ABSTRACT
There are what Bilgin terms ‘historical absences’ in the way that security studies has developed, and these are not accidental; they are constitutive of what security is as they reproduce patterns of security and insecurity by prioritising some interests over others. Addressing them involves not simply providing more empirical work to fill the absences but moving away from dominant narratives to critique their political processes. Capoeira presents the perspective of the weaker and, through its music, movement and ritual, provides cultural discourse of resistance; the combination of these two factors generates the potential to address the empirical ‘absences’ and critique the way they are produced. Critiquing the dominant discourse is necessary for logical reasons too: there are contradictions inherent to a purportedly rationalist perspective: development and security are claimed by northern donors as common interests, while those who fail to comply or compete are framed as a threat. Surveillance, increasingly eroding the privacy of populations, is presented in dominant security policy as a technology to protect liberal values.
