Source: Smash Pass
In an email sent out to various University of Michigan martial arts club, Professor Michael Kennedy informs us that he will be teaching a special Sociology course at U of M Ann Arbor for the Fall of 2007 called, "Martial Arts, Culture and Society." The course is SOC 495 and will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1 - 2:30 P.M. in Angell Hall room G115.
Here's the course description:
In this upper-level undergraduate lecture for which there are no prerequisites, students will consider how sociology and other social sciences can help us understand martial arts and how martial arts might inform the social sciences.
By comparing the practice, organization, scholarly studies, and popular culture around boxing, wrestling, kung fu, karate, tae kwon do, judo, aikido, capoeira, and mixed martial arts, primarily within the U.S., students will consider the ways in which these different arts work to realize similar outcomes — increasing awareness and kinesthetic powers — and vary substantially along other dimensions including their association with various national and gender identifications, and in terms of their locations with regard to performance/sport/combat, militarism/pacifism, openness/secrecy, and individuation/group identity formation.
Guest lectures and films will supplement lectures and demonstrations by the professor and student participants. Outside experts will explore particular martial arts, as well as the martial arts’ relationship to psychology, anthropology, and healing arts.
Two examinations, a research paper based on archival research or participant observation in martial arts (with any degree of accomplishment), and class contributions based on prior background and preparation for class form the basis for the course grade.
article with links available @ Smash Pass
~Jason