'It can be religion if you want': Wing Chun Fu as a secular religion
Author
Jennings, George
Brown, David
Sparkes, Andrew C.
Date
2010Type
Article
Publisher
Sage Publications
ISSN
1466-1381 (Print)
1741-2714 (Online)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Drawing on data generated from a six-year ethnographic study of one Wing Chun Kung Fu Association in England, this article explores the ways in which this martial art is constructed as a form of religion and functions as a secular religious practice for core members of this association. Two key features of this process are identified. The first involves the ways in which Wing Chun evolves from an everyday secular practice into something that takes on sacralized meanings for participants while the second focuses on the development of a Wing Chun habitus over time. The article closes with a discussion of how the findings relate to broader discussions of martial arts practices, religion and spirituality in Western cultures.
Journal/conference proceeding
Ethnography
Citation
Jennings, G., Brown, D. and Sparkes, A.C. (2010) ''It can be religion if you want': Wing Chun Fu as a secular religion', Ethnography 11 (4): pp. 533-557.
Description
This article was published in Ethnography in December 2010 available at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1466138110372588
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