Ancient wisdom, modern warrriors: the (re)invention of a Mesoamerican tradition in Xilam

 Xilam is a modern Mexican martial art that is inspired by pre-Hispanic warrior cultures of ancient Mesoamerica, namely the Aztecs (Mexica), Maya and Zapotec cultures. It provides a noteworthy case study of a Latin American fighting system that has been recently invented, but aspires to rescue, rediscover and relive the warrior philosophies that existed before the Spanish Conquest and subsequent movements beginning in 1521. Using the thought-provoking work of anthropologist Guillermo Bonfil Batalla, México Profundo, I aim to analyse the Xilam Martial Arts Association through the way that they represent themselves in their three main media outlets: the official webpage, the Facebook group and the YouTube channel. Overall, the data suggests that certain elements of Mesoamerican civilisation may be transmitted to young Mexicans through a mind-body discipline, which in turn acts as a form of physical (re)education. Overall, xilam is both an invented tradition (in a technical sense) and a re-invented tradition (in a cultural sense) that provides lessons on the timeless issues of transformation, transmission and transcendence. </p

Looking East and South: Philosophical Reflections on Taijiquan and Capoeira

n a precarious occupation, martial arts instructors must be inspiring and build a shared philosophy. Drawing on Taijiquan and Capoeira, which have their philosophical or epistemological roots in Asia and Africa, this article explores core concepts that feature in students’ enculturation. These concepts are grounded in epistemologies contrasting with Papineau’s work on popular and elite sport, Knowing the Score. More specifically, the philosophical approach used builds upon Papineau’s chapters on focus, cheating and racism, although these martial practices are not grounded in the Judeo-Christian Western epistemologies underlying Papineau’s thinking. Indeed, one of the attractions for Western Capoeira and Taijiquan students is precisely their “strange” or exotic philosophical concepts driving specific pedagogical practices. Ethnographic fieldwork in Britain and written and oral accounts of embodied expertise are used to explore the practical uses of these non-Western epistemologies by teachers to build shared cultures for their students. Specifically, we examine the concepts of axé (life force) and malicia (artful trickery) in Capoeira, noting its contrast to Western ideas of energy and fair play. We then examine Taijiquan and the concepts of song (鬆 or “letting go”) and ting (听 or “focused listening”), considering the movement skill of systematic relaxation and the focus on specific components of human anatomy and body technique among adults unlearning embodied tension built throughout their lives. We close with considerations for projects examining the diverse, alternative southern, non-Western, and potentially decolonial and subaltern epistemologies in such martial activities.</p

A Typology of Martial Arts Scholar–Practitioners: Types, Transitions, and Tensions in Capoeira

Martial arts are concerned with continuous technical practice and refinement over a lifetime, while scholarship is ordinarily undertaken by active learners and experienced (occasionally veteran) practitioners. These martial arts scholar–practitioners tend to be positioned according to specific types, from a more distant (and sometimes critical) scholar with less combat acumen to an instructor keen to read and engage in collaborative research. This article introduces a typology of ten martial arts scholar–practitioner types: (1) Supportive Scholar; (2) Former Practitioner; (3) Practitioner on Stand-by; (4) Immersed Apprentice; (5) Budding Scholar–Practitioner; (6) Established Scholar–Practitioner; (7) Temporary Practitioner–Researcher; (8) Experimental Leader; (9) Inquisitive Teacher; and (10) Curious Practitioner. The types are examined using Capoeira, one of the most academically studied martial arts. Drawing on the Spannungsfeld—the “field of tension” between science and practice—we reveal the specific strengths and limitations of each type while illustrating the common transition between positions across a career or research project. Finally, we consider some practical solutions to mitigate the relative weaknesses and oversights of the specific types, including the ability to form teams of scholar–practitioners from different positions in academia and martial arts. We close with suggestions for empirical research to test and refine our methodological model.</p

