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Scholarly Works
(unfortunately, now out of print)
Warrior Dreams
This was my second book. It was a lot more fun to write
(and I hope to read) than the first, but it still comes from my
pointy-headed, academic period. As an American
fascinated with the martial arts and a professional student
of human culture, I got to wondering what exactly it was
about the martial arts that fascinates us so much here in
the West. This book is the result.
The novelist James Grady (he wrote Six Days of the Condor
and they made it into a movie with Robert Redford) thinks
that this book is "seminal." Who am I to argue?
In addition, the theories I developed in it about how all the
cowboy/private-eye/cop/action flick stories have the same
underlying structure eventually gave me enough nerve to
try writing fiction. Sensei was the result.
Interested in the Book? Read on:
From the Introduction
All human beings search for meaning; it is, at best, a
difficult task. Anthropologists take this propensity to new
and complicated heights: they search for meaning in other
peoples' lives in the hope of illuminating their own.
Can an anthropologist approach his or her own society and
help make sense of it? In the terra incognita of our own
myths, stories, and dreams, can the ethnographer serve as
guide? Can, in short, the interpretive dimension of
anthropology be fruitfully employed to illuminate some of
the darker, less explored regions of our own territory?
For the last decade, I have been conducting research on a
variety of martial arts forms as practiced in the United
States. These arts have their origins in a variety of East
Asian cultures--those of China, Korea, Japan, etc.--but I am
most familiar with the arts known as budo ("martial ways")
which are the modern outgrowth of fighting techniques
developed during the feudal era in Japan. To my mind all
"martial arts," whatever their provenance and however they
identify themselves are essentially arts. True combat forms
are developed and practiced today only by professional
soldiers, not by those who are solely martial artists.
Although the physical skill of martial artists is at first
overwhelmingly impressive, ultimately it is the essentially
emotional and aesthetic pull that the martial arts exert on
students which fascinates me. It is, in short, their cultural
import, not their physical impact, which is important.
In the last two or three decades, the United States has seen
an explosion in terms of the general public's awareness of
the martial arts. This is a phenomenon seemingly
unrestricted by the boundaries of age or class. Knowledge
(however stereotypical) of the martial arts is imparted to
pre-schoolers viewing "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"
cartoons (and by parents who must purchase the toys,
costumes and accessories that are an integral part of the
TMNT industry); it extends to suburban towns where
children study karate and judo after school, to the inner
city, where the movements in break dancing have been at
least partially inspired by scores of B-grade kung-fu
movies; to college campuses, where martial arts teams and
clubs are commonplace (as are credit-bearing courses in
the martial arts). "Sport" karate is featured on cable
television, novels about ninja make the best-seller list,
businessmen comb ancient manuals on swordsmanship for
guidance, and it is a rare action movie that has not been in
some way affected by the psychology and technique of the
martial arts.
As participants, observers, or dreamers, Americans from a
broad spectrum find an attraction to the martial arts,
precisely because, as art forms, they answer a variety of
psychic needs. Particularly for practitioners, but for those
who participate vicariously as well, this attraction is the
result of the complex interplay of physiological mechanisms,
human psychological predispositions, as well as the effect
of ideological and social factors. These factors generate an
emotive response, and the more intense the components of
our attraction--the more fiercely combative, the more
intensely focused, the more symbolically complex and
psychically risky, the greater the magnitude of this
emotional pull. Danger (whether real or imagined),
excitement and wonder have a gravitational force all their
own. When this force is channelled in pursuits that are
intellectually satisfying and socially approved as well, the
force of attraction is practically irresistible.
There is a reason why people in twentieth-century America
dream of the martial arts, why they create identities with it,
express themselves through it, and tell stories to one
another about it. Here, in the realm of myth and symbols,
the anthropologist is at home. In the attempt to interpret the
uses these myths and symbols have been put to, this book
was written.
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