from one of the old had people who were “Cruzados,” a Cruzado? It could be all Malicia, masters in Columbia. walking from this side of the street to that is con- a few lessons, it’s almost all Malicia. meaning they took rybody local knows that you have to go around, e up this way. It is a dangerous so your best didn’t like, and they got aplace, strike they Because there are so many styles, ion Lab. they dropped out. But they walked her presenters of Immersion Labs Stickmata. In the Malicias can be totally different. hat can the people look forward hearing from away with tosomething.

The masses We have long-range styles where the will say it’s better to know nothing istorical overview and explain some of the categoMalicia is really about getting you a so that people can getto a sense range. Then, because you’re than beofaitsCruzado o some basic Cruzas, time permitting. Maybe disto enter, drawing you in an inch so overconfident.

It’s better to know ave different approaches to arranging their tactics. that I can strike your weapon hand. tyle and a modern style. nothing and run. So when you see nk you.

If there’s one thing that unifies all them turn the corner, you know that en great.

Grima styles, it’s Malicia. at least he’s Cruzado. But is he really

L RIGHTS RESERVED

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Martial Arts Masters 121

Training

MJ: What are their training methods like?

T.J.: As there are so many styles of Grima, there is no common answer. I can tell you about the styles that I’ve trained in. Some have had a clear pedagogy where they give you physical exercises. For example, in the Spanish style, they start you out with preparatory exercises to prepare your body, and then you do these things without a stick before you can get to a stick. Finally, once you get to the stick, there is a clear, well thought-out pedagogy. And then in another style, nothing prepares you for the next step.

But then, there are styles like “Mariposa,” or the Butterfly, which are really brutal. You know what happens in the Mariposa style? The emphasis is on striking the guy’s hand. Strike the guy’s knuckles, finger, and hand.

And unfortunately, with that style,

the only way to learn is to just to suck it up, take the pain. When I finished my training, my teacher told me, “I’m certifying you to teach this, but if you teach, you have to teach the way I showed you. If their knuckles don’t bleed, they’re not going to understand. You’ve got to teach it with the same intensity.” I’m like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” while thinking, “I’m not teaching that to anybody because I’m not sadistic.”

Again, there’s this complete range of teaching methodologies, but one thing that is consistent throughout is the concept of “Cruzas.” For those of you who are familiar with Japanese arts, they’re like two-man kata. So that stuff, the meat and potatoes of most (not all, but most) Grima styles, is taught through these Cruzas. So, across the styles, you’ve got Nyngassa, Cruzas, Paradas and educational Paradas, but they’re all variations on a theme.

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ML: For people living here in the United States, North America, and Europe, if they want to start learning Grima, what can they do?

T.J.: Great question. Unfortunately, many of the masters are dying and are not leaving disciples. It is a little tough but there are still a few active schools. So, there is still a chance to save this art.

ML: In North America?

T.J.: No. There is no real school in North America. There are some guys in Southern California who’ve gone to Colombia and trained a little bit.

They haven’t finished the system, they’re not (so far as I know) certified to teach yet in that system.

Hopefully Immersion Labs is going to organize an event, maybe in 2021 or something like that, where we’ll bring these masters to the United States and that will be a great opportunity to safely study these styles.

Again, the problem with going to Colombia is the mirage of a post-peace

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situation. Go to the Pacific museum, go to Chocó and talk. Spend one day there and tell me if you see a functional post-peace process. I was in Chocó less than a year ago and the FARQ [a rebel group] is still fully armed in these regions. In the rural areas, the ELN [another guerilla organization] has been filling the vacuum. So, all the territory that the FARQ used to have, now I’m going into these areas and I’m seeing graffiti that says, “ELN Presente.”

These guys are filling the void that was opened by the FARQ, and FARQ hasn’t even fully demilitarized. Then in the urban areas, we have what’s called “invisible barriers,” where you can’t walk from one side of the street to the other. If you do, you’ll get shot, no questions asked. As a foreigner not knowing any of this, it’s really dangerous. I never walk in certain areas alone because you don’t know where those invisible barriers are and they’ll just . . . .

ML: You just feel the bullet.

T.J.: You know, just die because walking from this side of the street to that is considered a challenge and everybody local knows that you have to go around, or circle the block and come up this way. It is a dangerous place, so your best chance is going to be Immersion Labs.

ML: You’re going to be with other presenters of the Immersion Labs Stickmata. In your 90-minute session, what can the people look fort.j. DEsCH -obI ward to hearing from you and perhaps seeing?

T.J.: What I want to do is give a historical overview and explain some of the categorization of the styles of Grima so that people can get a sense of its range. Then, hopefully, introduce people to some basic Cruzas, time permitting. Maybe discuss two or three styles that have different approaches to arranging their tactics. Hopefully, Sombra, a linear style, and a modern style.

ML: Cool. Alright, my man, thank you.

T.J.: Thanks for having me. It’s been Wandering Warrior-Scholar great.

TJ hanging out with his new adventure buddies, Tamer, Lunia & Ryan.

how you enter a house. How do you exit a house? If you’re exiting a house or you think someone is going to attack and it’s a narrow opening, what strikes do you use to clear the doorway? There were strikes that they would use as they entered T.J. DESCH-OBI | 325 the doorway to clear the area. I can clear the left side of the doorway without exposing myself if I guessed wrong and he’s on the right side, then come back

Post-Script

T.J .

CHA SING A R APIDLY DISAPPE ARING PA S T

Michael J. Ryan: Can you tell me how your academic career in martial arts research started?

T.J.: It goes back to my childhood background in wrestling. There is a particular form of wrestling in my village in Nigeria, which just was passed on to me. When I was here in the States and people asked me about martial arts, I would always say, “I am a wrestler.” When I was a teenager, I would say, “I do African martial arts,” and they would respond with a confused look on their face, “African martial arts, what is that?” I consider wrestling a martial art. I had seen confrontations between so-called “martial artists” and wrestlers where the wrestlers won, so I considered wrestling a martial art.

It was something I started thinking about quite young. I tried to translate these African combat activities into the vocabulary and practices of North America, which was focused almost exclusively on Asian martial arts.

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I was thinking about this since high school or through junior high school.

Then when I got to college, I knew immediately this was my path. Exploring martial arts is what I had spent so much time doing. So I continued in the same vein, and I wrote many of my class papers on African martial arts’ history, practice, religious background, and things like that. In order to make an accurate comparison, I had to learn Chinese and study the history of Asian martial arts. In this way, I ended up studying Chinese to fulfill the language requirements for my degree and study these Asian martial arts. I always did them compared to what I knew about Africa to see if what I had been arguing all this time was true, that these are martial arts. Certainly, on the academic front, they were. That kind of started my academic career.

I did my undergraduate at Harvard, but my thesis advisor for my undergraduate thesis was from Yale. He

was Robert Ferris Thompson.1 If I am the father of this topic, then Robert Ferris Thompson is the grandfather.

I am standing on his shoulders because he really is the first person to do this work. I tracked him down to be my thesis advisor. I had another advisor at Harvard, who was my advisor more for the religious side, who was what would popularly maybe be called a priest of Ogum.2 Between the two of them, it just helped me put all this African martial art material in a cultural context. My emphasis focused on the spiritual meaning behind African martial arts. A journal invited me to submit a chapter of my thesis for publication when I was still an undergraduate.

1 Robert Farris Thompson is an Art Historian at Harvard. In martial arts, he is best known for the articles (1987). ”Black Martial Arts of the Caribbean.” Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas: Vol. 20, No. 37, pp.

44-47. And (1988). “Tough Guys Do Dance.”

Originally appeared in Rolling Stone, March 24, 1988, pp. 135-140.

2 Ógùm, Ogum or Ogùn is an Orisha (spiritual entity) among the Yoruba nation of Nigeria and Benin. Haitian Vodun and Brazilian Candomblé, Cuban Santaría, and Cuban Palo also honor Ogum. He is a warrior, a blacksmith, and a distiller of rum. He is often associated with St. George or St. Anthony.

I won a grant based on my thesis and another grant to do further research in Africa and Brazil during my undergraduate years. I spent part of the time in Africa and in Brazil, furthering my research. When I pursued my master’s degree, I was again in the same struggles but more interested in new areas. I spent a lot of time in the Caribbean and South Carolina, which are not unrelated. These two regions were related historically because South Carolina started as a colony of Barbados. I spent a lot of time exploring the connections between these two places I applied for and won many grants, and it was a blessing I have been able to travel and do a lot of fieldwork. That became the basis of my master’s thesis: I wrote on the same subject but approached it from a different angle.

For me, it was all the same thing, filling out and broadening the history of African martial arts both in Africa and in the African diaspora.

When I started my master’s program, I began in Anthropology. But I soon felt like it just was not for me.

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Anthropology was too inherently racist for me, at least as I learned it.

When I was working towards a master’s degree, I was taught you take a theory, and these theories are undoubtedly always written by a White guy, whether American or European.

Still, they are the writings of some elite White guy. You take theories by scholars such as Emile Durkheim or Claude Levi-Strauss.3 Then you go to the field to see if what they say is true about some Black, or Brown, or Red people. Because in high school and my undergraduate years, I had a strong background in Psychology, and I knew that it has a bias. If you go in for something looking for something, that is what you are going to see. From a Psychology perspective, it was wrong, and it was clearly racist because it is not like only White people can think and come up with theories, and Brown people, Black people, Red people are just mere data. I had to get out of that. I bounced out 3 Emile Durkheim and Claude Levi-Strauss, who wrote in the early 20th century, are considered classical social science theorists.

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of Anthropology midway through my masters’s program.

My new primary advisor was Boniface Obichere. He was an amazing scholar because, on the one hand, his father had been a Dibiya,4 which among the Igbo5 peoples are in popular parlance like a medicine man.

His father was a medicine man, and he traveled around with his father collecting herbs, assisting in rituals, doing all this stuff. He was steeped in indigenous knowledge like nobody’s business because he was fully initiated, but then enrolled in Western-oriented schools and graduated from Cambridge and Oxford. He has the reputation of possessing the highest understanding of African indigenous knowledge. He had the highest 4 Among the Igbo of West Africa, a Dibiya is a diviner. Often, one becomes a Dibiya by being captured by an extra-human force and compelled to practice divination. A diviner is seen as holding the key to the secrets of lifelines, knowing the underworld, and possessing an ability to see things and transmit that knowledge to others in need.

5 Somewhat greater than a tribe and less than a nation, the Igbo are a people who currently reside in Nigeria and parts of the Cameroons, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea.

training you could get at this period.

In addition, he did a lot of fieldwork.

He knew Haile Selassie6 personally.

He was just one of these guys who were all in it. He had this amazing body of knowledge bridging the gulf between indigenous culture and elite academic culture. He came to this with a perspective that blew all the students and me away. Whenever Professor Obichere taught a class, it was packed. Everybody loved his class because you sat there riveted.

In his lectures, Professor Obichere is telling you about his encounters with Haile Selassie and the lion that sat at the side of his throne. He was really solid. It was just a blessing to work underneath him.

He passed before I finished my degree. All the professors in the department agreed to supervise these suddenly rudderless students. Dr. Ned Alberts was a Lusophone7 specialist who focused on Eastern Africa and agreed to supervise me. That is not 6 Haile Selassie was the emperor of Ethiopia from 1930-1974.

7 “Lusophone,” in this context, refers to those countries that speak Portuguese.

my area of specialty at all, but we connected on the Lusophone part.

Dr. Alberts turned my focus to Angola. I already had a background in African countries that were once Portuguese colonies from my professor, who was very strong on Mozambique. I transposed his interest in Mozambique to focus on the African diaspora coming out of Angola, as both were former Portuguese colonies. Mozambique also has a unique role in the African diaspora, but there was not much material on Mozambique when I was doing this.

I wanted to focus on Angola. Everything worked out well. I zeroed in on West Central Africa as my focus. I did Western Africa as my secondary field, which was natural because I am from West Africa. It was a natural secondary field for me. That is kind of how I ended up in this. I then wrote my doctoral dissertation focusing on the martial arts of Southern Angola and Eastern Nigeria as they exist today, trying to trace their impact in the African diaspora. That is my background.

