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To everyone who is interested in the material I've posted in this thread, I figured I'd come in with an update and some additional material.
First off, I stated in the OP that Martial Arts Studies as a research field is still in its infancy and that, outside of the diligent work of Paul Bowman and Benjamin Judkins (both of whom I talked about in the OP), there really hasn't been any kind of sustained discussion of what this field should be about or how it should proceed.
In an effort to start these sorts of intellectual investigations, Bowman put together the first annual Martial Arts Studies Conference at Cardiff University in the UK this past June (which I was lucky enough to attend [I'm currently in the PhD program there to study with Bowman] and at which I presented a paper based on the research done for the essay I linked to here).
The conference was fucking insane, so many cool people with both martial arts training as well as academic training and who were able to articulate fascinating insights relating to a million different aspects of the martial arts. While there is obviously no substitute for the conference itself, the best I can do is link to three of the four keynotes which were recorded.
The first keynote which officially kicked things off was given by Stephen Chan (this dude has lived a crazy life and he's got an equally crazy family history, information about which you can find in this keynote video as well as this interview with Ben Judkins posted on his Kung Fu Tea blog) who talked about his family's martial arts past as well as his own lifelong involvement with the martial arts (Karate in particular):
The second keynote was given by Ben Judkins who talked about the circumstances of given martial arts styles' popularity and circulation versus others' obscurity (focusing in particular on Wing Chun):
And the third keynote was given by Doug Farrer. He's an anthropologist with experience studying the practices of - and practicing himself - the arts of (among others) silat (about which he wrote this book) and BJJ (about which he is currently writing) and he talked about the trajectory of his own research and, by extension, the trajectory of his experiences of the martial arts:
Bowman, meanwhile, has written some cool stuff lately, chief among them being this cool discussion of groundfighting and the problem it poses filmmakers and this more extensive discussion of the martial arts (including MMA) and the media.
And then, last but not least, I contributed this guest post to Judkins' Kung Fu Tea blog in which I discuss the presence of martial arts in a series of old Hollywood movies, focusing in particular on the ambitious and innovative choreography of various grappling techniques. I also included a bunch of gifs, which I'm not going to post here, as well as the specific clips in question taken from the various films, which I will post here for you guys to check out.
The first movie I discussed was the James Cagney film, 'G' Men, a film made in 1935 featuring Jujitsu.
The second movie I discussed was a later Cagney film, Blood on the Sun, a film from 1945 featuring multiple scenes involving Judo.
The third movie I discussed was a political thriller from 1943 entitled Behind the Rising Sun, which features an unbelievable proto-NHB style-versus-style fight between an American boxer and a Japanese Judoka (spoiler: the boxer wore both of his gloves :redface
.
The fourth movie I discussed was a post-war crime drama with Humphrey Bogart made in 1949 called Tokyo Joe which, once again, features Judo.
And the fifth and final movie I discussed was a 1952 romantic comedy with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy called Pat and Mike in which Hepburn beats up two thugs (one of whom was played by a young Charles Bronson :icon_chee).
Obviously, for more in-depth discussions of these scenes and the historical/combative salience therein, check out my full write-up.
Those are the main updates for now. The first issue of the Martial Arts Studies journal is right around the corner (as of now due to be published in October, though ahead of publication, one of the book reviews that will be included in the inaugural issue has been published on the journal page as something of a sneak preview) plus there will start to be more conferences held in the coming months, so hopefully I'll start having more updates containing more stuff in the near future.
Until then, I hope you guys enjoy all of this stuff, and if you have any comments, I'm only too eager to hear them.
First off, I stated in the OP that Martial Arts Studies as a research field is still in its infancy and that, outside of the diligent work of Paul Bowman and Benjamin Judkins (both of whom I talked about in the OP), there really hasn't been any kind of sustained discussion of what this field should be about or how it should proceed.
In an effort to start these sorts of intellectual investigations, Bowman put together the first annual Martial Arts Studies Conference at Cardiff University in the UK this past June (which I was lucky enough to attend [I'm currently in the PhD program there to study with Bowman] and at which I presented a paper based on the research done for the essay I linked to here).
The conference was fucking insane, so many cool people with both martial arts training as well as academic training and who were able to articulate fascinating insights relating to a million different aspects of the martial arts. While there is obviously no substitute for the conference itself, the best I can do is link to three of the four keynotes which were recorded.
The first keynote which officially kicked things off was given by Stephen Chan (this dude has lived a crazy life and he's got an equally crazy family history, information about which you can find in this keynote video as well as this interview with Ben Judkins posted on his Kung Fu Tea blog) who talked about his family's martial arts past as well as his own lifelong involvement with the martial arts (Karate in particular):
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And then, last but not least, I contributed this guest post to Judkins' Kung Fu Tea blog in which I discuss the presence of martial arts in a series of old Hollywood movies, focusing in particular on the ambitious and innovative choreography of various grappling techniques. I also included a bunch of gifs, which I'm not going to post here, as well as the specific clips in question taken from the various films, which I will post here for you guys to check out.
The first movie I discussed was the James Cagney film, 'G' Men, a film made in 1935 featuring Jujitsu.
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The fourth movie I discussed was a post-war crime drama with Humphrey Bogart made in 1949 called Tokyo Joe which, once again, features Judo.
And the fifth and final movie I discussed was a 1952 romantic comedy with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy called Pat and Mike in which Hepburn beats up two thugs (one of whom was played by a young Charles Bronson :icon_chee).
Obviously, for more in-depth discussions of these scenes and the historical/combative salience therein, check out my full write-up.
Those are the main updates for now. The first issue of the Martial Arts Studies journal is right around the corner (as of now due to be published in October, though ahead of publication, one of the book reviews that will be included in the inaugural issue has been published on the journal page as something of a sneak preview) plus there will start to be more conferences held in the coming months, so hopefully I'll start having more updates containing more stuff in the near future.
Until then, I hope you guys enjoy all of this stuff, and if you have any comments, I'm only too eager to hear them.
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