Author: Paul Bowman, Professor of Cultural Studies at Cardiff University, UK
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9781786601933
Category: Social Science
Page: 210
View: 424
Mythologies of Martial Arts is an introduction to the key myths and ideologies around martial arts in contemporary popular culture internationally. It is the first book to draw together practical experience and seminal texts across a multitude of disciplines to offer original insights into the complex, contradictory world of martial arts. It is an accessible but theoretically sophisticated book aimed at student, scholars and anyone interested in martial arts practice.
Presents and refutes various myths about the martial arts and gives detailed information about the various disciplines for martial arts teachers, students, and enthusiasts.
Mythologies of Martial Arts is an introduction to the key myths and ideologies around martial arts in contemporary popular culture internationally. It is the first book to draw together practical experience and seminal texts across a multitude of disciplines to offer original insights into the complex, contradictory world of martial arts. It is an accessible but theoretically sophisticated book aimed at student, scholars and anyone interested in martial arts practice.
Unlock the hidden secrets of Martial Arts and Self Defense... The no.1 download: Get your copy now! From acclaimed author Phil Pierce, discover the truths behind the secretive and fantastical world of martial arts. - Do you know the best martial art for 'real' street self-defense? - Or how board breaking really works … and how you can do it? - Uncover the one self-defense myth that could keep you alive! - The truth behind martial arts superhumans. - Which is the original martial art? - The truth about your inner badass. - The surprising reality behind everyone's favorite weapon. - The secret 'trick' to Bruce Lee's One Inch Punch (and how to do it yourself). Discover these and much more inside! From acclaimed martial arts author Phil Pierce, this guide cracks open the secretive techniques and explores why we are fascinated by the unknown and the mysterious world of combat arts. Whether you train in Karate, Taekwondo, Kung Fu, MMA, or just want to learn the insider tips and tricks, get your copy now. To say thanks for checking out this book you can get a FREE copy of "3 Steps to Explosive Power for Martial Arts and Fitness" from my website now. Just visit: www.BlackBeltFit.com Claim your free copy now! Tags: Martial Arts, Self Defense, Self Defence, MMA, Karate, Taekwondo, Kung Fu, Bruce Lee, Krav Maga, UFC
This is the first book in English that adopts a critical socio-historical perspective to examine the important themes and challenges of Asian indigenous culture and sport. Written by leading sport historians and scholars, the chapters in the book contain real-life case studies and comparative studies in Asian sport. The book examines the history, contemporary governance and management, gender, and ethnic issues embedded in folk sports and physical culture, and the challenges faced by Asian indigenous sports and their evolution. Based on cutting-edge research from China, Japan, Korea, Israel and beyond, this book will be a valuable addition to any course in sport history, sport culture, sport development and sport sociology. It will stimulate those who are seeking ways to promote and develop indigenous sports, from intangible cultural heritage protection to global sport partnership. It will also be of interest to students, researchers, and practitioners, who wish to understand the changing face of Asian society and Asian indigenous sport. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.
Like any other philosophy, religion or culture, each martial art has its founding myths and heroes; stories that tell of the art's origins and makes sense of its underlying philosophic principles. This book is a collection of these myths and legends.
Chinese martial arts masters of the past created special training manuals with text and images—sometimes appearing in the illustrations themselves—and these manuals now provide an invaluable glimpse back in time that allow readers to see how various martial arts were practiced. Covering the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and the Republican Period, this in-depth survey presents 30 masters and their books, placing them in the context of Chinese culture and history. Along with biographical portraits of these masters, the book covers the history of the manuals, Chinese martial arts historians, the history of Taiwanese martial arts, how Chinese martial artists made their livings, the Imperial military exams, the place of the Shaolin Temple in Chinese martial arts history, and much more. Illustrated with hundreds of photographs and drawings from the manuals themselves, the book offers a multifaceted portrait of Chinese martial arts and their place in Chinese culture.
Collective myths shape and frame contemporary communication processes as well as the collective subconscious. International contributors from the humanities and social sciences focus on interdependencies between collective myths and decivilizing processes in China and the United States, global economics, and recent technological advances. They highlight long-term de-/civilizing processes also for the globally important survival units India and Turkey, and the violently contested border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The reawakening of Asian martial arts is a distinct example of cultural hybridity in a global setting. This book deals with history of Asian martial arts in the contexts of tradition, religion, philosophy, politics and culture. It attempts to deepen the study of martial arts studies in their transformation from traditional to modern sports. It is also important that this book explores how Asian martial arts, including Shaolin martial arts and Taekwondo, have worked as tools for national advocate of identities among Asians in order to overcome various national hardships and to promote nationalism in the modern eras. The Asian martial arts certainly have been transformed in both nature and content into unique modern sports and they have contributed to establishing cultural homogeneity in Asia. This phenomenon can be applied to the global community. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue in the International Journal of the History of Sport.
Popular culture permeates every aspect of our lives: from the music we listen to, the films and television shows we watch and the books we read. But who decides what counts as popular culture? Why is it so important? And how do we go about studying it? This book provides a comprehensive introduction to popular culture and examines the problems and possibilities of studying this fast changing field. Employing a unique approach, Bowman uses techniques of deconstruction to unpick, analyse and deconstruct contemporary examples of popular culture. The book looks at music, Hollywood film and the self-help movement to question claims behind the importance of popular culture and encourage readers to form their own interpretations of the culture they experience every day. With theory interwoven throughout, but in a way that is barely noticeable to the reader, the book provides covers the important theoretical work in the field, whilst directing the reader through ways to avoid common pitfalls in studying theory. An innovative user guide and glossary explain essential terms and ideas, making difficult concepts relevant, accessible and interesting. This witty, thought-provoking book provides a clear, novel introduction to popular culture for all students of cultural studies, media studies and sociology.
The world of the Marvel Comics superheroes began in 1961 thanks to talented creators such as Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and others. Over time, their work became more than just a collection of comic book stories for kids; the characters, and the fictional universe they inhabited, evolved into a sophisticated series of inter-connected tales that would entertain millions of readers and movie-goers for decades. This is the story of how that unique universe was created: a realm of monsters, gods, aliens, robots, sorcerers, hyper-strong men and beguiling women - a world of fantasy filled with incredible wonders and unimaginable terrors. Step out of the ordinary world and into this Marvelous Mythology.
A concise yet comprehensive history of traditional Okinawan and Japanese karate, with biographies of the great karate masters This concise-yet-comprehensive history of traditional Okinawan and Japanese karate includes authoritative biographies of the great karate masters of the past and the philosophical issues they faced as karate changed and evolved. Bringing a fresh understanding to the study of the martial arts, Mark I. Cramer dispels many of the often-repeated martial-arts myths as he details the lineages of the modern styles of karate and describes the social, cultural, and political events that influenced them. While most books focus on a single style of karate or the biography of just one of the great teachers, this book offers a well-researched and detailed overview. By bringing all of this knowledge together in one volume, Cramer—an award-winning inductee into the USA Karate Federation’s Hall of Fame—fills a crucial gap.