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MJR: Can you talk a little bit about your book for people who are more interested in the martial arts than academia?

T.J.: Another influence on me was a man I never met, but we exchanged letters. There was a man who wrote a book pseudonymously called, The Secret Fighting Arts of the World.8 It was a popular martial arts book.

I was eating it up. It was about this rich guy who took his money, traveled the world, and interviewed different martial arts masters. I was fascinated by that book. I ended up writing to the publisher, getting his real information. I said, “Look, I am not trying to blow up your spot. But your book has inspired me.” He wrote me back, and he sorted out for me that some of those things were whoppers that he just made up and that some of them he based on real people. Even when I learned that he mostly made it up to his writings, some real events were there. I was already hooked on 8 John F. Gilbey. (1963). Secret Fighting Arts of the World. Tokyo. Charles E. Tuttle Co. John Gilbey was a pen name for Robert W. Smith.

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this. He had already created this image of Shangri-La as wandering the earth, studying various arts. That was it! He gave me the model, even if it was fictional. He gave me the template, and I just did it.

In my research, I have been to almost all of the major Caribbean islands. I have been to the Dutch islands, the Francophone islands, the English islands, the Spanish islands. There are a few smaller islands I have not been to, but I have touched on all of the major islands. On those islands, I was studying different forms of stick fighting, headbutting, and wrestling.

South Carolina was a huge one for me because of what was going on there.

This art in South Carolina was the one that really lit a fire under my tail. This art form was awesome, fascinating, and rich, yet only a few living exponents are alive. They are all in their 70s and 80s. I realized that if

I will not document this, it is gone. I apprenticed with these guys, and let me tell you; it was a long road. It was like straight out of a Kung Fu movie.

Part of the thing was that they were resolute in denying they knew this art. I went to the guy who ended up being my primary master in the end.

When I first asked him about it, he was like, “Who told you about that?

What is that?” He was giving me the run-around. He was just shutting me off. I was running around like a lost puppy or whatever, asking people and getting nowhere. Finally, this one guy, God bless him, pulled me aside and said, “Look, son, you have to understand how to ask questions in this culture. You have got to understand how there are things that

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you just cannot talk about openly, you cannot do.” He schooled me on how to ask questions.

Then I went back to people, asked properly, and used the right coded language, the right gestures, the right way of greeting and de-greeting, and all this cultural stuff, which was not new to me in the sense of Africa. But I did not know that kind of level of culture was still alive in the Americas. I honestly did not. It was amazing. It was frustrating as heck, but once the doors opened, it was so beautiful. There were a number of arts, not only in the Carolinas, I went through the Mississippi Delta area. The main art I was studying in South Carolina was Knocking and Kicking, a fascinating hybrid art that shares many characteristics with both Engolo9 in Angola and Ca9 Engolo is a sacred pastime revolving around two people taking turns kicking or tripping each other combined with acrobatic evasions handed down from the ancestors. It was once found throughout much of Southwestern Africa in the past but is restricted to one village in Angola today. See the documentary, Jogo de Corpo: Capoeira e Ances-

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poeira in Brazil. I was blown away by it; it was amazing. There was just a lot of rich culture in the context of the art. Of the three that I just mentioned, it was the most directly martial. Some people look at Capoeira and dismiss it by saying, “Ah, it is a dance.” Not with the art of Knocking and Kicking, you would never be like, “Oh, that is just dance,” even though it was danced. When you saw the training, it was serious; it was more overtly martial.

There was a performative form of dance form used in religious contexts.

In that area, the primary religious contract was called the “ring shout,” like a counter-clockwise dance that the Gullah/Geechee10 people practiced to become filled with the Holy Spirit. Certain Christian regulations tralidade (Body Games: Capoeira and Ancestry). Directed by Richard Pakleppa, Matthias Röhrig Assunção, and Cinézio Peçanha (Mestre Cobra Mansa). 87 mins. 2014.

10 Gullah/Geechee people are part of a community of African Americans who live on the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and The South Sea Islands. They developed a unique creole language called Gullah and until recently preserved many traditional African customs and lifeways.

required certain kinds of movements you could and could not do. There was this abridged dance form done openly in the context of the ring shout. But if you ever saw the formal training, the closed-door training, it was clearly much more martial. I was 19 at the time, and these guys in their 70s and 80s could knock me out at will. There was a science to it. People hear the term, “headbuttin’” or “butting,” and you think of it as barbaric or that it is rough. It is a science. For example, my principal teacher calculated what part of his head he would hit you in the temple to put you out.11 It is an elaborate art. There is no question; if I were fighting any of these old dudes, they would knock me out quick because their training was straightforward.

That experience was the one that lit a fire under me because I realized that this art is in danger of dying out. If I do not document it, it is going to die. Then I encountered all these other arts in the diaspo11 Compare how Benji talks about headbutting in his interview.

ra, and Africa was on the verge of dying out. Luckily, Capoeira is not going anywhere, but these other ones were. It inspired me to try and save as many of these arts as possible. I went to Cuba, I went to Haiti, I went to Trinidad, Martinique, and Guadeloupe studying stick fighting, machete fighting, headbutting, and kicking arts. In Africa, I was in Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Niger, and Nigeria. The names have changed.

When I was there, it was still Congo Brazzaville and Congo Kinshasa, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but I was there when it was Zaire. I went down through Angola, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Rwanda; I was all over the continent, just studying this stuff as much as I could. Everywhere I went, I was able to find a martial art. Unfortunately, most of these martial arts are dying out. I have just been like a wandering child. I am a “no zozo,” as the Yoruba would say, a wandering child. Just following that fictional prototype that I imbibed in my high school or junior high school.

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Angola was quite an experience. I spent three years in Angola. I got two different grants. I got a grant from the Social Science Research Foundation, a grant from the Fulbright Foundation, and some grants for my school. Then I got a job as an intern working over there. I had a lot of time. I ended up just going village to village moving throughout Southern Angola. I was not trying to work in Southern Angola; I was trying to work in Congo and Zaire, following up on some leads from Robert Ferris Thompson. But what happened was, there was a civil war. The civil war in Zaire kind of threw things off. It flowed over into Congo Brazzaville. I was doing some great work there. I was finding this rich culture. But I just had to run. That is why I switched tracks and focused on Southern Angola.

I went from the key Congo-speaking areas, from the Equator region down to Southern Angola. It was rich, there was a lot there. What I kind of really enjoyed most was the stick fighting and the slap boxing. I was looking for the foot fighting because I knew that this was where people were say-

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ing the Brazilian tradition was coming from. But the stick fighting and slap boxing were more widespread.

The kick, the headbutting, and the foot fighting were still definitely there. It took me a while to find it. I was blessed to work with what I am assuming were the two last masters of the art.

I worked with one master in the area of Quilengues and another master in the area of Shangongo. There were other people who did the art, but none of them were masters. In the martial arts of Southern Angola, masterhood is quite different from the way they conceptualize masterhood in Asian martial arts with belts.

You were initiated into masterhood in Angola. Even if you did not naturally have the skills, they would spiritually instill them in you during your initiation. Ancestors would fight through you using your body. I do not like the term possession. It is a problematic term being an Anthropologist, but for the everyday people who are watching this who are not academics, they are going to use it. I use it with trepidation because I

do not like the term, but just to make this available for everybody . . . There was a form of initiation into masterhood. There was a form of training and also a spiritual side to it. I was able to work with these two masters.

It was an amazing experience. It is a beautiful art. Unfortunately, I think at this point, it is now no longer a living tradition. There are still some people who do it as mimicry for performance. But there are no masters left. I worked with the two last masters in Angola.

I hope I am wrong. I would love to hear that in some village I did not get to, there is still a master somewhere.

But I would not hold my breath. I walked that area pretty strong. Often overlooked, the culture that produced that martial art. In the history of West Central Africa, people are always talking about Congo, Congo, Congo, Congo, Congo. The Congo culture is amazing. Congo culture has the best documentation of almost any culture in Western Africa because of their Christianization.

That is why there are written documents. But it is just one variation on

a larger theme. You need to understand Southern Angola to get a wider picture of West Central African culture. It does not share the same underlying concepts that everyone is familiar with in Congo culture, such as the Kalunga.12 All those paradigms work, but they are expressed in unique ways so that it is helpful not to get caught into the Congo culture hype. A superficial understanding of Congo culture reifies it so that it seems like it was separate from the rest of West Central Africa.

That is wrong; it was only a part of a greater whole. It was a blessing to study under those masters and learn and document the art from them.

There is still so much work to do. As we have already documented this area, I would not encourage students to go there. We might find another master, but that has been done, the documentation of the art, its cultur12 The Kalunga from the Ki-Kongo language refers to “the threshold between two worlds.” Briefly, the term is associated with bodies of water that are supposed to act as a bridge linking the world of the living and the world of the ancestors.

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al context, and its tactics and techniques. Why focus on that above all the other martial arts in Africa that still need documentation? There are so many areas that need to be investigated. Based on old documents, I know there were many combative traditions, but whether or not there is a living tradition, that is where people need to go. There are so many places in West Africa still awaiting documentation. Even in Nigeria, we have over 100 distinct cultures. In terms of the combative arts, much work still awaits. The exception would be the Hausa. Ed Powe had done some solid background work. It is not historical, but he has laid some groundwork down in terms of some basic documentation. There has not been much else in all of Nigeria with well over one hundred cultures. A lot of them had, at least from the historical record, possessed fascinating martial traditions.

There is a lot of work to be done. If people are listening, I would encourage you not to try and redo stuff that others have previously done.

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Go into some new areas. There has been some stuff done on Ghana, like Ashanti military history and military tactics. Still, I have not seen anything on interpersonal martial arts that we consider akin to martial arts.

There has got to be something there.

I have not done it. Some work has occurred in the southern part of the Volta river area, but in the northern areas, there is still much to document—the Ashanti-speaking areas, Liberia, there are just so many areas that need to be covered. I would encourage you to just do it. There is also so much work that needs to be done in Northern Africa. It really needs to be done in the field. In many of these places, you have people who come out of these areas, and we have to question how representative some of the material they are saying is. It would be nice to have someone go into these areas and do some primary source fieldwork to get a sense of some of these arts because you read of conflicting results in popular culture, so it would be great to have some people do new areas.

MJR: What did you think of the Barbados expedition, and what did you get out of it, if anything?

T.J.: It was a great experience. I want to start by thanking you for helping put it together, really. You were the mastermind behind it. I thank you for that because it was great. I had heard of Sticklicking. I had read some work on it before, but it is always different from being there in person and really working with and seeing different styles and masters. It was a great experience. I am thrilled you brought me along. I am really glad the way it worked out. I think it was amazing. The people who came together, especially the crew from Trinidad, King Ronald, and Benji, were great.

It was an amazing experience. My only complaint was that it was like one of those high school retreats because you do not have time to sleep.

I wanted to talk to so many people and learn from them, and there was no time to do all that and get sleep.

Sleep got the short end of the stick, but it was a great experience. Thank you for putting it together.

It was great to try and bring those Trinidadian and Bajan traditions into dialogue. It enriched it. You brought the Garrote to the table, and I brought the Grima to the table. Mahipal brought, I do not even know the name of all his arts. He has got everything under the sun that I never heard of, but it was great. I had read Philip Zarilli and all these Anthropological treatments of South Asian martial arts, but to meet someone like Mahipal, who has such an encyclopedic knowledge of all that stuff, was great.

One of the things I enjoyed about it is that it made me feel like I am not in this alone. So many years, even decades, I was the only one that I knew of who was doing this stuff on African Diaspora martial arts who was doing real work. There have always been fakers, the Kupigana Ngumi guys, and all these charlatans who claim they are teaching African martial arts, but they are not.

Post-Script: T.J. DESCH-OBI | 339

They have not had any experience, they have no lineage. They are just self-promoters. I really felt alone in this. Reconnecting with you was a blessing because you were an inspiration to me. I remember back in the UCLA days when you told me about Mexican machete fighting and all this other stuff. I knew from my trips in Venezuela that you were working on the Garrote stuff, but we were never there at the same time in the same circles, but they told me about

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you. I did not know where the heck in the world you were. It is great just to see that there is now a larger community of scholars and practitioners working together to promote and preserve and document these African and African Diaspora fighting styles. It is not just me anymore.

