Lochlan Mackenzie
ANTH 373 001
Dr. Shannon Ward
April 7th, 2022
Embracing Change: Martial Arts Pedagogy and The Student-Teacher Relationship
The mystery of martial arts is something that has been heavily mythologized in the media and
pop culture. It is through the global circulation of these mythic ideas that many new and willing
practitioners seek out martial arts mentors, with the intention of learning the art(s). By analyzing
changes in style and globalization in Shaolin martial arts, I argue that the student-teacher
relationship drives social change.
A martial art can be defined as set of systemic rituals and practices often that have physical,
moral, our spiritual aims. When we think of martial arts, it is almost always associated with
images of East Asian martial arts. Judo, kendo, karate, kung-fu, and taekwondo are some of the
more popular disciplines trained and practiced today. Each discipline has its own codified set of
ritual and pedagogy. Shaolin Kung Fu is believed to have originated when Indian martial arts and
Buddhism were combined and brought to China during the Han Dynasty (Ye 2019, 7). This
system combines the philosophies of Chan Buddhism, with combative forms of training, which
culminates into the aesthetic of the warrior monk. This aesthetic has become famous around the
world and has received international attention from its portrayal in video games, television,
music, movies, and other widely consumed media.
In the media, the images of warrior monks on-top of mountaintops, possessing sometimes
supernatural gifts, has been a stable of martial arts pop culture. Therefore, it can be difficult to
identify what makes a martial art truly authentic. Media saturation following cross-cultural
contact runs the risk of creating stereotyped and fantasied versions of the cultures and people
they depict (Said, 1978). Karate is an example of a martial art whose pedagogy has changed due
to “cultural contact, migration, and political and ideological (re)alignment” (Zhu 2019, 60). It
was not until the 1930’s that a “ranking system of coloured belts”, bowing formalities, and
“lining up students in order of rank” was introduced to karate after European contact (Zhu 2019,
61). These systemic changes demonstrated a blending “of Japanese and European militarism and
physical culture” that reflected the social environment of the time (Zhu 2019, 61). Major
historical events like World War 2 and the Korean War further accelerated the distribution of
karate around the world and elevated Western interest in East Asian martial arts. With the first
American karate dojo opening in 1946, martial arts in the USA were eventually “transformed
[…] into a commodity complete with door-knocking proselytes and incentive programs for
recruitments.” (Zhu 2019, 62). Independent schools and media outlets encouraged onlookers to
know the “’karate myth’” and that possessing such knowledge would give them powers to the
likeness of Zen masters who practiced them (Bowman 2021, 67). Notable titles that propagate
this myth in pop culture include Enter the Dragon, Five Deadly Venoms, Ip Man, Crouching
Tiger Hidden Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, and Once Upon a Time in China. The legitimacy of the
art stemmed not from the original masters who taught them, but instead by the independent
organizations who propped the notion of traditionality. Western institutions created a “structure
of feeling” aimed to represent what was advertised as an ancient physical practice (Gilmore
2015, 62). In this sense, karate as it is practiced today, was never “merely the product of one
nation or one culture, but rather the outcome of interactions in East Asia between groups sharing
frequent and prolonged contact” (Zhu 2019, 60-61). Instead, it is arguable that karate is no longer
in its original form but practiced “‘as Westerners imagined it’” (Zhu 2019, 62).
Instead of trying to explain authenticity in terms of unbroken teaching lines and often mythical
origin stories, many societies will enforce secondary materials to give the impression of
traditionality. This is done through visual cues, attempting to convey and preserve whatever
“cultural capital, kudos, mystique” and cultural integrity the martial art once had (Bowman 2021,
198). Special uniforms, weapon racks, meditation, choregraphed and brutal training regiments,
and sparring are examples of these “discursive regularities” that try to give the impression of
authenticity (Bowman 2021, 196). China’s Cultural Revolution in the 20th Century saw the
standardization of existing martial arts, like Taijiquan, as a technique to “reinvigorate and
defend” the empire from Western influence (Bowman 2021, 208). In the advent of these
institutional reformations, pedagogical repertoires were changed, but still maintained the illusion
of being timeless. The styles presented in modern China were actually younger than how they
were presented internationally, having underwent only recent pedagogical changes.
