Black Combat Arts Institute.
AFRICA · ENDANGERED
Tata-lubié
Ground fighting itself, reversals and controls, the speciality of the canton of Tchitchao, in Kabyé country, in Togo, among the Kabyé people.
ORIGINS & SOCIAL FUNCTIONS
The ground fighting proper of the canton of Tchitchao, in the Kabyé country of Togo, among the Kabyé people, twin and complement of the seu.
THE GAME
Reversals and controls on the ground: the continuation of the duel where the standing games end.
PLACE IN THE FAMILY
The tata-lubie completes the Kabyé demonstration: a people distributing the whole of wrestling's space among its cantons. In the family's terms, it holds the dimension most games forbid, the ground, and thereby marks the boundary the others legislate against.
SOURCES
Olivier Malo, La capoeira et les arts de combat noirs : histoire effacée, techniques invisibles, 1905–1984 [Capoeira and the Black combat arts: erased history, invisible techniques (1905–1984)], doctoral thesis in History, Université des Antilles, 2020.
HOW TO CITE THIS ENTRY
MALO, Olivier. Tata-lubié. In: The Atlas of the Black Combat Arts [online]. Black Combat Arts Institute, 2026. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/atlas-en/tata-lubie [accessed date].
RELATED PRACTICES
→ Seu, Kabyé ground fighting, same canton
→ Essoda-lubié, Kabyé wrestling
→ Evalas, Kabyé country