Belonging in Movement: Capoeira for Children and Youth at the Za’atari Refugee Camp

This paper examines the practice of using capoeira for psychosocial support at the Za’atari Refugee camp through the work of the Jordanian non-profit organisation Capoeira al-Shababi. It explores the role of body practices involving humour, performance and synchrony on the development of feelings of belonging among Syrian children and youth. The work suggests that the capoeira class succeeded in holding the necessary space for vulnerability, which is the key reason why the participants described a bodily connection with each other and the feeling that the group was a family.