In 2012, Mestre Carlão created the Roda dos Saberes (Circle of Knowledge) as an integral part of the historic Roda de Capoeira do Cais do Valongo.

The idea was simple but powerful: before playing capoeira on this historic ground, we would first talk about the place, its history and its meaning.

For approximately five years, from 2012 to 2017, the Roda dos Saberes took place before the capoeira roda at the Cais do Valongo in Rio de Janeiro. Each gathering opened a space for dialogue with specialists in history, anthropology, Afro-Brazilian culture and popular culture. The conversations explored slavery and the African diaspora, the history of Rio's port district and the formation of Pequena África, as well as contemporary forms of Black cultural expression such as samba, rap and funk carioca.

Among the scholars, artists and cultural figures who became particularly significant to the Roda dos Saberes were Matthias Röhrig Assunção, MC Leonardo, Amir Haddad, Carlos Negreiros and Délcio Teobaldo, alongside many other researchers, musicians, artists and masters of popular culture.

The project created a direct encounter between academic knowledge, lived experience, oral tradition and capoeira. The roda was not treated simply as a performance, but as a cultural practice connected to the history of the territory on which it took place.

This was especially meaningful at the Cais do Valongo, the archaeological site that became recognised as the most important surviving physical evidence of the arrival of enslaved Africans in the Americas. The site was later inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017.

For five years, the Roda dos Saberes and the Roda de Capoeira do Cais do Valongo transformed this historically silenced place into a space of memory, knowledge, cultural affirmation and resistance.

The project was recognised through the Porto Maravilha Cultural Award, which made it possible to document and expand this experience through three major cultural projects:

- the book Roda dos Saberes do Cais do Valongo;

- the documentary film Memórias do Cais do Valongo;

- and a photographic exhibition featuring the work of Maria Buzanovsky.

The book — Roda dos Saberes do Cais do Valongo

Published in 2015 by Kabula Artes e Projetos, the book Roda dos Saberes do Cais do Valongo brings together contributions based on the conversations and lectures presented during the project.

Edited by Carlo Alexandre Teixeira, with editing by Délcio Teobaldo and photographs by Maria Buzanovsky, the publication brings together different perspectives on slavery, African and Afro-Brazilian history, capoeira, memory and Brazilian popular culture.

Contributors include Martha Abreu, Hebe Mattos, Matthias Röhrig Assunção, Cláudio de Paula Honorato, Luiz Antônio Simas, Adriana Facina, Amir Haddad, Maurício Barros de Castro, Milton Guran, MC Leonardo, Mestre Neco Pelourinho and Wallace de Deus, among others.