“We Can Remove the Skin!”: Realising the Cosmic Race in Mexican Xilam

 Xilam is a modern martial art inspired by pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican warrior cultures, especially by the Aztec cosmological vision. As a human development system, Xilam aims to develop a young generation of Mexicans who are proud of their indigenous heritage and ancestry and are dignified as modern warriors. Its philosophy also stresses the hybrid nature of Mexican ethnicity and culture, blending indigenous, European and Asian influences. This article uses a critical, postcolonial approach to Mexican philosopher José Vasconcelos’s post-revolutionary thesis The Cosmic Race to analyse the potential philosophical meanings of concrete practices within Xilam. Examining interview and video data collected towards the end of an ethnographic project, the art of listening is adopted to show how Xilam attempts to realise the cosmic race in the twenty-first century. Our research parallels the ideas of Xilam practitioners and Vasconcelos’ thesis. It highlights how the revival of pre-Hispanic philosophical notions gives rise to “other” ways of problematising racism in Mexico without Vasconcelos’ utopian messianism. In this sense, “removing the skin” (Dzilam) is presented as an alternative to “the cosmic race”; inclusive “Diversópolis” as an alternative to “Universópolis.” </p

Editorial: Martial arts, health, and society

  Martial arts have become the center of academic attention this century. Along with groundbreaking monographs, to date, scholars have developed edited books on women in combat sports (Channon and Matthews, 2015) and on theoretical topics pertaining to habitus (Sánchez-García and Spencer, 2013). Collections have focused on the martial arts of specific regions, cultures, and intangible cultural heritage (Farrer and Whalen-Bridge, 2011; Park and Ryu, 2020). Meanwhile, special issues in journals have focused on the relationship between martial arts and society from a qualitative sociological perspective (Spencer and Hogeveen, 2014), and more recently, quantitative and biomedical perspectives on the impact of martial arts and combat sports on health (Dopico et al., 2022). However, how martial activities might be health giving, dangerous or healing, therapeutic and rehabilitative, and how they connect with specific ideas on body and medicine remain underexplored. </p

Editorial: Martial arts, health, and society

Editorial on the Research Topic Martial arts, health, and society  Martial arts have become the center of academic attention this century. Along with groundbreaking monographs, to date, scholars have developed edited books on women in combat sports (Channon and Matthews, 2015) and on theoretical topics pertaining to habitus (Sánchez-García and Spencer, 2013). Collections have focused on the martial arts of specific regions, cultures, and intangible cultural heritage (Farrer and Whalen-Bridge, 2011; Park and Ryu, 2020). Meanwhile, special issues in journals have focused on the relationship between martial arts and society from a qualitative sociological perspective (Spencer and Hogeveen, 2014), and more recently, quantitative and biomedical perspectives on the impact of martial arts and combat sports on health (Dopico et al., 2022). However, how martial activities might be health giving, dangerous or healing, therapeutic and rehabilitative, and how they connect with specific ideas on body and medicine remain underexplored. This Research Topic includes articles aiming at addressing themes such as revised mind-body relationships, the resurgence of mass media health messages, and the revival of specific knowledge on health and healing.</p

Exploring Lived Heat, “Temperature Work,” and Embodiment: Novel Auto/Ethnographic Insights from Physical Cultures

 Drawing on sociological and anthropological theorizations of the senses and “sensory work,” the purpose of this article is to investigate via phenomenology-based auto/ethnography, and to generate novel insights into the underresearched sense of thermoception, as the lived sense of temperature. Based on four long-term, in-depth auto/ethnographic research projects, we examine whether thermoception can be conceptualized as a distinct sense or is more appropriately categorized as a specific modality of touch. Empirically and analytically to highlight the salience of thermoception in everyday life, we draw on findings from four auto/ethnographic projects conducted by the authors as long-standing insider members of their various physical–cultural lifeworlds. The foci of the research projects span the physical cultures of distance running, mixed martial arts, traditionalist Chinese martial arts, and boxing. While situated within distinctive physical–cultural frameworks, nevertheless, the commonalities in the thermoceptive elements of our respective experiences as practitioners were striking, and thermoception emerged as highly salient across all four lifeworlds. Our analysis explores the key auto/ethnographic findings, centering on four specific areas: elemental touch, heat of the action, standing still, and tuning in. Emerging from all four studies were key findings relating to the valorization of sweat, and the importance of “temperature work” involving thermoceptive somatic learning, and physical–culturally specific bodily ways of knowing and sense-making. These in turn shape how heat and cold are actually “felt” and experienced in the mind–body. </p