Thank you for putting it together.

Thank you for pushing this Hoplology thing forward. I think you are doing great work, man!

MJR: Can you tell us about your work on African whipping traditions?

T.J.: I was already interested in the whipping because I am in Colombia as we speak. There are two flexible weapons used in Grima. I have been working on them, but these are shorter whips, more like the bull-pizzle and the mandador in Venezuela.13 It is called Zooliago here in Colombia. Those are shorter whips, more like a cart whip. Ronald’s were these long hemp whips, which I had some familiarity with. I was research13 The mandador was a whip used by cart drivers and mule trains in rural Venezuela. Up until the early 20th century, there were very few paved roads in Venezuela.Most goods and produce had to be hauled by animal power. The mandador was an 18 to 25-inch Dowell-like piece of wood with a hole drilled through the top end. Here, two to four strips of leather about six to eight feet long were attached to keep the harnessed animals moving. At times, mandadors were also used as a weapon, at times in conjunction with a knife.

The late Garrotero/artist Abel Pérez was renowned throughout El Tocuyo for recovering and developing a set of moves on how people fought with the mandador based on childhood memories. The actual living tradition of the mandador could very well still be alive in another part of Venezuela, but they are awaiting documentation.

ing places like Grenada, wherein the off-islands there is still a strong tradition. I got to interview some of the last of those whip fighters. I was familiar with it from those other Caribbean traditions. I cannot remember if it was Martinique or Guadeloupe at this point, but in most of the French-speaking islands, you had that tradition.

I had seen it before. But King Ronald took it to another level. I was familiar with the ritual performance of these whip fights during Carnival season or the Rah-Rah processions in Haiti.

But Ronald was the first person who presented it to me as a whole world unto itself, as a martial art. That was fascinating, and obviously, his was coming from all this Indian tradition. At some time in the past, these whipping traditions merged into this pre-existing Afro-Diasporan widespread cultural thing. Interestingly, that Indian whip tradition put itself into this pre-existing Afro tradition and retained such richness. I have

Post-Script: T.J. DESCH-OBI | 341

great respect for Ronald. Of all the people that we encountered on that trip, I am not messing with that guy.

He took it to the next level. He was on it. It was a beautiful tradition.

My interest is piqued in more of the long whip traditions in Africa because we have them throughout the Caribbean. We have them in islands that predate the arrival of the Indians. All these traditions in places

where there was not this kind of Indian influence. These whip traditions, what is the deeper history behind these whip traditions? This strong Indian tradition highly influences the African diaspora in Trinidad.

But what about those other ones?

What about those earlier traditions that were there before the Indians arrived? What is their background?

MJR: What future plans await the no zozo?

T.J: I do not want to jinx it. But I got a grant to travel to do some research, but that was right when COVID hit, and travel became impossible. The question is, will travel open before my extension expires? If that happens, I will let you know.

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MAHIPAL LUNIA From Backyard Martial Artist to Guiding Force

By Michael J. Ryan

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NATIONAL KARATE AND JUJITSU UNION: History Revisited

H

By James Herndon

ave you ever wanted to discover the origins of a little-known martial art, or practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issue of Masters magazine will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine the practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new and innovative ways.

Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was developed here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the Caribbean.

I met and trained with “Mr.B.” from 1969 to 1971, when we were both members of the United States Air Force; he was stationed at Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA, and I was stationed at Robins AFB, Warner Robins, GA. We had both recently returned stateside from our overseas deployments. It was about a two-hour drive from my base to his; and I made frequent weekend drives to visit his dojo (actually run by Ben Mooney in downtown Valdosta, not on the base). Although I was a Shodan in Shorin-ryu, and he was a Godan in Shito-ryu, I felt it was worth my time and effort to get to know him and learn what I could. His reputation had spread throughout the Air Force and in martial arts media.

With firsthand knowledge, in this article I will review the background and context of the development of the National Karate and Jujitsu Union (NKJU), founded by Richard Baillargeon in 1974. My viewpoints may or may not be shared by others. That’s OK. I only know what I know through my own eyes and experiences, and through conversations with many of the people whom I will name below. First, some background and context.

Training in Japan While stationed at Johnson Air Force Base near Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, between 1956-1962, Richard Baillargeon had the opportunity to train under Kyoshin Kayo, who was affiliated with the Seishin Kai organization, headquartered in Osaka.

Johnson AFB was formerly Iruma Air Base when it was under Japanese control during WWII. Kyoshin Kayo was a member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, and was assigned to Iruma/Johnson. The style of karate they practiced was Shito-ryu, as being refined by

MAHIPAL LUNIA | 345 Martial Arts Masters 123

In his autobiography entitled The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922), T. E. Lawrence, better known as “Lawrence of Arabia” wrote, “All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind wake up to find it was all vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”

Mahipal Lunia, an accomplished martial artist who holds two v degrees and works in the field of artificial intelligence, is just such a dreamer. In the following interview, we explore his personal journey through the martial arts as well as his passion for developing new and innovative ways to advance the comparative study of human combative behavior. The following interview has been edited for both length and clarity.

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From Backyard Martial A to Guiding Force

By Michael J. Ryan

I

up. Naturally, I had my assentitled handed The Se n his autobiography E.byLawrence, better know to me(1922), many a T. time the other kids, bia” wrote menI dream: but not eq and once it went“All too far. had some the fractured, dusty recesses bonesbyinnight my in face thereof their wasbleeding, all vanity, the dreamers was andbut it frightened ev- of the for theyin may act their dreams with ope erybody my family.

sible.” Mahipal Lunia, an accomplished

Adventure, martial arts, and self-discovery have paved the way.

Adventure, Martial Arts and Self Discovery have paved the way.

Michael J. Ryan: Tell us about yourself and your martial arts background.

Mahipal Lunia: My dad has been training in martial arts since he was a little kid. I, on the other hand, was that little kid who was always ahead of the curve in some ways, the guy 122 SPRING 2019 jumping grades.

Just imagine someone really young acting like a grown-

That was the start of my training in two Masters degrees and works in the field Indian Kushti wrestling. It is a style is just such a dreamer. In the following that my dad did when he wasthe youngpersonal journey through martial arts er.developing I tried Kushti, was an asthnew but andI innovative ways to a matic kid. When all the Kushti studylittle of human combative behavior. The masters gave up both on me and and I gave been edited for length clarity. up on Kushti, I then turned to ShoMJR: Karate.

Tell us about yourself and a your martial arts b tokan I remember time ML: My dad has been training in martial arts since he when the Sensei pointed to me and hand, was that little kid who was always ahead said loudly, in front of about 80 stuguy jumping grades.

Just imagine someone real Naturally I hadmade my assyellow handed belt, to me many a ti dents, that if I ever too far. I had some bones in my face frac it wouldwent be an accomplishment of a frightened everybody in my family. lifetime. That After that insult, or chalwas the start of my training in Indian K lenge, I my resolved to use every brickI tried Kush dad did when he was younger. kid. When Kushti mastersthe gave up on m they would throwallattheme to build turned to Shotokan Karate. I remember a time foundation of my body and mind.

and said loudly, of about 80 students, that if I ev

After leaving that school, I tried full-contact Karate, Eagle-Claw Kung Fu, and a rarely seen style of Kempo for a bit. My Kempo friends ended up getting me into a lot of

MAHIPAL LUNIA | 347

trouble. I was getting involved with a bad crowd, and they were leading me down what I call the Left-Hand Path.

One day, our instructor asked us to do something. The four of us got into a car and we did it. We broke the law. I’m not going to go into detail on that. But it was a real wakeup call that forced me to say, “Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into? I probably won’t be able to get out of this.” I couldn’t sleep for a few nights because of my actions.

Around the same time, I was getting ready for a move to Australia for my university studies when I heard about this one Jujutsu teacher from America. I went to the school where he was teaching to challenge him.

I wanted to fight him and see how good he was. Here I was 17 or 18, getting ready to go to graduate school.

I thought I was the smartest kid and the toughest fighter. You know, the usual youthful arrogance.

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I went to his school and said that I wanted to “feel him out.” You have to understand that when this is said in Asia, it has a very specific connotation. Even though it’s polite, it’s not to be taken lightly. Sastri Sensei said, “Okay, don’t break the glass and don’t bleed on my floor or else I’ll mop it up with you.”

I had a roundhouse kick that won me multiple championships. Right away, I moved in with my roundhouse kick.

He just moved with it, caught it, and threw me to the floor, hard. I didn’t know north from south. I got up, wanting to fight him again. He put me down, shattering my arrogance.

I knew that I had to learn this art.

I actually gave up my plans to go to school in Australia. Half my family was shocked, and the other half was thankful that I was going to be closer to them.

That began my apprenticeship with Sastri Sensei in the early 1990s.

He used to tell me that, if I don’t believe something, I should go out and

ackyard Martial Artist to Guiding Force paced for a while, and then I just

test it. This alsobyhis way When of saytriedwas training myself. he thatfind he walked up and introing that, saw if you a better teacher After Iaccepting than me,duced forgethimself. everything taught me as a student he didn’t teach you and go learn elsewhere. To this me anything for six months. I just day, Sastri Sensei one of my went to get ishim tacos.

Thatcore was teachers.the I talk to himofatmyleast once a beginning journey with him.

Now I over am one of his indoor week. He’s trained 1,000 people students. and he’s issued only two full teachMJR: What drew you of to the Filipino ing certificates.

I’m one those two. martial arts?

When to the ML: Sastri I wouldSensei say theirmoved brutal efficiency.

United States, decidedarts, that I I love theI Japanese don’t get me my wrong.

But the hadn’t finished training withPhiliphim. was one of thebased few places I picked pines possible schools on where the Japanese army kept where he was. I applied to and was losing during WWII. There is acceptedthat intoquote the graduate program

by General MacArI had chosen and here justFilito thur, “If youcame give me 10,000 I can conquer the world.” continue pinos, my “education.”

An apprentice to power—with Sastri Sensei, who shaped a large part of to Lunia’s life.

An apprentice power - with Sastri Sensei who

I began to wonder what it was shaped a large part of Lunia’s life.

MJR: Let’s talk about your about those arts was thatinflumade them somartial fierce. Butart it wasmovies, also just bly the kinds of films that made the ences. What watching Ron Saturno magazines, or books reallymove. stood

biggest impression on me.

MJR: How did the Immersion Lab begin? And can you tell me a little more about out to you when you were growing taste in books and magazines its first project, “The Legacy of theMy Blade?” up?

I readI look books auML: I see something beautiful and deadlywere in so different. many arts. When at aby martial ML: I would movies until theof athors F. Draeger and Robart, I watch often see a crystallization truth.like Donn Not necessarily “The Truth”, but a old VHS truth. tapes Due woretoout. I lovedbiology, “En- social geography, andSmith. culturalThese factors,pioneering different peoples ert W. aucame up with certain ways of doing things.

At the end of the day, we all have ter the Dragon,” “Blood Sport,” “Best thors made quite an impression on two hands, two feet and one head. We are all affected by gravity in the same way. of the Best,” and “Drunken Master” me. I still have those books with me It is all just motion. Yet every culture seems to specialize in a different kind of with Jackie Chan. Those are proba- today. Martial art magazines were motion.

I think that people have often taken a very narrow approach to their study of the combative arts. When you do that, you end up with people who are overlycommitted to one type of system whether it be Chinese arts, Japanese arts, FiliMAHIPAL LUNIA | 349 pino arts, French arts and so on. It’s all about someone from outside a culture falling in love with another culture and thinking that this one place, or practice,

New generation of Stockton—Mahipal Lunia & Chris Nalley work across systems under the watchful eyes of old times.