The idea of a timeless practice is exactly what draws practitioners to Asian martial arts. In
contemporary society, people may feel that their traditions, values, and lifestyles are being
effaced faster than they can be stabilized at the hand of rapid societal progress. Martial arts offer
a solution to this problem: A sense of stability, where unaltered transmission from legendary
schools and masters can now be conveniently dispensed to the general public. Bowman calls this
a fascination with the “origin destination”, which is looking to a “lost golden age” for resolution
in modern society (Bowman 2021, 203). Most seekers, surprisingly, know very little about the
history in which the practice is founded (Neskovic 2020,16). Shaolin Kung Fu, or more
specifically the Shaolin Temple, is an example of a very famous martial arts school, whose
popularity stems not from actual history, but folklore and idealistic representation. The Shaolin
masters are seen as the “dynamic embodiment” of all Shaolin cultural history (Neskovic 2020,
5). Their bodies are treated like “living [treasuries]” for which all shaolin knowledge is kept,
perfectly transmitted from one student to the next (Neskovic 2020, 17). In the very literal sense,
they are seen as bodies of knowledge, for which all elements of Shaolin culture are made
manifest. As Neskovic (2020) highlights, “students tirelessly aspire to grasp the essence of the
Shaolin culture from the master’s moving body, as if it was something possible to extract, grasp
and appropriate” (16). By witnessing the masters in action, the students believe they will acquire
century old teachings perfectly passed down from the first master to the next. They are fixated on
trying “to preserve what remains” of “an ancient and timeless practice” (Bowman 2021, 202). In
this regard, the body is treated “not [as] an object but a subject of culture” (Neskovic 2020, 5).
The body is used as a form of “enculturation”, and a mode for how knowledge is acquired
socially (Downey, 2008, 1).
Because the body is seen as a form of enculturation, the body of a teacher holds insurmountable
value for how that knowledge is represented in a culture. Pedagogical transmission is not perfect,
however, and is always subject to change. It is important to dispel the myth that any practice is
complete or unbroken as it is transmitted between student and teacher over time. Pedagogy is
“far from the smooth, […] unchanging transmission of established knowledge from one body to
another” (Bowman, 2021, 198). Teaching is “inventive, […] partial, and inevitably differing
across time and space in form, content, and reception.” (Bowman 2021, 198). A claim that any
practice would have remained as perfectly pure as it was a century ago lays down a “lineage
claim” (Bowman 2021, 35). This claim states that the practise is "intact and unmodified," that it
has remained completely unchanged in form from one master to the next, and that it has not been
altered by “imperialism, science, ideology, cultural power, or military might” (Bowman 2021,
35, 208). Such a proposal would be in opposition to cultural and historical reality. Attempts at
maintaining the purity of any styles would always be met with change and difference, no matter
what time and space they occupy.
The benefit of constant change means that creativity is given a haven to exist and makes the
creation of new knowledge even more possible. While there are fundamentals to any discipline,
each master has his own unique manner of teaching. This can be called their “personal signature”
(Neskovic 2020, 15). Additionally, such unique flairs are often under looked into how martial
arts repertoire is represented and taught. The master can never fully replicate the techniques he
models to his students and will have to modify his approach with each iteration. The best in their
respective field may not be the best instructors, making the ability to teach “a distinct skill” than
the ability to share knowledge (Downey 2008, 210). At the Shaolin temple, there are a variety of
chosen approaches that the masters use in enforcing teaching material. As reported by Neskovic
(2020), some teachers are more “structural […], extreme […] pushing, and strict” (10). Basics
are emphasized, and so is attention. Others are seen as looser, “more friendly and encouraging
with beginners”, and focus largely on group behavior rather than the individual (Neskovic 2020,
11). They also teach attention and focus. In both contexts, the teacher administers constructive
feedback to the student who is “really interested” or alert (Neskovic 2020, 11). In essence, the
student has to earn the right to be instructed. When the student has sufficiently captured the
“master’s attention through self-effort” does the master support the student with an appropriate
injection of their experience (Neskovic 2020, 19). All throughout this process the master “subtly
perceive the points at which [the] novice’s skills are inadequate” and then acts when the student
is receptive to what will be taught (Downey 2008, 210).
