Paul Bowman

@paulbowman.bsky.social

500 followers 390 following 530 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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Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 21h

Reminds me of the Jimmy Carr gag: "Once in a lifetime experience? I'm never doing *that* again!"

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 3d

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

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 4d

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

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 6d

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

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 6d

Composing my presentation for a research seminar next week. This one is my favourite slide so far.

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 6d

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

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 11d

"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

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 13d

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

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 13d

“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

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 14d

Damn, I don't read German! Thanks though.

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 14d

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

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 15d

Well done, Starmer. Disgraceful

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 16d

Me cago en Duolingo!

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 16d

“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

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 16d

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

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 17d

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 18d

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

Scotty McQueen @tigermcqueen.bsky.social · 19d

The tedium IS the message.

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 20d

Social tedia

Reposted by Paul Bowman

Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21d

Our new @cujournmedcul.bsky.social research featured in the I paper showing news audiences want tougher scrutiny of Nigel Farage and Reform UK given the party could be heading for government. Thread 1/6

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 22d

What do you think it might have been? My FB acc was blocked once but I never understood why…

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 23d

I told you not to get involved with those hermeneuts!

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 24d

Yet another normal everyday context...
substack.com/@tritaparsi/...

Trita Parsi (@tritaparsi)

Israeli women working out and singing along to a genocidal song, "May Your Village Burn." Till this day, most Western states have yet to ask the obvious question: How is everyone else supposed to liv...

substack.com

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 24d

Proof

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 25d

What does bodybuilding say?

substack.com/home/post/p-...

The Bodybuilding is the Message

In a discussion of weightlifting and bodybuilding, theatre and performance studies scholar Broderick Chow notes a limit point:

substack.com

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 25d

Every self-respecting lecture on Lacan must be structured by the five fundamental examples: One Direction, Snow Patrol/Martha Wainright, Pulp, Fight Club, and Black Swan.

Reposted by Stephen Cushion

Paul Bowman @paulbowman.bsky.social · 26d

“Immigration has been the main political theme in British politics for months, despite net migration to Britain almost halving to 431,000 last year”

New research from @stephencushion.bsky.social & @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social reported in The Guardian

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...