Black Combat Arts Institute.
AFRICA · LIVING · REVIVED
Mêsing
A wrestling of the Beti group of central Cameroon, following two logics: among the Ewondo and Bulu, victory by bringing any part of the trunk to the ground; among the Eton and Manguissa, only the throw onto the back is decisive, with grips below the waist forbidden.
ORIGINS & SOCIAL FUNCTIONS
The wrestling of the Beti group of central Cameroon — Ewondo, Bulu, Eton and Manguissa — where a single art lives under two distinct codes according to the people.
THE GAME
Among the Ewondo and the Bulu, victory by bringing any part of the trunk to the ground; among the Eton and the Manguissa, only the throw onto the back is decisive, grips below the waist forbidden.
PLACE IN THE FAMILY
The mesing's two codes within one people are the family's logic laid bare: the internal grammar (the fall decides) is shared, while each community legislates its own threshold and its own forbidden grips. Rule-making itself — not technique — is where the practices differentiate.
SOURCES
Olivier Malo, La capoeira et les arts de combat noirs : histoire effacée, techniques invisibles, 1905–1984, doctoral thesis in History, Université des Antilles, 2020.
HOW TO CITE THIS ENTRY
MALO, Olivier. Mêsing. In: The Atlas of the Black Combat Arts [online]. Black Combat Arts Institute, 2026. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/atlas-en/mesing [accessed date].
RELATED PRACTICES
→ Besua — Coastal-Cameroon complex
→ Massing — Cameroonian wrestling
→ Wesuwa — Throw onto the back decides