Paul Bowman
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paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman
@paulbowman.bsky.social
510 followers 400 following 550 posts

Professor of Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. Founding Editor of Martial Arts Studies. Author of books on cultural theory, Bruce Lee, Rey Chow, orientalism, film, media & physical culture. Recovering martial arts addict. CV: http://bit.ly/4mrJE1C .. more

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Paul Bowman is a British academic specialising in cultural and media studies. He is a Professor of Cultural Studies and Deputy Head of the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University. .. more

Sociology 31%
Political science 26%
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paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 2d
It's exploded in UK media today - BBC TV, Radio, and online news. Also Channel 4. This is good. Much needed. Too many adoptive families have needlessly been put through hell. The system is comprehensively broken

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 2d
"'What if we just can't do this any more?'... [T]he social worker's reply came without a moment's hesitation: 'You'll be prosecuted for child abandonment'."

Thank you BBC for investigating the UK Adoption Scandal. It can't go on like this

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Parents threatened by authorities as 1,000 adopted children returned to care
Families seeking help for their children’s complex needs describe threats of police action against them.
www.bbc.co.uk

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 3d
2025 will go down in history as the year students stopped even trying to understand italics

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 6d
We're getting there. Inching closer to publication all the time.

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 8d
The proofs for my next book have arrived :-)

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 11d
Meanwhile, I was writing a lecture section for the last week of term, on 'the invention of tradition', in which we'll be looking at the lyrics of 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree'... I found myself listening to the entire song, wayyy longer than I needed to...

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 13d
Decided. I *am* going to the ball!
www.martialartsstudies.org/masa-confere...
Martial Arts Studies - MASA Conference 2026
Martial Arts Studies Association 10th Annual Conference
www.martialartsstudies.org

Reposted by Paul Bowman

theblochian.bsky.social
Professor Caroline Edwards @theblochian.bsky.social · 18d
Well that was fast… apparently you can now BUY THE CHAOS IS COMING T-SHIRT thanks to my colleague @scholtom.bsky.social 🤣 chipsandgrady.uk/product/chao... #OpenAccess

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 19d
'Can the Bodybuilder Speak?' I'm giving this paper both in the real world and online via Teams today (4pm, GMT) Joining information in the link
bowmanp.substack.com/p/can-the-bo...

Reposted by Paul Bowman, McKenzie Wark

dominicpettman.bsky.social
Dominic Pettman @dominicpettman.bsky.social · 19d
A stunning response (i.e., more than just a review) of GHOSTING, by Tyran Grillo. If you don't have the time or inclination to read the book, this serves as an excellent bluffer's guide to something we all deal with, at some point.
Dominic Pettman: Ghosting (Book Review)
Ghosting: On Disappearance is a treatise of nonbeing—or, perhaps more precisely, of unbeing. It is not merely about disappearance but about the existential tremors that ripple outwar…
ecmreviews.com

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 19d
Actual footage of the first figure Trump came up with when his henchmen floated the idea of suing the BBC.
a bald man is holding a ring in his hand and saying `` one million dollars ... '' .
ALT: a bald man is holding a ring in his hand and saying `` one million dollars ... '' .
media.tenor.com

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 20d
Reminds me of the Jimmy Carr gag: "Once in a lifetime experience? I'm never doing *that* again!"

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 23d
www.independent.co.uk/voices/edito...
You don’t need a master’s degree to see Britain depends on foreign students
Editorial: The government’s effort to drive down the number of student visas coming to study in this country is misguided and self-defeating – it will do untold damage to our universities and communit...
www.independent.co.uk

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 24d
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the first issue of the open access Cardiff University Press journal that I co-founded, *Martial Arts Studies*: www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/29...
Martial Arts Studies journal turns 10
The academic journal, which is published by Cardiff University Press, celebrated the special milestone on 6 November 2025.
www.cardiff.ac.uk

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 26d
I agree with 'Baudrillard as prophet'. I use 1980s Baudrillard to help my 2020s students understand today's world/media dynamics. (However, I'd also add that the comedy novelist Douglas Adams predicted more, and sooner, and in ways that were a lot funnier)
theconversation.com/how-the-fren...
How the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard predicted today’s AI 30 years before ChatGPT
Baudrillard’s genius lay in foreseeing what these rudimentary devices like fax machines suggested about likely future uses of technology.
theconversation.com

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 26d
Composing my presentation for a research seminar next week. This one is my favourite slide so far.

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 26d
Next week I'm doing a talk called 'Can the Bodybuilder Speak?', which will be about this kind of thing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgWZ...
Better Health with White Goodman of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story | 20th Century FOX
YouTube video by 20th Century Studios
www.youtube.com

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 31
"Oh the Grand old Duke of York
He paid 12 million quid
To somebody he never met
For things he never did."

- my wife, 31/10/25

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 29
Polemical? Moi? "bodybuilding is the clearest, best and unsurpassable example of 'affect' – of what it is, how it works, and what it does".

substack.com/home/post/p-...
Intensities: Mike Mentzer, Tom Platz, and effective/affective training
Intensity is the measurement of affect; it is the body’s vibratory motion and resonation before it becomes a conscious emotion or feeling – Brian Massumi
substack.com

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 28
“Between 2019 and 2024, Reform received more than 90% of its funding, £2.3 million, from individuals and companies linked to polluting industries and climate science denial”

open.substack.com/pub/writesbr...
New research reveals the best attack lines to use against Reform
How to stop Farage...
open.substack.com

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 28
Damn, I don't read German! Thanks though.

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 28
Yukio Mishima's Embodied Aesthetics. Or: Are all Bodybuilders and Martial Artists Closet Fascists?
substack.com/@bowmanp/p-1...
Yukio Mishima’s Embodied Aesthetics
Or: are all bodybuilders and martial artists closet fascists?
substack.com

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 27
Well done, Starmer. Disgraceful

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 25
Me cago en Duolingo!

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 25
“in order to bring about what I refer to here as happiness, an extremely troublesome set of conditions must first be fulfilled, and an extremely complex set of procedures gone through.” - Yukio Mishima

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 25
In case you are confused: Reform’s policies: tax cuts for rich, welfare cuts for poor, scrap net zero, expand fossil fuels, gut nature laws, side with polluters, blame immigration for all problems, cut NHS funding, expand transphobia, side with landlords, abandon human rights.

Reposted by Karin Wahl‐Jorgensen

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 24

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 23
From journal: You must refer in your article to your images - e.g. "see Fig. 1".
From me: Anyone who might need such an instruction would not be capable of reading the article in the first place.

Reposted by Paul Bowman

tigermcqueen.bsky.social
Scotty McQueen @tigermcqueen.bsky.social · Oct 22
The tedium IS the message.

paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · Oct 21
Social tedia