From Embodied Practice to Competitive Performance: The Heritagisation of Martial Arts and its Pedagogical Consequences

Abstract (English)

This paper examines the transformation of martial arts practices through the introduction of competitive frameworks and their alignment with heritage recognition processes. Focusing on the cases of Art du Déplacement (also known as Parkour), Shaolin Kung Fu, and Muay Thai, the analysis explores how traditionally non-competitive embodied practices have been reshaped by the institutionalization, as well as efforts to gain recognition within cultural heritage and educational policy frameworks.

The transformation of these practices into competitive formats involves the formalization of abstract criteria for correctness—standardized levels, scoring systems, and technical benchmarks—that contrast sharply with earlier pedagogical models grounded in adaptability, creativity, and real-life application. These shifts not only alter modes of transmission and training but also influence who engages in the practice and for what purposes. While new forms of recognition offer opportunities for professionalization and broader social access, they also generate tensions between “authentic” expressions of embodied practices—often grounded in local histories, religious or philosophical traditions, and relational pedagogies—and their contemporary, institutionalized counterparts designed to serve goals of cultural promotion, national branding, or employment generation.

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and long-term engagement with these practices and their practitioners, this paper interrogates the politics of heritagisation and performance as they intersect with local aspirations, global cultural flows, and state-endorsed frameworks of legitimacy. It contributes to critical heritage studies by showing how festivals and competitions, as forms of public performance, become sites of contestation over the meaning, value, and future of martial arts as intangible cultural heritage.