Martial arts as embodied knowledge : Asian traditions in a transnational world / edited by D. S. Farrer and John Whalen-Bridge.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Farrer, D. S.

Whalen-Bridge, John, 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Martial arts.

Martial arts--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

xi, 249 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2011]

Summary:

This landmark work provides a wide-ranging scholarly consideration of the traditional Asian martial arts. Most of the contributors to the volume are practitioners of the martial arts, and all are keenly aware that these traditions now exist in a transnational context. The book's cutting-edge research includes ethnography and approaches from film, literature, performance, and theater studies.

Three central aspects emerge from this book: martial arts as embodied fantasy, as a culturally embedded form of self-cultivation, and as a continuous process of identity formation. Contributors explore several popular and highbrow cultural considerations, including the career of Bruce Lee, Chinese wuxia films, and Don DeLillo's novel Running Dog. Ethnographies explored describe how the social body trains in martial arts and how martial arts are constructed in transnational training. Ultimately, this academic study of martial arts offers a focal point for new understandings of cultural and social beliefs and of practice and agency. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction: Martial Arts, Transnationalism, and Embodied Knowledge / D. S. Farrer Farrer, D. S., John Whalen-Bridge Whalen-Bridge, John 1

Part I Embodied Fantasy

Chapter 2 Some Versions of the Samurai: The Budd Core of DeLillo's Running Dog / John Whalen-Bridge Whalen-Bridge, John 29

Chapter 3 The Fantasy Corpus of Martial Arts, or, The "Communication" of Bruce Lee / Paul Bowman Bowman, Paul 61

Chapter 4 Body, Masculinity, and Representation in Chinese Martial Arts Films / Jie Lu Lu, Jie 97

Part II How the Social Body Trains

Chapter 5 The Training of Perception in Javanese Martial Arts / Jean-Marc de Grave Grave, Jean-Marc de 123

Chapter 6 Thai Boxing: Networking of a Polymorphous Clinch / Stéphane Rennesson Rennesson, Stéphane 145

Part III Transnational Self-Construction

Chapter 7 From Floor to Stage: Kalarippayattu Travels / Martin Welton Welton, Martin 161

Chapter 8 The Oriental Martial Arts as Hybrid Totems, Together with Orientalized Avatars / Stephen Chan Chan, Stephen 185

Chapter 9 Coffee-Shop Gods: Chinese Martial Arts of the Singapore Diaspora / D. S. Farrer Farrer, D. S. 203.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781438439679

1438439679

OCLC:

707842236