New generation of Stockton - Mahipal Lunia & Chris Nalley work across systems under the watchful eyes of old timers.

expensive back then. But if I had any ML: I wanted to study Serrada EscriMJR: Let’s talk aboutdevour your influences. movieswith magazines or books, opportunity, I would anythingWhat maMartial and I art started an interesting really stood out to you when you were growing up? that I could lay my hands on. Then, guy by the name of Khaled Khan.

ML: would watch moviesfell until VHSwas tapeshomeless wore out. by I loved “Enterand the back inI the 1990s, I really forthe theold He choice Dragon,” “Blood Sport,” “Best of the Best,” and “Drunken Master” with Jackie Ninja craze. traveling around the country. Think Chan. Those are probably the kinds of films that made the biggest impression on of somebody like David Carradine’s MJR: Ime. understand you also study Kwai Chang Caine in the old T.V. seMy taste is books andHow magazines the Filipino martial arts. did were different. I read books by authors but These in realpioneering life. I began to study like DonnSaturno?

F. Draeger and Robert W.ries, Smith. authors made you meet Ron quite an impression on me. I still have those mebut today.

Martialon art with himbooks for a with while, he moved magazines were expensive back then.and But Iifwas I hadlike, any“What opportunity, I would dedo I do now?” vour anything that I could lay my hands on. Then, back in the 1990’s, I really fell for the Ninja craze.

MJR: I understand you also study the Filipino martial arts. How did you meet Ron Saturno?

“

“M

a

g t

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ML

I wanted to study Serrada Escrima and I started with an interesting guy by the

h

Eventually, I ended up in the San Francisco Bay area. I approached Khaled Khan, who does Serrada Escrima, and he told me to look up Ron Saturno, a senior Guru. So, I Googled him and thought, “Oh my God! How does he move like that?” Unfortunately, he had already retired from teaching. Rather than giving up, I began to phone him. He would respond to me with, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ll talk, we’ll talk.” He lived 120 miles from me. Then, one day he called me and said, “Come on over and don’t be late.”

It was all just classic. I showed up on time, but he was 45 minutes late. I was getting pissed, but he wanted to see how I’d react when I get angry. It turns out that he was standing in the far corner of the park watching my reactions. I paced for a while, and then I just tried training by myself.

When he saw that he walked up and introduced himself. After accepting me as a student, he didn’t teach me anything for six months. I just went

to get him tacos. That was the beginning of my journey with him. Now I am one of his indoor students.

MJR: What drew you to the Filipino martial arts?

ML: I would say their brutal efficiency. I love the Japanese arts, don’t get me wrong. But the Philippines was one of the few places where the Japanese army kept losing during WWII. There is that quote by General MacArthur, “If you give me 10,000 Filipinos, I can conquer the world.” I began to wonder what it was about those arts that made them so fierce.

But it was also just watching Ron Saturno move.

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MJR: How did the Immersion Labs begin? And can you tell me a little more about its first project, The Legacy of the Blade?

ML: I see something beautiful and deadly in so many arts. When I look at a martial art, I often see a crystallization of a truth. Not necessarily “The Truth,” but a truth. Due to geography, biology, social and cultural factors, different peoples came up with certain ways of doing things. At the end of the day, we all have two hands, two feet, and one head. We are all affected by gravity in the same way. It is all just motion. Yet, every culture seems to specialize in a different kind of motion.

I think that people have often taken a very narrow approach to their study of the combative arts. When you do that, you end up with people who are overly committed to one type of system, whether it be Chinese arts, Japanese arts, Filipino arts, French arts, and so on. It’s all about someone from outside a

352 | The Immersion Review

culture falling in love with another culture and thinking that this one place, or practice, has all the answers. Maybe there was once a place for that kind of romanticism, but the world is rapidly shrinking. The rate of information transfer is expanding at a breakneck pace as well. In this environment, the last thing we need is more specialists.

When I think about specialists, I always remember the quote from the science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, who said, “Specializations are for insects.” According to the architect, inventor, and futurist Buckminster Fuller, becoming human is all about being a comprehensivist.

With this in mind, I decided to create something to explore a particular principal or subject in the abstract, rather than starting with the assumption that the Filipinos have all the answers, or the Japanese have all the answers, or the Chinese have all the answers. I wanted to bring them all together in one place and

myself into? I probably won’t be able to get out of this.” I couldn nights because of my actions.

Around the same time, I was getting ready for a move to Austr versity studies when I heard about this one Jujutsu teacher fr went to the school where he was teaching to challenge him. I him and see how good he was. Here I was 17 or 18, getting ready ate school. I thought I was the smartest kid and the toughest fig the usual youthful arrogance.

I went to his school and said tha “feel him out.” You have to understand is said in Asia, it has a very specific con though it’s polite, it’s not to be taken ligh tri said, “Okay, don’t break the glass and my floor or else I’ll mop it up with you.”

I had a roundhouse kick that won me pionships. Right away I moved in with kick. He just moved with it, caught it a the floor, hard. I didn’t know north from wanting to fight him again. He put me d my arrogance. I knew that I had to learn ally gave up my plans to go to school in my family was shocked, and the other h that I was going to be closer to them.

That began my apprenticeship with the early 1990s. He used to tell me that i something I should go out and test it. T Life these days, exploring commonalities within arts—seen here teaching Sifu Doug way of saying that if you find a better te Henry, an accomplished Tai exploring Chi andcommonalities Hsing-I player.

Life these days, forget everything I taught you and go learn elsewhere. To this d within arts - seen here teaching Sifu Doug is one of my core teachers. I talk to him at least once a week. He Henry, an accomplished Tai Chi and 1,000 people and he’s issued only two full teaching certificates. I Hsing-I player. see the massive elephant, if you fol- el,two. you could just never get all these

low my metaphor. My idea was that, if one were gathering all these partial perspectives and bringing them together, we might be able to better describe and understand the whole 124 SPRING 2019 animal, finding the greater truth as it relates to human combat. That was the initial crazy vision. Many of my friends shook their heads in disbelief when I told them about the idea, saying, at the most basic lev-

When Sensei Sastriplace moved to United StatesreI decided that I people in one atthe one time. I my training with him. I picked possible schools based on where h plied, “Has anybody tried it before?” to and was accepted into the graduate program I had chosen and to continue my not. “education.”

Apparently I thought to myself, let’s give it a shot.

MJR: How did it go? Did it work?

ML: To tell you the truth, it was a massive pain. Nobody knew who I was, and they asked themselves, “Who is this Indian guy with glasses?” Then there were people whose egos were way too big to work with. There were

MAHIPAL LUNIA | 353

guys who agreed to participate, and signed contracts to appear, and the day before we were supposed to officially launch the event, they withdrew, meaning that we had to start over again. Finally, there was the issue of recruiting people to attend this event.

I had never put on an event like this before. In fact, I had never promoted anything. It was pretty uncomfortable to go from being this low-key guy focused on his own training to suddenly learning how to interact with the public. It was a big transition for me.

Nevertheless, when the event began, it was wonderful to see all these teachers, many of them masters and grandmasters in their own arts, becoming students again when the other ambassadors were teaching. It was something beautiful to see. I hadn’t envisioned anything like that, but the way the environment was created, it just allowed for this natural flowering of events. Look-

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ing back now on the experience, we had participants from five different countries. The average experience of the participants was 19 years. It was quite a diverse range of people.

MJR: Recently, you invited me to take part in a Hoplological expedition to Barbados. What made you decide to take on another major project?

ML: It was Burton Richardson who first pointed me out to the existence of Sticklicking. I began my search and had quite a few doors slammed in my face. Then I was talking to you about this and you said, “Hey, I know this graduate student at the University of the West Indies who has been practicing Sticklicking since he was a teenager and is writing a doctoral dissertation on the science of the stick.” That got me thinking, “If this art is so rare and if somebody as persistent as myself is not able to open any doors, this is a great opportunity, lets go for it.”

uturist Buckminster Fuller, becoming ist.

ething to explore a particular principal tarting with the assumption that the panese ave all gether ant, if that if ectives able to le anito huvision. disbeying at get all eplied. ly not.

Backyard studies continue to this day with Ron Saturno & Mark Mikita.

Backyard studies continue to this day with Ron Saturno & Mark Mikita.

in. Nobody knew who and of they After that, theI was, outlines the expediwith glasses?”

Then there were people tion began to quickly come together. h. There were guys who agreed to parYou signed on to the idea after some and the day before we were supposed initial thought. Then we enrolled the rew, meaning that we had to start over aid to of attend Prof. this T.J. Desch-Obi and reuiting people event. cruited a director. We got the Kalinore. In fact, I had never promoted anydathis guys fromguy Trinidad rom being low-key focused and on Ronald Alfred the Rope-Jab w to interact withfrom the public.

It was a tradition involved. I think this became one of the greatest of my life. as wonderful to see all adventures these teachers,

in their own arts, becoming students eaching. It was something beautiful to hat, but the way the environment was owering of events. Looking back now rom five different countries. The aver9 years. It was quite a diverse range of

MJR: How would you characterize the expedition and its results?

ML: Condensed insanity. Those are the words that come to mind when I think about it. Remembering, of course, that not all insanity is bad.

We were working 16 hours a day during the expedition. Then there were months of pre-planning on Vincent’s end and my own. One of the major considerations for us was to ensure we did not exert too much

MAHIPAL LUNIA | 355

I h

did the geography, the environment and the specific culture impact the way the stick moves in one community. The idea is that the students will be able to see a variety of the patterns that are available, and each student will perhaps find a rhythm, a thread that says, “This feels like me.” In that case you’ll be able to make a conscious choice into the line of inquiry that you want to go down rather

Breaking bread together before sticks, blades and fists are drawn.

Breaking bread together before sticks, blades and fists are drawn.

control over the expedition. If you try to control the environment, you end up shaping the results. We wanted the findings to be emergent.

It turned out beautifully. We looked at two styles of Sticklicking: the Queensbury and Johnson styles. We had the Kalinda guys from Trinidad showing their art and its different attitudes towards the world of stick science. We looked at the

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Gilpin, which is a double-machete style. Then, for the first time in generations, the Indo-Trinidadian tradition of the Rope-Jab was exposed to the outside world. I believe it was the first time that Ronald truly opened up to individuals from outside of his village, showing us how the system functioned.

We also had Garrote from Venezuela and Grima from Colombia, and

it was just wonderful to watch how these arts worked with each other and against each other. This gave us the data to begin thinking about common roots of Afro-Caribbean arts. I think I speak for everyone in the group when I say that we will be unpacking this for years to come.

MJR: No project is ever perfect. What would you do differently next time?

ML: I think we should get a better camera. I’m already looking at getting 4.6K cameras. They could potentially project on an IMAX screen.

I think I would do a little more screening and give us more setup time. Maybe with future projects, we could do some online pre-screening of potential teachers, just to get to know them before we show up and begin shooting. Finding people willing to sponsor or subsidize these types of projects would be great as well. Maybe, add a couple of interns so that the directors aren’t quite so sleep-deprived!

MJR: Your expedition ended up collecting a lot of information on several uncommon systems. Was that due to skill or luck?

ML: It was a combination of things.

A kind of coherence builds up within any group after about 18 to 20 hours of working together. I think something magical can start to happen. Several of the participants also realized that this was an incredible “passport” for martial arts research, meaning that they were going to get to learn about things that were rare even in their own country. Do you remember the place on the side of the road where they were selling coconut water and we were talking about Sticklicking? Some of the locals looked at us like we were crazy.

But then others would interject with something like, “I had a granduncle who did that a long time ago.” I think the guys who have their hearts in it realized that this is possibly the best chance to get their arts out there on a global stage.

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MJR: What else do you have planned?

ML: This expedition was the beginning of what I’m calling, “Hoplology: Immersion.” The project will be a very immersive study of combat in a systematic way. We hope to bring more brothers into this band, more peers, people with different points of

view with specializations in different areas and different regions of the world. That will allow us to simultaneously gain a more local, and ultimately global, appreciation of how these arts add to the richness of a culture.

Making techniques work on all terrains has been a hallmark of The Little School.

Making techniques work on all terrain has been a hallmark of The Little School.

than happenstance. Instead of just joining the nearest martial art school in your area. That’s STICKMATA!

