Future publishing - Martial Arts monograph is open access

Open access publisher Cardiff University Press (CardiffUP) has released Deconstructing Martial Arts by Professor Paul Bowman.

CardiffUP is only the second open access publisher of its type in the UK and was launched to place Cardiff University at the centre of a growing open access movement both nationally and internationally.

Deconstructing Martial Arts is Professor Bowman’s seventh book on the theme of martial arts studies following his most recent works, Mythologies of Martial Arts (2017) and the edited collection The Martial Arts Studies Reader (2018).

Professor Paul Bowman explains why the book is open access.

From its launch the monograph is free to download, store, print and share. It begins by exploring the place of martial arts within (and their complex relationships with) culture and society. It broaches key aspects of martial arts and reveals their relationship with political, ideological and mythological viewpoints.

Professor Bowman said, “Deconstructing Martial Arts analyses issues and debates that arise in scholarly, practitioner and popular cultural discussions and argues that martial arts are dynamic and variable constructs whose meanings and values regularly shift, mutate and transform, depending on the context.

“Placing martial arts in relation to core questions and concerns of media and cultural studies around identity, value, orientalism, and embodiment, Deconstructing Martial Arts also introduces and elaborates deconstruction as a rewarding method of cultural studies.”

The book is available for download and a limited number of physical copies will be available to purchase via online retailers at cost price.