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The Martial Arts Studies Podcast
Podcast conversations on the academic field of Martial Arts Studies, hosted by Professor Lauren Miller of Texas Tech University and featuring academics, scholars, and experts from around the world.
21 September 2025
Now Streaming: From Habtius to the Specatularization of Violence: A Conversation with Raúl Sánchez-García
In this episode, Raúl Sánchez-García—researcher at King Juan Carlos University—reflects on the use of the sociological concept of habitus in martial arts studies. Sánchez-García demonstrates the utility of both Elias’s and Bourdieu’s formulation of the concept, and discusses how the martial arts scholar benefits from acquiring a fighter’s habitus. Sánchez-García also discusses his newer work on the spectacularization of violence in MMA as well as in bareknuckle fighting, especially as this pertains to masculinity in the current socio-political climate.
🔗 Listen here: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-kbu5z-196d32b
26 August 2025
Now Streaming: Turning the Page at Martial Arts Studies: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Katz and Dr. Martin Meyer
In this facilitated dialog, Dr. Peter Katz and Dr. Martin Meyer discuss their backgrounds in academics and the martial arts before turning their attention to their interests in joining the editorial team of Martial Arts Studies. From their positions on the uses (and abuses) of artificial intelligence in academic writing to their hopes for how the field will continue to grow, this conversation charts a new course for our association’s flagship journal.
🔗 Listen here: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-2rxiv-1945a25
20 August 2025
Now Streaming: Trojan Horses: A Discussion of How Martial Arts Studies became a Legitimate Academic Field with Dr. Tom Green (Texas A&M University)
In this episode, Dr. Tom Green, professor emeritus of anthropology at Texas A&M University, shares his experiences with the field of Martial Arts Studies. It wasn’t until after establishing himself as a professional anthropologist and folklorist that Green, a lifelong martial arts practitioner, came to realize the potential for studying the martial arts through an academic lens. Green presented the first ever paper on martial arts at the American Folklore Society and thereafter became a leading figure in the anthropology of martial arts. This conversation explores some of the methodological and epistemological approaches to what has become a legitimate, interdisciplinary field.
🔗 Listen here: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-hcpmi-1935274
3 July 2025
Now Streaming: The Historical and Cultural Development of Brazil’s Martial Arts: A Conversation with Dr Ben Penglase (Loyola University Chicago)
This podcast episode features Dr. Ben Penglase, a cultural anthropologist from Loyola University Chicago. The conversation delves into his background and research, particularly his long-standing fascination with Brazil, Brazilian culture, and social issues.
🔗 Listen here: https://martialartsstudies.podbean.com/
14 May 2025
Now Streaming: New Episode of the Martial Arts Studies Podcast
A new episode of the Martial Arts Studies Podcast is now available, featuring a thought-provoking conversation between Prof. Lauren Miller (Texas Tech University) and Prof. Paul Bowman. The episode dives into current debates and emerging questions in the field of martial arts studies.
🔗 Listen here: https://martialartsstudies.podbean.com/
1 Jan 2025
We have grown and moved!
The Martial Arts Studies Research Network has grown and moved! For the Martial Arts Studies Association, please visit our new website at: www.martialartsstudies.org
The old website can be accessed here.
6 November 2024
The Ethics and Ideologies of Self-Defence: A one-day symposium of current research (Cardiff University, School of Journalism, Media & Culture)
What are the ethics and ideologies of self-defence? Self-defence has a variety of legal and ideological cultural histories, shapes and forms (Bowman, 2023; Dodsworth, 2015). Scholars have shown that, in different countries, at different times, the right to self-defence has been heavily allocated to certain subjects (e.g., white, propertied, male) and withheld from others (Light, 2017). Others have shown the extent to which women’s self-defence was a significant element of the first wave of the feminist movement in the UK (Dodsworth, 2019; Godfrey, 2012), and argued that learning how to fight and be aggressive may be an enabling and potentially emancipatory element of physical feminism (McCaughey, 1997).
But, as philosopher Elsa Dorlin asks (Dorlin, 2022), is self-defence ethical? Is teaching self-defence ethical, and who can or should teach whom? What should be taught, to whom, and based on what qualifications? Where does self-defence begin and end? Where does the ‘self’ to be defended start and end, and what are the limits of ‘defence’ – the body, the mind, clothing, technology, architecture, or the physical management of space? Ultimately, as philosopher Peter Sloterdijk has argued, almost everything that humans have done to ward off one or another kind of threat might be viewed as self-defence (Sloterdijk, 2013).
This symposium starts from the most conventional understanding of ‘self-defence’: as learned, taught and practised interpersonal, face-to-face, body-to-body skills, training, techniques, tactics, strategies, rationales, outlooks and ideologies. See more details here.
See more previous events and activities here.
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