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, 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