Sources — Martial Arts Definitions Project
Purpose of the Sources Page
he Martial Arts Definitions (MAD) Project synthesizes martial arts scholarship into structured, canonical definitions. To preserve transparency, this Sources page serves as the master bibliography for all entries. It consolidates the reference works, monographs, journal articles, and ontology research on which the project is based.
By drawing from encyclopedias, ethnographies, cultural theory, philosophy, pedagogy, and digital humanities, this bibliography reflects the interdisciplinary character of martial arts studies (Bowman, 2015; Cynarski, 2019; Hou & Kenderdine, 2024). It also reinforces the project’s identity as a curated secondary source rather than a site of new empirical research.
Reference Works and Encyclopedias
Green, T. A., & Svinth, J. R. (Eds.). (2001). Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Winderbaum, L. (1977). The Martial Arts Encyclopedia. Washington, D.C.: Inscape.
Oxford University Press. (n.d.). “Martial Arts School.” Oxford Reference.
Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). “Martial Arts.”
Foundational Monographs
Bowman, P. (2015). Martial Arts Studies: Disrupting Disciplinary Boundaries. London: Rowman & Littlefield.
Bowman, P. (2021). The Invention of Martial Arts: Popular Culture between Asia and America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cynarski, W. J. (2019). Martial Arts & Combat Sports: Towards the General Theory of Fighting Arts. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra.
Cynarski, W. J. (2014). Anthropology of Martial Arts. Rzeszów University Press.
Cynarski, W. J. (2009). Sztuki walki – Idō & Idokan. IPA, Rzeszów.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Bowman, P. (2017). “The Definition of Martial Arts Studies.” Martial Arts Studies 3: 6–23.
Jennings, G. (2019). “The Light and Dark Side of Martial Arts Pedagogy.” In Exploring Research in Sports Coaching and Pedagogy, pp. 137–144. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Pedrini, L., & Jennings, G. (2021). “Cultivating Health in Martial Arts and Combat Sports Pedagogies.” Frontiers in Sociology 6: 601058.
Turelli, F. C., Tejero-González, C. M., Vaz, A. F., & Kirk, D. (2020). “Sport Karate and the Pursuit of Wellness: A Participant Observation Study of a Dojo in Scotland.” Frontiers in Sociology 5: 587024.
Cheng, Y., & Guo, N. (2024). “An Ethnography of Construction and Characteristics of Curriculum for Inheritance of Intangible Cultural Heritage Martial Arts in Universities.” Frontiers in Sports and Active Living 6: 1395128.
Cynarski, W. J., & Lee-Barron, J. (2014). “Philosophies of Martial Arts and Their Pedagogical Consequences.” Ido Movement for Culture 14(1): 11–19.
Capener, S. D. (1995). “Problems in the Identity and Philosophy of T’aegwondo and Their Historical Causes.” Korea Journal 35(4): 80–99.
Ontology and Digital Humanities
Hou, Y., & Kenderdine, S. (2024). “Ontology-Based Knowledge Representation for Traditional Martial Arts.” Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 39: 575–592.
Gangemi, A., & Presutti, V. (2009). Ontology Design Patterns for Semantic Web. IOS Press.
Guha, R. V., Brickley, D., & Macbeth, S. (2016). “Schema.org: Evolution of Structured Data on the Web.” Communications of the ACM 59(2): 44–51.
Ethnographies and Case Studies
Jennings, G. (2010). A Sociology of Traditional Martial Arts Culture in the UK.
Ryan, M. (2016). “Juego de Garrote and Folkloric Fighting Systems in Venezuela.”
Turelli et al. (2020). Sport Karate and the Pursuit of Wellness.
Green, T. A. (2001). Martial Arts of the World (includes ethnographic entries).
Bibliographic Policy
Completeness: This page consolidates all citations used across MAD entries.
Identifiers: DOIs, ISBNs, and Wikidata QIDs are included where available for semantic mapping.
Scope: Only peer-reviewed, encyclopedic, or academically recognized works are included. Practitioner voices are cited when documented in academic venues or ethnographic research.
Version 1.0 — Published September 2025