The “master-student relationship” is where information and techniques are passed on (Neskovic
2020, 17). Because the master is more experienced and serves as the representative for the skill
to be obtained by the seeker, he is what Downey calls a “more knowledgeable other” (Downey
2008, 207). He serves as the guide and provides assistance to novices at their unique
developmental stages. This is called “scaffolding”, which is a pedological technique that is
designed to heighten a student skill incrementally, starting with their current ability (Downey
2008, 206). The teacher provides sufficient guidance in the students “zone of proximal
development” and supports their journey from the supervised to the autonomous stages of skill
development (Downey 2008, 207). This can be considered a holistic mode of education, because
it considers both the learner and the material being taught during synthesis. In kinesthetic
education, techniques are usually reduced into smaller steps before being assembled back into
complete fluid motions. Much like the “stingray’s tail” in capoeira (Downey 2008, 207), the
movement is tailored by the master for the student to aid with execution. The student attempts
the motion, and either succeeds or receives feedback from the master’s watch. This is done by
reducing “degrees of freedom”, like slowing the movement or aligning the posture of the student
(Downey 2008, 207). In doing so, the master facilities “enskillment” in the student, and the
students acquires proficiency with the move (Downey 2008, 210).
As the student gains more knowledge which each repetition, failure, success, and insight, they
cognitively reposition themselves within their social environments. Gaining more knowledge
means the relationship that the student has with their peers and their teacher changes
respectively, by how quickly or slowly they progress. For example, more advanced techniques
are generally reserved for more experienced practitioners and such technical knowledge is the
“proprietary domain of [the] elders” (Meek 2007, 31). If a younger student is able to transition
between the beginner and advanced stages more quickly, his “propensity to interact with the
other members of the social unit changes” (Carley 1986, 382). He is likely to interact with more
masters who would support and facilitates his learning Mastering certain techniques can be
viewed as a “coterminous and coextensive” with the transformation of social identity, but also in
the “very capacities and capabilities […] of the learner” (Bowman 2021, 206) The student’s
ability to learn from their experiences and integrate it with a daily practice can elevate them to
new social positions if they demonstrate the competence.
While the same basic knowledge regarding a martial art might be available for anyone willing to
learn it, cultural variations in how it is taught emerge depending on the social environment.
Formulaic Japanese is often taught in conjunction with the various techniques and forms during
drilling. The “kiai” or warriors shout is often used when executing a kick or a punch in
demonstrating martial power (Zhu 2019, 70). The symbolism of the spoken act is combined with
the physical act, and the “verbal routine becomes part of karate moves”. Language used with an
act is combined to create a mixed meaning, one that combines the backgrounds of the user, and
the cultural practice he is engaging in. One martial arts instructor, SK, from Zhu et al. (2019)
comments the following: “Language can remind people of the root of the marital art, so the
origin would not be forgotten” (Zhu 2019, 69). While the people learning Japanese for karate (in
this case children) are not themselves Japanese, they can still develop the cultural sensitivity of
where the practice has its origins. SK himself has never visited Japan, nor has he learned karate
from Japanese practitioners (Zhu 2019, 69). But he is still able to explain to his students his own
interpretation of karate, often by alternating through various cross-culture modalities. SK is
fluent in “Japanese, Polish, English, and occasionally [speaks in] Romani”(Zhu 2019, 63). He
uses these languages in combination with Japanese for the purposes of elaboration, discipline,
information, or rapport-building” (Zhu 2019, 63). Doing so changes how karate is imagined in
the minds of his students and is modeled on the “traditions reinvented by […] non-Japanese
practitioners” (Zhu 2019, 70). Therefore, cultural practice “is not something that can be
considered separately from the accounts of caregiver-child interaction; rather, it is what
organizes and gives meaning to that interaction” (Ochs and Izquierdo 2009, 477).
