Books by Paul Bowman

What is the essence of martial arts? What is their place in or relationship with culture and society?Deconstructing Martial Arts analyses familiar issues and debates that arise in scholarly, practitioner and popular cultural discussions and treatments of martial arts and argues that martial arts are dynamic and variable constructs whose meanings and values regularly shift, mutate and transform, depending on the context.It argues that deconstructing martial arts is an invaluable approach to both the scholarly study of martial arts in culture and society and also to wider understandings of what and why martial arts are. Placing martial arts in relation to core questions and concerns of media and cultural studies around identity, value, orientalism, and embodiment,Deconstructing Martial Arts introduces and elaborates deconstruction as a rewarding method of cultural studies.

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...

A study of the work of Rey Chow, whose work has transformed the fields of postcolonialism, cultural studies, film, ethnicity and gender. It illustrates her contributions to scholarship and knowledge across many different fields by arguing that her work can best be understood in relation to the projects of cultural studies and postcolonial studies.

The phrase ';martial arts studies' is increasingly circulating as a term to describe a new field of interest. But many academic fields including history, philosophy, anthropology, and Area studies already engage with martial arts in their own particular way. Therefore, is there really such a thing as a unique field of martial arts studies?Martial Arts Studies is the first book to engage directly with these questions. It assesses the multiplicity and heterogeneity of possible approaches to martial arts studies, exploring orientations and limitations of existing approaches. It makes a case for constructing the field of martial arts studies in terms of key coordinates from post-structuralism, cultural studies, media studies, and post-colonialism. By using these anti-disciplinary approaches to disrupt the approaches of other disciplines, Martial Arts Studies proposes a field that both emerges out of and differs from its many disciplinary locations.

In order to understand Bruce Lee, we must look beyond Bruce Lee to the artist's intricate cultural and historical contexts. This work begins by contextualising Lee, examining his films and martial arts work, and his changing cultural status within different times and places. The text examines Bruce Lee's films and philosophy in relation to the popular culture and cultural politics of the 1960s and 1970s, and it addresses the resurgence of his popularity in Hong Kong and China in the twenty-first century. The study also explores Lee's ongoing legacy and influence in the West, considering his function as a shifting symbol of ethnic politics and the ways in which he continues to inform Hollywood film-fight choreography. Beyond Bruce Lee ultimately argues Lee is best understood in terms of "e;cultural translation"e; and that his interventions and importance are ongoing.

How can the study of pop music, TV and film give insight into issues of culture? This book shows how deconstruction theory allows us to read and interpret the popular culture that surrounds us. Applying complex theory to recognizable examples, Paul Bowman turns deconstruction into an indispensable tool for all students of Cultural Studies.