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MJR: Can you tell us about your upcoming Stickmata event?

ML: In Legacy of the Blade, we examined the blade from a comparative perspective. Now, we are going to be studying the stick, perhaps man’s oldest weapon, in the same way. We have Japanese, Russian, Filipino, Afro-Caribbean, and an unusual Stockton-Americana Filipino style along with Italian and Portuguese stick expressions. All these teachers are coming together, and each of them will share the essence of their art over a three-hour period with a bunch of masterful students.

Can the whole art be shared in three hours? Nope. In three years? Still no.

But that’s not the point. The idea is to look at how these arts come together. How did the geography, the environment, and the specific culture impact the way the stick moves in one community? The idea is that the students will be able to see a variety of the patterns that are available, and each student will perhaps find a rhythm, a thread that says, “This feels like me.” In that case, you’ll be able to make a conscious choice into the line of inquiry that you want to go down rather than happenstance.

Instead of just joining the nearest martial art school in your area.

That’s Stickmata!

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MJR: What would you like to see happen in the next 10 years with the project?

ML: I hope people better than me come in, take over, and help this project grow. I hope this sparks the imagination of others with very different points of view who say, let’s look at this and let’s look at it from a different level. Instead of becoming a marketing strategy, I want it to become an object of deep study.

I think we’re living in an age where a true renaissance of the arts is possible simply because we are exposed to so much information. Ten years from now with the growth in the media, the way that media is being shared, you might actually be able to learn something as rare as Whip-Jab through 52 lessons with a master who is living in Trinidad and Tobago. Something like that might actually be possible through the collaborative projects that the Immersion Labs is pursuing.

This is just the beginning. I hope that M aHIPaL LUnIa those future projects outshine what we are doing now. I want to see new lines of inquiry emerge. It all makes for a richer, more enlightened world.

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MJR: Your expedition e mon systems. Wa 360 | The Immersion Review

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Post-Script

MAHIPAL : MEETING WITH REMARK ABLE MARTIAL ARTIS TS

How many people do you know that would, based on few-minute conversations with a few strangers, would buy round-trip airplane tickets for eight people and take care of lodging, food, and transportation for everybody for ten days? So began the first multidisciplinary Hoplological expedition in over a generation, maybe more. From the first wake-up call to the time members crashed 16-18 hours later, the collecting and analyzing data went nonstop with only brief pauses to keep the body going. And yes, testing and examining how the arts would deal with each other went on the entire time. From the man who got the ball rolling, kept the ball in its lane, and got everybody home safe and only a little worse for wear; these are his words.

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Michael J. Ryan: Around two years ago, ten of us ended up meeting in Barbados for something unusual. We didn’t even know you, didn’t even know each other. Yet you pulled off a fantastic event, you and Vincent.

What were you thinking about, coming into this? I mean, how did it all begin for you? And what were you expecting?

Mahipal: Like many kids in our generation, I grew up on Donn Draeger, Robert W. Smith, and watched Indiana Jones and Star Wars movies. It was the pull of adventure, the appeal of going and looking at and learning about a different culture, different people that caught me up.

That pull of also exploring your skill set against others. That whole set of random factors came together for me in a meaningful way, creating the impetus for these projects. Through the 1950s into the 1990s, there was an Asian fever driving Hoplology.

The focus of all explorations aimed towards Japan, China, and a bit of Southeast Asia. A large part of the world was left unexplored. I think that, if you are genuinely going to study Hoplology, if you seek to research fighting and truly begin to understand what people are about,

you can’t just be doing it in one continent. That essentially started the quest of this expedition. I have deep roots in studying the Bowie knife and the Arkansas toothpick and part of that research, and while I was doing some of the work around Legacy of the Blade, I happened upon Sticklicking. And through a series of coincidences, you and I connected. I called you out of the blue, and I told you, this is what I wanted to do. And you were like, “Yeah, sure, whatever, sure.” That’s pretty much your attitude, you know, and I told you, “No! We’re going to do it.” And you’re like, “Yeah, yeah, sure.” One thing led to another, and the next thing you know, you are on a flight with me to Barbados, along with T.J., Ronald, Benji, Keegan. And of course, you know, our Sticklicking crew, which we had Philip, Biggard, and Cherry-Boy.

Post-Script: MAHIPAL LUNIA | 365

MJR: What expectations did you have?

Mahipal: I would say I wanted to put skin in the game, meaning it would not be just about armchair research, but picking up the stick, the gilpin, the whip, and going at it with them.

That’s the only way to know in your body in your flesh. Two, we wanted to capture this for posterity. Some of these guys are the last of the elders of their traditions. There’s no guarantee that they will pass their knowledge on to another generation. And

when we lose this rich martial history, this study of violence, we lose a part of our humanity. And I know in this day and age, it’s not a very politically correct thing to say, but for every Yin, there’s a Yang, and we can’t have one without the other. And violence is inherent to humanity. It’s inherent to our success as a species.

And, without understanding it, you can’t transform, so that is that.

MJR: You’re on the plane with Vincent. I think T.J. is going to meet you there. I’m going to meet you a couple of days later. The Trinidadian guys were going to be there in a few hours. What’s going through your head?

Mahipal: Honestly, it was like; this could go really good, or really bad.

We are in a foreign country I know nothing about. I didn’t know any of you from Joe Schmo. And yet, here we are with edged weapons, sticks, each running high on adrenaline, trying to check and test each other out. So it could have gone either

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way. And you know, the adventures began right from the time we landed. We thought we lost all our film equipment when we landed. And, that’s how the damn thing started—those who know me and have worked with me know that I can be intense. But I think it was a little intense, even for me. I think we had

16-hour days for nine days. And even after we packed up, as you know, you would open some beers after everyone went home. You, me, and Dr. Obi would continue geeking out about martial arts and then saying, “Oh, shit! We better get some sleep for two hours before we have to begin that 16-hour day again.”

MJR: Let me tell the readers how it worked. When we finally decided to go to bed, around four hours, we hear, “Alright, guys, get up, we’re leaving in 10 minutes.” And so we got to get up. We got to take a shower.

We got to eat some breakfast. We got to prepare some lunch and get

out because when Mahipal says 10 minutes, he means nine minutes and 58 seconds. You better be in that car, or you’re just left behind. It was intense. I remember my first morning there. We pulled into that parking lot at that old plantation. You, Vincent, and T.J. disappeared, scouting out the first location of the day. Then Benji and Keegan, who I only just met, started pulling out two pairs of cutlasses and began to play Gilpin.

And that’s when I knew it was like, “This is getting serious; we are going to be doing some serious, excellent research.” The intensity that I saw in that parking lot, man! continued until we got on that plane and left.

MJR: What stood out for you?

Mahipal: Some of the key things were, number one: going mano a mano with Keegan on the beach with live blades. That was super intense and remains one of the most intense experiences of my life. Second: when Ronald decided to initiate me into the whip, he asked me to stand

there, and he was going to whip me, and he said, “Don’t step back!”

MJR: That was so cool. You and Vincent were both so fortunate.

And that whip went right around you.

Ronald whipped you around, right around your kidneys. Then the whip

Post-Script: MAHIPAL LUNIA | 367

went underneath your right side between your body and your arm, then went up and cut your lip. And when it was Vincent’s turn, man! Vincent was shaking. I don’t mean to tell on Vincent. But he was, after seeing what he did to you, mentally shaken, but he took it like a soldier.

Mahipal: He took it like a soldier.

MJR: And then Ronald gifted both of you guys with whips.

Mahipal: That was nice. That was deep. Then the third thing I would say was: with Cherry-Boy. He’s the last of his generation, and we are outside his house. Then he decides to pick up a stick and show me a few things. That was nice. And the fact that it made an impression on him, for him to come back the next day, to come and see what we were doing, that spoke very deeply. Fourth: the four of us, meaning you, T.J., Vincent, and me, and all the work that we had to do after hours, our discussions when we were driving around Barbados, on the last day, looking for those plantations and going to

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the underground caves. We’re supposedly dead tired the whole time at the airport, and we are still kicking out with the Grima versus this versus that. Sleeping on the airport floor, because we were so tired, you know that that kind of stands out.

And then five: I think it was just the spirit everyone brought. Vincent— such a trooper handling all the logistics. T.J.—a man of few words, actually opened up. Ronald—secretive, but according to the rituals, this and that when we found the Indian connection. Benji and Keegan—getting into Kalinda, what it means to be a man in this modern society. Philip is a man of few words, even though he had so much to do, like taking us on a private visit late at night and giving us that view of the 17th-century church. That was amazing. Biggard was a total surprise that came out of nowhere. He chauffeured us around for eight, nine days, with a heart of gold; I was touched by how much passion and generosity of spirit everyone brought in. I left humbled and richer.

MJR: What’s going to happen with all this?

Mahipal: One: the ILF is producing a multi-hour highlights clip of the expedition. Second: I don’t believe that this is mine or yours or the Immersion Labs’ property, though it is.

I truly see this as the treasure of the islands. It is their history. Their legacy is their time, their work on the line, to say, “Hey, let’s save this.” I see it as their legacy. All these artists will, of course, get copies of it, and they can do whatever they choose with it. We’re also looking at hosting it in different universities. As we get students researching that particular art or that region, we also want to provide them with free access to our work. In this way, they can see what it means not to write papers based on an analysis of papers, themselves based on analysis of papers. You know, the mise en abyme effect.1 I’m talking about that typically happening in academia. The way I see this, 1 “Mise en abyme” refers to the effect of seeing a man painting a picture, inside a picture painting a picture, and on and on.

it’s multidisciplinary, phenomenologically driven research where you have to put your skin in the game and experience it, including blood.

That’s what, that’s what made it alive. When you see these things from that perspective, how much aliveness is there, you’re not talking about it, but you’re observing it. And then, as a post-mortem, the experts who lived it tell you what happened.

Now you’re not hearing or analyzing some event, with all due respect to all Anthropologists and Ethnographers; you’re not analyzing their perspective, which is usually biased.

And by bias, it can be a good and a bad thing. But what happens is, our histories inform us, and that’s what we see. And what we see and what we feel in our bodies are completely different for most people. The approach we wanted to take is, what’s happening, this body proper? How is this informed? How does this move?

Can we get into that state of flow?

What happens then, for example, when Keegan and I were playing?

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We got into a very deep state of flow. And he started chanting, and so did I. And if you know anything about fighting arts, when you started chanting while you’re fighting, it’s

a different game. And I’m not talking about a song. I’m talking about, you know, it’s a whole another level. It was very, very real. We could feel our ancestors there.

MJR: That’s a profound statement. That’s a deep state. Since then, we did a contra-expeditionis.² The ILF did one expedition to Portugal and another to the Philippines. What insights did you take from Barbados to the contra-expeditionis and the trips to Portugal and the Philippines?

Mahipal: The most significant things were, bring that intensity, stay humble. Then test it out against the best in the game. Don’t go there to show them what you know; you’re going there to see what they are willing to share with you. When we went to Portugal, I think it’s the first time that the ten remaining schools of Jogo do Pau3 have all been thrown together in one place at one time.

The last two living mestres of the Fafe4 tradition, both of them shared their art openly with us. We stayed 2 A type of investigation where the ILF brings the specialists to the US. 3 Stickfighting from the North of Portugal.

4 A town in Portugal.

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in their homes, ate, and drank with their families. Mestre Avelino one time spoke very deeply to me. The first night we sat down, he’s trying to get me drunk, he’s feeding me, he’s trying to get me to eat meat. He’s like, “What kind of a life is it that you’re a vegetarian?” I was like, “No, I love the alcohol, but not the meat.”

Then when we’re all a little happy, he pulls out this big blade and he says, “This is Jogo do Pau. Familia, food, laughter, happiness.” I’m like, “Yes sir, absolutely.” That sense of intensity going after the best players, if you will. And showing up there with respect.

Most importantly, you’ve got to put skin in the game. My pet peeve is those guys who only see maps and models. They think they’ve understood it, figured it out. They put the onus on you to give them the physical experience. Nobody can give you that physical experience, and nobody can give you that spiritual experience. You have to put it in, and there has to be a crack in the Cosmic Egg. There must be so much force from inside of you that it cracks from the inside. A chick can be hatched. Or the pressure from the outside is greater. You know, you’ve got to put skin in the game. The other insight was, people truly matter.