Physical activity and subjective well-being of older adults during COVID-19 prevention and control normalization: Mediating role of outdoor exercise environment and regulating role of exercise form

 Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the physical and mental health of older adults has been threatened. Promoting physical and mental health through physical activity has therefore become a strategy for healthy aging. In order to better understand the impact of the participation of older adults in physical activity, this paper selects different types of physical activity, and examines the relationship between them and subjective well-being through the analysis of the mediation effect of outdoor exercise environment and the regulating effect of exercise form. In this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire survey was conducted in mainland China. The main data come from 903 older adults in five urban areas in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The surveys were carried out using the Physical Activity Rating Scale, Newfoundland Subjective Well-Being Scale, Exercise Environment Scale, and Exercise Form Scale. SPSS was used for statistical analysis, linear regression analysis was adopted for processing data, and AMOS was used to establish a mediation model. The mediating variable is the outdoor exercise environment, and the moderating variable is exercise form; gender, age, education level, and monthly income were used as control variables. The study results showed that different physical activities (tai chi; health qigong; walking and jogging) were significantly, positively correlated with the subjective well-being of older adults (tai chi: R = 0.351, p R = 0.340, p R = 0.245, p R = 0.351, p β = 0.030, 95% CI (0.005, 0.031); health qigong: β = 0.018, 95% CI (0.000, 0.021); walking and jogging: β = 0.034, 95% CI (0.008, 0.035)]. Exercise form moderated the subjective well-being of older adults in different physical activities (tai chi: 0.006, p p p < 0.001). The results of this study demonstrate that the outdoor exercise environment plays a mediating role between different physical activities and the subjective well-being of older adults, and the form of exercise can also moderate the impact of different physical activities on the subjective well-being of older adults. This study has enlightening significance for psychological intervention with older adults facing stress, anxiety and depression. </p

Sacred Imagery and the Sacralisation of Violence in the Martial Arts

 Engaging   in   martial   combat,   whether   for   military,   self-defence   or   cultivation purposes, is taken to sensitise practitioners towards existential issues which in turn enliven potential religio-spiritual experiences and awakenings. In this paper, we  draw  on  Girard’s  (1977) Violence  and  the  Sacred, and  in  particular  his  proposition that,  “religion  shelters  us  from  violence  just  as  violence  seeks  shelter  in  religion” (Girard,  [1977]  2005:  25)  to  examine  sacralisation  processes  in  the  traditional martial arts with a particular focus on highlighting how violence, sacralised through sacred  imagery,  is  used  as  a  structuring  force  to  instill  dispositions  that  counter ubiquitous  human  tendencies  towards  unfettered  violence  and  violent  vengeance. We  highlight  the  phenomenon  and  function  of  sacred  imagery  used  in  martial  arts with  very  different  cultural,  ethnic,  and  spiritual  influences,  specifically:  Japanese Karate, Korean Taekwondo, Brazilian Capoeira and Mexican Xilam. For authenticity, each  section  is  written  by  an  experienced  scholar-practitioner  of  the  art  and combines  literary,  empirical,  and  biographical  reflection.  Despite  these  variations, we  identify  two  modalities  of  sacred  imagery  use.  The first  is  representational imagery  used  as  sacred  signifiers  which  embed  the  art  in  a  tradition  of  sacred attachment. The second form of sacred imagery is metaphorical discourse which is designed   to   invoke   creative   visualisations   aligning   practitioners   with   idealised experiential  states  taken  to  have  sacred  (as  well  as  practical)  value  in  relation  to combat. We conclude that the use of sacred imagery in these ways becomes part of an affective body pedagogy used by the traditionalist martial arts to transfer valued knowledge   through   the   corporeal   medium   to   offset   and   sacralise   violent tendencies.   It   is   qualified   that   in   practice,   this   sacralisation   process   involves complex  entanglements  of  the  cultural  origins,  practitioner  interpretation  and  the contemporary  context  of  the  martial  art  in  question.  The  outcome  is  an  evolving sacralisation process which rests in constant tension with the underlying problems initiated by the ubiquitous body-in-conflict problem and the propensity for violence and violent vengeance that the learning of combative skills might otherwise unleash in the body and onto society. </p