Moving beyond the anthropos and reclaiming the geo in intercultural communication: The transculturation of the martial art practice of Aikido

ABSTRACT

This ethnographic study examines the practice of Aikido, a martial art style originating from Japan, by a community of non-Japanese practitioners in the southwestern region of the United States. This paper recounts the second nature-making of the art's skillful responsiveness as a thing to be explained from the ground, rather than leaving its cultural dynamics and their appropriative relations unchallenged as a relatively homogenous process of globalization and increased contact. In the case of Shining Energy (a pseudonym), the “taking” of another's cultural elements and “making” it a fully habituated and naturalized way of moving and being (second nature) are predicated on geo-making, the production of ontologizing resources (first nature) that enable culturally sanctioned modes of somatic engagements with the world. The process of appropriating Aikido entails an inversion between the figure and ground that foregrounds the geo-making of the ground/field for activity itself.

KEYWORDS:

• Transculturation
• martial arts/Aikido
• community of practice
• culture/nature
• geo-making

Notes

1. The dan-based rank system is not unique to the martial arts world, however. It has been used by various art traditions in East Asia to measure and mark qualities of mastery, most notable of which are Go (the grid board game of white and black stone pieces), calligraphy, and the martial arts. The Founder of Aikido, Ueshiba, is said to have conferred the rank of 10th dan to only three people in his life—to the martial artist Tohei, a calligrapher for the brushwork, and a flute player whose performance captured the spirit of Aikido (Shining-sensei, personal communication, April 9, 2011).