Paul Bowman (academic)

Paul Bowman is Professor of Cultural Studies and Deputy Head of the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University.

In the fields of cultural studies, film studies, media studies and postcolonial studies, he is author of Post-Marxism Versus Cultural Studies (Edinburgh University Press, 2007), Deconstructing Popular Culture (Palgrave, 2008), Theorizing Bruce Lee (Rodopi, 2009), Culture and the media (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) Reading Rey Chow: Visuality, postcoloniality, ethnicity, sexuality (Peter Lang, 2013), and Beyond Bruce Lee: Chasing the dragon through film, philosophy and popular culture (Wallflower/Columbia University Press, 2013).

Since 2015, Bowman has devoted himself to developing research and publication in the new field of martial arts studies. His first monograph in this area was Martial arts studies: disrupting disciplinary boundaries (Rowman and Littlefield International, 2015). This was followed up by Mythologies of martial arts (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2016). Then the open access monograph, Deconstructing martial arts (Cardiff University Press, 2019) (10.18573/book1). Most recently, Bowman published The invention of martial arts: popular culture between Asia and America (Oxford University Press, 2021).

He is also editor of several books: Interrogating Cultural Studies (Pluto, 2003), The Truth of Žižek (Continuum, 2007), Reading Ranciere (Continuum 2010), The Rey Chow Reader (Columbia University Press, 2010) and The Martial Arts Studies Reader (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2018).

In addition to these books, Bowman has edited issues of the journals Parallax, Social Semiotics, Postcolonial Studies, Educational Philosophy and Theory, Global Media and China, and many issues of the journals he co-founded and co-edited, JOMEC Journal and Martial Arts Studies.

He has written over a dozen monographs, edited six further books, published 44 academic journal articles and 33 academic book chapters. He is also author of the non-academic book, The Treasures of Bruce Lee (Carlton, 2013).

His work has been translated into Chinese, Czech, Farsi, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Turkish.

His academia.edu site (https://cardiff.academia.edu/PaulBowman) is consistently in the top 1% most viewed profiles.

Martial Arts Studies

In 2015 Bowman launched the interdisciplinary field of martial arts studies, by establishing the Martial Arts Studies Research Network, securing a research networking grant from the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council, holding the first annual martial arts studies conference at Cardiff University, and launching the academic journal, Martial Arts Studies.

Martial Arts Studies is the premiere journal of the field and is published open access twice a year by Cardiff University Press. The journal is indexed by Scopus, the Directory of Open Access Journals, and others. It has been seminal in establishing and developing this new research area.

Bowman has organised or co-organised international martial arts studies conferences in Cardiff and other universities annually since 2015.

In 2024, he and his co-editors (Alex Channon, Lauren Miller, Wayne Wong and Benjamin Judkins) founded The Martial Arts Studies Association.

Awards and Honours

In 2014, Bowman was a visiting professor in the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Although he does not practice this art, in 2015, Bowman was awarded an honorary blackbelt in taekkyon by Master Kim of the World Taekkyeon Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea.

In 2016, Bowman was awarded a tewhatewha (or general's staff) by Tamiaho Herangi-Searancke, who holds the role of Guardian, Protectorate and Master in Rituals to the New Zealand Maori King Tuheitia Paki. The tewhatewha was presented for services to the development of scholarly knowledge of martial arts and culture.

Media Appearances

Bowman has been interviewed on multiple regional, national and international TV and radio programmes. He also features prominently in the 2012 documentary I Am Bruce Lee, appears in the BBC4 documentary series, Timeshift (in the episode 'Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting: The Rise of Martial Arts in Britain'), and on the BBC Radio 4 programme, In Living Memory (in the episode 'Kung Fu').

The Martial Arts Studies Podcast

In 2020, Bowman established The Martial Arts Studies Podcast. At first, episodes were conversations with academics working in the field of martial arts studies. However, over the last few years, episodes have mainly been recordings of lectures and conference presentations, both those of Bowman himself and those of others working in the field. Episodes are podcast fortnightly in two formats: audio (on Podbean) and video, on The Martial Arts Studies YouTube Channel.

Open Access Publishing

Bowman has initiated and developed three open access publishing innovations. The first was JOMEC Journal: an open access journal of journalism, media and cultural studies, based in the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University.