And you are going to have the right people show up. They usually tend to be quiet, withdrawn. Then you’re going to have the loudmouths show up, basically treating it as a PR exercise.

Unfortunately, you have to deal with both.

Benji once told me in a different context; I talked about how one particular character we were trying to meet was painful. He said, “Mahi, brother, relax, it’s a fly. But what does a fly tell you?” I was like, “Squash it!”

He’s like, “No, no, no. a fly tells you, there’s a mango tree around.” He’s like, “Follow the fly, follow the fly.”

That’s a very profound insight. Those were some of the insights that I took to Portugal. In the Philippines, the co-director of our expedition acted as our host, the illustrious Manong Romeo Macagapal.5

5

“Manong” is a title of respect.

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MJR: For those who don’t know, why is he so special?

Mahipal: He is one of the senior-most students of the most legendary blade fighter of the 20th century, the fabulous Antonio “Tatang” Illustrisimo.

I will not say more about Mang Romy. He should speak about himself if and when he chooses to, but he’s a master in the truest sense of the word. That expedition had had Manong Ron Saturno . . .

I don’t use the term grandmaster lightly. But I do when referring to Manong Romeo. He is one of those grandmasters, a Grand Maestro. His knowledge, span of expertise, the span of his relationships, and the word “grand” means magnanimous where its skill and character come together to create a grandmaster, at least for me.

MJR: Who’s Manong Ron Saturno?

And then the last one we did was the contra-expeditionis with the Maoris.

We sought out the roots of the Polynesian arts from India, all the way down to New Zealand. What things are similar, and how they are different. A treat was, we were the first non-Maori to witness Rongomamau and lived to tell about it.

Mahipal: He is one of the top students of Angel Cabales in Serrada Escrima. He went to find the roots of Serrada. We had Sifu Henry Douglas, a 35-40 year veteran of Tai Chi who came in to look at the Filipino arts from a different perspective. I had my team. Then we met almost 15 other world-class escrimadors and some of whom had never allowed their art to be filmed, including Manong Romeo, who filmed his entire art for us.

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MJR: What is Rongomamau?

Mahipal: It’s the Maori wrestling art, the art of taking weapons away.

When you’re fighting empty-handed, how do you fight somebody with weapons, take that weapon away and kill them? The last surviving master of the art belonging to his lineage came over. We really bonded. Timoti Pahi, I call him a brother now. We were practicing in my school.

One time I said, “You know, humility is essential. I’m a master in my art, but I leave that behind. I have to leave that behind and show up like a beginner, like everybody else.”

And I think that is a critical piece in making this work.

Then there was Mushtaq Ali al Ansari. He is a fascinating man. We could spend hours talking about him. Let’s just say he’s one of the few who have studied the Moro arts and probably one of the two or three people qualified to teach Kampilan. And I’ve had the pleasure of learning the cannabis as well. We looked at the Filipino arts, the arts from Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, then went into Polynesia.

Mushtaq studied a lot, man. He’s studied Javanese Silat Cimande and Serak. He’s studied African and Indian arts. He is a true connoisseur, and you are lucky to sit down and have a conversation with him as far as I’m concerned. And I’m lucky to cross blades with him frequently.

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MJR: The Immersion Labs hosted Stickmata a while ago. What did you take away from the labs?

Mahipal: Legacy of the Balde, Stickmata, and then Born of Blood. Our knowledge evolved as a result of the labs. As we spend more time doing this, we understand how to do these things better and the right mix of people. It is a costly experiment. It’s not a moneymaker. It’s costly when you think about flying people from the Philippines, Indonesia, Polynesia, and Hawaii. If you’re not doing this for the right reasons, don’t attempt it. A few people have tried to do something similar. And you know what the results were?

I can say now that future labs will look at arts with a new set of eyes, from a multidisciplinary approach, at competing and contrasting distinctions. You cannot understand

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darkness if you haven’t understood light. To understand peace, you have to understand violence. If you want to understand a particular culture, you must understand what it faced and triumphed against. Questions remain. There are a few exciting possibilities.

Overall, this has been a labor of love. We’ve made sacrifices to make this happen, and it will continue. Jj Hervas and I talk about this very frequently; he tells me, “You know, man, we might be the last of the madcap generation, but we understand, we understand that this is a passion.”

And for a passion, you spend. It’s not a rice bowl, which you package and market and sell; it’s a passion.

MJR: Alright. And for the final question, bring it all home for us Mahipal. What’s the whole idea behind all these interviews? What do you want to tell everybody?

Mahipal: Multidisciplinary, no ego, looking at not just one tribe, but taking a global perspective. It’s important. It is being able to see contrasting points of view, debate not just with words. Words are cheap. But when the guy says, draw your blade, let’s see it.

I have bled on every single expedition, literally bled. Bringing it together is not about ego and is not about leaving a mark. I see it as a bunch of really ordinary men and women in pursuit of some extraordinary knowledge. And in the coming together of these various people who would have otherwise never met, never crossed these oceans, gives birth not only to new amalgamations but perhaps for the first time, lets you see what you

have with eyes anew. Thanks to all of you guys. Michael, T.J., Vincent, Philip, Biggard, Cherry-Boy, Ronald, Benji, Keegan, and a few others, stepping up and saying, ”Let’s do this! Something never been done before! Let’s mix up Gilpin with JabJab, Grima with Garrote, and Sticklicking with Kalinda. Let’s see what happens!”

The Barbados expedition was not a clash, but the beginning of an understanding that there are common roots to all these slave arts. It’s easy to blame the colonials on it, but they also brought gifts to it. And perhaps for the first time, to understand the process of kingship, meaning how ordinary men transform into kings.

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APPENDIX

PREVIOUS EDITORIAL A large portion of the current volume was published as a free special edition of the Masters Magazine in the spring of 2019, under the title, “Hoplology: The Phoenix Rises.” The editorial by Dr. Benjamin N. Judkins, adapted in the style of the Immersion Review, is presented in the following pages to provide historical context.

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Cover page of the Spring 2019 special edition of Masters Magazine.

Appendix: A SPECIAL ISSUE | 379

A Special Issue:

CARIBBEAN A SPECIAL ISSUE :

COMBAT ARTS Caribbean Combat Arts AND THE NEW and the New Hoplology HOPLOLOGY

By Benjamin N. Judkins

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The faces of a New Hoplology.

By Benjamin N. Judkins

Have you ever wanted to discover the origins of a little-known martial art, or practice machete and stick fighting on a distant shore? This special issue of the Immersion Review will introduce you to a group of individuals who combine the practical and scholarly study of global fighting systems in new and innovative ways. Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages was developed here, in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the Caribbean.

We have all heard stories of adventurers who set out on a quest only to discover much more than they had bargained for. The accounts of pioneering martial artists are full of such tales, as it is impossible to gain a detailed understanding of how individuals fight without also coming to appreciate the cultural values that they seek to uphold. Nothing reveals the ways in which a community functions quite as clearly as how its members fight, play, spar, and train for combat.

This is not a particularly new insight, but it is one that is frequently ne-

glected. Late 19th and early 20th century social scientists undertook a number of studies of combative behavior in their quest to understand human culture. Some of these studies contributed to the creation of “Hoplology.” That banner was again taken up by Donn F. Draeger and his followers in the post-WWII period as they sought to explore and catalogue the fighting systems of East Asia (often with a special emphasis on feudal Japan).

Yet Hoplology, most simply defined as the study of human combative behavior, has a knack for being forgotten. After a brief flowering of interest in the early 20th century, most Western readers lost interest in the subject following the First World War. While Donn F. Draeger’s attempted revival generated a fair degree of popular interest, he died before his dream of establishing Hoplology as a legitimate field of academic study could be accomplished. Despite some ongoing popular interest, the project never found a foothold in the university. There are no academic institutes for the study of Hoplology or scholarly, peer-reviewed journals dedicated to its research.

Appendix: A SPECIAL ISSUE | 381

Instead, we have recently seen the birth of a much wider interdisciplinary project termed “Martial Arts Studies.” It has brought together scholars from fields like History, Anthropology, Sociology, and Media Studies, all of whom are united by a common interest in understanding the role that the martial arts play within society. Within the last decade, we have seen the creation of conferences, peer reviewed journals, and even the awarding of research grants seeking to advance the field.

More scholarly books on the martial arts are being published now than ever before. Increasingly young scholars are discovering innovative ways of bringing together the time that they spend in the library and training hall. In a very real sense, the growth of Martial Arts Studies is the fulfillment of Draeger’s dream, even if it is not the sort of field that he initially envisioned.

This new literature is much broader in scope than the experiments in Hoplology that came earlier in the 20th century. Studies are being published examining fighting systems from many regions and time periods. Further, researchers are bringing a wide 382 | The Immersion Review

variety of theoretical perspectives to these questions. Yet, while most of this work is inspired by actual martial arts practice, it tends to focus on the interaction of these fighting systems with other social, cultural, economic, or political factors. Detailed explorations or comparative studies of actual techniques, or even the material culture that surrounds a martial art (e.g. weapons, training gear) are much rarer. This led me, in a recent essay, to wonder if perhaps there might be space for a “New Hoplology” within the growing Martial Arts Studies literature.

It seems likely that the moment has arrived. Yet, we must also frankly acknowledge that much has changed since Draeger’s time. Any attempt to create a New Hoplology will have to be grounded in the most recent theoretical and methodological innovations. It must also move beyond simple attempts to catalogue “traditional” practices, or a single-minded focus on only one area of the world.

While studies of the recent or distant past are valuable, it should be obvious to all that interpersonal combative behavior shows no sign of becoming obsolete. Rather, it evolves

It seems that much will have tions. It m or a single distant pa havior sho system bri this proce Indeed, th almost ide

and changes as the global system brings together new ideas, technologies, and groups of people. We are enriched by this process, practice, transformation and hybridization of these fighting systems are touched on in it also generates new sources ofresearch. identity thebut interviews below, thesetoquestions much Lastly, of ave you ever but wanted discover require the origins of more a little-known martialsome art, or these fighting systems, much like their better known cousin Capoeira, are associated machete social and stick fighting on a distant shore? the This special issue of andpractice therefore tensions.

Indeed, so- study. with unique musical traditions would from additional detailed FuMasters magazine will which introduce youbenefit to a group of individuals who combine ture field-work in the area (especially in Trinidad and Tobago) might benefit from the history of the and the thecial practical and scholarly studyCaribbean, of global fighting systems in newfighting and innovative ways. presence of an ethnomusicologist.

Yet the ILF’s research in the area is clearly to a Each of the hand combat systems which they describe in the coming pages wasoff develsystems it gave rise to, is an almost ideal case stronghere, start.in the Western hemisphere, and reflects the complicated social history of the oped The following with two important articles by Dr. Michael J. Ryan. They Caribbean. study of issue thisbegins process.

H

setWe thehave stageallfor everything that follows bywho introducing basiconly concepts and systems heard stories of adventurers set out onthe a quest to discover much discussed throughout the rest of this issue.

The first of these is a day-by-day account of more than they had bargained for. The accounts of pioneering martial artists are full of One might be tempted toculture dismiss Hoplology the ILF’s investigation of Caribbean martial during their recent expedition to such tales as it is impossible to gain a detailed understanding of how individuals fight Barbados. essaytoopens a century window ontoterm. thevalues process conducting this sortNothing of fieldas aalsoThis quaint 19th And it seek is all too without coming appreciate the cultural thatofthey to uphold. work and introduces readers to the practitioners and researchers who will reappear in reveals the ways in which a community functions quite as clearly as how its members easy to see the ways in which its earliest incarsubsequent interviews. fight, play, spar and train for combat.

Equally important is hisdeeply next titled “Hoplology: Theiscolonialism Quest to Discover, Examine This is not a particularly newessay insight, but it is in one the that frequently neglected.

Late nations were rooted and Understand Martial Arts.”

