Martial arts under the COVID-19 lockdown: The pragmatics of creative pedagogy
Author
Jennings, George
Date
2020-12-30Acceptance date
2020-10-27
Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Martial arts organisations increasingly blend online and offline activity in
order to cultivate specific qualities, skills and virtues. Students and instructors use blogs, chat fora, videos and podcasts to supplement their self- and
shared cultivation, and this expanded with the COVID-19 lockdown in Britain.
Martial arts schools have been closed and even disbanded while governments control people’s physical interactions through social distancing measures. This article draws on case studies of two British martial arts schools. (Taijiquan and historical fencing) in order to examine how they have adapted
to the lockdown. It offers these case studies to narrate the developments
of how teachers and their localised communities have been creative during
this moment of international crisis – from instructor-led online, live training
sessions and lectures to student-led chat fora and movie nights for continued
sociability and identity construction. In so doing, this article makes use of
martial arts theories: Shared Cultivation (Jennings, 2010) and Martial Creation
(Jennings, 2019) to explain how martial artists continue to develop through
creative online endeavours and through their moving bodies within the confines of their homes. Finally, I argue that this creative martial arts cultivation
during the COVID-19 pandemic might be extended to wider physical culture.
Journal/conference proceeding
Sociología del Deporte;
Citation
Jennings, G. (2020) 'Martial arts under the COVID-19 lockdown: Pragmatics of creative pedagogy', Sociología del Deporte, 1(2), pp.13-24.
Description
Article published in Sociología del Deporte available at https://doi.org/10.46661/socioldeporte.5242
Sponsorship
Get Started Quick Fund (Cardiff Met)
Hebei Province Social Science Fund (China) (HB19TY001)
Collections
- Sport Research Groups [1083]
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