7th International Martial Arts Studies Conference: "The Evolotion of Taekwondo's Body Culture"

I recently presented a paper titled “The Evolution of Taekwondo’s Body Culture” at the 7th international Martial Arts Studies Conference: Martial Arts, Tradition and Globalization, which was hosted by the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva (Switzerland), from 29 June to 2 July 2022.

I was really hoping to attend the conference in person, but due to visa delays was not able to go to Switzerland in time for the conference. However, the hosts made it possible for me to still participate in the conference online. I was part of Panel 6.2 Body Cultures and shared the podium with fellow ethnographers Ai-Cheng Ho and Martin Minarik.

I’m not sure if the presentations were recorded and whether they will be made available online. If so, I will post the link to the video as soon as I get it. If not, I will possibly record my presentation when I have time and make it available here.

Below is the abstract of my presentation:

 

The Evolution of Taekwondo’s Body Culture

Sanko Lewis, PhD.

 “Taekwondo” is an umbrella term for some Korean martial arts with roots in Japanese karate. Early taekwondo followed a Japanese body culture and was almost indistinguishable from karate. However, this “Korean karate” moved away from its Japanese roots. By the late 1970s and early 1980s these styles of taekwondo had evolved into undeniably Korean martial arts that adhere to certain kinetic characteristics found in Korean traditional body culture. Recent changes in modern sparring rules and the inclusion of popular music (K-pop music based on hip-hop rhythms) and urban dance is causing further changes in taekwondo’s “traditional” body culture. It can be argued that taekwondo is a dynamic and evolving martial art that is staying in step with a contemporary, globalized Korean body culture as expressed in K-pop music and K-dance. However, the result is also a loss of “traditional” taekwondo technique and aesthetic. 

My presentation built on my previous research on Korean body culture and combined it with research by Drs. Udo Moenig, Steven Capener, and Herb Perez who have written critically about the recent changes in WT-style taekwondo.