Black Combat Arts Institute.
AFRICA · LIVING · REVIVED
Wesuwa
A wrestling on a grass field paced by the great log drums, practised by the Bakweri people on the slopes of Mount Cameroon: victory by throwing the opponent onto his back, or by taking him down and then rolling him onto his back or pinning him flat on his stomach.
ORIGINS & SOCIAL FUNCTIONS
A wrestling of the Bakweri people on the slopes of Mount Cameroon, fought on the grass field to the great slit drums — the mountain's festivals gathering the villages around the contests.
THE GAME
Victory by throwing the adversary onto the back, or by a takedown followed by rolling him onto the back or pinning him face down; the log drums command the field.
PLACE IN THE FAMILY
The wesuwa joins the coastal-Cameroonian group (besua, massing) while extending its code to the ground's first instants — the roll, the pin. Its great drums restate the family's musical law on the mountain: the orchestra as the frame within which the fall is judged.
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. Wesuwa. In: The Atlas of the Black Combat Arts [online]. Black Combat Arts Institute, 2026. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/atlas-en/wesuwa [accessed date].
RELATED PRACTICES
→ Besua — Bakweri name within the coastal complex
→ Massing — Same coastal logic
→ Mêsing — Throw onto the back