This piece provides readers with a basic introduction to 19th and early 20th century social scientists undertook a number of studies of combative the concept of Hoplology, as well as a historical review of its development from the late of that century.

Yet the rise of Some newofidentities, behavior in their quest to understand human culture. these studies contributed 19th to of the“Hoplology.” present. Ryan’s discussion is particularly important as it F. begins the to thecentury creation That banner was again taken up by Donn Draeger tensions, and conflicts in the current moment workhis of followers establishing the post-WWII New Hoplology’s quickly and expanding fieldthe of and in the periodmission as theywithin soughtthe to explore catalogue Martial Arts Studies. fighting systems of East Asia (often with a special emphasis on feudal Japan).

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make the systematic study of combative beWe Hoplology, are then introduced to Dr. Philip a local practitioner of stick fightinghas anda Yet most simply defined as Forde, the study of human combative behavior, havior, understood within a specific cultural aknack historical researcher who recently completed his doctoral training at the University of for being forgotten. After a brief flowering of interest in the early 20th century, the West Indies.

He provides a detailed introduction to “Sticklicking” as it developed most Western readers lost relevant interest in thethan subject ever. following the First World War. While context, more on the island of Barbados and a review of the major styles of the art still practiced today.

Donn F. Draeger’s attempted revival generated a fair degree of popular interest, he died His discussion also important context which helps to of situate somestudy of the folbefore his dream of provides establishing Hoplology as a legitimate field academic could A recent research expedition to the island of lowing interviews with local practitioners. be accomplished. Despite some ongoing popular interest, the project never found a Wayne Quintyne (a professional martial artist) authored arfoothold in the university.

There are noby academic institutes for an theautobiographical study of Hoplology Barbados, undertaken the has Immersion Labs ticle titled “Going Away to journals Find One’s Roots.”toThis account traces Quintyne’s journey or scholarly, peer-reviewed, dedicated its research.

Foundation has brought not only from beingwe a student of(ILF), various globally popular arts tointerdisciplinary a renewed focus project on the Instead, have recently seen the birth of a martial muchback wider unique forms of stick fighting that are indigenous to Barbados.

Likewise, the followtermed “Martial Arts Studies.” Itof has the brought together scholars from fields like history, accounts region’s little-known ingexciting interview sociology with Rondel (whoall teaches at are the Bois Academy) examines anthropology, and Benjamin media studies, of whom united by a common intermany similar themes, this time in relation to an entire family of fighting arts known est styles in understanding the role that the martial play within society. but Within the last of machete, stick, andartswhip fighting, as “Kalinda,” which only in Trinidad and is decade we have seen are the found creation of conferences, peer Tobago. reviewed Benjamin’s journals andaccount even the particularly relevant to those attempting to understand the current practice of these arts also important insights as to what the New awarding of research grants seeking to advance the field. More scholarly books on the as it touches onbeing the importance of modern forms of social media, popular culture and martial arts are published now than ever before.

Increasingly young scholars are Hoplology may have to offer all students of community programs in the perpetuation of local culture. discovering innovative ways of bringing together the time that they spend in the library Rondel Benjamin provides readers with anpages interview ofArts Keegan Taylor, onefulfillof his and training hall. Inthen aarts. very real sense, thethe growth of Martial Studies is the the martial Within of this spetop students and another instructor Kalinda.

Taylor elaborates on a number of points ment of Draeger’s dream, even if it isofnot the sort of field that he initially envisioned. cialnewissue, you will read about the martial experiencwhich us to further understand Tobago’s culture.

His discusThis help literature is much broaderTrinidad in scopeand than the experiments in Hoplology that sion of traditional music, and how his martial and musical training have influenced one came earlier in the 20th century.

Studies are being published examining fighting syses of nine individuals as they traveled from another, alsoregions significant.

8 tems fromare many and time periods. Further, researchers are bringing a wide vari-

across North America and the Caribbean tois inspired these discussions readers to “Memories of OldofTime Barbados” with etyFollowing of theoretical perspectives to thesereturn questions.

Yet while most this work David “Biggard” His family has been deeplyoninvolved with Sticklicking for genby actual martialHinds. arts practice, it tends to focus the interaction of these fighting meet ofeconomic several some neverations andthe he wasmasters originally instructed in the artstyles, by hisfactors. grandfather.

Biggard provides systems with other social, cultural, or political Detailed explorations, readers with vivid accounts of the stick fighting culture dominated thesurrounds area duror comparative studies, of actual techniques, or even the which material culture er before documented.

This culminated in that an the mid aing martial art 20th (e.g.,century. weapons, training gear) are much rarer. This led me, in a recent essay, exchange ofthere information geared preto Next wonder if perhaps might be spacetofor a “New within the growing Ronald Alfred introduces readers the world Hoplology” oftowards “Jab Jab Devils.”

This local Martial Arts Studies literature? tradition from Trinidad combines public performance, ritual practice and a whip-based serving the region’s intangible cultural hericombat system in what is probably the most unique, and least understood, martial system outlined in this issue. The account provided here is a stark reminder of the diversity of

A recen Labs Foun little-know what the N pages of th traveled fr styles, som geared tow called upo attempt to that led to

What fo course of t ers to a ne paint a rem still not co the way fo

Michael—Anthropologist,

rock

Benji the caretaker andofguardian of Triniclimber, scholar Latin Michael Ryan anthropologist, rock Americlimber, dad and Tobago’s martial culture.. scholar ofdrawing Latin arts.

American martial can martial Ronald back a curtain onarts. the Indo- Afro Trinidadian JabJab.

Still, the of the initi performan and all of long as the participan

It shoul almost exc available t must be m the next g declined in as the Filip

SPRING 2019

T.J.—shining a light on the elusive

Biggard theaof voice of scholar African andwisdom.

AfricanTJ shining light on old the world elusive scholar of American martial arts. martial African and African-American arts.

Appendix: A SPECIAL ISSUE | 383 Martial Arts Masters

7

About the Cover: The faces of a New Hoplology on expedition in Barbados.

tage. The ILF expedition called upon derstood as a pilot project meant to “This expedition was the beginning of what I’m calling local practitioners, professional mar- pave the way for additional, long“Hoplology: Immersion.” The project will be a very imtial arts instructors, and academics term fieldwork in the coming years. mersive study of combat in a systematic way.” in an attempt to both document Still, the research presented here these practices and discover the un-Mahipal Lunia suggests fruitful directions for future derlying social conditions that led to research. Much of the initial work their rise, fall, and transformation 2 MEMORIES OF OLD-TIME BARBADOS 78 RONALDtoALFRED: conducted date has focused on WITHwithin DAVIDthe “BIGGARD” HINDS Guardian of Martial Tradition, modern era. questions of masculinity and marBy Michael J. Ryan Master Mass Maker, Herb Healer What follows are a few of the articles, tial By performance in the Caribbean.

Rondel Benjamin accounts, and interviews generated Yet some of these systems were also during the course of this expedition. practiced by women, and all of them 8 TFINDING ANCHOR IN THE FIGHTING STICK AND MACHETE IN Each AN of these items was selected be- 98 required the support of female comHOPLOLOGICAL FILMMAKING VENEZUELAN GAROTTE: cause it introduces readers to a new munity memberswith toMichael survive for as

By Vincent Tamer An Interview J. Ryan Lunia set of practices, concepts, and his- long By asMahipal they did.

Future research is torical narratives which, when com- necessary to recover the perspecbined, paint a remarkable picture tives of both female participants 08 AN INTERVIEW WITH T.J. DESCH-OBI: MAHIPAL alike.

LUNIA: of the traditional Caribbean fight- 122 and spectators Wandering Warrior-Scholar of African From Backyard Martial Artist to Guiding Force ing arts. Yet,Combative this picture and Afro-American Arts is still not

By Michael J. Ryan complete.

By Mahipal LuniaThe expedition is best un384 | The Immersion Review

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It should also be noted that the exploratory research conducted to date has focused almost exclusively on describing the oldest layers of “traditional” practice that are still available to researchers. Sadly, many of these practices are in decline, hence efforts must be made to preserve this cultural heritage and make it more widely available to the next generation. Still, several questions remain as to why local forms of combat declined in popularity at exactly the same time that other knife and stick methods (such as the Filipino martial arts) began to thrive in the region. Many aspects of the modern practice, transformation and hybridization of these fighting systems are touched on in the interviews below, but these questions require much more research. Lastly, some of these fighting systems, much like their better-known cousin Capoeira, are associated with unique musical traditions which would benefit from additional detailed study. Future fieldwork in the area (especially in Trinidad and Tobago) might benefit from the presence of an ethnomusicologist.

Yet, the ILF’s research in the area is clearly off to a strong start.

The following issue begins with two important articles by Dr. Michael J. Ryan. They set the stage for everything that follows by introducing the basic concepts and systems discussed throughout the rest of this issue. The first of these is a day-by-day account of the ILF’s investigation of Caribbean martial culture during their recent expedition to Barbados. This essay opens a window onto the process of conducting this sort of fieldwork and introduces readers to the practitioners and researchers who will reappear in subsequent interviews.

Equally important is his next essay titled, “Hoplology: The Quest to Discover, Examine and Understand Martial Arts.” This piece provides readers with a basic introduction to the concept of Hoplology, as well as a historical review of its development from the late 19th century to the present. Ryan’s discussion is particularly important, as it begins the work of establishing the New Hoplology’s mission within the quickly expanding field of Martial Arts Studies.

Appendix: A SPECIAL ISSUE | 385

ched on in ly, some of associated art,Fuor dtial study. ialfrom issuethe of fit o combine arly off to a ative ways. was develRyan.

They story of the and systems

account of over much pedition to s areoffull of ort fieldiduals fight reappear in Philip—musician, Bajan Sticklicker, and scholar.

Philip Musician Bajan sticklicker andwhich The silent guiding force by d. Nothing Mahipal scholar.happen. events s members er, Examine

oduction to cted. om theLate late combative begins the ontributed ding field of F. Draeger alogue and the ghting .niversity of

avior, has a developed th century, ticed today. a sPECIaL IssUE War. While of the folest, he died tudy could raphical arer a ne’s found journey Hoplology ocus on the

the followary project ) examines ike artshistory, known mon inter-is account hin the last of these arts d even and the culture oks on the cholars r, one of are his the er oflibrary points the discusfulfillHis visioned. uenced one

lology that ghting with sysbados” wide varing for genis provides inspired rd se fighting he area durplorations, t surrounds This local ecent essay, whip-based he growing rtial system diversity of

We are then introduced to Dr. Philip Forde, a local practitioner of stick fighting and a historical researcher who recently completed his doctoral training at the University of the West Indies. He provides a detailed introduction to “Sticklicking” as it developed on the island of Barbados and a review of the major styles of the art still practiced today. His discussion also provides important context which helps to situate some of the interviews hereafter with local practitioners.

The following interview with Rondel Benjamin (who teaches at the Bois Academy) examines his journey to discover his roots and the roots of his martial arts and culture, in relation to the entire family of fighting arts known as “Kalinda,” which are found only in Trinidad and Tobago. Benjamin’s account is particularly relevant to those attempting to understand the current practice of these arts, as it touches the of modern forms of acknowledge social It seemson likely thatimportance the moment has arrived.

Yet we must also frankly that much has changed since Draeger’s time. Any attempt to create a New Hoplology media, popular culture, and community prowill have to be grounded in the most recent theoretical and methodological innovations. It grams must also move beyond simple attempts to of catalogue in the perpetuation local“traditional” culture.practices,

Caribbean Combat Arts and the New Hoplology

Benji—the caretaker and guard-

Ronald back curtain on Benji caretaker andaguardian of the Triniian the ofdrawing Trinidad and Tobago’s IndoAfro Trinidadian JabJab. dad and Tobago’s martial culture.. martial culture.

or a single-minded focus on only one area of the world. While studies of the recent or distant past are valuable, it should be obvious to all that interpersonal combative beRondel Benjamin then provides readers with havior shows no sign of becoming obsolete. Rather, it evolves and changes as the global system bring new ideas, of technologies and groups of people.one We areof enriched antogether interview Keegan Taylor, his by this process, but it also generates new sources of identity and therefore social tensions. top students another instructor Indeed, the social history of theand Caribbean, and the fighting systems itof gaveKalinrise to, is an almost ideal case study of this process.

da. Taylor elaborates on a number of points

One might be tempted to dismiss Hoplology as a quaint 19th century term. And it help uswhich to itsfurther understand Trinidad is all too which easy see the ways in earliest incarnations were deeply rooted in the colonialism of that century. Yet the rise of new identities, tensions and conflicts in the and make Tobago’s martial culture.behavior, His understood discussion current moment the systematic study of combative within a specific cultural context, more relevant than ever. of traditional music, and how his martial and TJ shining a light on the elusive scholar of African and African-American martial Biggard the voice of old world wisdom. arts.

