Introduction: divining an approach -- Birth of traditions -- From across the Kalunga: pastoral pugilism in southern Angola to 1860 -- Bloodless duels: combative custom in Biafra to 1860 -- Across the Kalunga -- Enslaved honor: the utility of martial art in North America -- Return passages: ritual and revolutionary liberation from bondage in the francophone Caribbean -- Urban inversions: combat societies in Rio de Janeiro -- Conclusion: embodied traditions.