Bowman then worked with the head of Cardiff University Library Services and Professor Justin Lewis to found the open access publisher, Cardiff University Press.

JOMEC Journal was the first journal to be signed by Cardiff University Press, and migrated across to its platform, hosted by Ubiquity.

Along with Benjamin Judkins, Bowman then founded the journal Martial Arts Studies. This was the second journal to be signed by Cardiff University Press.

Bowman was the first Editor-in-Chief of Cardiff University Press, and then became second Chair of the press. He remains on the Board of Cardiff University Press and is a vocal advocate of open access publishing.

Teaching and Supervision

Bowman teaches undergraduate modules in 'Film, Media and Cultural Theory' and 'East Meets West in Film and Popular Culture'; and the postgraduate module 'Cultural Theory and Analysis'.

He has supervised over 22 PhD students to successful completion, and has examined more than 30 PhDs, in Cardiff University, other universities in the UK, and internationally.

He supervises PhD projects in the area of martial arts, media, physical culture, cultural theory, popular culture and cultural politics.

Editorial Boards and Research Councils

Bowman is on the editorial board of the journals: Acta Periodica Duellatorum; Advanced Methods; Asian Journal of Sports History and Culture; Ctrl–Z: New / Media / Philosophy; Global Discourse; Culture Machine; International Journal of the History of Sports; Journal of Embodied Research; Journal of Martial Arts Research; Journal of Visual Political Communication; and Revista de Estudios Globales y Arte Contemporáneo.

He reviews for the research councils: the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS); the Carlsberg Foundation; the European Research Council; the Irish Research Council; the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong; the Swiss National Scientific Foundation; the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation; the Leverhulme Trust; the Arts and Humanities Research Council; the Danish Council for Independent Research; and the Austrian Science Fund.

He has reviewed for many journals, including: American Political Science Review; Communication, Culture and Critique; Contemporary Political Theory; Contemporary Politics; Culture Machine; Culture, Theory & Critique; Educational Philosophy and Theory; East Asian Journal of Popular Culture; European Journal of Political Theory; Global Discourse; International Journal of the History of Sport; Journal of Chinese Cinemas; Modern Asian Studies; New Cinemas; New Formations; Parallax; Postcolonial Studies; Society and Space; Social Semiotics; Subjectivity; Philosophy & Rhetoric; Theory, Culture and Society; TOPIA: Journal of Canadian Cultural Studies.

He also reviews for publishers such as: Bloomsbury; Continuum; Duke University Press; Hong Kong University Press; Pluto Press; Polity Press; Pearson Educational; Oxford University Press; Routledge; Rowman & Littlefield International; Palgrave; University of Chicago Press; University of Minnesota Press; MIT Press; University of Macau Press.

Education

Bowman was educated at St. Mary's Comprehensive School in Newcastle (UK). He studied English at Leeds University, then an MA in Cultural Studies at Leeds, and then a PhD, also in Cultural Studies at Leeds. His PhD topic was 'Post-Marxist "Discourse" and the Theory/Practice Divide in Cultural Studies".

Career

Bowman was Lecturer in Cultural Studies at Bath Spa University (2001-2003); Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Roehampton University (2003-4); Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Roehampton University (2004-8); Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University (2008-10), Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies (2010-12), Reader in Media and Cultural Studies (2012-16), and Professor of Cultural Studies (2016-present). Since 2021, he has also been Deputy Head of the School of Journalism, Media and Culture, at Cardiff University.

Martial Arts

Bowman has studied martial arts since he was 13. He started in Shotokan Karate when he was 13. At university, he studied taekwondo. After university, he practiced kickboxing. He tried aikido and taijiquan during his PhD years. After his PhD, in 2001, he started studying taijiquan in earnest. He studied with the Yongquan Martial Arts Association from 2003, under Graham Barlow, and gained teaching qualifications in taijiquan and bak sing choy lee fut kung fu. After a catastrophic ankle injury in 2009, he struggled to continue practice, and eventually switched to escrima. He gained a teaching level qualification in escrima in 2018. In 2019, he took up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020-21 curtailed his practice until May 2021. In June 2022, he was awarded his blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He has trained in 12 martial arts and has teaching level qualifications in three.