Category Archives: Academia

Staging the Streets: The Theatricality of Science in Fin-de-Siecle Martial Arts

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 27th May 2016 By Peter Katz, Pacific Union College “A Fight Which Was None of Your Own Making”: Martial Arts and the Theater of ScienceAs they near the conclusion of their 1890 … Continue reading

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Dr. Emelyne Godfrey’s Presentation on Bartitsu and the Jiujitsu Suffragettes

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 6th May 2017 Here’s a full video record of Dr. Emelyne Godfrey’s recent presentation on Bartitsu and suffragette jiujitsu, delivered for the Martial Arts Studies Research Network.  The presentation is followed by a … Continue reading

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“Urban Heroes vs. Folk Devils”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 24th July 2017 Emelyne Godfrey‘s 2010 essay on civilian self-defence circa 1880-1914 is available via this link. Here are some excerpts: Pearson’s Magazine boasted articles on adventure, features on sport and remarkable fiction; it … Continue reading

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“Bartitsu in the American Context”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 24th April 2018 The excellent Kung Fu Tea blog offers this well-researched post towards answering a question posed by Dr. Emelyne Godfrey in reviewing Wendy Rouse’s book Her Own Hero: The Origins of the Women’s Self Defense Movement. … Continue reading

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“Vice, Crime and Poverty: How the Western Imagination Invented the Underworld”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 16th March 2019 This new book by French cultural historian Dominique Kalifa explores the notion of the criminal underworld in Western popular culture, including the infamous Parisian Apache and London hooligan phenomena that fed – and were fed … Continue reading

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Understanding Victorian Cultures of Violence: The Utility of Experimental Archaeology and Practical Hermeneutics

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 28th November 2016 Click the link below to read Liam Hannan’s thesis on Victorian “cultures of violence”, including an analysis of six canonical Bartitsu jiujitsu kata and stick-fighting set-plays: UNDERSTANDING VICTORIAN CULTURES OF … Continue reading

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The “Great Anglo-Japanese Tournament” at the Adelphi Theatre in Liverpool

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on November 6th, 2018 The “last hurrah” of the Bartitsu Club as a corporate entity was the ambitious and largely successful “Great Anglo-Japanese Tournament” tour during early-mid 1902.   We’ve previously detailed these provincial Bartitsu … Continue reading

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“Proof of Great Strength”: Grappling with the Kibbo Kift Kindred

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 9th June 2017 Exemplifying the virtues and limitations of the early 20th century “self-taught man”, John Hargrave (1894-1982) was accomplished in a variety of fields.  A senior scoutmaster possessing great powers of imagination, energy … Continue reading

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“Returning kicks with interest”: Counter-Kicks and Stop-Kicks in Bartitsu Unarmed Combat

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 22nd November 2016 Another branch of Bartitsu is that in which the feet and hands are both employed, which is an adaptation of boxing and Savate (…) The use of the feet … Continue reading

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The Annotated “Bartitsu: Its Exponent Interviewed” (1901)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 31st January 2019 The following interview with Bartitsu founder E.W. Barton-Wright first appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette of 5 September 1901, during the height of the Bartitsu Club era.  It was found … Continue reading

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