Mallett, Carl (2021) Grappling with difference : an ethnography of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) in the West Midlands. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

Preview

PDF WRAP_Theses_Mallett_2021.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (1930Kb) | Preview

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

This thesis examines the martial art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) through the concepts of ‘race’, difference, cosmopolitanism, conviviality, and carnality. Using immersive ethnographic fieldwork in combination with traditional observation that took place over a seven year period, the research is focused on a number of concerns. This study attempts to understand how a corporeality that is marked by tactility and a merging of bodies is experienced and negotiated by its practitioners. In doing so, this thesis gains a sense of the relationship between BJJ’s affective resonances and the ways in which ‘raced’, gendered, and other body-subjects are experienced within its spaces. Furthermore, through its exploration of BJJ’s historical Japanese and Brazilian roots, this study articulates BJJ’s contemporary culture through processes of cosmopolitanism, globalization, and commercialization. Importantly, this thesis brings to life the relationship between BJJ practitioner interactions and forms of multiculture, cosmopolitanism, conviviality, and masculinity. By the bringing through of its corporeal emphasis, this thesis allows for a corrective to the otherwise centrality of the cognitive, representational, and symbolic that is generally foregrounded in prevailing debates about convivial and cosmopolitan possibilities. This thesis is therefore an ethnographic study that provides a comprehensive analysis of the martial art and combat sport (MACS) of BJJ, and its relationship to significant sociological and political concerns.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races J Political Science > JZ International relations
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Jiu-jitsu -- Brazil, Jiu-jitsu -- Sociological aspects, Ethnology -- England -- West Midlands, Cosmopolitanism -- England -- West Midlands, Multiculturalism, Race
Official Date:	October 2021
Dates:	Date Event October 2021 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Sociology
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Jones, Hannah, 1980- ; Valluvan, Sivamohan
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	212 leaves : illustrations
Language:	eng

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads