Western men and Eastern arts: The significance of Eastern martial arts disciplines in British men's narratives of masculinity

Channon, Alex

doi:10.1080/21640599.2012.751170

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Such critical analysis of narrations of sport as “different,” “not serious,” and “playful” serve to highlight why such enclaves can persist as sites for experiences, behaviors, and discourses that are no longer routinely accepted within Western societies. Indeed, during our previous research within combat sports subcultures we evidenced a recurring theme from various participants who experienced their actions as substantively different from the “real” violence that occurs outside of the ring/dojo/cage (Channon ; Matthews , ). Clearly such understandings trouble simplistic claims that the “brutal body contact” of ice hockey (and similar sports) is fundamentally the same as “real” violence (see also Matthews and Channon ).…”

Section: It's Only Sport: Play Spectacle and Neutralizing “Violence”mentioning

confidence: 92%

“It's Only Sport”—The Symbolic Neutralization of “Violence”

Matthews

Channon

2016

Symbolic Interaction

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Within the commodified world of professional ice hockey, athletes sell their bodily performances in return for a salary. A central feature of this transaction is the very real risk of physical injury -a risk inherent within most contact sports, but particularly so within those that feature seemingly 'violent' confrontations between competitors, as ice hockey is widely reputed to do. Yet within the spectacle of sport, where physicality can be constructed as playful and unserious, it is possible for the consequences of such action to be concealed behind a symbolic, ludic veneer. Within this paper we explore this process with a particular focus on ice hockey spectators, for whom notions of sport violence as in some important way 'mimetic' of the 'real' enabled their propensity to both enjoy, and find moral validation through, potentially deleterious behaviours among athletes.

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Section: It's Only Sport: Play Spectacle and Neutralizing “Violence”mentioning

confidence: 92%

“It's Only Sport”—The Symbolic Neutralization of “Violence”

Matthews

Channon

2016

Symbolic Interaction

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“…And a cluster of intermingling figures that might be called the shaolin ninja Jedi superhuman, along with the cousin species, the superhero (Judkins 2016a; Goto-Jones 2016). There is also, of course, the competitor, ideally the Olympic athlete (Channon 2012), and the bodybuilder (at least in the modern Western imaginary the martial body has long been connected with athleticism, which itself has even longer been connected with often impossible images of mesomorphism [Spatz 2015; see also Krug 2001]). Then, conversely, the flipside of the hyper-visible martial body: The invisible man or woman, the surprising, unexpected expert, who has skill without physical markings, the master of pure technique rather than muscular hypertrophy.…”

Section: Martial Arts and Media Supplements Martial Bodiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deconstructing martial arts

Bowman

2019

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This work is the result of preoccupations, reflections, theoretical and analytical explorations and research projects that have been developing and coalescing over several years. It represents a contribution to the current elaboration of the new field of martial arts studies and it also seeks to intervene into the emerging field of physical cultural studies. For its existence I am indebted to a range of individuals. Thanks go first to all at Cardiff University Press for considering this book in the first place. Second, thanks go to the editorial board of the Physical Cultural Studies book series:

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“…On the other hand, as in many MACS male subcultures, MMA fraternities are characterized by openness, tactility and intimacy, without the fear of homo-sexualization accompanying such a thing [10]. Channon's inquiries provide several counterintuitive examples that face the "hegemonic masculinity", "gender order" and sexual discrimination theses [29,[46][47][48]. On the contrary, MACS can represent the locus for experimenting with sex integration and sexual orientation acceptance-by the communities of the practitioners and the fans-that are not common in other popular sports and physical cultures.…”

Section: An Ever-expanding Research Agendamentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Boxing Is Our Business’: The Embodiment of a Leftist Identity in Boxe Popolare

Pedrini

2018

Societies

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Based on two-year ethnography of boxe popolare—a style of boxing codified by Italian leftist grassroots groups—and participant observation of a palestra popolare in an Italian city, the article purports to (a) deepen understanding of the nexus between physical cultures and politics and (b) contribute to understanding the renewal of political cultures by overcoming the disembodied perspectives on ideology. The first section of the paper tracks down the relation that ties boxing to the sociocultural matrix of the leftist grassroots groups. Boxing draws its significance from the antagonistic culture of the informal political youth organisations in which the practice is embedded and reflects the main changes that have been occurring in the collective action repertoires of the street-level political forces over the past few decades. The second section analyses the daily activities of boxe popolare. The paper thereby demonstrates how training regimes manipulate the bodies to inculcate a set of corporeal postures and sensibilities inherent to a mythology of otherness peculiar to the far-left ethos. In conclusion, the lived experience of boxe popolare addresses the importance of placing the situated practices and the socialised body at the centre of the study of political cultures in the contemporary post-ideological era.

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Western men and Eastern arts: The significance of Eastern martial arts disciplines in British men's narratives of masculinity

Cited by 17 publications

References 44 publications

“It's Only Sport”—The Symbolic Neutralization of “Violence”

“It's Only Sport”—The Symbolic Neutralization of “Violence”

Deconstructing martial arts

‘Boxing Is Our Business’: The Embodiment of a Leftist Identity in Boxe Popolare

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