Keegan—music producer and

champion Keegan MusicBois-man. producer and champion Bois- man.

386 | The Immersion Review

Martial Martial Arts Arts Masters Masters

A recent research expedition to the island of Barbados, undertaken by the Immersion musical training influenced one another, Labs Foundation (ILF), has broughthave back not only exciting accounts of the region’s little-known styles of machete, stick and whip fighting, but also important insights as to is also significant. what the New Hoplology may have to offer all students of the martial arts. Within the pages of this special issue you will read about the experiences of nine individuals as they traveled from across North America and the Caribbean to meet the masters of several 7 9 styles, some never before documented. This culminated in an exchange of information geared towards preserving the region’s intangible cultural heritage. The ILF expedition

Barbados. This essay opens a window onto the process of conducting this sort of fieldmore they had bargained accounts ofand pioneering martial are full of work than and introduces readers tofor. theThe practitioners researchers who artists will reappear in such tales as it is impossible to gain a detailed understanding of how individuals fight Philip Musician Bajan sticklicker and subsequent interviews. scholar. The silent guiding force by which without also coming to appreciate the cultural values that they seek to uphold. Nothing Mahipal Equally important is his next essay titled “Hoplology: The Quest to Discover, Examine events happen. reveals the ways in which a community functions quite as clearly as how its members and Understand Martial Arts.” This piece provides readers with a basic introduction to fight, play, spar and train for combat. theseas well discussions, readers return to theFollowing concept of Hoplology, as a historical review of its development from the late Thiscentury is not atoparticularly insight, but it isisone that is frequently 19th the present.new Ryan’s discussion particularly importantneglected. as it beginsLate the “Memories of Old-Time Barbados” with David 19th early 20th century social scientists undertook a number of studies of combative workand of establishing the New Hoplology’s mission within the quickly expanding field of behavior in their quest to understand human culture. Some of these studies contributed Martial Arts Studies.

“Biggard” Hinds. His family has been deeply to the creation of “Hoplology.” That banner was again taken up by Donn F. Draeger We are then introduced to Dr. Philip Forde, a local practitioner of stick fighting and andinvolved his followers with in the post-WWII period asfor theygenerations, sought to explore and catalogue the Sticklicking and a historical researcher who recently completed his doctoral training at the University of fighting systems of East Asia (often with a special emphasis on feudal Japan). thehe Westwas Indies.originally He provides a instructed detailed introduction to “Sticklicking” as it developed in the combative art by behavior, his Yet Hoplology, most simply defined as the study of human has a on the island of Barbados and a review of the major styles of the art still practiced today. knack for being forgotten.

After a brief flowering of interest in the early 20th century, Hisgrandfather. discussion also provides important context which helps to situate with some of the folBiggard provides readers most Western readers interest in the subject following the First World War. While lowing interviews withlost local practitioners.

Donn F. Draeger’s attempted revival generated a fairfighting degree of popular interest, he died vivid accounts of the stick culture Wayne Quintyne (a professional martial artist) has authored an autobiographical arbefore his dream of establishing Hoplology as a legitimate field of academic study could ticle titled “Going Away to Find One’s Roots.” This account traces Quintyne’s journey dominated midbe which accomplished.

Despite some the ongoingarea popularduring interest, thethe project never found a from being a student of various globally popular martial arts to a renewed focus on the foothold in century. the university. There are no academic institutes for the study of Hoplology 20th unique forms of stick fighting that are indigenous to Barbados. Likewise, the followor scholarly, peer-reviewed, journals dedicated to its research.

Ronald—drawing back a curtain ing interview with Rondel Benjamin (who teaches at the Bois Academy) examines on thedrawing Indo-Afro-Trinidadian Ronald back a curtain on theJabInstead, we have recently seen the birth of a much wider interdisciplinary project many similarRonald themes, thisAlfred time in relation to an entire family of fighting arts known Indo- Afro Trinidadian JabJab. Next, introduces readers to the Benji the caretaker and guardian of TriniJab. termed “Martial Arts are Studies.” has in brought together scholars from fields like history, as “Kalinda,” which found Itonly Trinidad and Tobago.

Benjamin’s account is dad and Tobago’s martial culture.. anthropology, and media studies, oflocal whomthe arecurrent united practice by from a common interworld relevant ofsociology “Jab-Jab Devils.”

This tradition particularly to those attempting to all understand of these arts est in understanding the role that the martial arts play within society.

Within the last as it touches on the importance of modern forms of social media, popular culture and Trinidad combines public performance, ritual decade we have seen the creation of conferences, peer reviewed journals and even the community programs in the perpetuation of local culture. awarding of research grants seeking to advance the field. More scholarly books on the practice, and a whip-based in one of his Rondel Benjamin then provides readers with ancombat interview of system Keegan Taylor, martial arts are being published now than ever before. Increasingly young scholars are top students and another instructor of Kalinda. Taylor elaborates on a number of points discovering innovative ways ofthe bringing together the timeand that they spend in the library what most least unwhich help is us probably to further understand Trinidadunique, and Tobago’s martial culture.

His discusand training hall. In a very real sense, the growth of Martial Arts Studies is the fulfillsion of traditional music, and how his martial and musical training have influenced one derstood, martial in he this issue. ment of Draeger’s dream, even ifsystem it is not theoutlined sort of field that initially envisioned. another, are also significant.

This literature is provided much broader in scope than experiments in Hoplology that Thenewaccount here athestark reminder Following these discussions readers return to is “Memories of Old Time Barbados” with came earlier in the 20th century. Studies are being published examining fighting sysDavid “Biggard” Hinds. His family has been deeply involved with Sticklicking for genoffrom the diversity combative tems many regions and of timehuman periods. Further, researchers behavior, are bringing a wide varierations and he was originally instructed in the art by his grandfather. Biggard provides ety of theoretical perspectives to these questions. Yet while most of this work is inspired readers with vivid accounts of the stick cultureare whichnot dominated the area durwhat might lostfighting steps taken a sPECIaL IssUE by and actual martial arts practice,be it tends toiffocus on the interaction of these fighting ing the mid 20th century. systems with other social, cultural, economic or political factors.

Detailed explorations, to document and preserve these practices now.This local Ronaldstudies, Alfred of introduces readers toorthe world “Jab Jab Devils.” or Next comparative actual techniques, even the of material culture that surrounds from Trinidad combines public ritual whip-based atradition martial art (e.g., weapons, training gear)performance, are much rarer.

Thispractice led me,and in aarecent essay, TJ shining a light on the elusive scholar of Thesystem then concludes pieces bymartial a growing combat in what is probably thespace most unique, and Hoplology” least understood, system African and African-American martial to wonder ifissue perhaps there might be for awith “New within the Biggard—the voice of Old-World arts. outlinedArts in this issue.literature?

The account provided here is a stark reminder of the diversity of Biggard Martial Studies the voice of old world wisdom. wisdom. number of the ILF’s core expedition members.

Caribbean Comba

In the first, Vincent Tamer, who served as both the cameraman and site coordinator for the expedition, reflects on his journey of personal discovery and the ways in which it has been enriched by both the martial arts and his recent involvement with Hoplological research.

Dr. Michael J. Ryan then introduces readers to the unique forms of stick and machete fighting that have developed in Venezuela. This discussion begins to pull together the pieces necessary for a true comparative study.

Martial Arts Masters Martial Arts Masters

Vincent—the go-to man, filmmaker, andthestudent offilm themaker combative Vincent go-to man, and arts. of the combative arts. student Appendix: A SPECIAL ISSUE | 387

human com and 9 preser 7

The issu bers. In th for the exp has been e cal researc and mache together th

Prof. T. takes reade and stick social hist ture which experience for the com

This spe search of th tion about Western h when the t

10

Caribbean Combat Arts and the New Hoplology Prof. T.J. Desch-Obi, a noted historian This special issue hopes to share with human combative behavior, and what might be lost if steps are not taken to document of African and Afro-Caribbean mar- now.readers a genuine journey of discovand preserve these practices The on issuea then concludes withery. pieces The by a number of the ILF’s expedition tial arts, takes readers detailed research ofcorethe ILF memteam, bers. In the first Vincent Tamer, who served as both the cameraman and site coordinator journey through theforcomplex systems in discovery its preliminary stages, the expedition, reflects on hiswhile journey ofstill personal and the ways in which it has been enriched by both the martial arts and his recent involvement with Hoplologiof “Grima,” or machete and stick is revealing important information cal research. Dr. Michael J. Ryan then introduces readers to the unique forms of stick machete fighting that have developed This discussion begins pull fighting, that haveandbecome deeply about ina Venezuela. little-known group oftotraditogether the pieces necessary for a true comparative study. entwined with Colombia’s political tional combat practices that arose Prof. T. J. Desch-Obi, a noted historian of African and Afro-Caribbean martial arts, readers onmay a detailed through the systems ofhemisphere.

“Grima,” or machete and social history. takes Readers bejourneywithin thecomplex Western Just and stick fighting, that have become deeply entwined with Columbia’s political and surprised by the size and complexity as importantly, they are social history.

Readers may be surprised by the size and complexity of theillustrating martial culture which he describes. Finally, Mahipal Lunia, the expedition’s leader, reflects on his of the martial culture which he de- what canfactors be that accomplished experiences within the martial arts and those led him to developwhen a passionthe for the comparative study of traditional fighting and systems.scholarly study of the scribes.

Finally, technical Vincent the go-to man, film maker and Mahipal Lunia, the This special issue hopes to share with readers a genuine journey of discovery. The restudent of the combative arts. expedition’s leader,search reflects on while his still martial artsstages, areis revealing brought together. of the ILF team, in its preliminary important information about a little-known group of traditional combat practices that arose within the experiences within the martial arts Western hemisphere. Just as importantly, they are illustrating what can be accomplished when led the technical anddescholarly study of the martial arts are brought together. and those factors that him to velop a passion for the comparative © The Immersion Labs Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED study of traditional fighting systems.

About the Author

Benjamin N. Judkins holds a doctorate in Political Science from Columbia University and is currently a Visiting Scholar with the Cornell University East Asia Program.

He is the co-editor of the interdisciplinary journal Martial Arts Studies. [1] With Jon Nielson he is the co-author of The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts (SUNY Press, 2015). [2] He also curates “Kung Fu Tea: Martial Arts History, Wing About the Author:Chun and Chinese Martial Arts,” a popular blog dedicated Wayne the professional martial artist. to the scholarly study of the martial arts. [3] [1] www.mas.cardiffuniversitypress.org Benjamin N. Judkins holds a doctorate in Political Science from Columbia [2] www.amazon.com/Creation-Wing-Chun-History-Southern University and is currently a Visiting Scholar with the Cornell University East Asia Program. He [3] is www.chinesemartialstudies.com the co-editor of the interdisciplinary journal, Martial Arts 1 Studies. With Jon Nielson, he is the co-author of The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts (SUNY Press, 2015). 2 He also curates “Kung Fu Tea: Martial Arts History, Wing Chun and Chinese Martial Arts,” a popular blog dedicated to the scholarly study of the martial arts. 3

SPRING 1 2019 https://mas.cardiffuniversitypress.org

2 https://www.amazon.com/Creation-Wing-Chun-History-Southern/dp/1438456948 3 https://chinesemartialstudies.com

388 | The Immersion Review