In the event that a culture begins to blend with another, the original culture might want to prevent
drift, or preserve its practices from being extinguished. In the Shaolin temple, the monastic
curriculum that is used is one way of regulating how much of the culture’s pedagogy remains the
same after interacting with another group. Structured daily routines and “ritualistic repetition”
are preservation strategies that try to maintain the styles vitality (Bowman 2021, 199). In
essence, transformation of the styles is policed and codified so that the essence of the art is
maintained. By definition, Kung Fu is the English adaptation of the Cantonese word “Gong Fu”,
meaning “human achievement” (Ye 2019, 1). It captures the idea that “any study, learning, or
practice […] requires patience, energy, and time to complete” (Ye 2019, 1). This is particularly
evident in the philosophies of most kung fu trainees and instructors. A “‘traditional’ club, dojo,
dojang, or kwoon”, is designed around optimizing that human achievement, and providing a
systematic pathway to reach it (Bowman 2021, 205). This is done by controlling the “degrees of
freedom” via “rituals, hierarchies, and visual insignia” (Downey 2008, 207; Bowman 2021, 199).
The schools are designed to enhance the student’s “efficiency” by providing them with a very
corralled and tightly maintained system of education (Bowman 2021, 205). What happens if the
student produces a technique that is in opposition to the core curriculum? The approach of the
school depends whether such changes would be embraced or seen as a threat. If the school
believes that any changes would upset the pure, perfect, and timeless art of the former masters,
then any change “cannot but be regarded as bad” because it violates the perceived purity
(Bowman 2021, 198). Such an idea is a “phantasm”, and severely ignores the inevitably of
change over time and history (Bowman 2021, 34). Even when performing the same technique,
students will still inevitably produce it differently. Everyone begins with a unique “knowledge
base”, and “preconceived notions” of the world. (Carley 1986, 390). The “endpoint to the
potentially constant transformation of a technique in someone’s understanding” is practically
endless (Bowman 2021, 205). Additionally, any fixed dogmatic ways of practicing technique
with each new student iteration are “permanently deferred” (Bowman 2021, 204).
If the landscape of style vitality is always changing, how can students be expected to be taught
anything? If the constant is change, then developing the responsiveness and wisdom to change is
an invaluable skill that a teacher can bestow on any student. Additionally, having a teacher
instruct resiliency in presenting new ideas in the social world is equally valuable. The “ideas of
anticipating change, accepting change, embracing change, and changing with change are widely
celebrated as ‘wisdom’” (Bowman 2021, 201). The “impermanence and inevitability of change”
are core principles in many Chinese martial arts and philosophies, namely Taijiquan, Daoism,
and Shaolin kung fu (Bowman 2021, 202). To be flexible with the world, the teacher needs to
inspire the inborn capacities for the student to develop their own self-transformation that is not
derived from the curriculum itself. Rather than the “internalization of collective representations”
the teacher facilitates the “development of learned capacities” in the student, to operate as an
independent human being (Downey, 2008, 210). The individual is culturally sensitive, creative,
and is able to combine the truths of their personal life with the school’s pedagogy. With the help
of a great teacher, a student is able to take what they have learned, combine it with their own
lived experience, and reproduce a technique that is entirely their own. When a student is primed
to generate their own answers with support from a mentor, the result is the addition of unique
and valuable social information. In this case, the creation of a new technique might impact how a
given martial art is practiced as a whole. Said differently, “social social structure and social
knowledge co-evolve” together (Carley 1986, 390). When the student produces a unique
interpretation of the material he has absorbed, he acts as node that can change the existing social
knowledge of the world he inhabits.
The student-master interaction, which is influenced by the proliferation and revision of Shaolin
martial arts, has promoted societal transformation. The teacher supports the actualization of the
student’s capacities, who goes out into the real world to change the existing social structure. The
teachers impact on the student may influence their decision making, and what actions they take
in the future. Therefore, teachers of all subjects should consider the influence that their
instruction can have when interacting with students.
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