The Sublime Object of Orientalism proposes that globalised Asian physical cultural practices such as taiji, qigong, yoga, and meditation can be understood by examining the intimate connection between Western orientalism and the Romantic aesthetic notion of the sublime. The book recasts ‘orientalist physical culture’ as practices animated by the sublime and argues that this relationship is stronger than has hitherto been recognised by commentators.Bowman combines new readin...

What do martial arts signify today? What do they mean for East-West cross cultural exchanges? How does the representation of martial arts in popular culture impact on the wide world? What is authentic practice? What does it all mean?From Kung Fu to Jiujitsu and from Bruce Lee to The Karate Kid, Mythologies of Martial Arts explores the key myths and ideologies in martial arts in contemporary popular culture. The book combines the author’s practical, professional and academic experie...

The phrase “martial arts studies” is increasingly circulating as a term to describe a new field of interest. But many academic fields including history, philosophy, anthropology, and Area studies already engage with martial arts in their own particular way. Therefore, is there really such a thing as a unique field of martial arts studies?Martial Arts Studies is the first book to engage directly with these questions. It assesses the multiplicity and heterogeneity of possible approac...

Through popular movies starring Bruce Lee and songs like the disco hit "Kung Fu Fighting," martial arts have found a central place in the Western cultural imagination. But what would 'martial arts' be without the explosion of media texts and images that brought it to a wide audience in the late 1960s and early 1970s? In this examination of the media history of what we now call martial arts, author Paul Bowman makes the bold case that the phenomenon of martial arts is chiefly an invention o...

In order to understand Bruce Lee, we must look beyond Bruce Lee to the artist's intricate cultural and historical contexts. This work begins by contextualising Lee, examining his films and martial arts work, and his changing cultural status within different times and places. The text examines Bruce Lee's films and philosophy in relation to the popular culture and cultural politics of the 1960s and 1970s, and it addresses the resurgence of his popularity in Hong Kong and China in the twenty...

This is the first book-length study of the groundbreaking work of Rey Chow, whose work has transformed the fields of postcolonialism, cultural studies, film, ethnicity and gender. It describes and explains the features and the breadth of Chow's interventions and illustrates Chow’s arguments by way of the analysis of a range of engaging examples drawn from the fields of film, popular music, identity and popular culture. Chow’s work is of interest and importance to anyone working on question...

Paul Bowman is a former airship freighthauler recently conscripted into the Army of the Kingdom of Aurora. He certainly doesn't think he's anybody particularly special.But when Paul accidentally wins a minor victory, he suddenly finds himself as the most famous soldier in the Kingdom of Aurora. Soon, this unpolished and proudly working-class former freighthauler, is catapulted into the treacherous world of Auroran politics.Now given an airship to command, Captain Bowman is ...

Paul Bowman is a former airship freighthauler recently conscripted into the Army of the Kingdom of Aurora. He certainly doesn't think he's anybody particularly special.But when Paul accidentally wins a minor victory, he suddenly finds himself as the most famous soldier in the Kingdom of Aurora. Soon, this unpolished and proudly working-class former freighthauler, is catapulted into the treacherous world of Auroran politics.Now given an airship to command, Captain Bowman is ...

During the spring semester of 1975, Wayne Woodward, a popular young English teacher at La Plata Junior High School in Hereford, Texas, was unceremoniously fired. His offense? Founding a local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Believing he had been unjustly targeted, Woodward sued the school district. You Will Never Be One of Us chronicles the circumstances surrounding Woodward’s dismissal and the ensuing legal battle. Revealing a uniquely regional aspect of the...

Cette étude d'un domaine peu connu de l'histoire littéraire a pour objet les nombreux textes qui traitent de l'éloquence sacrée entre 1777 et 1851. Après avoir dégagé l'évolution de ce genre, l'auteur analyse les problèmes que pose l'éloquence sacrée: la tradition est reprise à bien des égards, mais l'étude des figures et des loci est peu à peu abandonnée en faveur d'un souci d'efficacité psychologique notamment; la distinction des trois niveaux de style est battue en brèche au profit d'un...

In a world of Gastons, how does Beauty find her Beast?Stuart ‘the Beast’ McAlister feels cursed. His new whisky is ruined, his family are at each other’s throats and their distillery is missing a fortune.Forensic accountant, Amanda Turner, arrives in Scotland determined to catch a thief and earn her promotion.When Beauty meets the Beast, she finds him cocky and rude. Stuart thinks she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. The more they work together, t...

This book documents the history of religious persecution, especially focusing on early Jewish and Christian experiences and the culmination of horrors in the Nazi era, in which six million Jews, over a million Catholics, and many others were put to death for their beliefs. The book then focuses on the many types of religious intolerance in the world today, particularly the genocide against Christians in the Middle East and Africa, and resurgent Anti-Semitism in the Middle East, Europe and ...