The 6th Martial Arts Studies Conference is taking place across Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 July 2020. This year’s theme is Martial Arts, Religion and Spirituality. It was supposed to be held at the University of Marseilles, but due to COVID-19 it’s now being convened online instead.
This means that the entire conference is being staged online, with open access to all.
The conference is made up of ten panels. Each panel comprises several presenters from different countries, and each presenter has uploaded a video presentation to the conference YouTube page.
All the participants are now busy watching each other’s presentations in preparation for the panel discussions, which will take place LIVE over 15 and 16 July. NB: Panels 5a and 5b are now being merged into one discussion.
If you’d like to watch any of the discussions, please contact marsconf2020 [at] gmail.com for a free link.
During the discussion, everyone will be able to take part in the debates and post questions and comments live on the TEAMS chat-box.
I’ve summarised the presentations from five of the panels below (highlighted in yellow in the table), to give you a sense of what’s being discussed. Please note that I’ve simplified the highlighted panel titles, to make the information more accessible for non-academic readers. The original titles are listed on the MARS website . . .
If I get any more time before the conference, I’ll try to do one or two more, so watch this space! You can see full details of all ten panels by clicking on the “abstracts” links below, or visiting the MARS conference YouTube channel.
Best wishes
Kai
| Panel | Title | Date | Time (Paris) | Time (UK) | Link to abstracts |
| 1 | Martialité: Yoga, sorcery and transformation | Wed 15 July | 14.00 | 13.00 | Abstracts |
| 2 | Cosmologies and holistic references in the context of transmission and performance | Wed 15 July | 17.00 | 16.00 | Abstracts |
| 3 | Warfare and cultures of war – SUMMARY | Wed 15 July | 13.00 | 12.00 | Abstracts |
| 4 | Ethics and morals in the martial arts – SUMMARY | Wed 15 July | 10.00 | 09.00 | Abstracts |
| 5a | Contemporary Chinese martial arts: Traditional culture, health and globalisation | Wed 15 July | 15.00 | 14.00 | Abstracts |
| 5b | Chinese martial arts, culture and healthcare – SUMMARY | Wed 15 July | 15.00 | 14.00 | Abstracts |
| 6 | Disciplined and freed bodies: ascetics, self-cultivation, self-infliction | Thur 16 July | 15.30 | 14.30 | Abstracts |
| 7 | Achieving transcendence through “violence” – SUMMARY | Thur 16 July | 18.00 | 17.00 | Abstracts |
| 8 | Ethnoreligious identities, nationalism and political uses | Thur 16 July | 15.30 | 14.30 | Abstracts |
| 9 | Reflecting on our martial arts practice – SUMMARY | Thur 16 July | 14.00 | 13.00 | Abstracts |
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