Martial Arts Studies

Conversations on the academic field of Martial Arts Studies, hosted by Professor Paul Bowman of Cardiff University and featuring academics, scholars and experts from around the world.

Martial Arts Studies is a education podcast hosted by martialartsstudies, with 190 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

martialartsstudies hosts Martial Arts Studies, a education show with 190 episodes published.

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  Episode #192

  2026 MASA Conference Retrospective

  Sep 18, 202645 min

  In this episode, Lauren Miller Crawford, Alex Channon, and Peter Katz reflect on the 2026 MASA conference held in Brighton this July. Listen along as we play a game of "high, low, buffalo," in which we each share a highlight, something we would change, and something totally random that resonated with us. We also share findings from the post-conference survey and discuss some of the exciting initiatives that emerged from the conference.

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  Episode #191

  People Centered Scholarship: A Conversation with Joseph Svinth

  Aug 27, 202656 min

  In this episode, Dr. Lauren Miller Crawford and Joe Svinth discuss the formational period of our field’s history. Svinth has been at the forefront of publishing efforts within martial arts studies, beginning with his involvement in EJMAS and his publication of several hallmark texts that continue to influence the field. Of particular interest in this episode will be his focus on centering the human stories that make our work so meaningful. Keeping these stories alive keeps their subjects alive too, which brings an ethical responsibility to what we do.

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  Episode #189

  Reviving Bartitsu: A Conversation with Tony Wolf

  Aug 21, 202657 min

  This episode addresses the history, decline, and modern revival of Bartitsu, an eclectic system developed in Edwardian England by Edward Barton-Wright that combines Japanese jiu-jitsu with other styles such as savate. Made famous by Barton-Wright through appearances on the musical stage, the system was marketed first to upper-class and then to middle-class men and women as a means of protecting themselves from the (real or imagined) threat of hooliganism. After Barton-Wright’s club closed, bartitsu gained a second wave of fame due to its inclusion in a Sherlock Holmes novel. In this conversation, Tony discusses his personal martial-arts journey, development of the Wolf System, and his efforts to study and document the history of bartitsu.

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  Episode #188

  Capoeira Unshackled: A Conversation with Dr. Matthias Assunção on the History of Capoeira

  Jul 21, 202650 min

  This episode centers on Dr. Matthias Assunção’s research into capoeira’s history and martial arts studies more broadly. Assunção explains how capoeira myths developed over time, particularly misconceptions such as enslaved people using their feet to defend themselves because their hands were shackled. He explained that capoeira's African origins are clear, but it was developed in Brazilian port cities rather than on plantations and emphasized that the art form can be used for both resistance and oppression. This episode also addresses the globalization of capoeira, including debates about singing songs in languages other than Portuguese and how the art form has been adapted in different countries, and the continued debate over capoeira's professionalization in Brazil.

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  Episode #187

  Reconstituting the Past: A Conversation with Dr. Daniel Jaquet & John Clements

  Jun 26, 202644 min

  In this episode, John Clements and Daniel Jaquet reflect on the reconstitution of European martial forms that have been preserved in fight books. One of the topics covered is the value of balancing scholarship and embodied practice in order to best understand these texts. Clements and Jaquet also discuss the appeal of these martial arts to modern-day practitioners and the future of the scholarly field.

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