A Quick Note Last week I noted that I would be taking a short break from blogging to finish off a few projects (conference papers, book chapters and article drafts) with upcoming deadlines. I haven’t worked my way through... Continue Reading →
Introduction This is the second half of our two part series on the life and writings of Alfred Lister. A civil servant in Hong Kong during the second half of the 19th century, Lister provided his readers with some... Continue Reading →
***We have now come to the point in the semester that I call "deadline season." As such, we will be dipping into the archives over the next few weeks to give me some additional time to work on... Continue Reading →
An Unexpected Find It is basically a truism to say that the Western public didn’t know very much about the Chinese martial arts in the 1920s. More interesting is the question of why. Given the global popularity of Judo and... Continue Reading →
Social media is rarely surprising. Its popularity derives from administering small doses of reassuring comfort, most of which suggests that the world is just as we had always imagined it. There is actually something a little perverse about... Continue Reading →
Introduction I recently noted that it is necessary to begin historical discussions by specifying whether we are examining events (or practices) as they actually happened, or the evolution of ideas about them. This is not to say that... Continue Reading →
Introduction While most of my own writing focuses on the Chinese martial arts, I tend to read rather widely. In part this is simply a reflection of my interests, and perhaps some sort of escapist urge to keep me... Continue Reading →
The History of Practice vs. The History of an Idea This post continues an occasional series looking at the ways in which the traditional Chinese martial arts were discussed in the PRC’s propaganda and cultural diplomacy efforts from roughly... Continue Reading →
Lawrence N. Ross. 2017. “Demi Agama, Bangsa dan Negara: Silat Martial Arts and the ‘Third Line’ in Defense of Religion, Race and the Malaysian State.” In Sophie Lemiere (eds.) Illusions of Democracy: Malaysian Politics and People. Vol. II. Strategic Information and... Continue Reading →
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