{"title":"Theory before definition in martial arts studies","authors":"P. Bowman","doi":"10.18573/BOOK1.C","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18573/BOOK1.C","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":176173,"journal":{"name":"Deconstructing martial arts","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129934352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Taoism in bits","authors":"P. Bowman","doi":"10.18573/BOOK1.F","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18573/BOOK1.F","url":null,"abstract":"I would never claim to be an expert on Chinese thought, culture or philosophy. In fact, I would never claim to be an expert on anything. I tend to object to discourses organised by the notion of ‘expertise’. This is because the notion of expertise is often invoked as a way to exclude, subordinate or de-legitimize non-professional voices from discussions. Rather than being an ‘expert’, at best I am a scholar of cultural studies, popular culture and ideology with a lifelong interest in martial arts. Almost everything I have learned about Chinese thought, culture or philosophy, I have learned through and in relation to martial arts and popular culture. As such, some may question what I could possibly have to say to anyone about Taoism; they may contest my authority to hold forth on such a complex subject and challenge the legitimacy of any claims I may make. However, any claims I could make in this respect relate to my longterm research interests in ideology and popular culture. In other words, this chapter will principally draw not on my ‘expertise’ but rather on my research (and) experience in these areas. For this reason, this chapter begins from what might be called two ‘popular’ propositions. First, the proposition that it is widely understood that Taoism is Chinese. Second, the proposition that there was a veritable explosion of interest in Taoism in Western popular culture in the wake of (and arguably in response to) some of the major wars of the second half of the 20th Century, particularly WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War (Watts 1990). To flesh out the second proposition briefly: In particular, different kinds of Western interest in Taoism can be seen in the interests and orientations of the Beat Generation, the counterculture and, of course, hippies everywhere. It is often said that these interests had much to do with different kinds of rejection of, or protest against, the institutions that carried out the wars. In other","PeriodicalId":176173,"journal":{"name":"Deconstructing martial arts","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134466690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The triviality of martial arts studies","authors":"P. Bowman","doi":"10.18573/BOOK1.B","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18573/BOOK1.B","url":null,"abstract":"Eyebrows raise. Sometimes there are sniggers. Glances are exchanged. Some people look confused. Some say, ‘What?’ People seem surprised. ‘Martial arts?’, they ask, incredulously. ‘Why?’ Or even, ‘Martial arts studies? What is that?’ These kinds of reactions come from all sorts of people – whether academics or not. No one ever just nods and says, ‘Oh, ok’, the way they would if you had just said Romantic poetry or urban planning or philosophy or music or fluid dynamics, or the way they might even if you’d just said that you ‘do’ one of the many obscure and often peculiarly named branches of modern science (whether neuroparasitology, nutrigenomics, cliodynamics, or something even more unexpected). Sometimes there is surprise and delight. Sometimes there is shock. A lot of it – whether shock, delight, dismay, concern, or confusion – should, on reflection, be unsurprising. On the one hand, people are used to hearing about the familiar subjects of the arts, humanities, and social sciences – the old, traditional fields. On the other hand, when it comes to the sciences, people almost expect to hear of new and unintelligible fields with exotic Latinate names, involving odd prefixes combined with all kinds of ‘ologies’, ‘ographies’, ‘omatics’, ‘otics’, ‘amics’, and ‘omics’. We measure our social progress through this ever-rising spiral of technical specialization. But martial arts as a field of academic study? Martial arts studies? This kind of thing sounds highly dubious to most ears. It doesn’t seem to need explanation as much as it needs justification. What reason could there be for the existence of something so...so what? Words come out of the woodwork: iffy, dodgy, nerdy, niche, weird, boyish, hobbyist, or – of course – trivial. What triviality is martial arts studies? What indulgence? What narcissism, navel gazing, nothingness, even naughtiness is this? These questions may seem hyperbolical. But recall a rhetorical question posed by Stuart Hall about","PeriodicalId":176173,"journal":{"name":"Deconstructing martial arts","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114169709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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